Physical Education is one of those areas that is soooooo important yet often left on the back burner. This article can give you some great ideas to get you and your kids moving -
50 Ways homeschoolers can get physical education - Mankato Homeschooling | Examiner.com:
Our big PE things are bowling, tennis, yoga and Wii games - Exerbeat and Just Dance are the ones in the high rotation these days. What do you do for PE?
'via Blog this'
The trials and errors of a home educating family finding our own way and getting saner by the day!
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Jul 30, 2011
Apr 29, 2011
Looking Ahead to High School - Part 6
If you missed any previous parts HERE is a quick link to them.
Now that we have covered most of the basics, I have been going through my stash to fill in some other things and see what might peek KM's interest in the areas of Health, Physical Education, Nutrition and "elective" subjects. I tend to lump Health and P.E. together, because I feel as though they are one in the same and nutrition fits in quite nicely in that way as well. These are all things that we do and discuss on a regular basis, but KM does actually enjoy delving deeper into some areas.
I came across a kit that I got a while back free from the FDA called Science and Our Food Supply : Investigating Food Safety from the Farm to our Table. Now a majority of people would just take a kit like this and do one of two things, teach it as is without even and thinking OR throw it out the window because how on earth could a biased government agency give a clear and honest outline of something like this? WELL we are going to take this kit dissect it and use it to do our own research and see what we can find out. See how much truth there is to what they are "selling" and what kinds of choices we might need to make differently in order to better ourselves and our family. We are all about questioning and we are both very EXCITED to see what we uncover.
Along these same lines we will also be looking into another free kit GET IT! - Global Education To Improve Tomorrow, that we got from a non-government agency Heifer International. We will use this program in the same way - dissect take in and research to make our own discoveries.
As for the Physical Education and Sports aspects, KM is 95% sure that she wants to continue bowling through the summer and is considering doing a 6 week, 2 day a week intensive camp. We will also be continuing with Hiking, Tennis, Yoga, Basketball, Roller Skating and Ice Skating. She has no interest in taking lessons or playing these competitively - other than against me and some of her friends - but she does enjoy playing and doing them for fun. She has also really liked playing some of the newer dance games she has for the Wii which include Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2 and 3 ,
Just Dance 2
, and Dance on Broadway
which are a SERIOUS workout! I also got a fab new yoga and pillates workout game for the wii - New U Fitness First Yoga and Pilates
- which is the first one that I TRULY LOVE and I think KM is going to enjoy it as well!
As for the arts we are hoping KM will be able to continue with her incredible theater group. She also is really enjoying the PBS Art 21 Series which she is viewing through Netflix and she is going to be finishing seasons 3, 4 & 5 over the summer. For music she will be continuing her self-learning on the keyboard, strengthening her voice through the use of Voices 2 Go and the many singing games that she loves, and her guitar and band hero ~ you can see our music picks by checking out our curriculum picks page HERE.
As for other electives at the moment the only thing she has decided on is to try the Spanish Conversation Demystified
, but other than that we are going to wait and see what interests are sparked! FRENCH! After working through several Spanish programs, she has decided to give French a whirl! I have a feeling this is more about working on her accents, but that is fine with me. We have a few random CD-ROM language programs and games that have come with other sets that we have purchased throughout the years and I will probably order French Conversation Demystified with Two Audio CDs
if I can't get it on Paperbackswap soon and French DeMYSTiFieD, Second Edition
when it becomes available in June.
If you have any free resources or suggestions to add please feel free to leave them in the comment section!
Now that we have covered most of the basics, I have been going through my stash to fill in some other things and see what might peek KM's interest in the areas of Health, Physical Education, Nutrition and "elective" subjects. I tend to lump Health and P.E. together, because I feel as though they are one in the same and nutrition fits in quite nicely in that way as well. These are all things that we do and discuss on a regular basis, but KM does actually enjoy delving deeper into some areas.
