This is a large 448 page book covering family health and nutrition; a complete K-12 health curriculum! But it is not your average health book. It covers everything about health and nutrition as well as the systems of the bodies. It also has activities, discussion questions (for elementary as well as secondary students), shopping ideas for nutritious foods that help or boost a certain body system, recipes, and an appendix section that could be a book by itself.
The appendices include charts, articles, food pyramid and checklist, shopping list, nutritional guidelines and more. They are set up beautifully, with clear explanations and thorough presentation of the subject matter, whether it is a chart on fiber rich foods or good vs. bad oils.
There are 3 options of purchase available:
Book ($99.95)Personally, I would swing for the book just because I am a very hands-on book person. However, having the CD and being able to print the charts or recipes at will is also appealing, so you will definitely have to figure out which one is best for you.
CD Version ($79.95)
Combo Package (Book and CD) ($129.95)
Nutrition 101 has 6 units each with 4 chapters. Each unit concentrates on a different system or groups of systems in our body. They include the brain and nervous system; digestive system; respiratory, olfactory, auditory and visual systems; skeletal and muscular systems; cardiovascular and immune systems; and the endocrine system and emotions. Each unit has an introduction to the systems before delving into them separately within the chapters
Each chapter is broken down and includes beautiful pictures and drawings, fun facts scattered throughout, and definitions for particular words (like defibrillator). At the end of the chapter there are discussion questions and then and activities section that has both and elementary and secondary choices. You could do all, just one, or pick a few. It's all up to you.
At the end of each chapter is a "Power Food" that helps the specific system you have been learning about. For that food there is at least one recipe and then some activities to go along (that of course match either elementary or secondary levels.)
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| One of the "power" recipes. |
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| The end result - guacamole |
Our Experience:
First, I want to let everyone know that I rally LOVE this program. It's one of those things you don't really think about teaching, but I am glad that God allowed me to be a part of this review. What I ended up doing (since I received this as an electronic version) was print out one chapter at a time. This came at a perfect time because mom and dad (me and my husband) were getting ready to get back to our healthier lifestyle both with eating and exercise. I had decided for purposes of the review that I would do different chapters throughout to get a broader overview of the curriculum as a whole.
So after printing the first chapter and reading through it myself, I was impressed. It was similar to really good nutrition college textbooks, but definitely written and created in a manner that children of many ages could understand and enjoy. The next day we started with the first chapter on the brain. That first chapter took us longer then the suggested one week, but I attribute that to the fact that we have young children (all 7 and under ) and for the time being we are a one-car household. So making the trips to the grocery store to investigate and purchase recipe ingredients had to be planned and spaced out to match hubby's schedule.
We then discussed the questions and whatever ones they could not answer we read about some more. For the activities, we would do one to three per chapter. The girls really loved some of them (like tracing their bodies and then drawing the brain and nervous systems on it.) They also had fun with the recipes, like making homemade guacamole (with avocados they got to choose from the grocery store.
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| Here the girls are testing their |
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| sensory nervous systems. |
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| Even Seanan wanted to join in. |
My Thoughts:
To be honest with you when I saw the price of this book I gasped. But, in March when our family attended the homeschool convention in Greenville, I was able to stop by their booth and check out the printed book and let me tell you ... the price is worth the product. Not only does the information and usefulness of the product live up to the price, but the design; beautifully colorful, glossy pages, and the entire book itself lives up to the price tag.
This is a curriculum that will be used many times over. I even have learned a great deal myself. So I think this is a whole family curriculum, not just something to teach your children. I also enjoyed the biblical applications that I felt while reading the text.
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| An activity to remember peripheral for the peripheral nervous system. |
If you want to hear more about this product, and directly from one of the authors, Sera Johnson, be sure to tune in tomorrow for a FREE TOS webinar scheduled for:
Thursday, April 21, (TOMORROW)
from 4:00pm - 5:30 pm EST
(1:00 pm to 2:30 pm PST)
If you act now you can use this coupon code TOScrew11 which will give purchasers a 15% discount. Before making your decision make sure you investigate their sample.
Some other products also available from Growing Healthy Homes includes a Gentle Babies line and The Raw Food Feast: 7 Days Through the Rainbow. Their website also has some free downloads that you might want to check out. Don't forget to head over to the TOS Crew and read what other Crew members thought about Growing Healthy Homes.
*** I am a member of The Old Schoolhouse 2010-2011 Crew and receive free products and services in exchange for a thorough and honest review. Though I am compensated with free products, I am not compensated in the form of money for any of my reviews. My reviews will always reflect my honest opinions, findings, beliefs and experiences with the products and services that I receive.***
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