Making More Humans follows the National Sex Education Standards (NSES 2.0). You can see exactly which lessons address which standards, and whether coverage is in the lesson, the workbook, or the teacher discussion guide, in the curriculum mapping spreadsheet. It’s a large spreadsheet. Scroll right to see the full coverage columns.
This curriculum is designed so that by the time we get to something that feels charged, students already understand the science underneath it. That’s not an accident. Everything has a foundation laid before we arrive. By the time we get there, it tends to feel obvious.
None of what you’ll find below represents a position or an opinion. It’s science. Where science describes how something works, that’s what gets taught. Questions about values, faith, and what your family believes are yours to have. Those conversations belong at home, at your school, or in your community. This course gives you and your kids the clinical foundation to have them well.
Click any topic to see how it’s handled.
Addressed in: Lessons 3.2, 5.6. NSES standards: SH.8.CC.3
The embryology lessons come first, and they do most of the work.
By the time students reach the pregnancy termination lesson, they already understand what is and isn’t present at each stage of development. They know when cardiac cells first appear and how incomplete that early structure is. They know that the brain develops significantly later, and that early embryos have no capacity for sensation or awareness. That context isn’t editorializing. It’s development.
The lesson covers what pregnancy termination actually is medically, the full range of real reasons people have abortions drawn from clinical experience, what the evidence actually shows about what reduces abortion rates, and what happens when people lack accurate information. All three pregnancy options, parenting, adoption, and abortion, are presented. No moral position is taken. The clinical facts are taught the same way as everything else in the course.
Addressed in: Lessons 1.5, 3.5, 4.7, 5.10. NSES standards: IV.5.CC.1, IV.8.CC.1, IV.8.CC.2, CHR.8.CC.1, CHR.8.SM.1
This course treats abuse prevention as a two-sided responsibility, and that distinction matters.
Students learn what healthy relationships look and feel like from Module 1, so that by the time abuse is addressed directly, they already have a reference point. They learn to recognize warning signs early, including love bombing, the cycle of abuse, coercive control, and the way power differences can quietly distort what feels like a free choice. They also learn what to notice in themselves, including the patterns and dynamics that can lead someone to become the person causing harm rather than the person experiencing it. The goal is prevention in both directions, because the best outcome is that nobody needs an exit strategy.
The victim is never to blame. That’s stated clearly and more than once. Exceptions to typical relationship advice, like why normal breakup rules don’t apply in dangerous situations, are covered explicitly. And because abuse doesn’t look the same for everyone, the curriculum covers physical, emotional, psychological, financial, and sexual abuse, along with dating violence, domestic violence, and gender-based violence.
Addressed in: Lessons 4.6, 4.7, 5.10. NSES standards: CHR.8.SM.1, IV.8.AI.1, IV.8.SM.1
For students who recognize an unsafe situation, the curriculum covers how to plan a safe exit, why normal breakup rules don’t apply when a relationship is dangerous, and how to involve a trusted adult. Bystander skills are included. The workbook includes specific language students can practice, because knowing what to do in theory and being able to say something in the moment are not the same thing.
Community resources are addressed in the teacher guide. The curriculum does not assume every student has an equally easy path to safety, and does not treat help-seeking as straightforward for everyone.
Addressed in: Lessons 3.2, 5.7. NSES standards: SH.5.CC.2
Because this course starts with embryology rather than intercourse, there is no hierarchy of how conception happens. Getting sperm and egg together is the biological requirement. Everything else is mechanics and circumstance.
Assisted reproductive technology, including IVF, IUI, embryo adoption, and surrogacy, is introduced early as one of many ways families are built. The infertility lesson covers both male and female infertility, because both matter and both are frequently left out of sex education. Students already understand from the embryology lessons how many things have to go right for conception to happen, so when infertility is addressed, it makes sense rather than arriving as a surprise.
ART is not framed as a last resort or as something specific to any type of couple. It’s one way people build the families they want, and it’s treated that way throughout.