I came across a kit that I got a while back free from the FDA called Science and Our Food Supply : Investigating Food Safety from the Farm to our Table. Now a majority of people would just take a kit like this and do one of two things, teach it as is without even and thinking OR throw it out the window because how on earth could a biased government agency give a clear and honest outline of something like this? WELL we are going to take this kit dissect it and use it to do our own research and see what we can find out. See how much truth there is to what they are "selling" and what kinds of choices we might need to make differently in order to better ourselves and our family. We are all about questioning and we are both very EXCITED to see what we uncover.
Along these same lines we will also be looking into another free kit GET IT! - Global Education To Improve Tomorrow, that we got from a non-government agency Heifer International. We will use this program in the same way - dissect take in and research to make our own discoveries.
As for the Physical Education and Sports aspects, KM is 95% sure that she wants to continue bowling through the summer and is considering doing a 6 week, 2 day a week intensive camp. We will also be continuing with Hiking, Tennis, Yoga, Basketball, Roller Skating and Ice Skating. She has no interest in taking lessons or playing these competitively - other than against me and some of her friends - but she does enjoy playing and doing them for fun. She has also really liked playing some of the newer dance games she has for the Wii which include Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2 and 3 ,
Just Dance 2, and Dance on Broadway which are a SERIOUS workout! I also got a fab new yoga and pillates workout game for the wii - New U Fitness First Yoga and Pilates - which is the first one that I TRULY LOVE and I think KM is going to enjoy it as well! As for the arts we are hoping KM will be able to continue with her incredible theater group. She also is really enjoying the PBS Art 21 Series which she is viewing through Netflix and she is going to be finishing seasons 3, 4 & 5 over the summer. For music she will be continuing her self-learning on the keyboard, strengthening her voice through the use of Voices 2 Go and the many singing games that she loves, and her guitar and band hero ~ you can see our music picks by checking out our curriculum picks page HERE.
As for other electives at the moment the only thing she has decided on is to try
, but other than that we are going to wait and see what interests are sparked! if I can't get it on Paperbackswap soon and French DeMYSTiFieD, Second Edition when it becomes available in June.If you have any free resources or suggestions to add please feel free to leave them in the comment section!
Apr 20, 2011
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution - ABC.com
I watched the first season and was astonished at what was going on in the schools, but this season I can't believe that they won't even let him in!!! This is disturbing to me. How on earth can this go on?
I took the pledge to spread the word! The health issues in this country due to the diet of our population is disgusting! The unknowing parents trusting in a system to provide what is best for their children is appalling.
Things HAVE TO CHANGE!!!
Schools saying NO BAGGED LUNCHES is for the betterment of the child, WHAT???? People need to be aware of what they are putting into their bodies. They need to know where it is coming from. They need to understand what it is being done to their children. You must break the cycle and rip the blinders off! Schools have taught all of us to NOT question, to FULLY TRUST them, and to BELIEVE they are doing what is BEST for us! IT IS ALL LIES!!! From the food they are putting in to the children to the ridiculous test taking skills they are teaching them. NONE of this is what is BEST for any child!
If you haven't watched yet you can see the full episodes on-line here - Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution - ABC.com
Nov 11, 2010
Preparing for Braces
KM has ALWAYS - literally for as long as she has been going to the dentist's anyway - wanted braces. She used to press the gum across her teeth and pretend to have them. She asks the dental hygenist at every cleaning and picked out the colored bands that she would choose.The day is finally arriving and she is bit more nervous than she thought she would be, so we looked up information so that she could be as informed as possible and here is some of what we found -
- Of Course BRAIN POP had a video!!!
- Kid's Health
- Medicine Net
- Kidzworld
- AAO - Braces Just for Kids
- Braces Brigade
- Style N Smile
We had the first appointment for the spacers to be put in and she goes to have the braces put on on Fri. The most difficult thing that she hadn't really thought about was the food restrictions. She is also pretty nervous about having the 4 teeth pulled. She has calmed herself a bit now that she knows it doesn't have to be done immediately, but I don't know how well it is going to go when the time actually comes.
