In the fall I will be homeschooling my two kids. They will be in 2nd and 4th. I just realized I probably should teach something health related and need suggestions. Thanks!
Last summer I picked up a 1st/2nd grade book to split between the two grades (they also have a 3/4 grade and a 5/6 grade book). It looked okay via online, and got decent reviews. It’s pretty good - a good mix of both worksheets and simple activities/experiments/crafts. We neglected to follow through with it most of the year… I didn’t have it scheduled for a good time/day so by the time we get to it we’re tired and push it off until tomorrow… tomorrow… and tomorrow rarely happens. It’s definitely worth putting the effort into, especially because it’s affordable and goes through 6th grade. I’ll be adding it to a better time slot in the schedule next year. Here’s the link to the 1st/2nd grade book. http://www.amazon.com/Health-Hygiene-Nutrition-Grades-1-2/dp/0742427560/ref=sr_1_cc_9?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1431479507&sr=1-9-catcorr&keywords=health+hygiene+nutrition
1 Like
I bought the American Girl Body Book for my 10 year old. It’s not “curriculum” but covers what I think she needs to know. Very age appropriate information. I’ll go through it with my middle daughter in a year or two and I’ll probably leave my son up to my husband!! 
3 Likes
We used a beka this year for 2nd. It was very basic bit my son liked it. He enjoyed reading the book and I liked that it reinforced the lessons we try to teach him regarding nutrition and personal care. We aren’t going to teach health every year.
2 Likes
I just bought Horizons Health grade 2:) it looks basic, but it appears to have some good info that is developmentally appropriate for a 2nd grader. I plan on adding in a few hands on projects (via Pinterest).
1 Like
We used Health, Safety, and Manners 2 and Developing Good Health 4 grade. Both from A Beka.
1 Like
We have A Beka and it is excellent for picking up and reading through. It covers many different areas of Health and Manners. But, Rod & Staff also has a sweet Health & Manners for 2nd and 4th that I love for the children to work on. It is 1 lesson per week, it dies not take long to do, yet it teaches basic everyday knowledge that I want to see my children applying to their lives everyday. I think you can see sample pages of these at www.milestonebooks.com
1 Like
Thanks for the suggestions! I will check out those websites.
I used the same American Girl book this year and really liked it. You can also buy a journal that goes with it. They have the American Girl Body Book for older girls and a book called the Care and Keeping our your Emotions. I haven’t looked at those yet, but I’d like to!
In case anyone is looking at Horizons Health we tried it last year and I wouldn’t buy it again. Its not that there is necessarily anything wrong with it but I felt like it was time consuming and I didn’t like the teachers manual. Its geared toward classroom use and very formal. We got about 1/3 of the way through and then stuck it on the shelf where it still sits. I think that (for much less money) you can find better books on whatever topic you’d like to cover on Amazon or at the library for books on health and safety for kids.
1 Like
I did recently but that American girl book and my daughter really enjoyed reading it. I will for sure buy the second one for her when she is a couple years older(she is 9).
@Jenny when I went to post the link for the book I saw the journal! Not sure how I never noticed. I ordered it for my daughter! She loves to journal 
1 Like
@Jenny Oh No! I just bought grade 2 to use next year…are there any specific examples you could give in the cons of Horizons? I was thinking about adding in some activities per chapter that I found on Pinterest:) do you have any pros of using Horizons? Thank you!!
We used 5th grade Horizons Health. I think it just may be something that wasn’t a good fit for us. I think a good pro of Horizons health is that each year covers a good variety of health topics. It has a great scope.
But, for my kids it was like pulling teeth to get them “into” it. There was so much moaning and groaning, so when I think of Horizons health I just think NO! Hahahaha!
I think it would be great to add in other activities that you find. I think you can take any curriculum and jazz it up to really fit your family or to make it fun. I actually have chosen some readings from the workbook and used a few worksheets here and there, so it wasn’t a total loss. For us, we just seem to do better with library books about certain topics. I think the kids thought it was boring, and they may have liked it better if I jazzed it up! It became such a chore that we just ditched it. The second grade books may be more interesting. Its not terribly expensive. I think it was roughly 35 dollars for the grade set, but I just wouldn’t spend it again. I don’t want to really discourage anyone from trying it because I think it just may have been a bad fit for us!
@Jenny Thank you for your response…its food for thought:) I have it already for next year. It’s the current edition, colorful, and with adding in some hands on activities it should be fine:)
2 Likes
My son is finishing up 2nd grade and we had the 3rd grade Horizons Health. It fit beautifully with other subjects we were doing. He was finishing up life science and the human body systems, so Horizons Health reinforced what we were talking about. This included a little Bible study and crossed over into some additional reading of children’s books with a “lesson” or a moral of the story. It was a nice way to facilitate discussions about valuing ourselves, thinking of others, how to handle tough social situations and taking responsibility for our actions. We enjoyed it and my son is looking forward to the next book in the series.