Dibble Program Synopsis

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The CONNECTIONS Courses by Charlene Kamper

CONNECTIONS courses teach teens the skills that are essential for success in their dating relationships and in preparing for marriage:

“Dating and Emotions” (Grades 8-12)
Dating doesn't always come naturally. This 17-lesson course helps younger teens understand early relationships - and helps establish a strong foundation for later life. A variety of appealing exercises teach teens how relationships develop, effective ways to communicate, how to recognize destructive patterns, how to deal with emotions, and other essential skills. Content also integrates material from the highly respected PREP ® program.

“Relationships and Marriage” (Grades 11-14. Also available in Spanish.)
Young adults face enormous - and conflicting - pressures in their romantic relationships. This program gives them practical tools for understanding, managing, and making wise decisions about these relationships. The 18 lessons cover self-awareness, relationships, communication, and conflict.... plus the engaging Marriage Game that is a big favorite with boys and girls alike! Material from the highly respected PREP ® trainings is also included.

The LOVE U2^® Courses by Marline Pearson

Teens today live and breathe in a culture that touts casual sex and casual connections. Love U2^® is a series of units that help young people acquire practical skills for emotionally healthy and ethically sound relationships. It focuses on helping teens craft a roadmap toward what they hope to achieve, not just what they must avoid.

"Relationship Smarts" (Grades 8-12) offers 13 lessons of practical guidance for building relationships that are not based on sex. It covers subjects such as infatuation, rejection, falling in love, emotions, gauging relationship health, a low-risk relationship strategy, and breaking up.

"Communication Smarts: PREP® for Teens" (Grades 8-12) gives teens 7 lessons in communication and conflict management skills for use with peers and family. The material is adapted for teens from the highly acclaimed, research-based PREP ® programs.

“Baby Smarts – Through the Eyes of a Child” (Grades 9-12) In 10 activity-based lessons, Baby Smarts presents a highly engaging course on what babies require in order to develop and thrive. Teens learn about nurturing and socializing, how early experiences shape the future, why fathers matter, the impact of parents’ relationships, the relevance of marriage, and more. This unique strategy builds a critical knowledge base that powerfully motivates teens to avoid unwed childbearing as well as early sexual involvement. It builds an ethical awareness of the link between their sexual decisions and potential consequences for a child.

THE ART OF LOVING WELL - Nancy McLaren (principal curriculum developer)
Boston University
The Art of Loving Well uses short stories, poems, essays, folktales, and myths to help adolescents learn responsible sexual and social values.  This curriculum is not sex education in the usual sense; it is relationship education.  Its central premise is that more than any grade on a report card or size of a paycheck it is the quality of our relationships that determine the quality of our lives.  The Loving Well curriculum includes activities that foster precisely those social and emotional skills essential to healthy friendships, strong families, and lasting marriages.

Good literature reflects the complexity of real life situations, and The Art of Loving Well anthology includes both time-honored classics and the best of contemporary adolescent literature.  Each of the forty ethnically diverse selections is accompanied by activities to help students learn vicariously from their readings and from conversations with teachers, parents, and friends.  The activities also promote the standard language arts skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

The Loving Well Project was developed under a grant from the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs, a division of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, and it has been cited in Congress for its innovative and effective approach to character education.  Outside evaluation confirms its positive impact on adolescent attitudes and behavior; eighth and ninth grade students enrolled in the Art of Loving Well curriculum proved three times more likely to delay the onset of sexual activity than their peers.