Addressed in: Lessons 3.2, 5.4. NSES standards: SH.8.CC.4, SH.8.CC.7, SH.8.CC.8
Contraception is introduced early, briefly, and categorized so it makes sense before the details arrive. By the time the full lesson comes, students have already seen conception from the inside out, which means they understand what contraception is actually doing mechanically, not just that it exists.
The lesson covers short- and long-acting methods, methods available without a prescription, and how to use barrier methods correctly. The history of contraception is included, partly because it puts the subject in context and partly because it clarifies how many children most families would have without it. Effectiveness rates are taught as real numbers, not vague reassurances.
Addressed in: Lessons 3.2, 5.3. Related to relationship dynamics and kin selection content throughout.
This course does not assume that students will become parents. That assumption is baked into most sex education, and this one is deliberately designed differently.
Students learn from early on that choosing not to have children is not only legitimate but biologically valuable. The kin selection content explains what researchers call the “helpful auntie” and “gay uncle” effect: in every human community, the adults who don’t have their own children are often the ones who provide mentorship, specialized skills, protection, and continuity.
The grandmother hypothesis, covered in the lifespan section, extends this further. People remain vital to their communities long past any reproductive role.
The decision-to-become-a-parent lesson specifically addresses what actually predicts good outcomes, not just finances (though those matter) but the safety and health of the relationship, emotional maturity, and the timing within a relationship. Students are explicitly warned about getting pregnant during the honeymoon phase of an abuse cycle, because as a physician I saw the consequences of that choice more times than I can count.
Addressed in: Lessons 1.3, 2.2, 3.4, Bonus DSD lesson. NSES standards: AP.5.CC.1, AP.8.CC.1, GI.5.CC.1
DSD is introduced from the very beginning, alongside all other developmental differences. Students learn in the embryology lessons that the process of building a human body has a very large number of steps, and that any of those steps can go a little differently. Variation is not introduced as an exception or an anomaly. It’s introduced as a natural outcome of a construction project with trillions of moving parts.
The bonus DSD lesson walks through a spectrum chart covering the most common presentations, from CAIS to Turner syndrome to Klinefelter’s, explaining chromosomes, hormones, anatomy, and what happens at puberty for each. The historical practice of non-consensual surgeries to normalize appearance is addressed, including why that approach was harmful and how the medical standard of care has changed.
Addressed in: Lessons 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2. NSES standards: SH.2.CC.1, SH.5.CC.1, SH.5.CC.2
This is where the course starts. Not with puberty. Not with sex. With a single cell.
The embryology lessons walk through how a human body builds itself, step by step. Students learn that for the first six weeks of development, all bodies follow the same path. They learn that the heart begins forming before many other organs, and what that structure actually looks like at early stages. They learn that the genitals and the brain develop at different times and from different signals. They learn that half or more of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, and why, and that this is not a failure.
This foundation does more work than it looks like. By the time students encounter topics like gender identity, abortion, miscarriage, DSD, or assisted reproduction, they already understand the science underneath. The conclusions tend to feel obvious because the groundwork was laid first.
Addressed in: Lessons 1.1, 3.4. NSES standards: GI.2.CC.1, GI.5.CC.1, GI.5.CC.2, GI.5.CC.3, GI.8.CC (full set)
This follows directly from embryology, and the logic is laid out step by step.
Students have already learned that genitals begin developing around six weeks gestation and that the brain develops later, from different signals. Throughout the anatomy and puberty lessons, typical developmental patterns are described while noting clearly that not everyone follows them. The gender identity lesson then asks a question students can already answer: if you lost a limb, would you still be you? Every time, the answer is yes. The brain is the seat of identity. Once students have agreed on that, the clinical conclusion about gender identity follows from what they already know.
The four categories, biological sex, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation, are taught as separate buckets, because most confusion comes from conflating them. Medical transitions are explained clinically, the same way any other medical intervention is explained in this course. The workbook includes practicing the use of correct names and pronouns as a concrete skill.
