Benefits of Physical Activities in your Homeschool
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Mens sana in corpore sano- is Latin for “a sound mind in a healthy body.” Homeschooling mothers should take a closer look at the benefits of physical activities to their children’s overall development and make it equally important as any other aspect of their daily routine.
When I took my eldest son out of public school he had trouble sleeping. It was difficult for him to concentrate on a lesson. When attending public school, at the end of the day my son would be asleep within 5 minutes of laying in his bed. It didn’t take long for me to realize that while at school he was burning a lot of calories by running and playing during recess and lunch. I needed to find a way for my son to dispense all that youthful energy so when we sit down for a lesson he would be calm and relaxed.
Between teaching and running the household it can be exhausting to incorporate physical activities into the daily routine. Many parents will enroll their children into physical activities such as martial arts, swimming lessons, gymnastic and competitive sports after the school day. A couple classes of karate or swimming lessons weekly is nowhere near enough exercise for our children. We should integrate the equivalent of “gym class” to our daily routine. Not everybody is fond of gym class when they went to school, however in our”gym class” we won’t be failing our kids because they can’t do push ups or run a mini marathon. Our “gym class” should be anything that is physically active and fun.
We take two 20 minute “recess” during the school day. Playing different sports and games.
Find a physically active hobby that your children enjoy doing.
Once a week we go to skate park for 2 hours during the school day.
Everybody’s favorite – the playground
Organize play dates with other homeschooling families every other week
The benefits of physical activities in our daily routine are resulting in better concentration with my children’s schoolwork. They are now sleeping soundly and eager for the next school day. I encourage homeschooling mothers to allocate time in their children’s school day for lots of active fun!
Check out the posts in this How to Homeschool boys series series.
Helping kids get fit by promoting fun children’s health & fitness classes
Cardiac events, such as a heart attack, are rare during physical activity. But the risk does go up when you suddenly become much more active than usual. For example, you can put yourself at risk if you don’t usually get much physical activity and then all of a sudden do vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, like shoveling snow. That’s why it’s important to start slowly and gradually increase your level of activity.