Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Sex Ed in Kindergarten
This, being the first attempt of my first blog, I decided to begin with the most current project: K-12 Sex Education. Now, you might wonder about why I would begin a blog on how to start a perfect k-12 school with a title like Sex Ed in Kindergarten. The problem that we are facing and trying to solve with regard to sex education, is similar to almost all of the other issues that have come up in forming STARSHINE ACADEMY IN A BOX. The answers aren't there. Since starting the first school, many of us knew that we needed to have some sort of sex education for the kids, but none of us could agree on how to approach the curriculum needs, so it kept being put on the back burner, until this year.
The students started begging for it. That's right. Every year we have had at least one twelve-year old that has become pregnant. We have done just about everything to create an environment of self-empowerment, student achievement and growth, but have not had much of an impact on our students' pregnancy occurances. All of the sex education that I could find seemed to be more about body parts than how to live. And the information that we found had many biases based on whomever wrote the material in the first place.
So I decided to turn to my mentor, friend and the "Mother of Holistic Medicine," Dr. Gladys T. McGarey and her foundation for some help. We have talked extensively about how to develop sex education that starts in kindergarten. One friend, trying to be especially helpful, brought in a book that he found on children's sex education that was full of brightly colored, cute pictures. "Great," I thought, "finally we've found some help," until I opened the book up to a middle section and read a few lines. "My daddy crept into my bedroom after it was dark and..." I couldn't believe it. Who writes this stuff?
Back to basics. What three ideas filter ALL of our judgements and quality of life?
The students started begging for it. That's right. Every year we have had at least one twelve-year old that has become pregnant. We have done just about everything to create an environment of self-empowerment, student achievement and growth, but have not had much of an impact on our students' pregnancy occurances. All of the sex education that I could find seemed to be more about body parts than how to live. And the information that we found had many biases based on whomever wrote the material in the first place.
So I decided to turn to my mentor, friend and the "Mother of Holistic Medicine," Dr. Gladys T. McGarey and her foundation for some help. We have talked extensively about how to develop sex education that starts in kindergarten. One friend, trying to be especially helpful, brought in a book that he found on children's sex education that was full of brightly colored, cute pictures. "Great," I thought, "finally we've found some help," until I opened the book up to a middle section and read a few lines. "My daddy crept into my bedroom after it was dark and..." I couldn't believe it. Who writes this stuff?
Back to basics. What three ideas filter ALL of our judgements and quality of life?
- The need to feel lovable.
- The need to feel significant.
- The need to feel relavant.
So, with the help of many, we are attempting to re-invent what sex education is about, what it covers and what results are obtained. And hopefully, when we are finished, we will have appropriate information that empowers the students to make better life choices, recognize dangerous situations and develop into meaningful, beautiful, prepared, parents when the time is right.
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