Sep 15, 2010
Random Acts of Fitness - Free Fitness and Nutrition Info from Subway
Subway is one of our FAVORITE places to stop to get a quick healthy lunch when we are out and about! Awhile back I ordered a Random Acts of Fitness Kit from Subway, fortunately for us we received an actual kit before they ran out! However they are working to get all the aspects of the kit available on-line shortly. There website also has tons of ideas to get your kids up and moving in ways that are outside the box!
Here is the gist of the program:
SUBWAY RANDOM ACTS OF FITNESS FOR KIDS is about making small changes that can add up to big results. The kit includes tools to help kids EAT fit, THINK fit, and BE fit, all while having fun and taking positive steps toward a lifetime of better health.
I have heard from a lot of homeschooling families that health, nutrition and physical education in general, sometimes tend to take a back burner to the "more important" subjects. This program gives some great types and ideas to incorporate little changes and activities into your everyday "school" routine. In the kit we received a planner that covers from Aug. 30 2010 to Sept. 1, 2011. In this planner there is an activity listed for each and every Monday through Friday day for that entire year!
This "school" year we are going to begin incorporating these activities into our week! Since I just got the kit yesterday (9/14) we had a bit of catching up to do so we crammed two weeks of ideas into a 30 minute slot this morning and here is some of what we did:
Pedometer scavenger hunts send the kids hunting for things that fit into a general category. Each month starts out with a different theme and the kids use the pedometers to see how far they had to go to find them:
They had to find 3 different kinds of leaves, 3 things that were natural and red, 3 things that were natural and smooth, and 3 things that were natural and rough. She was reaching on the red one - the cactus has a few little red spots, but I let her have it:
One minute activities give the kids some well needed movement before settling in to work! KM got really silly with the volcanic eruptions and felt the walking hands gave her back and legs a great stretch!
-
Be sure to check out back and see what other Random Acts of Fitness we incorporate!
In the meantime, How do you incorporate fitness and nutrition in your child(ren)'s home education?
Dec 4, 2009
Winter Session 7th Grade Curriculum Picks
As we are drawing our fall session to a close over the next week, I figured it was time to look ahead and finalize the choices we have made for the upcoming Winter Session! Since we are always changing things around here, this is of course a rough guess of what we will be doing. Most of our picks for the fall session worked out rather well, but there are some areas that we needed to tweak a bit. Here is our "intended" outline -
ELA -
We have swapped out our ELA system SEVERAL times in the past two years, but I do think that we have finally made a bit of progress in this area. KM worked through Levels 3 & 4 of Writing Strands rather quickly and decided to work through a few workbooks for latter half of this past session and the next.
Math -
Social Sciences -
Health -
KM really likes the Learn to Be Healthy site - though some of the content is a bit below her level, most of it seems to be sinking in and she is moving right along through it. They do have a high school level, but I don't think she is ready for that set just yet. She is also working through the Health topics on Brain Pop.
Electives -
ELA -
We have swapped out our ELA system SEVERAL times in the past two years, but I do think that we have finally made a bit of progress in this area. KM worked through Levels 3 & 4 of Writing Strands rather quickly and decided to work through a few workbooks for latter half of this past session and the next.
- She has been working through 5-Minute Daily Practice Grammar, she tends to do all 5 lessons for the week at once on Monday, but she is getting them all correct, so I guess I can't really complain can I.
- Quick Practice Writing Skills is a bit more of a challenge for her - well it varies day to day. There are some things that she just needs a slight reminder on and others that have never been covered, so when we come to an area that needs to be covered completely we stop and cover it. It seems to be working and she is far less weary of asking for help.
- For writing itself we have gone back to the 3 minute non-stop writing and are using 350 Fabulous Writing Prompts. Some of the prompts are not so fabulous in my opinion, but we just skip those ones and take those days to go back over and review or edit her previous days writings.
