Healthful eating ensures that the body is receiving what it needs to function properly and maintain health over the long run. During this activity, home-schoolers keep a food log for one week, writing down everything they are eating. After this week, the food log is compared to the recommended guidelines stated on the food pyramid. The kids are encouraged to make changes to their eating habits to more closely mirror the suggested guidelines. Food intake is recorded for an additional week. The two food logs are compared to see where improvements are made, and students write a paper detailing how it felt to make dietary changes, including any differences noticed in energy level, sleeping habits or appearance.
Middle school is a time of intense physical and developmental changes. Hormones are going wild and kids sometimes do not know how to respond to all of the changes and their new awareness of the world around them. Mental health issues such as depression and anxiety can sometimes creep in. Addictions and eating disorders are also issues among teens, especially with the added peer pressure the age group contends with. Home-schoolers can use a notebook and pencil to survey friends and family members about any mental health issues they are experiencing, along with issues they experienced when they were of middle school age. The student makes an appointment with a mental health professional to interview him about things that middle school kids can do to stay emotionally healthy, along with information about when to seek needed help. To wrap up the unit, the home-schooler writes a self-reflective paper discussing some of her own challenges and how she feels she is handling her middle school years from an emotional perspective.
With the hormonal changes that take place during the middle school years, many children discover a new interest in sexual topics. Curiosity can lead them to want to experiment, but arming them with the proper knowledge about sex, and asking them to think ahead to consequences, can ensure that they make smart choices in difficult situations. Home-schoolers can create a model showing how sperm meet with an egg to create a baby. They can visit the family physician to talk about some of the risks associated with sexual activity, such as pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Some students might find it beneficial to volunteer at a sexual health clinic, pregnancy center or AIDS ministry for a day. To finish the unit, the home-schooler writes a paper detailing how he could handle different sexual situations from now through adulthood, including what the positive or negative consequences of his actions might be.
Developing good exercise habits early in life can help to keep the heart healthy and ward off obesity and other health problems. Home-schoolers can take their resting pulse rate before breakfast, lunch and dinner for one week. During the first week, they do not engage in any additional physical activity above and beyond what they normally do. During the second week, they add an additional 30 minutes of physical activity to their day and continue taking their resting pulse for three more weeks. At the end of those three weeks, their final resting pulse rate is compared with the resting pulse rate during the first week, before they were engaging in additional exercise. The difference is noted and the home-schooler writes a short paper talking about what she learned and how her new knowledge might impact her future health habits.