Saturday, October 15, 2011

What To Do For Physical Education

What do you do for physical education for your children? My son plays soccer in the Fall and in the Spring. In the Fall he plays on a league in our town. He also plays on a homeschool soccer league. And he has practice one night a week for the town league. So that’s three days a week with an hour and a half of pretty good exercise. But both of his soccer leagues have ended now for the year. He can play indoor soccer for the homeschool league during the Winter. Then they will start outdoors again in the Spring. But that still leaves long stretches of time with no physical activity. I know 8 year old boys are running around like crazy as much as possible. He rides his bike whenever the weather permits. And he plays with his friends outside when they get home from school. During the summer he goes hiking with his dad once in a while. That sounds like a lot of activity. But it is not on a regular basis. So I am trying to think of ways to incorporate more activity into my son’s life.

When he is not doing all these things he is happy to sit in front of his computer or sit and play with his Nintendo DS. He want us to buy him a Wii but that is not going to happen. That’s just another electronic devise to keep him from getting up and moving.

I’ve thought about enrolling him in Karate lessons. But they seem so violent. I’m not sure if that would be a good fit for him or not. I have also thought about dance lessons. He has expressed an interest in Irish Folk Dancing. But when I looked into this, I quickly became aware of how expensive it can be. Especially with the costumes and travel to perform.

So I’m back to my original question. What do you do for physical education for your children? Oh and it has to not cost a lot. And it shouldn’t involve a lot of travel. Oh and no expensive uniforms or costumes. Um, what else do I need to consider? I guess it should be fun too or he’s not going to do it. Any ideas?

Saturday, October 1, 2011

I Love Fall


I love the changing colors everywhere. The trees are so beautiful this time of year. The browns and purples and golds and reds are just awesome.

My son loves the fall as well. He doesn’t like to get too hot. But he doesn’t like to wear a coat or all that goes along with winter cold. So fall is just right for him. He can not wait until we finish school each day so he can be out in the yard playing. He loves to build huge mounds of leaves and then jump in the middle of them to scatter leaves everywhere. We had a great science lesson when we talked about why the leaves change color. The actually are showing their real color in the fall. During the spring and summer the leaves are full of chlorophyll which is needed to help the leaves use sunlight to manufacture their food. As the days grow shorter and the nights grow longer, the production of chlorophyll slows down. As this process slows down the real color of the leaves begins to show through. Different things can have an effect on the colors of the leaves. The amount of moisture in the soil or a series of hot sunny days in the fall can cause the colors to be different. A long spring or a delayed summer can delay the time when the leaves change color.

Another thing that I really like about fall is that I get to make soup again. My husband will not eat soup in the hot weather. But when the temperatures start to go down, out comes my soup pot. Potato Soup and Chili are two of my favorites. We will have these often over the next few months.

Here’s to cool fall nights, a pot of hot soup, and a fire in the fireplace.