Garga Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 My state (PA) requires that I teach "health" somewhere between 7th and 12th grade. I'm ok with that. I think it's something important to delve into. However, I would like to knock out that requirement next year, in 7th grade. That would free up 9th-12th grade for meatier subjects. My question: Is Health required to be taught in 9th-12th grade? Will colleges be looking for that on a transcript? If I don't teach it in 9th-12th, will that cause me a problem later that I don't even know about? Please help--I don't want to spend this year studying health only to find out I have to do it all over again somewhere between 9th and 12th grade. Thanks, Hive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Neither of my older two had Health on their transcript and they were accepted to every school they applied to (no Ivy League) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Haven't met a college that cared. Our state requires between 9-12. If you are allowed earlier, that is when I would do it. If it isn't required, I wouldn't bother with hit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 I agree with previous posters, but would add that when you decide to cover health may depend on what you choose to teach. Our state requires a year of health ed. I just had my youngest take it at the local ps. It was less awkward for both of us. I was familiar with the course content from my older kids and felt that 9th grade was an appropriate time for the material covered. In hindsight, ds thought the second semester was overkill. If your health course goes beyond diet, exercise, and disease and also covers sex ed. and drug and alcohol use, you may want to wait until high school when your student has a few more years of maturity on them and the conversations are more meaningful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted April 22, 2014 Author Share Posted April 22, 2014 I agree with previous posters, but would add that when you decide to cover health may depend on what you choose to teach. Our state requires a year of health ed. I just had my youngest take it at the local ps. It was less awkward for both of us. I was familiar with the course content from my older kids and felt that 9th grade was an appropriate time for the material covered. In hindsight, ds thought the second semester was overkill. If your health course goes beyond diet, exercise, and disease and also covers sex ed. and drug and alcohol use, you may want to wait until high school when your student has a few more years of maturity on them and the conversations are more meaningful. My hope is to provide a full 7th grade health class appropriate to 7th grade. Then, in high school, we can discuss high school level issues as they arise naturally or as I decide to incorporate them into our family life/discussions. I just don't want to have to use my precious High School academic time for an official health class when we could be doing something meatier with our academic time. Does that make sense? I'll still teach the health issues, but won't have to make it official and count hours or complete 2/3 of a book, or add it to a transcript, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 I think your plan sounds good. I have yet to see health on a list of college entrance requirements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butter Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 It's says between 7th and 12th so I think you are free to do it at any point in there. Here they need 1/2 credit of health in middle school and 1/2 credit in high school. However, they can take the high school 1/2 credit in middle school and it count toward high school graduation. My son is taking his 1/2 credit of middle school health now (6th grade) and is planning to do his 1/2 credit of high school health in 8th grade (that's the only grade they can take it in middle school since it deal a lot with STDs and more mature themes than the regular middle school health class does). So he won't have health on his high school transcript and, since so many kids here do it that way, I don't think colleges care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2jjka Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Do you have a Red Cross near you? I am including things like CPR and first aid training as part of our high school health. I have also heard of people lumping it together with PE and/or Home Ec and calling it 'Health, Fitness & Nutrition' on their transcripts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 My hope is to provide a full 7th grade health class appropriate to 7th grade. Then, in high school, we can discuss high school level issues as they arise naturally or as I decide to incorporate them into our family life/discussions. I just don't want to have to use my precious High School academic time for an official health class when we could be doing something meatier with our academic time. Does that make sense? I'll still teach the health issues, but won't have to make it official and count hours or complete 2/3 of a book, or add it to a transcript, etc. This makes total sense. My youngest decided to attend public high school after homeschooling for 5 years. He lasted one semester and then decided to return home while keeping one or two classes at ps. I wish I could get back the time for a few of the elective classes, although Health I was excellent. Just a thought, but if I were you, I would keep a list of topics to be covered and check in every once in a while to make sure you are on track. Sometimes on this board, health classes get shirked, but they are important and many issues need to be discussed before they become an "issue" and are brought up at the dinner table. The time to talk about mental health and warning signs for depression in a young person are before a loved one or a peer attempts suicide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Garga, I am so glad you're on this high school/college journey with me! After we talked, I looked a little at the various options for diploma programs (see my thread about that on this board); I was able to see some of them (some require a payment, and I didn't feel like doing that yet). At least one said either 1/2 or 1 credit (I don't remember which) of "health and physical education." I'm really not sure how specific they intend it to be, other than that, though, like "is it okay if it's all PE and no specific health?" As I gather the brochures from the diploma programs, I will try to get clarification on things like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara H Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 It depends on the state but I'd say the majority of homeschoolers don't have health on the high school transcript. That said, give you homeschoolers have a lot of flexibility in how they approach subjects I see a lot of positives in covering health