TOS Review: Nutrition 101

Over the years my family has had seasons of striving to eat healthier  followed by seasons of making poor choices.  I’ve always struggled though with how to teach my children about nutrition and the choices we make and I’ve struggled with what should I teach about nutrition?

The study of nutrition is more than just a look into food and its nutrients.  It is an in-depth look at how we eat, what we eat, how the body works and how these foods affect the body.  This program is not a rehash of biology or science, but a discovery of how the body systems are affected by the foods--good or bad-- we eat. (page 5)

Nutrition 101: Choose Life! published by Growing Healthy Homes is an answer to my prayer. This resource provides instruction that I can use to teach all 4 of the girls at the same time.  

Before I get into how I’ve been using it let me make sure I give you the pertinent facts.

Vendor: Growing Healthy Homes
Product: Nutrition 101:Choosing Life!
Format: Available on CD, as Print Book or as a combo pack
Age: All Ages
Website: http://growinghealthyhomes.com
Contact: http://growinghealthyhomes.com/pages/contact_us
Read an Excerpt: Sample

This amazing resource is over 400 pages and includes 31 appendices! This isn’t just a teaching curriculum but a valuable source of information that any family can use to improve their health.

Are you involved in a home school co-op?  Is your co-op looking for class ideas? Nutrition 101: Choose Life! would be an excellent choice! There is a multi-user license available (with restrictions) for co-op users.   Be sure and check out the Frequently Asked Questions for more details on using this product in a co-op setting.

Nutrition 101: Choose Life! covers twelve bodily systems in six units with four chapters per unit :

• The Brain and Nervous System
• The Digestive System
• The Respiratory, Olfactory, Auditory & Visual Systems
• The Skeletal and Muscular Systems
• The Cardiovascular and Immune systems
• The Endocrine System and Emotions

I could write pages and pages of what is included in this beautiful book but instead I’m going to recommend that you read the Excerpt.  This 27 page sample includes the full table of contents so you can see the topics of each unit, chapter and appendices. You can also see some the gorgeous layout of the pages. 

The authors recommend one chapter per week and they give you a suggested plan to use in the “Getting Started” section.  They do also state though:

However, feel free to extend it an extra week for the longer more in-depth chapters.  It is fine to focus on a particular chapter…{snipped} [T]he entire program can [be] repeated and modified each year to reinforce or refresh what has already been learned.(page 15)

In the few weeks that we have had this book, I have barely begun to scratch the surface of information. This will be a resource I turn to again and again.  I love how I can read the chapter lesson to all four girls and then adapt the discussion and activities to be appropriate for each girl.   We’ve been working in Unit 1 with the “Brain and Nervous systems”.  One activity suggested using the non-dominant hand instead of your dominant hand.  We now have a few more Mii’s for our Wii as each of us has a dominant hand Mii and a non-dominant Wii.   Because these units seem self-contained, when we wrap up Unit 1 on the “Brain and Nervous System”, we’ll jump ahead to Unit 5 the “Cardiovascular and Immune Systems”.  Supergirl has congenital heart defects and diminished immune system so this unit is of particular interest to me.

I love the explanations of the the bodily systems.  I like the science behind the nutrition.  For example, I like that we read not just about which oils are healthier but *why* they are healthier and *why* we need them in the proper ratio.  I like the lists of food that promote health.  I love the appendices!  I also love that the answers to the discussion questions and activities are included as an appendix.

Although I am using this as a curriculum spine, I would recommend this book as a resource to any family interested in the connection between what we eat and our health. 

All information is correct and accurate as of the date of this review.

You can read my other Schoolhouse Review Crew Reviews to find more great products.

 

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