Second grade Health

[tdbates78]

Do you do a formal health program for early elementary or do you lump it in with science? We are doing interest-led science next year. Wondering if I should add in health? If you do, where do you find your materials?

[knitgrl]

My state says you have to cover health, though they do not specify what that should include - the only topic which is specifically mentioned is bicycle safety. I found some pdf's from the State of Michigan, which I would link to for you, except they seem to have taken it down. I'm sure other states have their standards available online through the education department. I create one health unit per semester based on those topics. The units may last from 1-4 weeks.  Nutrition units usually last longer because they are more fun and tasty. :-) I only slot out health 2x a week when we are working on a unit. I use books from the library and scour the internet for worksheets, since dd likes those. And for our safety unit this year, I didn't do anything formal, because I can recollect several times where dd got a lengthy discussion with dada on the how's and why's of safety for one thing or another.

[Guest]

When my oldest was in second grade, we read through the first rod ad staff health book. It was purely box-checking but it was pleasant enough, cost like four bucks and I sold it for 2$.

 

I'm not doing anything with my current second grader.

[happypamama]

Check your state laws. Mine requires that I cover health and safety sometime in K-6 and sometime in 7-12, and that I cover fire safety also. Most of us take the assumption that the wording of the law means we do fire safety every year. But for health and safety, I just pull up a couple of free worksheets and have the kids fill them out. We tend to talk about health and safety as they come up ("here's why you need a bike helmet," "here's how and why we wash our hands at the NICU," etc.), so I could have them write a paragraph, but honestly, worksheets are faster.

 

There's also a little DVD put out by the Army Corps of Engineers about water safety. It's a little cheesy but good. And it's free.

[wathe]

For us, this mostly falls under parenting and family culture.

 

More formal things we've done:

Swimming lessons which has a significant water safety component

Annual fire station visit with scout group

We've been more intentional about sex-ed: We've read together "It's not the stork" and "It's so amazing" .  They also have free access to the books to re-read privately when they want to. 

[tdbates78]

Thanks everyone! Our state (NC) has no curriculum requirements. My girls attended K and the first half of First Grade in public school, where they learned some health and safety (taking care of your teeth, nutrition, visit to the fire station) but I would like to reinforce and expand on that. Things like why they have to get vaccinations, why its important to eat a wide variety of foods, why we sometimes catch colds or get sick, calling 911 in an emergency, that type of thing. I don't want it to be all year, but maybe a few times a week for a month or two, or to coincide with a unit on learning about how our bodies work.

 

I will check out the internet for worksheets and videos. And of courses my library. Will look into R&S as well. I appreciate the suggestions!

Edited June 4, 2017 by tdbates78

[wendyroo]

Thanks everyone! Our state (NC) has no curriculum requirements. My girls attended K and the first half of First Grade in public school, where they learned some health and safety (taking care of your teeth, nutrition, visit to the fire station) but I would like to reinforce and expand on that. Things like why they have to get vaccinations, why its important to eat a wide variety of foods, why we sometimes catch colds or get sick, calling 911 in an emergency, that type of thing. I don't want it to be all year, but maybe a few times a week for a month or two, or to coincide with a unit on learning about how our bodies work.

 

I will check out the internet for worksheets and videos. And of courses my library. Will look into R&S as well. I appreciate the suggestions!

 

Honestly, I don't think of any of the bolded as "school topics", so I've never even considered teaching them in school ways.  (We also live in a very low-regulation state.)  

 

We talk about vaccinations when we get vaccinations...in fact, when DH and I were getting flu shots at a pharmacy minute clinic type place, I asked the pharmacist a couple leading questions, and she gave my kids a very age-appropriate mini-lesson about herd immunity.

 

We talk about foods when we shop and cook and eat together.  We have talked to the pediatrician about nutrition and we have talked to farmers at the farmers' market about the health benefits of various foods.

 

We talk about germs constantly.  We have looked at dirt and pond water under a microscope to see that there are in fact "invisible" creatures all around us...though, obviously, we can't actually magnify it enough to see germs.  We can, however, look at pictures of germs and talk about how they spread and what illnesses they cause.

 

The topic of 911 also comes up fairly frequently.  My kids are much more likely to freak out about total non-emergencies, so when that happens, I like to use it as a natural opportunity to review 911.  So, for example, if my oldest starts fretting about a fly in the house, I'll ask if he thinks we should call 911.  He knows the answers to that one.  So, then I escalate the situation: would a bee in the house be a 911 emergency?  What about if it stung someone?  What if that person started having a hard time breathing?

 

In general, I have found that my kids learn and understand material a whole lot better when it is relevant and relatable.  They may not pay much attention to an arbitrary lesson about dog safety, but after seeing a dog in a muzzle on our walking path, they were all ears.

 

Wendy

[tdbates78]

Honestly, I don't think of any of the bolded as "school topics", so I've never even considered teaching them in school ways. (We also live in a very low-regulation state.)

 

We talk about vaccinations when we get vaccinations...in fact, when DH and I were getting flu shots at a pharmacy minute clinic type place, I asked the pharmacist a couple leading questions, and she gave my kids a very age-appropriate mini-lesson about herd immunity.