Addressed in: Lessons 1.4, 2.7, and related lessons throughout. NSES standards: PD.5.GS.1
Body care is introduced in Module 1 as part of taking care of yourself, before puberty is even on the table. It builds through the modules as the body changes and new considerations arise.
The hygiene lessons cover practical, specific information at each level, not vague encouragement to wash properly.
Dr. Robin explicitly states that acne is not a hygiene issue. It’s a medical one, and treating it like a cleanliness problem causes unnecessary shame and often makes it worse.
Addressed in: Lessons 3.4, 4.5. NSES standards: SO.5.CC.1, SO.5.CC.2, SO.8.CC.1, SO.8.CC.2, GI full set
Sexual orientation and gender identity are addressed in Lesson 3.4, which covers biological sex, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation as four distinct and separate categories. Heterosexual, gay, bisexual, pansexual, and asexual identities are all defined. Asexual identity is explicitly validated as a normal variation, not an absence. The medical history of how these categories have been understood and treated over time is included for older students.
LGBTQIA+ students and families are not treated as edge cases throughout the course. When puberty and its social and emotional effects are covered, the curriculum notes that attraction to different people, no people, or any gender is a normal outcome of development. When assisted reproduction is covered, it’s framed as a path that works for many kinds of families for many kinds of reasons. When relationships are discussed, the lessons apply regardless of who is in them.
In alignment with the NSES, the workbook activity for this lesson asks students to design a school policy promoting dignity and respect for people of all genders and sexual orientations. It’s an advocacy exercise, not just a vocabulary list.
Addressed in: Lessons 2.1, 2.2, 5.7. Related to embryology sequence throughout.
Miscarriage is not introduced as a sudden hard topic. The embryology lessons explain early on that when a developing embryo doesn’t have what it needs to continue development, development stops. Students understand from the beginning that this process is common, that it reflects the genuine complexity of development, and that it is not caused by anything the pregnant person did.
By the time the specific lesson on pregnancy loss arrives, students already have a framework. They understand that an early embryo is not a suffering baby. That framing doesn’t diminish the loss for families. It does mean that when loss happens, people can grieve without carrying guilt they don’t deserve.
Addressed in: Lessons 3.8, 5.11. NSES standards: SH.8.INF.2
The pornography lesson is not about whether pornography is morally acceptable. It’s about what it actually is, what it isn’t, and what the research shows about its effects on body image, relationship expectations, and sexual development.
Students learn how pornography is produced, why it is not representative of real sex or real bodies, and why its early and heavy use is associated with specific patterns in how people relate to partners and think about their own bodies. The lesson is clinical and direct. The goal is that students understand what they’re looking at if they encounter it, rather than treating it as either a secret or a normal sex education resource.
Addressed in: Lesson 4.5. NSES standards: CHR.8.CC.3, CHR.8.INF.1
Lesson 4.5 covers how power differences shape whether a relationship can be genuinely healthy. Age gaps, financial dependency, employment relationships, race, immigration status, and social media are all addressed, because power imbalances take many forms and all of them affect whether a yes is actually a free choice.
Students learn that in a society where some groups receive more automatic benefit of the doubt than others, those imbalances can enter a relationship and distort what feels like a free decision. Someone whose immigration status or financial survival is tied to another person may not be able to say no in any meaningful way. Someone navigating a relationship across a significant racial power difference may feel pressure to stay in line to avoid conflict that could become dangerous. The lesson also covers how sexism, homophobia, and transphobia shape what people feel they’re allowed to want from a relationship.
The workbook asks students to analyze how these bigger systems influence relationship expectations. The goal is that students can see these forces clearly before they’re inside them.
Addressed in: Lessons 5.2, 6.2. NSES standards: SH.8.CC.11
The preventative health and self-advocacy lessons cover the social determinants of health, the well-documented reality that two people with identical genetics can have profoundly different health outcomes based on the conditions they live in.
Students learn about the weathering hypothesis, the research behind racial disparities in pregnancy outcomes, and why those disparities persist across every income level. Chronic stress from discrimination produces measurable biological change. That is peer-reviewed physiology.
