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Many people believe homeschooling is an excellent choice for elementary and middle school children, but that belief begins to break down for high school for several reasons. As kids enter high school, they begin to take classes that may be beyond a homeschool parent’s expertise or skill set. High school involves milestone events or experiences such as prom that parents want their kids to experience (by the way, there is homeschool prom). Teens are close to important transitions that chart their future, such as college, the military, trade schools, or jobs. All of this can be intimidating to some.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked if I planned to homeschool my kids all the way through high school. The looks I receive help me to read between the line—the person speaking usually expects that I will tell them that I plan to place my kids back in public school once they reach high school. I have a freshman and a senior now, and I can say from experience that I love homeschooling my teens. In many ways, homeschooling high school is more manageable. My daughters have become independent learners in many ways. They can take classes online with other teachers and teach themselves using the resources available to them. I’ve become more of an advisor for them. They do the heavy lifting, and I get to share with them the fun aspects of their education, such as the insightful discussions, witnessing their discoveries, celebrating their accomplishments, and helping them learn how to bolster areas they don’t feel as capable in.
My favorite aspect of homeschooling my teen daughters is the discussions about life that I can have with them to a much greater depth than when they were younger. These discussions are critical because nearly young adults will have to navigate their lives outside our home. It has been imperative that I teach my daughters about self-care, maintaining their health, and understanding how their bodies work. These discussions can be more difficult when it comes to touchier subjects such as drugs and alcohol, sex, pregnancy, and relationships. If you know me, I don’t shy away from touchy or uncomfortable subjects, but there are times where I may look for resources from which to broach these topics. Books are a great springboard for discussion in my house, which is why Oak Meadow Health Curriculum has been so helpful. When we discuss issues regarding health, I don’t want to offer my girls my opinion. I want them to be informed with science, facts, and statistics so that they can make informed decisions about their bodies and their health.
What is Oak Meadow Integrated Health & Fitness Curriculum?
Oak Meadow is a secular homeschool program that offers both an accredited, distance-learning online program and independent use curricula. I have used The Oak Meadow Health Curriculum for independent use with my homeschooled high school freshman, and we loved it! I received the Glencoe Health: Making Life Choices Textbook, the Integrated Health & Fitness Workbook by Oak Meadow, the Human Anatomy Coloring Book by Margaret Matt, and the books Spark and In Defense of Food.
This curriculum covers both health and fitness to educate students holistically on health and wellness. Although I am a Christian, I appreciate that this health curriculum is secular because I prefer to educate my children on the spiritual aspects of health myself.
What I Love about this Curriculum
The Science of Health
As a science teacher, my favorite aspect of this curriculum is the Anatomy & Physiology of the human body. Oak Meadow Curriculum lays a solid foundation of how the body works, delves into nutrition and covers fitness. This logical sequence helped my daughter understand how the body works, what nutrition our bodies need based on anatomy and physiology, and why fitness and healthy eating are essential. The textbook also covered the importance of mental health and well-being as well.
I love the logical sequence the curriculum takes to explore health & nutrition. Additionally, I appreciate the various resources outside of the textbook used as additional, more in-depth information.
Practical Fitness and Dietary Information
My daughter is a visual learner and the Anatomy & Physiology Coloring Book has been extremely helpful to her following the different parts of the body and how they function. The color-coding as she learned really helped her to internalize what she read.
Additionally, the supplemental books In Defense of Food and Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain are extremely helpful because they offer deeper, real-life explanations on the importance of nutrition and exercise.
Important Education on Drugs, Alcohol, Sex and Sexuality
It is important to me that my children are well-educated about the world around them which is why I appreciated the chapters that covered drug and alcohol abuse, as well as sex, sexuality, and sexually transmitted diseases. As a parent, I appreciate the baseline textbook discussion of these topics which acts as a springboard for these important conversations. I also appreciate that I have the freedom as a Christian parent discuss these topics from both a scientific aspect as well as a theological, values-based aspect.
The Takeaway
Oak Meadow Health & Fitness Curriculum is definitely one that I would recommend to homeschool families looking for a curriculum that promotes a healthy lifestyle and making healthy choices overall. I believe the curriculum covers a number of important aspects regarding health and is a great baseline to begin some important conversations that parents must have with their children before they go out into the world.
