With all the other educational pursuits we must attend to, physical education can sometimes fall by the wayside. And while it's true homeschooled children may never get the chance to play in a great big parachute or a wicked dodgeball game, as parents we should still tend to our children's phys ed needs.
Personally, I do sometimes use yard work as phys ed time. If she's out in the yard working up a sweat and exercising, it's fair game, IMO. I look at it this way: She's getting far more exercise than a typical gym class would give her, she's using various muscles groups in a productive way, and she's getting something a public phys ed class wouldn't provide - fresh air. It's all good, even though she detests it
Recently, though, I've stepped beyond yardwork. We've been spending some quality time down at our local community center. There they have exercise equipment anyone can use for free. So, she gets to use a treadmill - rather than walking around the lake with it's ill-tempered geese- and she gets to use weights, etc. It's a win/win for me, too. I get to get some much-needed exercise in the process
Additionally, our city has a public pool for relatively cheap fees. So once the summer rolls around we can use it for PE.
Now, I understand not every town has these things, but I would think many of them do, if you know where to look. So, I recommend you call your city hall and ask them what's available to residents. Then call your local school district - talk to the Superintendent, not the principals - and ask them about having your child use their gym, or even attend a gym class. (Here in CO, the local district has to let your kid take 'elective' classes at the school, if you want them to. Gym falls under the elective umbrella.)
So, whatever way you do it, remember in order to have a well-rounded human being at the end of this venture (instead of a kid who's rounded-well) you have to enrich their muscles while you're enriching their brain.
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