Intersectionality is introduced as a clinical framework developed by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, explaining why addressing one variable at a time doesn’t improve outcomes for people navigating overlapping disadvantages.
Reproductive Justice is introduced through the framework developed by Loretta Ross and the SisterSong collective. The lesson on self-advocacy addresses how to navigate a medical system that has not historically listened equally to all bodies, and why that history matters for understanding some patients’ caution about engaging with it.
Addressed in: Lessons 5.1, 5.7. Related to anatomy and puberty lessons throughout.
This course covers the full clinical truth of the body, not just reproduction. That means conditions that affect the reproductive and sexual systems get addressed as medical topics.
In early lessons, Dr. Robin covers the symptoms of common infections such as yeast infections, bacterial vaginosis, rectal strep, pinworms, and balanitis as well as conditions such as lichen sclerosis and eczema.
Later lessons include a wide variety of conditions including torsion, infertility, endometriosis, PCOS, cysts, cancer, and more. Students learn what these conditions are, how they present, why they’re frequently missed or misdiagnosed, and what management looks like.
The anatomy lessons earlier in the course mean students arrive at these topics with an actual map of the system being discussed, rather than learning about a condition before they understand the organ it affects.
Addressed in: Lesson 6.2. Related to contraception, abortion, and health disparities lessons.
Reproductive Justice is introduced as a framework with a specific origin: the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, founded in 1994 and led by activist Loretta Ross. The three rights it articulates, the right to have a child, the right not to have a child, and the right to parent in a safe and healthy environment, are taught as the framework for understanding when healthcare access becomes a justice issue rather than just a healthcare gap.
This is taught in the self-advocacy lesson, alongside intersectionality, because understanding your rights is part of being able to advocate for yourself in a medical setting.
See: LGBTQIA+ above.
SEXUAL PLEASURE AND RESPONSE
Addressed in: Lessons 3.1, 4.4, 5.9. Related to anatomy lessons throughout. NSES standards: SH.8.INF.2
The very first embryology and anatomy lessons lay the groundwork. Students learn that the clitoris is built from the same embryonic tissue as the penis. Neither is treated as the default and the other as an afterthought.
The connection between sex and pleasure is introduced in Lesson 3.1. Intercourse and Implantation, where students learn that biology uses the same mechanics for two distinct jobs: bonding and reproduction. This establishes from the beginning that sex is not only or primarily about making babies, and that pleasure and connection are not side effects. They are half the point.
The full sexual pleasure and response lesson addresses the physiological response cycle, the difference between sexual response and sexual pleasure, and why that distinction matters clinically.
Sexual response can occur without consent, without desire, and without safety. Students learn that their body’s physical response does not mean they wanted something. The lesson also covers the brake and accelerator model of sexual response, what suppresses pleasure and why, and the role of safety and connection in whether pleasure is actually possible.
The relationship module addresses something that often creates conflict: that some people feel more emotionally bonded after sex and some people don’t, and that this difference is normal, but assuming your partner feels the same way you do without checking is a reliable source of misunderstanding and hurt.
Addressed in: Lessons 3.7, 5.5. NSES standards: SH.5.CC.3, SH.8.CC.5, SH.8.CC.6
STIs are introduced in the same framework as any other infection. We get infections in our noses, our lungs, our urinary tracts. We also get infections in our genitals.
The curriculum includes non-sexually transmitted genital infections alongside STIs. They are often skipped in standard sex education but students need this information also. This also helps remove the moral weight that usually gets attached to STIs, which has no clinical basis and causes real harm when people avoid testing or treatment out of shame.
The lessons cover transmission, prevention, the asymptomatic nature of many STIs, treatment including the difference between curable and manageable, HIV as a chronic condition with undetectable viral load as the goal, and the importance of testing and partner communication. Common myths are addressed directly. The HPV vaccine and PrEP/PEP are covered.
Evaluating this curriculum for a school, homeschool co-op, or organization? Sometimes a spreadsheet and an accordion menu aren’t quite enough. Reach out here and we can talk through whatever your board, committee, or community needs to know.