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Carrie,
I know you said that you used Total Health this year with your oldest. Did you use the whole program? Or did he just read through the text and do narrations about what was read? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

I want to know this, too!

Ladies,

Since I was only desiring to award .5 of a credit for health this year, we did health 2 times a week this year, scheduling 5-7 pages per session for my son to read on his own. I then assigned him the corresponding questions at the end of the chapter that matched his reading for the day and also assigned him the corresponding discussion questions to discuss with me after he answered the other written questions.

We had some of the best discussions about all areas of my son's life through Total Health this year. For us, it was a huge bonding time to be able to speak about mature things within the context of a text written from a Biblical perspective in the area of health. We did not do the projects, although the options for project work are numerous. I did have my son do the tests at the end of each chapter, but I elected to have him do them as open-book tests. This was because my goal was for him to really re-read and re-write the information in the chapter in order to "see it one more time" as he answered the test questions. There was also an essay required at the end of each test, and I did have my son write the essay for this too. This process really helped him think through his answers. I do think that some of the projects would be worth doing, depending on your goals. My oldest son happens to be a very physically active, very nutritious, and very stress concious child, so I wasn't looking for this course to be a health awakening for him. Otherwise, I may have looked at assigning more project work. But my son is actually much more health focused than me! I think I gained as much, or more, from the readings than he did!!

On a sidenote, for us, since we were also doing Biology this year through ACE, and it has anatomy within it, we felt it was a good match to do health this year. The two courses dovetailed nicely, especially at the end.

One last thing I'll share that you may wish to ponder is that Total Health discusses mature topics, so I would lean toward doing it with a sophomore at the earliest. I know I wouldn't have been as open in my discussions, nor would I have wanted my son reading some of the topics within the text if he had been younger.

Blessings,
Carrie

Carrie,
Thanks so much for chiming in! It helps to get that perspective. I will be using this with my son and daughter who will be 16 and 14, respectfully. I am planning on discussing the questions with them one-on-one. Olivia (currently 13) has taken quite a few human anatomy lab courses at a local Med. School and we have had some great discussion through this. The kids actually get to see real organs and cadavers. They see what certain diseases can do to the body. She is my science minded kiddo who I belive will end up in health care somewhere. My son is a lot more squimish about such things, so I don't force the issue. I feel that this is a good spot to do a health course and we have looked at this program several times. Thanks for weighing in and helping us make great choices for our Highschoolers!