I love to read. I like to read about things that can help our life, our homeschool, and our walk with Christ. So when I started researching how I could get active with my homeschool kids during the day, I was surprised at what I found.
I found ideas just for moms and ideas for kids only. I thought that maybe some families might like ideas for getting active in homeschool together.
I actually love being with my children. I fully realize that they are growing up way too fast for my mind to grasp. That is why when I needed to get some exercise in during the day on my own, I felt guilty. Above feeling liable for taking time away from them, I just couldn’t fit in working out for an hour a day with our busy schedule. It was too much and I couldn’t motivate myself.
I know some of you are so better than me in this. You make time to work out; you make time to get healthy. That just wasn’t my story. I have always been bigger and just tired a lot.
When I was finally able to stay home and homeschool, I had this grand idea that now that I wasn’t working a nine-to-five, I would be able to work-out more. I convinced myself that homeschooling would solve many problems in my life and not being able to work out was one of them.
A few years into homeschooling I realized I was still tired, and worked from home in my “free” time, all the while unmotivated to get up to exercise. That is when I started to do some research about the things I could do with my homeschoolers to get active. They sat around a lot all day as well. They started not to want to ride their bikes or play outside – just like me. Their lack of motivation showed me, myself.
Therefore, exploring ideas for getting active in my homeschool, but with my kids, is what I set out to do. Making physical activities a part of our homeschool week was a great help to me and my energy levels. My children are in sports and are pretty active now.
Getting active together, as part of homeschooling, has helped our relationship. The kids bug me to stay active now, and I need that help from them now, the way they needed it back then.
Ideas for Getting Active in Your Homeschool
Take movement breaks for getting active in your homeschool.
This is how we first started getting active in homeschool. Taking movement breaks refresh our minds and put a pep in our step. Every day we would have a movement break to get up and do something. We would take a walk, get up and dance a bit (because we all love music), jump rope, do jumping jacks, or things like that.
Each day one of us would get to decide what to do. It was a great start, and we still find ourselves taking movement breaks years later.
Have full blown P.E. days planned out as part of your homeschool curriculum for getting active in your homeschool.
Guess who the P.E. (Physical Education) teacher is? The P.E. teacher is none other than, Super Mom. Thankfully, not much thinking goes into a P.E. lesson plan. For instance, Tuesdays after lunch can be a time for biking riding for an hour a day.
There are all sorts of ideas you can do here, such as give them swimming lessons or time swimming laps in a pool or playing basketball together. I incorporated dancing lessons once a week in homeschool.
My children are half Puerto Rican, so they asked if I could teach them salsa dancing. We totally had to start from the basics, but it turned out to be an excellent experience for all of us — that began as P.E. time.
Play fun, family games for getting active in your homeschool.
Now, this is a kid favorite, of course. In games, I mean anything from classic tag games to playing Wii video dancing or sports games. We love taking a trip out to the park and setting up a game of Steal the Can. It was a game I played back in the streets of the Bronx as a kid.
Two teams line up about ten feet on either side of a can or bottle. Each child in a team is given a number secretly by the coach – me. Both teams have the same numbers, and when I call out the number, the two children with that assigned number will try to run and steal the can back to their line up without being tagged by the other child.
That was in depth, sorry. We just really love playing that game. The kids also enjoy Red Light/Green Light and Hide and Seek. Kids love games, and that is great. However, above all else, games teach kids so much like waiting their turn, patience, and the thrill and agony of defeat. Learning to take a loss is needed in a world of “every child gets a trophy.”
Of course, children may want to join a sport and let’s face it; these activities with my kids won’t exactly give me rock hard abs. It will, however, keep us healthy, and moving, and providing our bodies with the exercise we need to get up off the chair and keep ourselves active. Getting active in your homeschool is a habit you can form in your children now that they can carry with them through adulthood.
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Jeannette is a wife, mother and homeschooling mom. She has been mightily, saved by grace and is grateful for God’s sovereignty throughout her life’s journey. She has a Bachelor in English Education and her MBA. Jeannette is bi-lingual and currently lives in the Tongan Islands of the South Pacific. She posts daily freebies for homeschoolers!
