physical education - what do you do?

[Ame E.]

How do you meet the credit requirements? Both kids actually like to be physically active, but I am not sure where to go to fulfill this.. In our town at the high school level, sports are very competitive. My son enjoys soccer, basketball, and baseball. My daughter used to do Scottish dance, but it was an hour away and we dropped it.. Any suggestions? In our hs group there are sports, but these are mainly for little kids.. (like under seventh grade).

 

thanks for any tips...

[Jane in NC]

In 9th grade I gave my son a half unit credit for PE and Health. He played recreational hockey, but also took power skating lessons. Additionally, he read the monthly Nutrition Action Newsletter from the Center for Science in the Public Interest and learned to cook several health meals. He traveled to the NC mountains with 4-H to snowboard which included a formal lesson. And, finally, he did a several day backpacking trip for which he and his dad made and tested several designs of alcohol stoves.

 

He also completed Red Cross First Aid and CPR training.

 

I figured that it all added up to be worth something credit-wise.

 

Jane

[periwinkle]

whether it is hiking, biking, or playing one-on-one basketball in our driveway. Each year, we try to learn at least one new sport. Usually this involves a lesson or two(skiing and fencing come to mind...), but this year I decided to teach all the kids to play tennis! I haven't played in about 20 years, but the skills were still there (although I moved a lot slower than I remember:glare:)

 

During our tennis unit, we watched 2 different videos from the library about how to play, read through some information on scoring, and mostly just drilled the strokes and then played doubles on the local court. Everyone had a blast!

 

P. S. Frisbee golf was a hit last year, too!

[QueenCat]

I created a log that automatically added the time spent. For each activity participated in, I listed the date, activity, and time spent. The spreadsheet added the time of the various activities. When we hit 75 hours, that was 1/2 credit. We count bowling, swimming, p.e. class @ the Y, certain Scout activities, parts of Scout camp, basketball in the driveway, etc.

[Laurie in CA]

and joined a gym that teaches other fitness classes such as kickboxing. I figure that it will be easy to fulfill the high school requirement with that. Also I always logged things such as skiing in winter, horse back riding and bike riding. I like the idea above of learning a new sport. I'll bet you could find a tutor to teach a couple of kids tennis too. My friend's son who was a great tennis player did this.

 

Laurie in CA

[Ellie]

As we didn't need to count credits, we didn't worry about it. However, my dd was taking 2-3 ballet classes a week, which seemed pretty physical to me :-) so we would have counted that if necessary.

[Chris in VA]

We don't need it in VA, so I put all his physical stuff (Historical swords, mostly) toward his extracurriculars.

 

But you could go for the Presidential Fitness Award, take CPR/First Aid at the Y (it's cheap), do a sex-ed book for Health, count Driver's Ed (they count that as part of pe here in public school), keep track of exercise. Lots of options. Make a quick plan and then JUST DO IT! (Nike's make my feet sweat.):lol:

[Tina]

You could always set up some group sports with some other parents!

 

I teach tennis in June, other moms run softball and volleyball, and in the winter-hockey. There are also the hiking, biking, etc. that are done all the time and at Scouts.

You could have them read about health benefits of exercise/types-strength, aerobic, etc, and have them set up a program for themselves that includes so much time per week. Have them see/measure where they are physically, and strive to improve their scores over a certain amount of time. Setting them up to be active adults is the goal at my house.

[RoughCollie]

We belong to a racquetball club and one of my homeschooled kids takes karate lessons. Both will swim, play racquetball, work out, and etc. at the club. I have in mind for them to spend a month each taking a variety of classes offered there during the day for adults, if the club will let them. This is so the boys will experience a variety of exercise opportunities. Who knows, maybe they will like yoga and/or aerobics.

 

RC

[Laura Corin]

Our standard exercise is a mile run, stretching and light weights. We are extending the mile now, as it's pretty easy for them.

 

Laura

[Anne/Ankara]

We do community recreational sports as much as possible (soccer, basketball). I wish there was more available to my soon-to-be-ninth grade son. We also do skiing, horseback riding, and physical play, but he really likes team sports... oh well.

[Jan P.]

My son did soccer, mowing, shoveling (I had a sand pile that needed moving), running, dancing, and soccer.

 

My dd has taken ballet lessons, performed in recitals, and also belongs in a dance club that has performed in many places.

 

My youngest dd isn't in high school yet, but horseback riding will be her main P.E. activitiy.

 

HTH,