Do you have a set time for exercise or is it just whenever? Or are days just filled with exercise so it does not have to be set? I do not think I need a set time, my kids are already pretty active. I just wanted to know what you all think. Thank you very much!
No, we don't. Two of my kids play soccer. My third one (my "couch potato", lol!) rides horses. But I try to walk on a regular basis, and she likes to do that, too. She also likes to ride her bike.
I find PE to be the hardest to do. We live in a (not too safe) neighborhood so its harder to let them outdoors unless I can be right out there, too. My oldest bought herself a hula hoop, jump rope and some weights and she's been regular about using them daily. The other two like Gilad (DVD) and playing catch and such in the backyard. Then as a family we try to get bowling and nature walks at a local state park in 1 or 2 times a month. I don't feel its ideal but for now thats all we can do. It stinks living in this nasty place so hopefully we can move to a better neighborhood soon. (google 'worst places to live in america" and see Modesto, where we live. Its in the top 5).
I'm doing Dr Sears Lean Kids program with my boys. They are not naturally active. I require 20 minutes of vigorous exercise before breakfast on school days and about 5 minutes of stretching or muscle building exercises. In addition we have some outside play time and nutrition as well as healthy attitude training from the Dr Sears book. If I averaged it out we spend 1-1.5 hours a week on outside/inside exercise and nutrition/health instruction. If I included the morning exercise requirement then we spend at least 3 hours a week on PE.
I am fortunate to have a local homeschool PE group where a coach comes in and teaches the kids for 1.5 hours once a week at a local park. It is $5 a week, but well worth it for not only the exercise, but the socialization (yes, I said the "s" word). My son loves it and it is ages kinder through 6th grade, so he really gets to experience a range of ages while learning sports he has never played (kickball, dodgeball, field hockey, basketball, etc.)
My kids are rarely inactive. I encourage them to move. And we take swim lessons throughout the year. We also are pretty active ourselves in the warmer months. Deep winter is our down time
Last "semester" my kids were doing PE with another family at their house. They have a ds16 who was having them do cardio and some ability/developmentally appropriate weight training and calisthenics three times a week for about an hour or hour and a half. We also ride bikes, walk, trampoline, hunt and fish, do outide chores, building projects and general farm/property upkeep. Ds14 has been splitting wood all winter for my dad, so we have backed off of formal PE since he is working out harder doing chores than he was in class. Dd11 is also learning about girls' health separately with me.
All ours do at least one sport club a week, either gym or trampolining, and the eldest does netball and homeschool sports as well, during the school holidays they do crash courses in swimming (sometimes they have free sessions when they are training new instructors! last time it was 2 weeks of 1 hour a day). They use the wii, bikes, outside play area and any other playpark we can find. we are very lucky to have a big garden to play in and fields around us so they are free to run. As a family exercise is really important as there are larger members of the family and medical conditions connected, so dh and I encourage an active lifestyle. No idea how much time we spend on gym, but somedays they do more than others, and on a really busy day they could spend up to 5 hours and other days it could be 10 minutes! I am interested in that book dr sears so off to check that out
DS6 never stops moving & he looooooves exercise. He is constantly getting on me about it lol Who is teaching who here? I don't know.
We have a homeschool PE class at a nearby rec center. Several coaches work with kids from K-12 and have them run, play a sport, do a group game or exercise and teach them about a health issue. It's only once a week and I know we need to add more exercise than that. When the weather gets nicer I'm planning to add in more bike rides and participate in a hiking spree. My son also plays basketball or soccer twice a week and my daughter does gymnastics and dance for one hour each every week.
Our homeschool group swims at the Y twice a month. We enjoy hiking and the kids ride their scooters and bikes daily. I would like to start teaching them specific sports skills, but am thinking I'll wait until the morning sickness stage of my pregnancy goes away to get started.
We don't plan really. I have active boys, we try to go outside a lot, take walks through the woods next to our house, etc. I have been meaning to add daily exercise (20 minutes or so) to our daily routine, because my oldest is a bit overweight, but he's active, the problem, I think, is his eating habits due to sensory issues, not lack of exercise...
With all of the snow, our outdoor time has been severely curtailed the past few months, although we have gotten some great sledding in. Besides that, the boys both play basketball and participate in track year-round. We also swim and rock-climb at the Y. When we stay indoors, they bounce indoors on the rebounder, use a recumbent bike and chin-up bar, and expend energy on Just Dance on the Wii.
We do gymnastics twice a month, take walks, ride bikes, and he runs around with our dog in the backyard. I also count sledding as PE. It wears us all out climbing that hill over and over. He will start flag football in about a month. He really doesn't do a formal PE program, I just write down what he does anyway.
If shoveling counts then I have been having him do gym time lately! Somedays when he can not sit still I might throw some more activity assignments at him but usually he is active enough that we do not have a gym time.
We do all the sports that the local recreation center provides. It keeps us pretty busy. My dd used to ride horses too. She loved it, but we couldn't afford it anymore :cry: That has got to be the most expensive sport out there.
My girls are active, however; during these awful winter days I assign them 30-45 minutes of Wii Fit. It beats nothing when you're stuck inside. Normally they ride bikes, play any kind of ball, jump rope, etc...
We don't schedule it in either. DD participates twice a week in a homeschool Fun&Fit group for about 1 1/2 each day. My kids just like to be outside though and ride bikes, roller blade, trampoline, etc. They do pull out the WII occasionally and DS has an inflatable trampoline for when it's too cold or nasty windy outside to play.
Exercise... We don't schedule per se either - it is a natural phenomenon in this house...some days you want to run with the wind in your hair, others sit curled up with a book in your pjs... Some days I can see that they are like caged tigers and they need to go to the local park....so we go. A lot is weather dependent too. If it is really wet that doesn't stop us going out - its a magical time to explore but does take more effort to get all the kit on but there is nothing better than puddle jumping when you are 5 We are moderately active as a family - a reasonable balance I feel - also balancing tiredness too with other daily chores and duties. I can't say we actively pursue a "sport" every day but I have keen swimmers and a dancer who is always prancing around and playing trampolines on the bed...so all in all, I think along with the groups and park dates - we get plenty with out scheduling more. SS