- We will also begin working through the Grammar and then Writing on BrainPop.
- For literature we will be using Teacher Created Resources for Tuck Everlasting and The Island of the Blue Dolphin. As well as a Scholastic Book Guide for Around the World in Eighty Days which will coincide with our Geography. KM of course will also be continuing her free time reading - not that I have to worry about that.
Math -
- We will be finishing up The Complete Book of Algebra and Geometry this next session so that she can feel confident when she goes back to the Teaching Textbook for Algebra in the Spring.
- I also thought that it would be fun and interesting to take a look at Women Mathematicians during this session. This book features 15 women and we will spread them out covering one or two a week for the 10 week session.
- We have decided to put off Story of Science again as KM wanted to slow down a bit on her Physics so that she could really investigate each area more closely. So for the next session she will continue with her Physics Workshop Kit from Thames & Kosmos. She will also continue to supplement with Brain Pop.
- We are also going to revisit Chemistry. She had done a bit of it last year at our co-op, but I think we will try to dive a bit deeper this time around. I have gotten a light textbook - Chemistry of Matter - from Paperback Swap and she has agreed to try it. I have the Periodic Table from Basher Science Books - WHICH SHE LOVES! - as a stand by in case the text flops. I have a lot of projects and kitchen chemistry things to add in as well as BrainPop - AGAIN!
Social Sciences -
- For history we will be working on Ancient Rome and finishing up volume one of Story of the World. This will also conclude our Giant Lapbook! I will be sure to post all the info on that when it is complete! This will be our final history pocket as well. KM is very happy that we will also be continuing with the Horrible Histories series, which despite mixed reviews from others, has been going over very well with her! We started out with the books, then I purchased the animated series on Ebay and now have been using the resources for the CBBC series.
- We will be finishing up Rand McNally's Intermediate Geography as well as doing a cultural study of each area as it is covered in the book. I am using several other resources for this including Global Trek, Hands-On Heritage series and Art Projects from Around the World.
Health -
KM really likes the Learn to Be Healthy site - though some of the content is a bit below her level, most of it seems to be sinking in and she is moving right along through it. They do have a high school level, but I don't think she is ready for that set just yet. She is also working through the Health topics on Brain Pop.
Electives -
- Staying with our strong Science focus - per KM's request - she will be studying weather and meteorology this session. I will be listing our resources for this in a separate post.
- For her foreign language she is going to be doing Spanish. We were lucky enough to get a FANTASTIC deal on Tell Me More by Auralog through the Homeschool Buyers Co-op last summer and she is REALLY enjoying the program. The voice recognition software is great and the homeschool edition has worksheets that you can print off to supplement with. I will be supplementing with two workbooks - Let's Learn Spanish Grades 7 & 8. I also picked up to sticker books that I thought KM & SC could do together. This would help reinforce the basics for KM and would introduce SC to a bit of Spanish as well.
- Music Alive! is still a big hit and we will continue with this through the next session. We also will be taking a look at some opera pieces from Opera for Everyone and will be going to the Boston Lyric Opera's presentation of Barber of Seville.
- Piano Adventures is working incredibly! She will be starting on Level 2 and I am amazed and awestruck by how well she is playing with no outside instruction. There was talk of an interest in Flute, but I am not too sure how serious that was...
- She will be continuing with Drama at our co-op and they will be working on another Shakespearean play with music and dancing, but the title has not been disclosed yet!
- We will be continuing to work through the Meet The Masters for our art practical and theory section. She will also continue on her cross stitch work and may start some sewing as she interested in working on her costume for the play this spring.
Sep 5, 2009
Curriculum Picks for Fall Session - 7th Grade - Everything Else
This is the list of everything else that we will be covering!
Foreign Language - Latin
We will be continuing our Latin study at least through the fall and maybe into the winter...
KM loves art and is very excited we are going to be starting Meet the Master which I got another great deal on through Homeschool Buyers Co-op!
