We are sometimes asked: What’s the Difference between Health and Anatomy Credits?
What’s the Difference between Health and Anatomy Credits?
Being a homeschool mom can be tough. You have responsibility to make sure you are meeting graduation requirements and at the same time provide an education that is tailored to your homeschool high schooler’s needs, interests and abilities.
Not only that but many states require a Health credit on the homeschool transcript for graduation.
What exactly IS a Health credit?
The definition of a Health credit varies from state to state, curriculum publisher to curriculum publisher, homeschool organization to homeschool organization. However, a comprehensive, life-preparation Health curriculum will educate teens on ways to be healthy:
- Physically
- Mentally
- Emotionally
- Socially
- A Christian Health text will also need to discuss spiritual health
We often get the question about the difference between Health and Anatomy credits. Are they the same thing or are they different?
Actually, Health and Anatomy are two different courses. Let’s explain the difference (be sure to scroll to the END of the post, where we have some GREAT news for parents who are dreading doing that BORING Health credit with their homeschool high schoolers):
What’s the difference between Health and Anatomy credits? Health is a life-preparation course that helps teens understand:
- themselves physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and spiritually.
- what a health is like in each of those areas.
- some basics on what could go wrong if a person is not healthy (by birth, accident or choice).
- how to make healthy choices in each of those areas.
- ways to keep safe and healthy in today’s culture.
- how to understand others and appropriately help when needed.
Health texts take a quick look at the human body so that teens have an understanding of how they work and what could go wrong. Then the curriculum concentrates on how to keep the human body healthy. Part of a good Health credit is developing a healthy-life plan.
What’s the difference between Health and Anatomy credits? Anatomy is the study of the structure and function of the human body.
Anatomy is a shortened name for an elective Science course. Usually textbooks will call this course Anatomy and Physiology or Advanced Biology. Anatomy courses usually discuss topics like these:
- Overview of parts of the body and body systems
- Cells
- Enzymes
- Cell division
- Organic molecules
- Cell structures
- Tissues
- Epithelial tissue
- Connective tissue
- Muscle tissue
- Neural tissue
- Integumentary system
- Blood
- Composition of blood
- Function of blood
- Physiology of circulation
- Cardiovascular system
- Heart
- Electrical currents on the heart
- Arteries and vessels
- Heart disease
- Skeletal system
- Axial and appendicular skeleton
- Structure and composition of bone
- Bone identification
- Nervous system
- Central nervous system
- Peripheral nervous system
- Sympathetic and para sympathetic divisions
- Nerve impulse transmission
- Endocrine System
- Structure and function
- Digestive system
- Gastrointestinal tract
- Digestive process
- Lymphatic system
- Structure and functions
- Respiratory system
- Structure and function
- Physiology of respiration
- Reproductive system
- Male reproductive system
- Female reproductive system
Anatomy courses go in-depth into these topics about the function of the human body and the ways the body works.
This is a rigorous and detailed course, it is an excellent choice for homeschool high schoolers who are:
- College bound
- Interested in nursing or pre-medical majors
- Just think the human body is really interesting
NOW for the good news about Health curriculum!
For years, we have been receiving requests for a Health curriculum that follows our popular 7Sisters philosophy of curriculum. Our philosophy is that textbooks should:
- NOT be boring
- contain NO busywork
- be adaptable to homeschool high schoolers’ varied interests, abilities and needs
- AND should help prepare them for real life.
Most famously, our texts are highly readable and we give instructions on how to level up curriculum for rigorous Honors credits for:
- teens who are college bound or
- who have a specific interest in a topic they would like to develop.
We heard the requests for a Health curriculum and are happy to have ours completed!
You’ll be encouraged to know we get into the nitty-gritty of health for teens. We remind them that they:
- Can face the fact that they must eat healthy food…and why
- Also, they can face the fact that they must get up and move their bodies…and why
- Learn why learning makes them healthier…and how to improve those skills
- Have a chance to learn to believe good things about themselves…and why that affects their physical and emotional health
- Build skills for stress and mood management
- Gain skills to find healthy relationships… and get out of those that aren’t
- Practice skills to healthily help others in times of need
- Plan for safety in times of danger
- Own their own spirituality…not just play *churchianity*
- and SO much more…all in a NON-preachy tone, because teens hate to be talked-at or talked-down-to.
With all this in mind, it will include all the things that homeschool high schoolers and their moms like about our curriculum, including our affordable ebook format, separate texts and answer keys.
Here’s a breakdown of the chapter titles. Remember, faith is integrated throughout in a non-preachy manner. There are sections on prayer/devotional life in the emotional health chapters.
This 1 credit, 30 week course is broken into 2 sections: Physical Health, Mental and Emotional Health
Part I: Physical Health
There are twenty chapters in Part I of the text:
- 1: The Five Senses
- 2: Disorders of the Five Senses
- 3: Skin
- 4: Skin Disorders
- 5: Musculoskeletal System
- 6: Disorders of the Musculoskeletal System
- 7: Cardiovascular and Respiratory Systems
- 8: Disorders of the Cardiovascular and Respiratory Systems
- 9: Nervous System
- 10: Disorders of the Nervous System Disorders
- 11: Digestive & Urinary Systems
- 12: Disorders of the Digestive & Urinary Systems
- 13: Nutrition
- 14: Disorders of Insufficient Nutrition
- 15: Lymphatic & Immune Systems
- 16: Disorders of the Lymphatic & Immune Systems
- 17: Reproductive System
- 18: Disorders of the Reproductive System
- 19: Fetal Development & Childbirth
- 20: Complications in Fetal Development & Childbirth
Part II — Mental and Emotional Health
There are nine chapters in Part II of the text:
- 1: The Brain
- 2: Disorders of Brain Function
- 3: Emotional Wellness
- 4: What Can Go Wrong with Emotional Health
- 5: Emotional & Mental Health Problems: Help & Treatment
- 6: Emotional & Mental Self-Care
- 7: Self & Social Awareness for Emotional and Mental Health
- 8: Healthy Relationships
- 9: Caffeine, Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drugs
Your teens need a Health credit for the homeschool transcript and will love it as they experience this life-enhancing course! Here’s a review by the popular website It’s Not That Hard to Homeschool High School on High School Health for the Whole Person.
Check out this post on ideas for teaching Health in a class or at home.
Also, while we love 7Sisters Health curriculum, there’s not ONE right way to homeschool high school. With that in mind, it might help to check out this post on four ways to earn Health credit. Not only that but there are even more activities for teaching Health in this post and more ideas for covering Health in this post.
Also listen to this powerful interview with Kassandra Baker on the Homeschool Highschool Podcast as we discuss helping teens have a healthy relationship with food.
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