Phys ed programs? What do you use?

[prim*rose]

I've been trying to find something for phys ed for my 9 yr old dd, and was wondering what everyone uses? She does horseback riding once/week, but that's really all we do. I saw books like Homeschool Family Fitness, Beyond the Gym and Horizon Physical Education, but wasn't sure what would be the best to get. Any ideas?

 

Thanks!

[elegantlion]

We've never completed a set PE schedule. I made a nice one once, all activities pulled from "How to teach PE" college level book. It was fun, for a while. :glare: With one ds it's harder to say go outside and play ball.

 

We started hiking last year. It's great, but it's also not the most fun activity in 100 degree heat (right now). Ds is not into sports, but he did play basketball last year. We considered that his PE time. But now he's too old for the rec leagues around here.

 

So PE has suffered. I have exercise induced asthma so that limits how much activity I can do at certain times. We often go out and run around with the dog in the back yard, but sometimes she's the only one doing the exercise.

 

See the patterns of excuse? :tongue_smilie::lol:

 

So we are going to try again in the fall. Not because I feel like we NEED PE as a school activity, but I feel like we need the structure of some scheduled activity. I want to create a habit of healthy living.

 

I'm starting slowly, because it will still be super hot in August. So far I have three main activities schedule two days a week. These are things we can do together.

 

1. Weight lifting, stretching, and heavy bag work.

2. Tai Chi - I just bought a DVD and hope it will be a nice calming exercise

3. Walking - either around the neighborhood or at the hiking trails

 

IMO PE is best done when designed to fit your dc's interests. Another thing we have done is use a pedometer and make it a contest to see who could get their optimal steps in during the day. We might do that again too, that was fun.

[Amy Jo]

http://crossfitkids.com/ has a daily workout, comprised of gymnastics skills, stength exercises and endurance / sprinting. I would like to implement this, but haven't figured out how to sub-divide my kids and stave off the three-ring circus. I think we will start with just the skills (proper squats, jumping rope, etc.), probably in the fall. I was in an adult crossfit program before the baby, and the results were phenominal.

 

As of right now, the older boys do Taekwondo. Of course they also do things such as ride bikes and jump on the trampoline.

 

HTH!

Amy

[gpsings]

I'm watching this thread because I've heard that for behavioral and attention and focus you're supposed to give your child 1 hour of solid exercise a day. What do you do? Is there a program?

:lurk5:

[scrappyhappymama]

Wii Fit. :D This has been a great way for my little ones to expend some energy, especially during the heat of the summer or on bad weather days. Our rule is that they have to do 5 real exercises and then they get to play some of the Wii Fit games for the remainder of their 30 minutes- which are still physical activity, so I am happy with it as well.

 

Otherwise, "PE" comes from running and playing outside, park days, and organized sports teams (at various times: soccer, tae kwon do, baseball, football, gymnastics). But Wii Fit has been great for us, because it fills in the gaps between seasons, during poor weather, or when we can't make it out as often as we'd like (such as with a new baby).

[TengoFive]

It's not a curriculum, but we do USA Swimming year round. The kids are in the pool from 1-2 hours (depending on age), 4 days a week. It's done wonders for them.

[nono]

I have a book called "Kids with Zip" that I use to give them some PE exercises. My kids are active, and play a lot outside, but sometimes, they want some "drills" as they call them.

[justasque]

Over the years:

Tennis lessons, community soccer, dance lessons, swim team, mini-golf outings, hiking, park days, biking, scout activities, wii fit, roller skating, ice skating (with and without lessons), dance dance revolution, walking to the ice cream store with dad. :)

[Twigs]

I think the President’s Challenge (http://www.presidentschallenge.org/index.aspx) is a fun motivator. The program itself is free, but you have to pay for the optional rewards if you want them. I was a complete couch potato, but was able to complete the adult gold level in less than a year once I really got into being more active (mostly just walking for me). Lots of different activities count.

I also recommend a pedometer. Since I got mine, I’ve walked over 3 million steps in less than 1 year – it’s a real motivation to keep it up! By walking 10,000 steps a day, you can reach 1,000,000 steps in 100 days (a little over 3 months). You can make a family challenge to see who gets to a million first! If you’re not used to being active, don’t try to achieve 10,000 steps the first day! Just use your pedometer for a few days to get a baseline, then begin to increase the time or number of steps a little at a time. When I first started walking 2 years ago, I couldn’t walk more than 10-15 minutes at a time. I now routinely go 3 miles in about 60-65 minutes.

