By Tracy Minkin, Health.com The average American child spends nearly 12,000 hours in school, from kindergarten through 12th grade. That's a big chunk of time during which he or she can develop good (or bad) health habits. Happily, schools today are recognizing the many benefits of a healthy head startand Health magazine wants to recognize the ones that are doing an A+ job. To find the health stars in America's vast public school universe, we asked education officials in every state for their nominations.

One of the most effective ways to reinforce learning is also one of the easiest. Just make your home environment student-friendly. Itll go a long way toward helping your child achieve her full potential. Heres what to do: