Downloads

The downloads which you will find available from this page are intended to be used in conjunction with the Alive to the World books and access is restricted to Gracewing customers.

These chapters have been kept extra to the books in order to give parents and teachers complete flexibility on whether they are used, when and how. A suggested age group is placed against them, but it may be appropriate to take the subjects sooner or later than that indicated. Some children may only be ready for them in their mid-teens.

The topics covered relate to the physical aspects of sexuality and it is warmly recommended that, wherever possible, parents and guardians are encouraged to share the information in the downloads with their own children. The freedom of parents is paramount and it is important that the downloads are offered to them as potential aids. Many parents appreciate help but some may want to teach their children in their own time and in their own way.

The downloads can be read out loud with the child or parents may prefer to put the facts across in their own words. Topics of greater interest to girls, for instance, may be covered more lightly with boys. It is a good idea to send the downloads home in a sealed envelope at the beginning of a holiday so that parents can choose the right moment to broach the subject with as little peer pressure as possible.

If parents ask the schools to teach their children, the downloads can be printed out and shared at school. The stories are designed to provoke thought and further questions and groups will work best where they are kept small, informal and single-sex. There are no exercises or further guidelines attached: this is so that both adults and children have complete freedom to develop discussion of these intimate subjects in their own personal way.

All the medical diagrams in the downloads are taken from Reproductive Anatomy and Physiology for the Natural Family Planning Practitioner, by Thomas W Hilgers, MD, (Creighton University NFP Education & Research Center, 1981) with kind permission.

The topics covered so far are:

• General overview of ovulation and menstrual cycle (ages 10-12)
• Review of menstrual cycle (ages 1-13)
• Mucus cycle (ages 12-13)
• Sperm production (ages 12-13)

Further topics will be added, such as ejaculation, conception, an overview of how contraception works including its drawbacks, sexually transmitted diseases.


Please note that the material contained in the downloads is copyright. The downloads may be printed out for use by customers but may not be passed on to others by electronic means.