Homeschool Health with Way Comes Home {Review} ~ Such a Time As This

WAY Comes Home Kit

Home School Health Program

Review

We’ve been working hard to get ready for this school year, which we just started yesterday. I want to let you guys know about a new program we’ve added to our lineup, this year. We’ve added a homeschool health program, WAY Comes Home Kit, from HomeSchool Scholastics, an i4 Learning Company to our weekly schedule.

We received the WAY Comes Home parent guide and three different lesson guides: one for grades K-1, one for grades 2-3, and one for grades 4-5. I decided to use all three of the guides. My youngest homeschooler is a Kindergartener this year, my next is in 4th and my oldest is in 6th. We decided to use the one intended for grades 2 and 3 9-year-oldar old and the one for grades 4 and 5 on my 6th grader.

They each received their very own health journal which they had a blast decorating! Each journal that comes with WAY Comes Home presents the information in a way that is geared toward a particular age range. The one for my youngest is called “Health Safari”.

Even though my daughter is just slightly outside the age range for Me Mysteries (grades 2 & 3), she has thoroughly enjoyed the pages and the way the material is presented in her book. She especially loved filling out the page all about herself.

Me Mysteries covers wellness, heart rate, exercise, nutrition, and staying healthy – or catching germs. This is perfect for her age!

Each lesson starts off with watching a DVD which corresponds to the lesson the child is going to be working through. Once the material is presented through the DVD, the parent is guided through what to do next in the parent/teacher guide. Way Comes Home really leaves the guess work out as far as what to teach. The parent guide is very clearly laid out and because the lesson is introduced through the DVD, there isn’t much to teach.

I think my 11-year old has benefitted the most from this curriculum. He has been working his way through Innerspace Adventures (meant for grades 4 and 5). One of the first few lessons contained a whole health questionnaire which he filled out regarding his emotional, nutritional, and physical fitness levels. It was eye opening to both of us how in some ways he could be doing better, and in other ways he is doing well. This journal focuses a lot on nutrition, portion sizes, the food pyramid/myplate and ways to stay active/exercise.

I think this program has really kickstarted some better eating habits in our family in areas I had gotten lax or lazy with. I realized we don’t eat nearly enough vegetables each day! We usually eat veggies at dinner but don’t graze on them throughout the day. I loved that all my older kids put their heads together and we figured out a way to make eating more veggies a part of our daily routine. One thing we all realized is that the kids love celery for a snack!

My son was also asked to keep a record of all the physical fitness activities he does (and the lack of physical fitness in some areas) for an entire week and then see how he can improve. I think this is a great way to get kids to be conscientious about their own health, what they are eating, and how they are moving.

I love that this curriculum comes with an entire kit that provides everything you need. No need to be running to the stores buying extras or searching your house for ideas on objects to use. It comes with a stethoscope, a balance scale, consumable worksheets, journals, and bunch of extras. It was like Christmas morning when we opened the box! I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how complete this program is. It is fantastic and so easy to use!