Physical Education: It’s not just for public school
It’s 8am, which means it’s time for physical education class. My homeschoolers 
Why yes I am typing, not running laps, thanks for noticing!
Physical education is not a class that I teach the kids but it is one that I require for my 7th and 8th graders. While I am in pretty good shape in general, I am the same person who avoided gym class, never did the first pull-up, has never done a cartwheel, and has a permanently damaged rotator cuff in my shoulder. I want physically fit kids who turn into healthy, fit adults - not limp noodles like we tried to be!! I recognize that teaching the children how to know their body and how to control it is vital to mind-body-spirit. While they hate it now (yep even homeschool kids hate p.e.) I truly believe it’s already giving them an edge and in the long run they will be able to achieve much more with their knowledge as well as their physical prowess than if we just “stayed in shape”. This is where my best job as a home educator is to enlist someone who has expertise and time to donate to the cause, because while I understand that, I would be a hypocrite at best and hurting them at worst if I just tried to do it myself.
Enter my wonderful partner in this colorful household we have created to the story! He’s 28, in great shape, and spent several years in high school extremely focused on wrestling and football. Hours per day were spent working out, obsessing over weight gain or loss, and building stamina. What the kids do for a workout now, he did for late night before bed. He makes sure they are doing the exercises correctly and gives “motivation” when it’s needed. It’s not like all those coaches on tv in the 80’s yelling in your face, but he and the kids definitely get loud sometimes!
PE class is every day, generally (well, school days, M-F). It’s the first activity of the day, and it starts at 8am. Breakfast is made and consumed after, and then all the rest of the school day happens beginning around 9:30. This is because I believe that all the physical activity and blood pumping gets the brain working, too!
The laps are actually a new addition from the past couple of weeks. Now that the little trail around “the back 40” is cleared out pretty well, it’s the first part of the routine. Our resident sustainable knowledge encyclopedia is known as “Coach” and has jumped on board helping with pe class. Coach gets them first and has fun adding laps for things like forgetting your water, or being late, or being a bit snarky with the words coming out of your mouth. The kids are also getting a crash course in something unfamiliar: one person can get the other person laps too, so they better work to help each other! The goal is to have them comfortably running a mile each day.
It’s 8:14 now and the kids will be back inside any minute from the laps. Then comes the real deal workout. There are 5 rounds to complete. When they are on their game, it’s done in less than 25 minutes. This is their second school year using this routine and from a teacher standpoint, it’s a good routine for middle school.
Please forgive me now for not using all correct technical terms…
First are the stretches:
neck rolls, each arm across chest, each arm behind head, small/big arm circles, windmills, each leg behind the back, toe touches, and lunges.
The rounds are as follows:
Round 1 – 20 sit-ups, 10 push-ups, 20 squats, 6 pull-ups.
Round 2 - 20 leg raises, 10 push-ups, 20 squats, 6 pull-ups.
Round 3 - 20 airplanes on one side, 10 push-ups, 20 squats, 6 pull-ups
Round 4 - 20 airplanes on the other side, 10 push-ups, 20 squats, 6 pull-ups
Round 5 - 10 push-ups, 20 squats, 6 pull-ups, 20 hyper-extensions
I must say, all the complaints and grumbles and everything else that comes with steemagers is worth its’ weight in gold when I see the shape the kids are in. Holding the big picture sometimes makes it a little easier to deal with the fun parent/teacher dynamic that comes with homeschooling!
Thanks for reading!
P.S. Bonus points to the kiddos for listening to music during workouts that is largely 1980's rock, causing instant triggers back to my own time in gym class (and all the reasons we left the '80s music behind us)!