BJU Press’ second edition of their Health course for high school covers the obvious health-related topics, such as physical health, fitness, mental health (including the effects of social media), body systems, diseases, and infections. Beyond such topics, it branches out into budgeting, decision making, interpersonal skills, and violence and abuse prevention. It includes a few unusual topics that are only tangentially related to health, like environmental issues and dealing with active shooter situations.
A conservative Christian worldview is evident throughout the course, particularly regarding personal issues. It takes positions, such as alcohol and tobacco should not be used, we do not choose our gender, and sexual activity outside of marriage and viewing pornography are both wrong. It’s important to note that it takes a realistic approach to problematic issues. For instance, in discussing sex and gender, it acknowledges that some young people struggle with gender confusion. Interestingly, I couldn’t find anything on STDs, a topic included in just about every health course for teens. But since the course encourages abstinence, this seems a reasonable omission.
The course takes the “middle of the road” when it comes to environmental topics, encouraging students to think of ways to improve the environment or be better stewards. For instance, it has students write an essay regarding their own views on fracking based on information provided in a call-out box.
The perspective on nutrition and medical treatment is fairly traditional. Students do extensive tracking and analysis of their own diets to determine whether they are getting all the necessary nutrients. The discussion of medications is generally positive and doesn’t mention alternatives such as herbal treatments and chiropractic care.
Chapter Layout
After an introduction, each chapter divides into two to five sections. Each section begins with vocabulary terms and then poses a question to engage students’ interest. Sections conclude with a short set of Section Review questions to check comprehension.
At the end of each chapter are a bullet-point review of key ideas, recall questions, and other questions that require deeper thinking and personal reflection.
Scattered throughout the book are several types of call-out boxes.
- Hands-On Health boxes present hands-on activities and projects (e.g., researching first aid for sports-related injuries and making a Biblical Stewardship poster).
- Health and Ethics boxes present ethical dilemmas for students to consider and write about under topic headings such as “Stimulating Academic Performance” and “Birth Control.”
- Healthy Life Skills help students develop a long-term view of their health and develop practices for healthy living, such as learning to deal with cyber-bullying and developing an action plan for a natural disaster.
- Global Health on Mission boxes raise issues encountered in some parts of the world, such as human trafficking and the lack of healthy drinking water.
- Health Careers boxes describe various health-related careers for students to consider.
The teacher edition is essential. It has reduced images of student pages, surrounded by lists of objectives, lesson presentation material, and answer keys. Both student and teacher books are printed in full color.
An optional assessments book has a test for each chapter and its own separate answer key.
The homeschool kit includes the student textbook, teacher edition, assessments, and the assessments answer key.
While written for the classroom, this course adapts easily for use in homeschools. A few activities would be better with more students, but those are not essential.
Summary
BJU Press’s Health, second edition, addresses issues of concern to students along with content typical of health courses. Many of the activities and call-out boxes, along with some of the end-of-chapter questions, are thought provoking and should help students make informed decisions from a biblical perspective.
