Be sure to check out the other posts in the How To Homeschool For Free series too!
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This is the time of year when many people stay indoors and enjoy the warmth of a cozy home rather than get up and out of the house. It is also the time of year when many moms and dads make resolutions to be more active. Staying or getting in a healthy routine can be a tough battle with the desire to stay warm! Here are some links for helping the kids motivate you along your goals.
PE Central
PE Central was one of the first physical education websites available back in 1996. Their online resources include an extensive collection of lesson plans for every grade level. There is also a large section of ways to give an assessment on physical fitness ability, motor skills, and general fitness knowledge. They do have a store for buying additional items, but the lesson plans are free and you do not need to register to look at lesson plans.
Spark PE & Wellness
Since 1989, Spark PE has been researching physical education. This link is to the free sample lessons that Spark sells as part of their program. The free lessons are numerous, though, and would be more than enough to fill a semester of once or twice a week lessons if you do them more than once. Some lessons have printable worksheets and all the free lessons are in .pdf files.
Teach PE
Teach PE is a free site full of resources for teaching physical education as well as coaching sports. The site provides dozens of free worksheets to download and use in the classroom or for students to test themselves at home. There is also an interactive flash card quiz available at the end of each lesson. I thought the lesson plans on anatomy and physiology looked great, too!
PE Scholar
PE Scholar is a newer website designed to provide a place for teachers to share ideas and resources for teaching physical fitness classes and coaching sports. There are step-by-step instructions on how to do things for each activity. For example, there is a printable lesson available for basketball that explains the steps involved in shooting the ball and another for doing a lay-up. These printable pages are of good quality and they have visual cues and assessment questions for the coach to check understanding. I noticed resources for teaching dance lessons, gymnastics, and several other sports.
PE Universe
PE Universe is a forum for PE Teachers. As a homeschool parent, you are a PE teacher! While you do have to register to comment the forums, you do not need to join to read-only & watch the videos set on public viewing. While I am not a public or private school PE teacher, I think some these games look fun for a co-op setting or a homeschool field day. I went ahead and joined so I could watch some of the videos that were for members only land found a few fun games I want to share with our local homeschool group for some field day fun!
PE Gang
Let’s not forget about teaching good sportsmanship when we teach sports to our kids. PE Gang is all about character education and playing with friends and classmates in a respectful environment. There is a manual for starting your own PE gang. It includes a teacher’s guide, student workbook, and character profiles for the kids in the program. It’s all pdf files, so you can download and get started right away!
The President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition
The President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition was originally founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 as the President’s Council on Youth Fitness. It now includes sports and nutrition, which are important partners in total fitness. Part of this council includes the President’s Challenge, which was temporarily down for maintenance at the time I wrote this post. Keep trying to find it. It might turn out to be your favorite since you can join your kids in the fitness challenges. I highly recommend it for a way to motivate kids (and parents!) to keep working and improve on previous activity goals. Kids and adults can join as individuals or work in teams to earn awards and recognition.
Special Olympics
Children with special needs need activity to stay healthy, too. Visit the Special Olympics website to find a local group where a special needs child will feel welcome and able to participate. There are over 32 activities for participants to choose from and enjoy. In the Young Athletes program, children ages 2-7 play simple sports and games. The focus is on fun activities that are important to mental and physical growth.
Stay active with your kids this winter!
About Jody
Many people believe that kids burn off calories from the food that they eat, and stay fit naturally, simply by playing on the playground at school and spend time running around outside. Perhaps it may have been like this in the past. Obviously this is not the case any more. In our time, numerous children are putting on weight at an alarming rate, and at a very young age. So what can parents do?
The key to success is to incorporate simple solutions, without making huge changes to your lifestyle. Today there is a wide range of opportunities for you and your children to work on getting fit together. How about a kid’s clubs where children can go to work on developing their fitness level? From football to ballet, there is certainly an activity out there to interest every child. How about a family activity? Walks to the park or family bike ride are always enjoyable experiences. Encouraging your kids to play outside not only gets them more active but may also lead to new friendships with other neighbourhood children.
Incorporating healthier eating habits is the next step. A few simple changes to your family’s eating can make a considerable difference to your child’s health. Try reducing snacks, or offering a healthy choice, between meals. If available, children will readily fill up on sweet or salty snacks, which may also be full of unhealthy fats. This type of snacking leads children to eat less of their main meal, which is usually a healthier choice. When serving meals, try to reduce the amount of processed foods that you use; these often contain more sugar, salt and saturated fat than foods prepared from scratch. Consider inviting your child to help in the preparation of family meals. Children who participate in the cooking of their meals become more enthusiastic for the food that they prepare, and with your guidance it will encourage them to try out new and healthier food choices.
Most importantly, children should not be dieting. Being active and eating healthy balanced meals is the best approach to kids’ health. As you may well know, healthy eating includes some degree of fats, as well as a proper balance of lean proteins, carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables. To obtain and maintain a healthy weight for your child, it is important not to reduce their food intake too much. Instead, replace the unhealthy and highly processed foods (sweets, cakes, puddings, soda) from their diet with fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains. Main meals should consist of mostly fresh vegetables (cooked and raw) served with a smaller portion of whole grain carbohydrates and lean protein. It is important to offer alternate protein choices such as nuts, seeds, beans, dairy products, as well as lean meats. Whole grain carbohydrates (pasta, rice, bread) are a must as they are filling and provide higher nutrition, which will also reduce the need to consume more calories.