Improving Individual, Child, and Family Nutrition, Health and Wellness. Learning Guide 8. Project Connect. Linking Self-Family-Work.

This learning guide is designed to connect personal, family, and job responsibilities for adults and out-of-school youth in economically depressed areas of the state (including transitional ex-offenders and corrections populations) so that these individuals learn to manage and balance these aspects of their lives in order to prepare for or continue successful employment. This learning guide contains four competency units that provide information on health and wellness. The competency units cover the following topics: (1) defining wellness; (2) planning food choices to meet nutritional needs for individual, child, and family; (3) assessing mental and emotional health; and (4) assessing one's state of physical fitness and identifying needed improvements. Each competency unit consists of learner outcomes, key ideas, definitions, teaching strategies and methods, and suggested learning activities. Twenty-seven supplements include information and activity sheets on the following: physical, mental, and social health; health habits; wellness; nutrition; food pyramid; fast-food; dietary guidelines; nutritional needs of various age groups; mental health habits; personal strengths; self-esteem; fitness; and the new food label. A bibliography lists 67 references. The Illinois goals for world-class education for the 21st century also are included. (KC)