Sneak Peek #4: New World History Guide

[Carrie]

Ladies,

I've been so busy making final selections for books to be included in the new guide that I haven't had time to post a sneak peek for a few weeks! I am really excited to see the various parts of the guide coming together so well! To give you another glimpse into the new guide, I'm ready to share a new sneak peek. This sneak peek will deal with the subject of Health.

In the new World History guide, we will be scheduling Total Health: Choices for a Winning Lifestyle. We will schedule this text all year, three times weekly. This will allow students to earn 1/2 credit in Health.

Here is the publisher's description of Total Health:
This curriculum for high school students is designed to provide students with a thorough understanding of all important physical, mental and social health issues. Written directly to teens from a caring, friendly, Christian perspective, Total Health presents a moral basis for a healthy lifestyle based upon Scriptural principles. Topics like anatomy, body systems, food choices, exercise, diseases, stress, emergencies, responsibility, and more are included. Illustrations and photographs add visual interest to the text. At the end of each chapter, a review contains terms to define, questions to answer based on the text, Biblical application questions, discussion questions (to discuss with a parent), and suggested activities. 464 pages, indexed. Softcover.

Contents Include:
Physical Health
Ch.1: Welcome to the Human Body (includes anatomy/physiology/organization of human body)
Ch.2 Eleven Systems: One Body (includes circulatory, respiratory, skeletal, muscular, digestive, excretory, integumentary, immune, nervous, endocrine, and reproductive systems)
Ch. 3 Nutrition (includes basic nutrition, doctor's role, vitamins, minerals, and diet)
Ch. 4 Fitness and Exercise (includes fitness facts, exercise principles, exercise programs, preventing injuries, and fatigue and sleep)
Ch. 5 Infectious Disease (includes causes, processes, battling infectious diseases, common types, and sexually transmitted diseases)
Ch. 6 Noninfectious Disease (includes causes, types, and how to fight them)

Mental Health:
Ch. 7 Stress and Anxiety (includes understanding mental health, coping with stress, and choosing life)
Ch. 8 L.I.F.E. Management (includes managing your lifestyle, influences, friendships, and stressors)
Ch. 9 Made in His Image (includes self-image, appearance, comfort zones, and self-talk)

Social Health:
Ch. 10 Head to Toe (includes physical health: skin, hair, hands, eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, posture, feet)
Ch. 11 Risky Business (includes risk-taking, accidents, fire safety, poison control, gun safety, school safety, road safety, basic first aid, fainting, burns, nosebleeds, heat exhaustion, hypothermia, choking, CPR)
Ch. 12 What's Your Responsibility? (includes responsibility as a Christian, as a person, and as a citizen)
Ch. 13 Maturity: What's It All About? (includes choices, boundaries, help in crisis, puberty, sexual intimacy, abstinence, purity, fetal development, tobacco, drugs, alcohol)
Ch. 14 Changing Relationships (includes friendships, courtship, marriage, parenthood, family, aging, coping with death)
Ch. 15 Spiritual Health (includes reading and meditating on God's Word, personal prayer and quiet time, praise and worship, consistent Christian living)
Ch. 16 Reaching Your Potential (includes pursuing a vision, pursuing your destiny in Christ, waiting on the Lord, a heavenly inheritance)

I used this study with our oldest son when he was a sophomore, and I must admit that while I was hesitant to discuss some of these topics it really became an incredible time of sharing and bonding between the two of us. Our discussions were very rich and honest, and with such a God-honoring text like Total Health in hand (and armed with its truly excellent and thought-provoking questions), all I had to do was ask the questions in the guide and discuss the answers with my son. I didn't plan ahead for the topics, and if I felt I was wading into deep waters, I just looked back over the text to get some guidance as we talked.

With this study it is a good idea to check your student's work daily, as this will provide much insight into the topics your student is studying and into what is coming on your discussion days. Due to the nature of the topics, I wouldn't recommend using this text below grade 10, unless your child has already come up through HOD on the youngest age range and is using this guide in grade 9 (after using the World Geography guide the year before). Rest assured though that the topics are treated in such a Biblical way that even potentially tough topics will lead your child closer to the Lord. My oldest son (who is a senior this year) was just saying what good memories he has of doing this study and the discussions he had with me! What a blessing to take these opportunities to remain close to our children and keep open lines of communication about all areas of their lives.

We will be having the students read a portion of the text each day and answer corresponding questions daily as well. We will have discussions one to two times weekly, depending on the balance of parent involvement required by other subjects needed throughout the week. Time needed for the discussions will be longer, while days that require reading and answering questions will be shorter.

I recommend setting aside plenty of time for your discussions to allow you to delve into them more deeply. We did some discussing during the day, some at night, and some even on the weekends (if I felt I couldn't allot enough time to the discussion during the day). Some discussions were shorter than others. Of course, you could very briefly discuss the questions instead, however I found that having extra time to dovetail into sharing my own personal experiences was of real benefit.

Students will also be doing a project once each quarter, which they will choose from the options provided at the end of the chapters covered in that particular quarter. All of this will be scheduled for you in the World History guide. There will also likely be some test-taking. I did have my oldest son take the tests at the end of the chapters, but I allowed him to do them open-book as I was really looking for understanding and application rather than memorization. I allowed my son to choose from the essay-style topics at the end of each test so that he did not do them all. The essays did take him quite a bit of time to complete, so I am still weighing what direction to go with that portion, as students will be doing essay-writing as part of their English credit and also be doing the writing lessons within Rod and Staff English as part of that credit too.

