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My grade nine boy has been logging all his fitness efforts this year, working on his grade nine phys ed credit. Part of that credit will include a health component. Means that I am sussing out a health credit for him. Tonight when he came home from Army Cadets he mentioned that he reached bronze level in the fitness component. He wants very much to do better at this so he’s rather invested in health. My goal is to find a curriculum that will work well for him, giving him the information he needs as he moves forward into maintaining good health and fitness.
Why is investing in health a goal?
Being physically fit and knowing what to eat to help maintain your body well helps a body is SO many ways.
- Maintains mental energy, gives you the gas you need to work productively.
- Helps maintain a healthy weight.
- Assists in regulating the bodies natural energies.
- Promotes strong bones and muscules
- Reduced health problems saves you money long-term.
- Increases your life expectancy.
- Reduces your risk of injury as health bodies suffer less from balance issues, bone density problems, increases your flexibility and overall stability.
- Improves your mental outlook.
- Delays onset of chronic diseases.
- Helps in recovery from Illness.
Steps Taken thus far
I went to The Learning House about a month back and found what I think is a curriculum that the lad will like. He’s used Apologia courses before and thoroughly enjoys them, so the Apologia health and nutrition course should fit. I found the Student workbook on Amazon (aff link). I also know that the Home School Review crew looked at this set a bit ago and the reviews were postive. I’m definitely leaning this way, but it’s good to know what my other options are so I continued looking.
Failed Attempts.
Looking for other options initially left me feeling like there weren’t any other options, at least for a grade nine lad. Finding resources for high school students invested in their health was more problematic than I thought it would be.
Since my lad is a you-tube watcher I thought I’d look there, but that was an unsuccessful venture. All I got, regardless of the search I did were videos related to sex eduction, or projects done by grade nine students (please… just don’t go there).
A member of the Homeschool Review Crew suggested I check out Fit2B and I discovered they have a Fit2B course for girls, but alas, none for boys. I have to wonder why nothing for boys? Are they only invested in the health of women?
One of my colleagues on Homeschooling Bloggers brought my attention to this meal planning for kids course that teaches healthy eating. She speaks to why she developed this course on her blog. Though this looks like an excellent course, it’s not quite what I am looking for.
My Search Continues
I found some links on-line which shows some real promise:
- Health, Safety & Nutrition Worksheets list
- I located this unit on Kids Health that I really like and shows promise: Health and Safety topics (K-12)
- By the Numbers – Drug and Alcohol Prevention
- Knowing that Canada has recently changed the food guide I thought I’d look that up. PDF’s, reports, images and more to assist.
- Alison has a human health- diet and nutrition course which seems very doable.
- I considered the sources I found for high school science.
- Coursera has a food and health course that could be interesting.
- I found this rather interesting course outline/lesson from Alberta for grade nine health.
- Looking on TPT I found this ebook which I think the lad would respond well to. A guide to help him create the sort of work out he wants. Not sure though as it’s geared to be a small group activity. In talking with my lad he’d like to use the outline she provided and come up with his own thing.
- Health Unit for grades 9-12 also on TPT. I’m a bit boggled by the price though, even if it looks very thorough and has good reviews. Not quite within my budget though, but for some would be worth it right?
- This guide for North West Territories grade 9 health guide was interesting. Comparing it to the needs of Albertan student shows it’s uniqueness. Shows me how health can be geared to the students.
Final Result
Lindberg Human LungI honestly don’t know quite what I am going to do. I’ll be talking all these options over with my son and seeing what we work out. Mostly likely we’ll be doing a combination of things. Some PE items that he will plan out, as well as a curriculum of some sort.
I have a number of books and supplies that I’m going to use, the lad helped me pick most of them out. 🙂 It helps that he is invested in his health.
These supplies (aff link to Amazon)
- Lindberg Human Heart.
- Lindberg Human Lung.
- The Complete Human Body.
- Professor Noggin’s Human body card game.
- First Aid, CPR and AED manual. Our edition is different than this. Just find one that works eh?
- The Human Body workbook. The lad is technically a bit old for this, but it has some interesting activities in it.
- The Anatomy Student self-test colouring book. I really got this for the hubby, but then he got busy and too tired, so repurposing for the lad.
- 3D Explorer – Human Body.
- Lintball Leo’s not so stupid questions about your body.
Hope you all are able to come up with a good fit. It is strange when a company creates something for one gender or the other but not both. Good luck finding what works.
thank you, we’ll get something figured for sure. 🙂
My daughter took a high school health class with a homeschool co-op and the mom that taught it just had the kids read a nutrition book, write some essays about what they learned, and cook healthy recipes. My daughter learned so much about health and nutrition (and cooking!).
I can well imagine that she would have learned a lot.
I can understand about trying to figure out what to do…sometimes there are so many options but none seem to fit. Good luck!
It can be a challenge.