K-12 Religious Education Curriculum

Introduction

The following information applies to Religous Education (RE) classes, held Sundays during the school year, from 10-11:15 am. Our children and youth join us in the sanctuary for the beginning of service, then leave with their teachers and peers for classes.

Our religious education program for children and youth runs on a three-year cycle. In the first year we turn our focus outward, learning about and seeking wisdom from Judaism, Christianity, humanism, and other religious traditions. In the second year, we turn our focus inward, to how we as UUs can work together and with others of good will to make our world a better, more just place. In the third year, we focus on what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist, learning about the origins of our religion, our Seven Principles, and famous UUs through history.

In 2024-2025, we are in the first year of our cycle, so our curricula focus on teachings and traditions of the world’s religions.

Our teaching teams for the coming church year can be found here. In the meantime if you have any questions please contact our Director of Religious Education for Children and Youth, Becky Hruby, at dre@uusg.org.

GRADES K, 1 AND 2

Stories About God

Our K-2 curriculum offers students a variety of experiences which people call “God”: ultimate reality, values, and mystery underlying the physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions of life. The curriculum helps children develop a language with which they can speak about God and related ideas, and exposes children to a wide variety of stories about God. Lessons draw from world religions, feminist experience, science, and the ordinary and extraordinary aspects of everyday life. Students will come away with an understanding that God can take many forms and be called by many names. They will have an opportunity to express their own thoughts and feelings on the idea of God.

MIDDLE SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL (GRADES 6 THROUGH 12)

building bridges

Our middle and high school youth will explore world religions through the Building Bridges curriculum, which is available online from the Unitarian Universalist Association. Our high school class is known as YRUU, which stands for Young Religious Unitarian Universalists.

Here is the description from the UUA’s website:

Building Bridges is a world religions program to deepen youth's understanding of the dynamic, fascinating, and varied world in which they live. It seeks to broaden their knowledge of humanity and embolden their spiritual search.

The program is organized roughly chronologically, capturing the strong parallel between societal change and religious evolution over human history. The Religions Time Line helps illustrate the emergence of religions in clusters at different points in history. However, this is not a history course. It is a series of workshops that attempts to lovingly and reverently examine some of the closest kept treasures of the human heart. This exploration nurtures participants' positive outlook toward other faiths and the people who follow them.

The highlight of the program will be offsite visits to several local faith communities. Visits may include:

Unity Temple in Oak Park (UU), Blue Lotus Temple in Woodstock (Buddhism), BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Bartlett (Hinduism). Congregation Beth Shalom in Naperville (Judaism), Islamic Center of Kane County in St. Charles (Islam), St. Peter Catholic Church in Geneva and Christ Community church in St. Charles.

Dates and arrangements for these visits will be shared with registered program participants. Adult drivers and chaperones will be needed to make these trips possible.

If you have any questions please contact our Director of Religious Education for Children and Youth at DRE@uusg.org.

special programs

RUUU? (Grades 8&9) Are you unitarian universalist?

Formerly known as Coming of Age, this program is a deeper exploration of spiritual identity. The teenage years are a time of exploration and change — a time to consider who you are and where you’re going. Growing up is a little like setting off for the open road, away from what you’ve known, and searching for new adventures and discoveries. 

In this workshop series, we explore questions about “spirituality.” What is it and why does it matter? We’ll see that some roads are straight and well paved. Others are rugged and meandering. We’ll find signs and guideposts, perhaps pointing in different directions. As Unitarian Universalists (UUs), we affirm there are many possible paths and ways to find them.

By the end of this series, you’ll have a basic understanding of the ways UUs approach the “big questions” in life. You’ll also gain a deeper appreciation of our history and values. Most importantly, you’ll have many opportunities to think about and ask yourself, “Self! Who are you? Where are you going? Where do you want to go?” 

 This curriculum prepares our youth for their changing roles and their choice of whether to join the Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva as student members. Meetings on Sundays each fall. More information will be given directly to families of 8th & 9th graders.

Our whole lives (Grades k-1, 5-6 and 7-9)

We believe that honest, accurate information about sexuality and relationships can change lives, and save lives. It dismantles stereotypes and faulty assumptions, builds self-acceptance and self-esteem, fosters healthy relationships, improves decision making, and opens the door to honest communication. We are very proud to offer the Our Whole Lives (OWL) sexuality education curriculum for children and youth at different ages and stages. 

Grades k-1 and 5-6 OWL

The K-1 and 5-6 OWL programs are alternatively offered each year. In fall 2024, we will offer the 5-6 OWL program. Click the grade level you are interested in for workshop topics. The next K-1 session will be during the 2025 school year.

Grades k-1 OWL

Our Whole Lives: Sexuality Education for Grades K-1 can help you educate your child about birth, babies, bodies, and families. You will be actively involved as your child learns through songs, stories, activities and at-home projects that promote family dialogue.

