Ok, trying to figure out what I'm doing with Health this next year. Last year, my K and 2nd grader took Health/Safety/Manners at our co-op (teacher loosely followed Abeka). My 4th grader did a bit of Abeka 4th grade health but not all of it...alot of it was review of previous lessons at her old school. I'm trying to decide if I should do it annually, together, separate by grade level, pray the co-op does the little kids again, etc. I've looked at Abeka online and Horizons has a new Health too. LifePacs and BJU are for older kids so would work for my oldest but not the little 2. So what do you do? Formal...just "family discussions", every other year, ???? I just can't decide. I'm going to the used HS store tonight with a friend (they have late night parent only hours one night per month...it's about 40 mins away). I know I can find the Abeka stuff there....which would be easiest because the older 2 can work independently but not sure that's the best way to approach it either.......decisions, decisions.......
I wouldn't do it every year. I think something during the elementary ages like general hygiene, then something again in junior high and again once in high school is all you would need. Couple that will just general everyday family discussions when things come up.
We unschool on the subject of health. I just have talks about various topics related while we are doing everyday activities. Example, explaining why we wash the counters and the sink before preparing a meal. Why we use different cutting boards and change knives. Why you have to take your pickle slices out and put them in a separate bowl, or why we dont swig out of containers of beverage that are not single serving. We have such conversations when selecting foods in the grocery store, or when bathing and so forth. Later we will do a human biology type of subject for science and include alot of health in that.
We do this sort of thing also...more and more as I allow them in the kitchen :lol: My oldest has read the American Girl book (The Care & Keeping of You). Planning to get another copy for my youngest sometime during the year. I want them to have their own so they can refer to it whenever they want (and it isn't a good time to ask Mom for whatever reason). I count that as "Health" for my oldest this year which is the other reason I didn't push her to do more formally this year (even though the 2 youngest had it at co-op). The only reason I would more interested in doing something more formally in the fall for my 5th grader is because she isn't a "science" kid so I try to sneak in extra things that are science-related.....such as health. Thanks for the replies.
I use www.healthteacher.com . It goes from K-12, and I will be using it this year again. We do health weekly. There's so much to cover.
Thanks Becky for the link. I ended up getting an older edition 5th grade Abeka Health dirt cheap and the 3rd grade one reasonably priced too. My 1st grader can do it with my 3rd grader. I don't know if we'll use the books all the time but I have them to fall back on if I decide not to do them "as a family". Good site. It's bookmarked!
Thanks Becky, I looked down he scope and sequence and saw that I covered most of the high school stuff but the emergency first aide/cpr stuff and a few older kid items that have not been relevent, though I did find I did a lot of it from life itself and the people we know who have problems in certain areas. Explaining what they are going through helped! So I guess we HAVE taught Health even without realising it! Cool!
Email the guy who runs healthteacher.com and tell him what you want! He's a very decent guy and just might come up with something. I talked to him after I subscribed, and he was very accommodating and interested in what a homeschooler needs.
Most science courses have something body related at one point or other. That's really all you need to fulfill your health once you've taught the formal version. I think someone pointed out that it should be taught in middle school and again in High school. That will be a more comprehensive course of study. Really, teaching children to wash their bodies, comb their hair, brush teeth, etc. These are all health related. If you are reminding your children to wash their hands before eating because of dirt and germs or showing them how to put clothes in the washer while talking about the importance of a clean and neat appearance, or telling them why those carrots on their plate are important to their body, you've taught health.
I had not done it yet...but my eldest is going to be in 4th grade...I am thinking of doing Alpha Omega's 4th-7th grade one... OR maybe Horizons. I prefer A/O b/c it is a 5 unit set, and I figure I could spread it over a couple years so that it's a "low stress" class.