Music -
Another one of KM's favorite areas so we have multiple resources here -
Health -
We will be continuing to use the free curriculum supplements from NICHD publications. When I found this resource, just over a year ago, I thought it would be just some small little packets or pamphlets. I ordered almost everyone and nearly fell over when they arrived! These are full sets all ready to go into a 3 ring binder and some come with CD-Rom games and online interaction!
We also will probably be using a few of these websites -
Term Elective - KM picks a subject area each term that she would like to know more about!
With the newest baby around so much lately KM has become very interested in learning about child development. It is rather tricky to find information for Middle School at this level, but I did manage to find a few things...by searching under Babysitting Skills!
CO-OP Classes
We will be attending our co-op for two classes this fall, as well as a Theater Group with our local homeschool support network. Our first co-op class will be Geography and loosely based on the Trail Guide to World Geography for the mapping aspects and different parents will be responsible each week to provide the cultural aspects that go along with it. The second class will be on Algebraic Reasoning using Family Math for Middle Schoolers and LOTS of math games. The theater group is the same one that she participated in last spring and they will be continuing to do some work on Shakespeare, as well as some monologues and some skits on famous historical times and people.
I think that is it for our fall session line-up. If you missed any of the previous posts just head to the top of the screen and type in curriculum picks and they should pop right up! Don't know how much we will get done or how many times we will change things around, but we are hoping for the best!
It may be quietier around here for the next few weeks as we take a bit of time off in between sessions! Be sure to let us know how your fall is starting out!
Foreign Language - Latin
We will be continuing our Latin study at least through the fall and maybe into the winter...
- Learning Latin Through Mythology - two of KM's favorite things rolled into one, where could you go wrong with that?
- Minimus Secundus - KM really like the first level of this book, so I figured we should go for it again!
KM loves art and is very excited we are going to be starting Meet the Master which I got another great deal on through Homeschool Buyers Co-op!
Music -
Another one of KM's favorite areas so we have multiple resources here -
- Piano Adventures Series - this covers her lesson books, artistry and technique, theory, performance practice and her favorite - Christmas songs!
- Music Alive!
- Classics for Kids
- Voice Lessons To Go
Health -
We will be continuing to use the free curriculum supplements from NICHD publications. When I found this resource, just over a year ago, I thought it would be just some small little packets or pamphlets. I ordered almost everyone and nearly fell over when they arrived! These are full sets all ready to go into a 3 ring binder and some come with CD-Rom games and online interaction!
We also will probably be using a few of these websites -
Term Elective - KM picks a subject area each term that she would like to know more about!
With the newest baby around so much lately KM has become very interested in learning about child development. It is rather tricky to find information for Middle School at this level, but I did manage to find a few things...by searching under Babysitting Skills!
- Babysitting Handbook - American Girl
- 4H - Child Development Set - I was sooooo excited when I found out that you could just order the 4H curriculums and use them at home!
- REAL LIFE BABY IN OUR HOME 2-3 DAYS A WEEK!
- REAL LIFE TODDLER IN OUR HOME 2-3 DAYS A WEEK!
CO-OP Classes
We will be attending our co-op for two classes this fall, as well as a Theater Group with our local homeschool support network. Our first co-op class will be Geography and loosely based on the Trail Guide to World Geography for the mapping aspects and different parents will be responsible each week to provide the cultural aspects that go along with it. The second class will be on Algebraic Reasoning using Family Math for Middle Schoolers and LOTS of math games. The theater group is the same one that she participated in last spring and they will be continuing to do some work on Shakespeare, as well as some monologues and some skits on famous historical times and people.
I think that is it for our fall session line-up. If you missed any of the previous posts just head to the top of the screen and type in curriculum picks and they should pop right up! Don't know how much we will get done or how many times we will change things around, but we are hoping for the best!
It may be quietier around here for the next few weeks as we take a bit of time off in between sessions! Be sure to let us know how your fall is starting out!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)