5th Grade Sex Ed
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Anonymous
| We have a parent meeting next month, but I am wondering if anyone can provide more detail about what is covered. The sheet that came home says that one topic is risky behaviors for HIV transmission. It seems like that topic could get quite explicit (e.g., non PIV sex), but I assume they are not going to get into all of that with 10 and 11 year olds---right? |
Anonymous
| They should! The whole point is to get there before they do. |
Anonymous
Really? You think they should talk about anal and oral sex to 10 year olds? I've talked about sex with my children, but that seems like way too much to me at that age! |
Anonymous
| There is no explicit discussion of sex/sexual acts. They just cover male/female anatomy, periods, breast development, erections, ejaculation, hormones, changing feelings and family dynamics, and give a nod to disease prevention. |
Anonymous
| No. Ours was very vague. Go to the meeting and you'll be totally reassured. They don't actually discuss sex, IIRC. It's really NBD. |
Anonymous
| Thanks, PPs. That is reassuring. |
Anonymous
| It actually depends on the instructors. |
Anonymous
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Agree that it is very vague about sex. They do cover puberty in depth, which is good. Our teachers told us at the meeting that whenever they get a question that goes beyond the topics they're permitted to discuss, they say "that's a great question for you to take home to your parents tonight!"
Go to the meeting. We had a presentation from the teachers and then got to look at the presentation ourselves. Believe they were powerpoint slides. This was 3 years ago. |
Anonymous
| They will give you the whole curriculum if you want. I’m a parent liaison so if parents at our school have questions, I help them find answers. I bet your school has one too. But really, all you have to do is ask. The schools are used to worried parents. |
Anonymous
| I'm impressed they give you information. We were told it was going to happen but that was it. Nothing on what they were talking about. |
Anonymous
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BTW I agree with previous poster to absolutely talk about non-PIV sex with kids this age. Kids think those are “safe” alternatives often when not told how to be safe in those acts. Plus, not all kids will want to have PIV sex.... and they need to know how to stay safe, too.
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Anonymous
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But they have to mention condoms, right? You can’t talk about disease prevention at all really without talking about condoms, can you?
We got a packet with an outline of the topics/standards they will cover and a permission form. There is an info night in a few weeks. I was also confused about how they will talk about HIV prevention without talking about a variety of sexual acts and condoms. Also, a pet peeve of mine, there is a single line item that is “menstruation and nocturnal emissions” - two things that have almost nothing in common other than that they can be messy. It annoys me to have them link those things just because they can be messy when they are very different biological functions and girls can have dreams that induce orgasm as well but of course they’ll never tell the kids that. Anyway, my pet peeve. |
Anonymous
| No, Family Health unit is not about sex ed at all, it's about puberty and changing bodies! And if there are some kids gutsy or snarky enough to ask a question about sex, the response will be to ask a trusted adult! Promise it is not sex ed. Not in 5th grade! |
Anonymous
| OP, here's the Family Life curriculum for 5th grade: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/health/elementary/grade5/familylife.aspx |
Anonymous
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Just my two cents, we adults (teachers, parents) should answer kids’ questions accurately and honestly. Otherwise they’ll go get the info somewhere else and it may be incorrect.
—Sex educator not in MCPS |