I am so glad that there are wonderful God-honoring options like this one for health for Christian families. What a difference from the health courses I had as part of my education!

I pray that you will become closer to your child through this study and that the Lord may draw your children closer to him too as they ponder difficult topics in a Biblical way.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Molly]

This is something I probably would have completely missed doing without HOD. I am so grateful the Lord brought me here. What a great part of the journey for our blossoms!!!

[Mombeck]

This is great timing as I have had Total Health Middle School in my cart to possibly purchase. My daughter will start 8th grade next fall so we might still do the ms text but I'm going to check out if they are very different. Maybe, I'll do a lighter health class next year knowing that looking ahead in World History, there is a great health course planned. I'm really pleased with your choices, Carrie! Thank you for doing all the planning for us.

[bethelmommy]

This is many years away for us, but I still love seeing all that we have to look forward to . Thank you Carrie!
I also appreciate the detailed explanations you are providing. My oldest two are combined and dd is on the young end for the guides. It is reassuring to hear from you that if she has progressed through the guides, the topics and requirements for this course should not be too much to handle. Thanks again for the exciting sneak peek!

[LynnH]

Fantastic choice as always Carrie. I used Total Health with my dd and it was a great health program from a Christian perspective. We also had some good conversations around the topics. In fact it was so good that my neighbor borrowed it for her dd and then her friend borrowed it and I think someone else borrowed it so now I will need to get a new copy, but that is ok. It is just a very solid program to give the required 1/2 credit of Health that most colleges want to see.

[Mumkins]

This looks great!!

We need 1 'Health and Phys. Ed' credit. Do you think this combined with attending about 30 hours of karate classes over the year would make a full credit? We actually need 8 credits a year, so I'm looking to fill some of the half credits up.

[Carrie]

Ladies,

Thanks so much for taking time to share your thoughts!

In answer to some of the questions in the thread, for those families who need a full credit in health, it would be easy to select additional projects from those suggested in the Total Health guide for your student to work on to earn an additional 50 hours to equal a full credit in health (rather than a 1/2 credit). This would be in addition to the approximately 70 hours or more that your student would already be putting in to complete the Total Health course as planned in the World History guide. While full credits earned for core required subjects like history and English usually require 150 hours or so, with subjects like math and lab science leaning toward 170-180 hours for a full credit, special subjects like Health or fine arts lean more toward earning a minimum of 120 hours for a full-credit. Completion of a text can also be a way to award credit, which is the route we will be going with the Total Health text.

Since Total Health will only be scheduled 3 times weekly, it would not be hard to add additional project time on the days off or on the weekend to earn a full credit (as many of the projects lend themselves to fitness/diet/lifestyle changes that could be incorporated into daily living).

As far as adding credit for physical education, requirements vary quite a bit by state as to what is "allowed" and also how many hours should be logged as a physical education component for credit. Some states do not allow organized sports or competitive sports to be counted toward the p.e. requirement. Some states require a text along with hours logged for physical training of some sort (outside of an organized sport). This could be biking, swimming, jogging, weight lifting, logging miles walking, etc. Some states allow martial arts, gymnastics, fitness classes, and personal trainers to be logged as well. With all of this in mind, the Total Health text (which does cover fitness, diet, injuries, etc.) combined with some personal fitness goals (and hours logged in that pursuit) would qualify for a full-credit of most health/p.e. requirements.

It is wise to check what your state requires and to plan accordingly to earn needed credit in health (and possibly p.e.). If you need a full credit in health and/or p.e., (after checking your state's requirements) determine whether you desire to earn a full credit in health or whether you desire to earn 1/2 credit in health and 1/2 credit in p.e.

If you choose to earn 1/2 credit in p.e. (separate from the health), you would need to log a minimum of 70-75 hours in that area. This is because listing the p.e. 1/2 credit as a separate course from the health 1/2 credit course means that each course requires separate time to be logged. Then, outside of the p.e. course, you would have the additional 1/2 credit of health as planned in the World History guide, logging those same amount of hours (and completion of the Total Health text) for that 1/2 credit.

If instead, you have the option of foregoing physical education and earning a full credit in health instead, then you could fold your p.e. related fitness goals into earning the full health credit as an additional "project" and only need an additional 50 hours of fitness related goals to reach the full credit threshold in health (outside of the projects already scheduled within the World History guide's health portion).

Others of you may only need 1/2 credit in health and have no p.e. requirement. If this is the case for you, then you don't need to worry about the things I've shared above!

Blessings,
Carrie

[Mumkins]

Thanks Carrie!

The health program looks really great. Glad to know how we can add to it.

Side note- I think things are completely different here. A credit is a 110 hour course taken for 1 semester. 8 courses in grades 9 and 10, 7 in grades 11 and 12. You'd take biology and chemistry, for example, in the same year (11) and take them both again the next year more in depth.

[mamanlait]

What a fantastic line-up of topics! This will be one more book that I'll enjoy pre-reading from the High School set. I'm so glad this book contains relational topics as well as more physical ones. It really seems to touch on all of the pertinent and important topics of teen years (friendships, boundaries, Christian living, self-image as well as first aid, infectious disease, nutrition, and fitness). Very excited to have guidance as a parent in navigating such critical discussions!

[Motherjoy]

Carrie, will we have to purchase the teacher's guide for this book?