Homeschool Resolutions: Learning About Healthy Exercise

The need for more exercise is one of the most universal acknowledgements made by those who make new year’s resolutions, but it’s easy to backslide, especially when hectic days start to take over. We all know the importance of an active lifestyle, healthy exercise and healthy habits, but sometimes actually living it out gets difficult. A great way to incorporate physical activity into your homeschool, build good habits from an early age, connect with others in your community, and spend time as a family is to take up a healthy activity together. Check out this week’s Homeschool Living for some inspiration and ideas for incorporating exercise and physical fitness into your homeschool family life.

Healthy Exercise

As adults, we often envy the energy and enthusiasm displayed by young children–especially when we find ourselves in the position of keeping up with them! However, over time and with the increasing ubiquity of electronic entertainment for younger and younger consumers, you might find yourself struggling to keep that enthusiasm for physical activity alive in your kids. Check out these 11 ways to encourage your child to be physically active from HealthyChildren.org. From encouraging natural interests and providing easy access to simple, active toys, to modeling healthy behavior and planning for activity, you’ll find plenty of ways to incorporate healthy exercise and activity into your homeschool living.

Healthy Habits

Running is one of those activities that is great both solo and with others. Running buddies can inspire, challenge, and motivate you, and when those buddies are right there in your home–perfect! While a lot of kids are very active and seem to be running around all the time, there’s a lot of benefit to be gained from a disciplined approach to running. Check out these six benefits of running for kids from Run for Good.

Running–or walking–a 5K as a family is a great team building experience, builds discipline and perseverance, and adds a level of challenge and accomplishment that can really motivate everyone. Even if you don’t know if running is for you, something as simple as embarking on the journey together can be enough to spark some interest. And who knows what you’ll learn along the way? Maybe you’ll never be a long distance runner, and maybe your kids won’t want to dedicate their extra-curricular time to track and field, but trying out a six-week training plan–or expanding it to a time frame that fits your family’s needs–is a healthy exercise routine to incorporate into your homeschool. It is arguably just as important for the planning, habit-building, and dedication aspects as for the health benefits of the activity. Give it a try! Find a 5K in your area on Active.com. There are great runs for good causes and with fun themes out there, and there are even virtual events so that you can participate on your own time.

If hiking is more your pace, AllTrails is a great resource for finding trails to suit you and your family. Its search feature allows you to filter by length, difficulty, location, and more. (Note that an email address is required to register for a free account to access the app’s features.) Hiking and nature walks are a great way to combine healthy exercise and nature study.