OWL values:

• Self Worth 

• Sexual Health 

• Responsibility 

• Justice and Inclusivity

In eight, one-hour workshops, OWL models and teaches caring, compassion, respect, and justice. It helps young children identify their attitudes, values, and feelings about themselves, their sexuality, and others’ sexuality.  Participants in Grades K-1 are guided by trained facilitators through an engaging curriculum that addresses age appropriate topics.  In addition to a parent meeting and a parent-child orientation, parents are welcome to attend any or all of the workshops with their children. Homelinks keep parent-child communication open.

Workshops 

1. Our Wonderful Bodies, Part 1

2. Our Wonderful Bodies, Part 2

3. Healthy Bodies, Safe Bodies

4. Families

5. Families and Feelings

6. Babies and Families

7. Birth of a Baby

8. Celebrations!

Grades 5-6 OWL

This ten-workshop curriculum is designed to help children ages nine through twelve to gain the knowledge, life principles, and skills they need to understand and express their sexuality in holistic, life-enhancing ways.

Like the other Our Whole Lives programs for different age groups, this comprehensive, developmentally appropriate program introduces key topics like values, body image, gender and sexual identity, peer pressure, and healthy relationships with sensitivity and inclusiveness, yet without specifically religious doctrine or reference. The underlying values of the program reflect the justice-oriented traditions of its publishers, the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ. 

Workshops 

1. Sexuality and values (Helps participants clarify, support and communicate their values about sexuality)

2. Images in popular culture (Become informed and aware of how the media portray sexuality)

3. Body image (Explore concept, understand diverse experiences people have with their body and its abilities, consider ways to keep your body healthy)

4. Changes of puberty (Understand physical and emotional changes of puberty)

5. Gender (Examine messages about gender. Learn what it means to have a gender identity and some of the many variations in gender identity)

6. Feelings and attraction (Understand the concept of being romantically attracted to someone, whether of a different or the same gender. Terms commonly used to talk about sexual orientation, think about what people may do in a variety of scenarios related to attraction)

7. Reproduction and staying healthy (Conception, pregnancy, contraception, sexually transmitted infections and other possible consequences of sexual activity)

8. Decisions and actions (Educates participants about a range of sexual activity, including masturbation and sexually explicit media (pornography). Participants have a chance to think about when they would and would not want to engage in certain behaviors)

9. Consent and peer pressure (Learn how to communicate about consent, to examine situations in which consent is violated, identify people in their lives who can offer help)

10. Healthy relationships and celebration (Understand components of a healthy relationship and a celebration for the conclusion of the program)

Grades 7-9 OWL

The 7-9 grade OWL program is open to students in grades 7, 8 and 9 during the winter and early Spring as a series of four overnights annually. This is an excellent program integrating relationship and comprehensive sexuality education with values from the perspective of our Unitarian Universalist community. The depths of relationships established during the OWL program help cement the youth to our UU community, and really help them form long-lasting bonds which carry over to the high school experience and beyond. OWL is an integral part of our Coming of Age (RUUU?) program, designed to provide youth with safe spaces, time, and people with whom to share their questions and concerns. The facilitators for OWL are specifically chosen and trained to lead these very important and sensitive discussions, and have been appropriately screened to ensure they can provide a meaningful and safe experience for our youth.

Workshops 

1. Group building and examining values (Program overview, expectations, establish ground rules. Engage in activities to promote group bonding. Youth explore and discuss their values and opinions about a wide range of sexuality issues.) 

1. Sexuality and body awareness (Explore attitudes toward and increase comfort with sexual language, including anatomy, physiology, physical and emotional changes of puberty.) 

2. Gender and diversity (Promote non stereotyped gender role attitudes and behaviors and explore impact of disability and other dimensions of diversity on sexuality and relationships.)

3. Sexual orientation and gender identity (Gain information and explore attitudes about people who are gay, lesbian and bisexual. Also introduces sexual diversity issues including what it means to be transgender or transsexual.)

4. Relationships (Present key qualities of relationships, explore issues such as peer pressure, provide opportunities to learn and practice relationship skills such as listening and decision making. Also dating relationships, marriage and other lifetime commitments.) 

5. Lovemaking (Designed to answer young people’s questions about lovemaking. Counters negative media messages that often portray sexual behaviors out of the context of healthy, positive, consensual relationships. Youth also gain information and dispel myths about masturbation.) 

6. Preparing for parenthood (Conception, pregnancy and birth. Realities of adolescent pregnancy and parenting for males and females.) 

7. Responsible sexual behavior (Gain a broad definition of abstinence that excludes intercourse of any kind but allows for affection and low risk sexual contact.  Contraception, unplanned pregnancy options, sexual decision making.)

8. Sexually transmitted infections (Present facts and promote skills for prevention.)

9. Abuse of sexuality (Present issues faced by individuals who’ve experienced sexual abuse as well as strategies for prevention and recovery. Define sexual harassment.) 

10. Conclusion (Bring group experience to a closure.)

Please contact dre@uusg.org for dates and further information about this year’s OWL offerings.