Please do not let your children grow up to be an inactive adult like me! Their health and general will-being will suffer because of inactivity.

See The Rules of Being Human: http://www.westhartfordcounselingcenter.com/rules.htm

The 1st is: You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for as long as you live. How you take care of it or fail to take care of it can make an enormous difference in the quality of your life.

[Tress]

http://crossfitkids.com/ has a daily workout, comprised of gymnastics skills, stength exercises and endurance / sprinting. I would like to implement this, but haven't figured out how to sub-divide my kids and stave off the three-ring circus. I think we will start with just the skills (proper squats, jumping rope, etc.), probably in the fall. I was in an adult crossfit program before the baby, and the results were phenominal.

 

 

Amy, I have been looking at Crossfitkids for a while. I started weightlifting (New Rules of Lifting for Women) in December and it made such a difference in my life, I wish someone had told me that years ago that I could *love* sports even though I can not catch a ball if my life depended on it :D.

 

Anyway, I had to stop recently because of my pregnancy. I plan on starting again in the spring and I would like to include my dds.

 

If you do start Crossfit, would you please post about it on the boards, pretty please :tongue_smilie:.

[rafiki]

.

[brownie]

There are a number of homeschool gym classes around here. Also ds9 swims 3+hours per week. I think one of the advantages of PE is learning all kinds of games. It came to my attention that some kids in our coop don't know what a relay is.

 

However, next year instead of a class I am thinking we will insist on expossure to 3 new sports....a few tennis classes, maybe a golf session and a rock climbing session or something else different from our typical classes at the Y.

 

Brownie

[Ravin]

Mine likes to be outside and active, so I pretty much just make sure she has time to do that. We go on some bike rides together, and in the fall she'll probably be getting archery equipment and skates for her birthday. She takes swim in summer, and this fall will probably do small-ball football (last year she did basketball--they learn the basic rules and actions and sort of play the game), maybe tennis, and maybe soccer (except I don't think they have soccer through the city here and we can't afford a private club). She also has PE once a week at her enrichment program. She also does SCA youth combat, but that's sporadic because we don't have a regular fighter practice with a committed youth marshall available on a night I don't work.

[Soror]

My kids are still running outside all they can to play- I hope to encourage that as much as possible. I think part of the encouragement of that is not having lots of electronic stimulation inside. When the tv is on they don't want to go outside near as much. So, anyway we only have broadcast tv and then only 1 station - I try to make sure it is rarely on- I want to cultivate an active lifestyle and them just being naturally active. It always sticks in my head my dh talking about how much he biked and swam until his parents bought a nintendo.

 

So, the kids ride the bikes around all the time. I like to do one big family activity a week a least- like hiking. We are currently doing some swim lessons- which I would like to keep to some degree.

[prim*rose]

Thanks for all the great ideas! I guess I never thought of the Wii as a real gym class, but we do have EA Active that she likes, and DDR that I can use.

 

Ravin - we went to a huge SCA encampment this past year that dd loved! She has wanted to get into the sword fighting since then, but we haven't even known where to start with getting involved - it's a bit overwhelming!

[Rosie_0801]

Ravin - we went to a huge SCA encampment this past year that dd loved! She has wanted to get into the sword fighting since then, but we haven't even known where to start with getting involved - it's a bit overwhelming!

 

Yes it is overwhelming, a real culture shock! But everyone was a newbie once :) Unless you live in the boonies, it is not hard to borrow stuff until you can acquire your own. You start here: http://sca.org/geography/findsca.html and while you wait for them to answer your email, you read some of this: http://sca.org/officers/chatelain/newcomers.html

 

:)

Rosie- Out to take over the world (I love this article http://www.theonion.com/articles/society-for-creative-anachronism-seizes-control-of,724/ :lol: )

[Disney Dreaming]

We have a homeschool PE class where we live that dd goes to once a week. We also do karate year round 2x a week. And we usually have cheerleading a few months out of the year plus swimming during the summer. I have bought the Homeschool Physical Education Game Book that I plan on sitting down and looking at when I get a chance.:) I have skimmed thru it and it looks like it will have at least a few good games.

[Dmmetler]

Luckily, we have a local community center that has a lot of nice classes available. She's probably not getting the variety she'd get in a PE class with a different activity each week, but she's getting to try a lot of sports and fitness activities, and hopefully she'll find one or two she loves enough to continue throughout her life.

[Twigs]

check out the video in this link for an amazing activity

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=189000