Every homeschooler I know can tell you what they are doing for math without so much as taking a breath before sharing. However, when you start talking about health or physical education (gym), there are often a few more pauses before they say what they are doing. It’s not as concrete of an area.
So, what’s your take on it?
Is it important to have health instruction in homeschool? What about specific physical education (gym) instruction?
What do you do for these two subject areas?
(And, in a purely selfish question, if you have something you use for teaching about nutrition, please share!)
Angie primarily writes at Many Little Blessings. She is also the founder of The Homeschool Classroom and Catholic Mothers Online.
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There is a homeschool PE class in my area, once a week. I’m so glad they offer it!
We’re just finishing up a unit study about healthy living. It centers around the Primal Blueprint (www.marksdailyapple.com) which has 10 rules for living that cover everything from what you should eat to how you should move to using your brain! You can read my review of our unit study here: http://annie-babble.blogspot.com/2010/08/healthy-living-food-fitness-and-fun.html
We take almost daily walks as part of our physical routine and the kids are also beginning classes next month, one in karate and one in gymnastics. We do occasional obstacle courses, games, park days, all things that we can all participate in playing! I’m also planning on doing units that focus on a specific sports and trying those out as we progress.
Annie´s last [type] ..Blackberry Crumble and Cheese Stuffed Meatballs
I’m just barely starting to homeschool our 4-year-old and 3-year-old for Pre-K (with the plan to continue for kindergarten and 1st grade at least), and PE is definitely on our list of things to do. We’re starting with city league soccer this fall (we’ll see how it goes), and considering gymnastics and/or dance for the winter/spring. We also have the goal for them to learn to swim in the next year, and to learn to ride their bikes with no training wheels. It’s physical! It counts!
I hadn’t thought about what to do about health/nutrition stuff, but my first impulse is to stick it in with science when you’re studying the body.
And to answer your first question last … knowledge is everything. If kids don’t learn the what and why of taking care of their bodies when they’re young, they’re certainly not going to do so as adults. Perhaps that’s why we’re having so many problems in our health care system these days? Because the health programs got cut, or at least shortchanged, in public schools a few decades ago?
Health Ed is definitely important – teaching them about their bodies and how to take care of themselves is a key element of total education. However, this is not necessarily a full time subject – this is more of a science unit at our house.
Physical Ed is more optional. The key is that they are active and get plenty of exercise. Learning the rules of sports is not crucial to life, so this is taught at our house as the child shows interest.
Ashley´s last [type] ..Company Girl Coffee 827
Well, we are doing kindergarten this year, and I haven’t quite nailed down what to do about health. I was originally designing my own science this year, and so I was going to throw in a unit of health. But I’ve decided to go with a purchased curriculum for ease and health is not included!!
For PE, I schedule 30 minutes a day, every day for something. That way, if we get extra busy for a day or 2, we still have 5 more days to be active!
For the fall, my daughter is playing soccer and doing dance. Then a 3rd day of the week we go to the soccer field and practice together. The other days include a mixture of children’s dance videos, playing at the playground, playing Wii, children’s workout videos, and just running around outside.
In the spring we will be adding swimming lessons to our PE schedule.
Kymmie´s last [type] ..Lately
We have a loosely organized group and we attend a gym and swim class every week from mid September through the middle of May. The kids attend both a gym class and a swim class at our local YMCA. The cost is extremely reasonable. I am very grateful to have this opportunity.
My daughter does an hour of gymnastics on Thursdays. We also play outside as often as we can, depending on the weather.
As far as health goes, most of that goes along with science.
Our Nifty Notebook´s last [type] ..Whatever You Need
We aren’t doing anything formal for PE or health. I haven’t been able to find a homeschool PE class that is close enough for us participate in and I haven’t found a class that would be a good fit yet. Though with both PE and health our curriculum covers a bit of each just as part of the curriculum itself. There are some active games and discussion about health. We also go for walks, go swimming, go to the playground, play outside, just in general try to spend sometime doing something active each day. I mostly pick times to talk about health and nutrition when it comes up. We talk about the importance of going to the doctor before a doctor’s appointment, and we talk about nutrition while we are cooking and shopping for food.
Riceball Mommy´s last [type] ..Cake Baking
We go outside every day (weather permitting, otherwise we play in the garage). There is a local homeschool soccer league I hope to participate in next year, but our schedule won’t allow it this year. My 4-yr-old is resistant to many of my suggestions, but I keep trying new things because I really want him to be active!
Jen´s last [type] ..Not just Mommy
I have to admit, most days the organized PE is a fail. I am a homebody and I have to work myself up for my own fitness regime, let alone go “play” something with my 13 year old. Fortunately, he likes to go out and ride his bike around and he has taken to walking the dogs a few times a day.
Beyond that, I worried a bit about getting a little more structure to the PE so I started thinking about friends who are good at different sports. One friend is a former tennis champ so I’ve asked her if she would spend a few sessions with us in October and teach us some basics of the game. I think it will be better than he and I playing hit/run with no concept of skill. I am hoping to find a few other opportunities like this as I do think it is important to not only move our bodies, but gain some social skills in the play as well. I don’t want my son to not join in a volleyball game someday because he doesn’t know the basic rules of the game. That said, hmmm, I think I am going to put out a call for a badminton set or a croquet set or… lots of possibilities.
All three of my children are on a year-round USA swim team. My youngest, 9, practice 3 times a week for a total of 4.5 hours. My middle child, 12, practices 5 times a week for a total of 10 hours with an additional 1.5 hours of dry-land, strength-building exercises. My oldest child, 13, practicees 6 times a week for a total of 12 hours with a additional 1.5 hours of dry land exercises. If they weren’t involved in swimming, I would definitely have them involved in some kind of organized physical exercise on a regular basis.
Samantha
Samantha´s last [type] ..Week in Review – Ski Hats- Chemical Reactions- and Picasso
I made a commitment a few years ago to always make my children a good breakfast. I noticed everyone was focusing better immediately, and so I progressed to making out a full menu of healthy snacks and meals. Being a sugar-junkie myself, I use my menu planner to hold myself accountable for making healthy choices.
Exercise has been a struggle, but now that we have a computer hooked up to our TV, we have Netflix exercise videos available to us. Now, we must find a way to be consistent about using them!
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