Homeschooled Through High School:

Health with 7 SistersHomeschool.com

Those of us who homeschool or who have been homeschooled through high school know that IT IS VERY Possible. But how? Many parents and students look towards high school with fear and trepidation instead of being joyous as to how far into the journey they have come. I realize that families homeschool for a multitude of reasons and that each family is unique, but questions still arise when the words high school are mentioned!

Everyone wants healthy kids, and we want them to go on to be healthy adults as well.
The homeschool Health credit, however, often has little to do with equipping our kids for healthy adulthood. While many traditional texts focus on nutrition, fitness, first aid and substance abuse prevention (with Christian worldview texts that add a chapter on sexual purity), many students don’t find this type of health course to be personal and relevant.

How can we offer them something stronger?

God designed us with bodies, and we are called to be good stewards of them. But there is much more to a healthy life than just the basics of care for our physical bodies! The first “extra” element that needs to be included in a strong Health credit is the recognition of this truth, with opportunities to learn about health for the whole person: body, soul, mind and spirit.

Address topics like:

– how the brain works and ways to sharpen our thinking processes

– why we need relationships in our lives and how to build good relationships and limit bad ones

– why we need God’s wisdom to understand ourselves, because we are not naturally sure of who we were made to be

– how the body affects the emotions, how emotions affect the body, and so forth

– why it’s important to learn about our individual strengths and weaknesses so we can reinforce our weak areas

– how to set wise goals for improvement in various areas of our lives, create accountability for ourselves, and succeed in reaching our goals

– how to discern good advice and bad with so much information available on tv and the internet.

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Introduction to Psychology from a Christian Perspective and

Human Development from a Christian Worldview

are two great resources by Vicki Tillman, MA for rounding out an uninspiring Health textbook.

Click the titles for course descriptions and to view excerpts.

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By the time a student is in high school, he or she is pretty aware of areas of natural weakness. Perhaps your son is shy and struggles to form friendships with others. Maybe your daughter finds it difficult to be disciplined about fitness. By choosing to focus part of your learning on wise coping strategies for strengthening these weak areas, your Health credit becomes personal and relevant to your child. Recognize the importance of healthy relationships for overall health, and challenge your son to set small, attainable goals for opening himself up to others, slowly building friendships. Rather than just studying the text book about fitness, explore types of physical activity that your daughter finds less distasteful than others, and create a plan for incorporating small time periods each week pursuing those activities.

One caveat: Be careful not to focus TOO much attention on a child’s weak areas; we all know that self-examination is important, but obsessing over our short-comings can be demoralizing! A little honest evaluation and goal-setting as a component of a Health credit makes things personal and relevant in a way that traditional textbooks cannot.

Why not join your child in applying health learning to life? We can all use a little course correction in one area or another. By honestly joining your child in the pursuit of greater health – body, mind, soul and spirit – you will improve the stewardship of your own body, set a good example for your child, and strengthen your relationship with one another!

Meet 7 Sisters Homeschool:

www.7SistersHomeschool.com

providing curriculum, coaching, & unique resources,

building a community of homeschool families

SIX homeschool moms who helped each other make it all the way to high school graduation, plus relationships with a few hundred local homeschoolers,

plus permission to share what they’ve learned with the homeschooling world via the internet equals

www.7SistersHomeschool.com

After homeschooling side-by-side for over a decade, these moms had been a part of a flourishing umbrella school, a homeschool support network that operated effectively for 300+ families, college-model classes for high schoolers in a day-school format that achieved great popularity, and homeschooled graduates who stepped out as well-rounded, college-ready students and mature, workforce-ready men and women with trade skills.

In 2010, these “Sisters” began to seek the Lord about a way to take their blessings – homeschool community, support and resources – and share them with homeschoolers everywhere via the internet. That’s when www.7sistershomeschool.com went live!

And yes, homeschoolers CAN count. Allison, Kym, Marilyn, Sabrina, Sara and Vicki only add up to six sisters….the 7^th sister is YOU!

Sabrina Justison

Sabrina is a playwright and a singer-songwriter who has taught Fine Arts as well as Literature, Writing, and Latin at MSA. She creates annual Drama Camp intensives and is a wordsmith who enjoys helping people understand the vision and mission of an organization or event.

Sabrina has been homeschooling since 1995. After she and her children walked through the difficulties of divorce, she was blessed to meet and marry Fred, and their blended family has 7 children ranging from teens to late twenties.

Vicki Tillman, MA

Vicki holds an MA in Counseling from Liberty University, and has worked as a counselor at Pike Creek Psychological Center since 1996. A member of the American Association of Christian Counselors, she is trained on their Life Coaching model, which she employs in the mentoring she does in the homeschooling community and elsewhere.

Vicki Tillman is a visionary force in her local community; her mission is to advance God’s kingdom by investing in people. A homeschooling mom for 20-plus years, four of Vicki’s children are grown, and one is still in high school.