in high school. It doesn't have to be a full textbook. It can be an article here or a documentary there. Many teens who would roll their eyes and refuse discussion of topics like substance use or nutrition, will cover material that's a school requirement. It can be a good opportunity to command at least some attention to issues that are pretty crucial to having a happy life. Same goes with PE. There are homeschoolers who have more sedentary kids who keep it as an annual requirement through high school as a means to make sure kids get enough exercise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 It depends on the state but I'd say the majority of homeschoolers don't have health on the high school transcript. That said, give you homeschoolers have a lot of flexibility in how they approach subjects I see a lot of positives in covering health in high school. It doesn't have to be a full textbook. It can be an article here or a documentary there. Many teens who would roll their eyes and refuse discussion of topics like substance use or nutrition, will cover material that's a school requirement. It can be a good opportunity to command at least some attention to issues that are pretty crucial to having a happy life. Same goes with PE. There are homeschoolers who have more sedentary kids who keep it as an annual requirement through high school as a means to make sure kids get enough exercise. Yes! On the flip side, as a homeschooler, it is a pleasure to ditch PE courses if your child is already heavily involved in athletics. When my older kids were doing club swimming, I had to work carefully with the middle school and high school PE teachers to try and avoid overuse and injury issues. With the youngest one being at home, we could avoid the problem and have more time for academics. However, I did let him take weight training at the high school this last fall in preparation for swim season. We agreed it was a good use of his time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Well, now, I just looked at one of the diploma programs more carefully; Bridgeway does require an actual health class in high school, I think for all of their diploma tracks. So hrmmmm. (Ftr, I thought they also said that they require speech, which is another thing we could get done in 7th or 8th otherwise.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 I'll dissent and say that I think Health is a valuable and meaty subject to cover in high school, but it's only a 1 semester course in our school (public high school), not a full year. Younger kids can learn the basics of exercise and fruits/vegetables being good, etc, but high school students can study these things and really comprehend them on a totally different level - things like exactly HOW the body works with all of it. Then too, things like sex ed, illegal (or improper legal) drug use (and what it does to the body) can be so much deeper. The mind is not developed enough to have the same "education" in middle school. There's no way I'd skip health in high school. My guys did it in 9th or 10th grade, then we tossed in regular reading of Nutrition Action (one essay due from it each month throughout their high school years - article of their choice) and tons of discussion as subjects came up, but they had the basics/foundation to work from due to the course. For the actual course, Abeka worked well for us - quite detailed, definitely more than what our ps kids get, and easy to toss in - just SKIP their sex ed bit and do your own unless you're in agreement with Pensacola Christian College's view on sex - not just traditional conservative values. It's usually very inexpensive on e-bay. FWIW, it's the only Abeka curricula we ever used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butter Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 The kids who take high school health in 8th grade public school here take the *exact same* course as the high schoolers who take high school health. They do just fine. Many of those kids would've been in 9th grade based on cutoffs where I grew up while they are in 8th anyway even without redshirting (my son is one of them actually - birthday October 3rd - cutoff here is 9/1 - was 12/31 while I was growing up). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MysteryJen Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 We did Health because it is required for ps high school here and at the time ds1 was thinking of going in state. It was a good easy class for senior year and I actually think it was worthwhile. I definitely plan on doing it with the other kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeaTotaler Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 Our state requires a semester course for the public schools around here. I don't need to follow those guidelines but I want to make sure we are covering stuff that the colleges around here will expect. I plan to look at Abeka at the convention - i have never used anything from Abeka before. I need something that will cover the basics since I don't have the energy to come up with my own plan. We will modify some of Abeka topics. Also, having been a long time subscriber to Nutrition Action - I will plan to use that publication. Of course, ds has heard me discuss health and nutrition since the time he was little so he thinks he doesn't need a separate health course! He has already heard me gripe about the Food Pyramid and other things so we will modify some guidelines depending on what text we end up using. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 In our local PS, both health and state history are covered in 7th grade for high school graduation. They appear on the transcript listed. Directly before, or as the first two lines, of the 9th grade year with a double asterisk stating completed prior to high school. I know many homeschoolers who just roll the whole subject into biology credits with a few projects and some Basic Aide or First Aide training through the fire department or Red Cross. Since not every state requires health as a separate course, I think it would be hard pressed to be a definitive issue for college admissions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 My daughter did not take a formal Health class in high school. In all the colleges that my daughter considered, we did not see one that actually required a health credit.My state does require health of public schooled students (though the requirements for homeschooled students are different). On the homeschool profile that I sent with my daughter's college applications, I had the following statement:"DD has no formal health credit on her transcript; however, we have covered this subject on an informal basis throughout her high school years."So, I did not issue any credit for Health. Just one approach for you to consider.Regards,Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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