Practical advice for Physical Education day?

[tinamccollum]

If anyone has any practical advice for Physical Education day for a nonathletic homeschool MOM with a 7 and 8 year old I would appreciate it.

[momo3boys]

what do you do now? we have a time when we get together with other homeschoolers and play at the playground or GYM. Sometimes we organize games, sometimes we just have fun. Maybe your boys would like to learn how to play games, or just hit a ball, (great for hand and eye coordination) Boys don't need to be told to play and be physical, given the opportunity they should thrive.

[tinamccollum]

Thanks for the advice. This will be my first year to homeschool.

[Theodore]

This might seem like an odd suggestion, but you could try juggling. It's exercise that builds muscle evenly in both sides of the body, it's good for hand-eye coordination, and it requires practically no space (unless juggling 5+ objects, in which case a higher ceiling is good) or special equipment.

[Janet Tatman]

Do you have a swimming pool close by? Even if you can't swim, you and your children can enjoy the physcial exercise while playing in the water. Swimming uses almost every muscle in the body.

[phiferan]

My son is not very athletic and for P.E. he walked 3 hours a week. You can also do gardening, provided you have a big garden (such as a community garden) that you can work on most of the year. There is also golf and community swimming pools (most kids love swimming). And, you can do a log book to record the activity, where the parent just records (typed or printed) each week how many minutes and on what days children worked and what was worked on or learned (worked 20 minutes on Tuesday, worked 40 minutes on Thursday),etc. and (walked at the park) (walked in neighborhood), etc. My portfolio was reviewed for several years in the state of Maryland (every 6 months) and this walking was acceptable.

[StellarStory]

There are so many things you can do for P.E.

To me the key is to find what the child or teen is really into. Actually that's true for adults as well.

The other key is to work up to at least thirty minutes of cardio every other day. If the activity chosen doesn't accomplish that it needs to be supplemented IMO.

Here are some ideas I came up with when my teen was looking for P.E.:

Drum Circles are good exercise if there are any in your area.

Swimming

Skating both ice and roller, not to mention skate boarding

Fencing

Horseback Riding

Running

Scuba Diving lessons

Gymnastics

Martial arts

Shooting, just about any kind, including laser and paint ball.

Boating any kind with oars or peddles

Yoga

Tennis

Volley ball.

Blow up playgrounds and bouncy areas

Bowling (This to me isn't great exercise and would have to be supplemented.

Dance: Just about any kind

Self defense classes

Pick up games of just about any sport.

[Shari Nielsen]

Try to tie PE into your curriculum. For instance, investigate the benefits aerobic exercise has on the circulatory system. Get a cheap pedometer ($10-15) and have your child wear it while exercising and then do some practical math w/ it...If you took this many steps during 20 min of exercise how far would you travel in an hour?...Graph heart rates over time...Calculate the angle a ball will leave a baseball bat when hit with a certain force...etc.

Exercise is a lifestyle choice and should be integrated into daily routines from the time a child can start crawling. Introduce your child to a bunch of different ways to exercise and try to find what they like best and go with it. Just make sure there is a cardio/aerobic component and an anaerobic one (quick bursts - lifting, sprinting, etc.) to work out the entire body.

This is yet another advantage to homeschooling. Public schools deprive students of the opportunity to spend a decent portion of their day just running around, strengthening their body, and most importantly, learning why exercise is so important to a healthy body.

[Momma24]

ZUMBA! (On DVD!) The girls and I have a good time in the morning getting our blood pumping! And it's REWARDING!

[Blessings4all]

There are some fun videos out there for kids. We used Miss Christy's Dance Class video when my kids were young. She teaches jazz, ballet, and tap dance. I posted a review for it on my website.
There are also Tai Chi videos if you think they might like martial arts.
My kids also liked the Yoga Fitness for Kids video by Gaiam.

[1to1tutor]

There are so many things you can do for P.E. To me the key is to find what the child or teen is really into. Actually that's true for adults as well. The other key is to work up to at least thirty minutes of cardio every other day. If the activity chosen doesn't accomplish that it needs to be supplemented IMO.

[sandrapitt]

Well for starters you can start with a routine of jogging (which does not require to you to be athletic) followed by some stretching and yoga exercise which can be done indoors or even in a park early in the morning. You can get a lot of yoga videos online. Once your and your kids bodies get flexible and used to exercising you can actually start off with sports.