 

We talk about foods when we shop and cook and eat together. We have talked to the pediatrician about nutrition and we have talked to farmers at the farmers' market about the health benefits of various foods.

 

We talk about germs constantly. We have looked at dirt and pond water under a microscope to see that there are in fact "invisible" creatures all around us...though, obviously, we can't actually magnify it enough to see germs. We can, however, look at pictures of germs and talk about how they spread and what illnesses they cause.

 

The topic of 911 also comes up fairly frequently. My kids are much more likely to freak out about total non-emergencies, so when that happens, I like to use it as a natural opportunity to review 911. So, for example, if my oldest starts fretting about a fly in the house, I'll ask if he thinks we should call 911. He knows the answers to that one. So, then I escalate the situation: would a bee in the house be a 911 emergency? What about if it stung someone? What if that person started having a hard time breathing?

 

In general, I have found that my kids learn and understand material a whole lot better when it is relevant and relatable. They may not pay much attention to an arbitrary lesson about dog safety, but after seeing a dog in a muzzle on our walking path, they were all ears.

 

Wendy

Good point! We discuss these things, just not formally. Guess that doesnt matter? They are, however, terrible eaters so I do want to go more in depth on the value of vitamins and nutients. Maybe I can scare them into eating ;)

[73349]

4-H has some cooking and nutrition materials, or the US government websites should have MyPlate type stuff for free.

 

We tend to go over health and safety topics as they come up, but did OWL (sex ed, the K-1 course, which my church offers for 2nd/3rd instead) and had him take swimming lessons both in 2nd.

[fralala]

Good point! We discuss these things, just not formally. Guess that doesnt matter? They are, however, terrible eaters so I do want to go more in depth on the value of vitamins and nutients. Maybe I can scare them into eating ;)

 

Your kids may find this babyish, but I found these videos on Amazon called "Copy Kids" to try to get my preschooler interested in eating her veggies, and my 7 year old became obsessed with them. They are just short videos of little kids eating things like raw broccoli with relish. (I cannot even watch this because it disgusts me so much, but I try not to let the kids see me gag.) Then my 7 year old wants me to make little videos of her eating her vegetables with relish. (I mean, with delight. She doesn't literally put relish on them. I must amend this, because my kids would literally like to cover everything they eat with condiments.)

 

Also, the kind of nice thing about homeschooling vs. public school (or so I hear from my sister, who is a teacher) is that I have so much control, most days, over at the very least which foods are available to my children. I may not give my kids formal lessons on the dietary guidelines (and whatever the latest trendy presentation is-- pyramid, my plate, whatever) but when they come to the table to eat, I am helping them create the kind of lifelong habits and tastes that really matter in the long run. (Or so I coach myself when they are wondering why I ruined a perfectly good pasta dish by actually including ingredients other than pasta.)

[2_girls_mommy]

I also bought the Rod and Staff 2nd grade one at one point, but in general I think things like fire safety, sun safety, pool safety, diet and nutrition, bike safety, stranger danger stuff (or however you choose to deal with that,) teeth cleaning, are all easily covered in real life and with handouts from various field trips, library trips, reading from library books, discussion. We have always been in scouts too which cover a ton of health and safety topics.

[knitgrl]

Your kids may find this babyish, but I found these videos on Amazon called "Copy Kids" to try to get my preschooler interested in eating her veggies, and my 7 year old became obsessed with them. They are just short videos of little kids eating things like raw broccoli with relish. (I cannot even watch this because it disgusts me so much, but I try not to let the kids see me gag.) Then my 7 year old wants me to make little videos of her eating her vegetables with relish. (I mean, with delight. She doesn't literally put relish on them. I must amend this, because my kids would literally like to cover everything they eat with condiments.)

 

Also, the kind of nice thing about homeschooling vs. public school (or so I hear from my sister, who is a teacher) is that I have so much control, most days, over at the very least which foods are available to my children. I may not give my kids formal lessons on the dietary guidelines (and whatever the latest trendy presentation is-- pyramid, my plate, whatever) but when they come to the table to eat, I am helping them create the kind of lifelong habits and tastes that really matter in the long run. (Or so I coach myself when they are wondering why I ruined a perfectly good pasta dish by actually including ingredients other than pasta.)

It's gotten slightly better at my house, but a year ago, the kids were making cheese sandwiches with mayo, ketchup, mustard and relish. Then they started asking for cheese sandwiches without the cheese. And could not understand why the answer was always NO.

 

[Murrayshire]

I loved incorporating Oak Meadow's Health for grades K-3.... one book, used each year from grades K through third. 

K-3 Health sample

 

Oak Meadow Link

[rutheart]

For nutrition, I've found a few helpful lessons from this site:

http://www.alliancetofeedthefuture.org/curricula

 

Some of the lessons are pretty biased, but it gave me enough ideas and worksheets to fill 11 weeks of health for my soon-to-be third grader.

 

Ruth

[sarahrb]

I haven't ever used Oak Meadow, but this looks beautiful!

 

I loved incorporating Oak Meadow's Health for grades K-3.... one book, used each year from grades K through third. 

K-3 Health sample

 

Oak Meadow Link