The Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto regularly offers Our Whole Lives (OWL), one of the best age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education programs available.

(Page updated November 28 2023)

About the OWL curriculum
How our OWL program works
Upcoming OWL classes including permission forms and other info


About the OWL curriculum

Our Whole Lives (OWL) is a series of comprehensive and age-appropriate sexuality education curricula, developed jointly by the Unitarian Universalist Association and United Church of Christ, for six age groups: grades K-2, grades 4-6, grades 7-9, grades 10-12, young adults, and adults.

Our Whole Lives is based on the philosophy of comprehensive sexuality education, which helps participants make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual health and behavior. It equips participants with accurate, age-appropriate information in six subject areas: human development, relationships, personal skills, sexual behavior, sexual health, and society and culture. Grounded in a holistic view of sexuality, comprehensive sexuality education provides not only facts about anatomy and human development, but also helps participants to clarify their values, build interpersonal skills, and understand the spiritual, emotional, social, and political aspects of sexuality as well.

Comprehensive sexuality education has been shown to be effective. A review commissioned by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, released on October 22, 1997, concluded that quality education about sexuality and/or HIV helps to delay first intercourse and protect sexually active youth from STDs, including HIV, and from pregnancy. The review also concluded that responsible and safe behavior can be learned, that sexuality education is best started before the onset of sexual activity, and that sexuality education does not encourage increased sexual activity.

OWL Program Values (click to see a PDF of this handout).

OWL Program Assumptions and “Bill of Rights” (click to see a PDF of this handout).

In our parent orientation, we refer to the “Circles of Sexuality.” Here’s the PDF handout for this (click the image below to see a full-size PDF version):

Circles of Sexuality thumbnail

More details about the OWL program can be found online here: www.uua.org/re/owl


How our OWL program works

At UUCPA, our OWL program is run by a volunteer OWL Coordinator under the auspices of the Children and Youth Religious Education Committee. Maribea Berry has been our OWL coordinator for several years now, taking care of all the logistics of the OWL program. Maribea is a trained OWL leader herself, and both her children have been through the program.

OWL classes run at times that have proved to be convenient for the participants. The goal is to ensure that all children are offered the opportunity to attend each OWL session when they reach the appropriate grades.

We draw from an amazing pool of volunteer teachers within our congregation — R.N.s, M.D.s, therapists, and classroom teachers — and some of our best OWL teachers are ordinary parents whose own children have gone through the OWL program. Many of our volunteers complete the fifteen hour OWL training, and all volunteers are trained and supported by our Associate Minister of Religious Education, who has 25 years of experience supervising OWL programs.

We welcome participants from outside our congregation, and at times as many as a third of participants have not been affiliated with our congregation. Outside participants must be comfortable with our values (e.g., we support equal rights for women and girls, we support same-sex marriage rights, and we support the right to abortion). Because of generous contributions from our members, there is no fee for our OWL programs, and we supply textbooks and other materials to participants at no charge. However, we encourage all OWL families who can afford to do so to make a generous tax-deductible contribution to UUCPA, so that we can continue to offer these programs regardless of family financial status.

If you wish to train to become an OWL facilitator, please reach out to Rev. Cat


Upcoming OWL classes

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OWL for gr. 10-12 2023 – closed for registration

To accommodate the packed schedules of busy high school students, the program will meet once month on Sunday evenings.  Although we will not be able to fit in all sessions of this curriculum, we will be sure to meet the interests of the youth participants.

There will be a mandatory parent orientation before the class begins. 

If you would like your child to participate in OWL gr. 10-12, please be sure to have at least one parent attend the parent orientation on 9/10/23 at 4 pm. (Both parents should plan to attend if no child in your family has taken either the gr. 7-9 or the gr. 10-12 unit of OWL before.)

This program is open to the community, as well as to UUCPA families. Feel free to invite your friends. Register here.

This class meets from 6:30-8:30 pm on these dates in Room 10 on the UUCPA campus:

September 17 2023

October 15 2023

November 12 2023

December 10 2023

January 7 2024

February 11 2024

March 10 2024

April 14 2024

May 15 2023

June 4 2023

K-1 OWL – OPEN FOR REGISTRATION

This eight session class will meet Sunday morning during service from 10:15-11:30 (the usual RE time) from January 21 2024 to March 17 2024. There is a required parent orientation on January 7 2024 (time TBA). Please be sure to have at least one parent attend the parent orientation. (Both parents should plan to attend if no child in your family has taken OWL before.)

This program is open to the community, as well as to UUCPA families. Feel free to invite your friends. Register here.

4-6 OWL – OPEN FOR REGISTRATION

This ten-session class will meet Sunday morning during service (the usual RE time) from January 21 2024 to April 14 2024 with two weeks off for Spring Break. There is a required parent orientation on January 7 2024 (time TBA). Please be sure to have at least one parent attend the parent orientation. (Both parents should plan to attend if no child in your family has taken OWL before.)

This program is open to the community, as well as to UUCPA families. Feel free to invite your friends. Register here.

OWL for adults – closed for registration

The program seeks to help participants achieve a greater understanding of themselves and others as whole persons in the context of their sexual being. The values of the program include Self-Worth, Sexual Health, Responsibility, and Justice and Inclusivity. Workshops will include a variety of activities and discussions on topics such as Sexuality and Values, Communication, Spirituality, the Sexual Self and Other, Sexual Diversity, Kink, and many others. The curriculum is sex-positive, inclusive, and upholds the concept that healthy sexuality is a fundamental part of the human experience.

To join the class, email aljclasses@uucpa.org

We hope you take part in this rich and life-affirming program.

Adult OWL – 10/22/2023 at 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Adult OWL – 10/29/2023 at 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Adult OWL – 11/12/2023 at 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Adult OWL – 12/03/2023 at 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Adult OWL – 12/17/2023 at 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Adult OWL – 01/07/2024 at 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Adult OWL – 01/28/2024 at 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Adult OWL – 02/04/2024 at 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Adult OWL – 02/25/2024 at 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Adult OWL – 03/03/2024 at 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Adult OWL – 03/17/2024 at 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Adult OWL – 04/07/2024 at 11:30 am - 12:30 pm