For those of you who think exercise/fitness is important for our children...

[MommyInTraining]

What do you do to make it happen in your school?

 

I have a baby who needs to take his afternoon nap. The Y homeschool gym is during nap time. So, I am looking for other options for us. My children's ages are 10, almost 8, 5, 3, and 1.

 

Thanks for sharing your ideas!

[purplemama]

My two older children are both involved in sports, and I think their practices and games are adequate exercise, along with whatever running around in the yard or bike riding/scootering they do each day along with taking our dogs for a walk every day. I don't have the money in our budget to join a gym or the Y. My children are healthy and active as am I. I don't do PE as a subject.

 

Jennifer

[arcara]

Our homeschool Swim and Gym at the Y is during nap time, too. It's only once a week, so the baby just misses her nap, or takes a really late one that day.

 

I'm looking to incorporate more activity on a daily basis for my kiddos. They are not terribly active on their own. Part of the problem here is the weather. About 8 months out of the year, it cool/cold and raining or snowing. So, I don't know what to do about regular physical activity. I've been brainstorming...

 

I'd love ideas from others!

[SheWillFly]

It is part of our family life.

We do have a few outside sports but at the core is our set up and habits at home.

 

We ride bicycles.

Do yoga (I know not everyone will do this.)

Swim

Play! - running jumping, throwing the ball kicking the ball hula hooping, jump rope etc.

 

Outside organized activities are:

basketball

soccer

gymnastics

[Pongo]

I lead by example:), If mom won't do it, I'll be hard pressed to get them to.

When I had a baby that needed a nap, I would, either in my neighborhood, or at a local park take a long walk. The younger would ride a bike with training wheels if needed, and I would put the baby in the stroller and walk and walk. As they got older they had to go outside every morning for an hour or two and still do.

When I walk to dog, they ALL ride bikes alongside me now. It taught them how do ride safely on roads and they learned the proper hand signals.

 

On rainy days I still them them outside:)I buy great rain boots and rain jackets and my little one thinks playing outside with an umbrella is fun.

 

Now, all three are involved in sports. They LOVE playing in the rain (wonder why..lol). Just the other day I was at my ds baseball game, a friend of my dd came over to say hi, my dd said , "You want to jog around the field until the game is over". Her friend said , "Sure, that would be fun". So there I sat,

watching two ten year old girls jog for a good hour. Then, they played 1 on 1 soccer for the other 1/2 hour.

 

I think exercise is very important, whether or not they decided to do sports or even like them, it's important for me to help them develop good habits, exercising being one of them.

[Cheryl in NM]

What do you do to make it happen in your school?

 

I have a baby who needs to take his afternoon nap. The Y homeschool gym is during nap time. So, I am looking for other options for us. My children's ages are 10, almost 8, 5, 3, and 1.

 

Thanks for sharing your ideas!

 

Ds is in sports. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu year round, baseball in the spring and football in the fall. He's been in BJJ since he was 5, but only once a week. I consider park days good exercise.

 

You might want to take your kids for a walk daily. You could put the baby in a sling and just walk slow enough for the 3 year old. The older ones can run ahead and back to you to make up for your pace. My neighbor and I walk. She has a double stoller for her 3 & 5 yos. They walk part of the way. She will also bring snacks and toys for them to occupy themselves in the stroller. The walk is for us so we walk 2 miles and a decent pace.

[Kate in Arabia]

Among other sports, my boys are in a gymnastics class. Well, it's at a gymnastics club, but really it's a physical fitness class. It meets three times a week for an hour, and in that hour the coach has them, for example, run around the mat for five minutes; then do five minutes of sit-ups, then run again, then handstands, then pull-ups, then run for five minutes. You get the idea. It is non-stop vigorous activity (other than 1-2 water breaks) and he pushes them; I don't know if I would really push them.

 

I treat this as a class just as important as any other, it is not optional for them, and I have seen a major change in my older ds who was definitely getting a bit hefty. I have to say, now that I have had this experience, were I somewhere where they didn't have it, I would seriously try to organize one, even if it meant hiring a personal trainer. The coach they have is fantastic, because he's male, young (probably mid-to-late twenties) and very fit -- none of which would describe me. :tongue_smilie: I think my boys (and the other kids in the class) really respect him, I know my son at least looks up to him as a fitness example, and the coach takes no craziness from these kids.

 

In addition to that, my kids have golf, swimming and soccer. My semi-goal is for them to have some formal physical activity every day; if they were naturally outdoor kids who would run around a lot on their own, and who didn't have the possibility of carrying around my genes in this area :glare: , I probably wouldn't be as concerned.

[Testimony]

I looked up the presidential fitness program. Here's the site:

 

http://www.presidentschallenge.org/educators/home_schools.aspx

 

I found out that what we are doing applies to our physical education program. So, I thought that I was OK. That's a great site.

 

Just to tell you also, I go to my town's recreation department and do whatever is being offered during the seasons like soccer in the fall, baseball in the spring, etc. The local town stuff is usually inexpensive. The practices are a couple times a week in the evening because they are fathers coaching. Games are on a Saturday.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Blessings in your homeschooling journey!

 

Sincerely,

Karen

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony

[cbollin]

Older girls are in dance classes once a week. (nice studio with same values that our family has in that dance should be fun, social and non-competitive, modest clothes and dances. So it was nice to find something that shared our values)

 

We also do Praise Moves for Kids (for indoor stretches)

 

Kids run around in the back yard kicking balls, swings, gardening, chasing bugs, climbing in trees.

 

Also, we're in a co-op that has once a week late afternoon play time at local park. Or in winter is indoors at local rec center. That's especially nice in winter because of all of the city equipment is in the rental fee! yeah!

 

and oldest kid is in Sunday night youth group. One hour devoted to teachings and the second hour is active group games.

 

So we don't do formal PE course, but just look at ways to be active in our lives. I'm also involved in Jazzercise class and go at times when dh and oldest can watch other kids. That way they see that even a mom needs to do this stuff too.

 

-crystal