Tuesday, February 8, 2011

PE At Our Homeschool/Kotikoululiikuntatunnit



Even though I hated Physical Education myself as a student in Finland, it is an important part of our homeschool. Looking back now I realize how enriching and versatile my PE experience was. We tried everything from cross-country skiing, ice-skating to bowling, gymnastics and various (all?) team sports. (If any of my Finnish readers would like to add some of the PE classes they took to my comments, I'd really appreciate it!). My boys especially listen in awe when I tell them the various PE classes we had in Finland. But I was a bookworm, and unfortunately seemed to get PE teachers who discouraged those of us who weren't athletically talented, instead of encouraging us to find an enjoyable sport, and teaching us to love sports.



Mondays and Tuesdays have been our biggest PE days here in New England. The kids have homeschool ski lessons at a mountain nearby on Mondays, where they get free skiing (meaning non-structured ski time, it still costs $ :) and lessons with their homeschool friends. A full day of PE! Yesterday Mr. D & Mr. T also had their first Archery Class here in New England. They took lessons in Florida, and were excited to continue up here, also. (No pics though, as 5ennie was home sick with sick Mr. A - so more on that in a couple of weeks.)

Today we woke up to a couple of inches of fresh snow, so Mr. A & Mr. D went out with shovels to clean our ice skating rink (so we can have more PE throughout the week). They spent maybe 45 minutes shoveling, then another 45 minutes or so sledding with their siblings. As they enjoyed outdoors I realized we weren't going to get in a full day of school, but decided to let them enjoy the fresh air and snow. And sure enough, we only got a half a day of Monarch in. Which is fine, PE is important, too.



After lunch we headed out to our monthly Homeschool Nerf Club. We also have Homeschool Gym Club twice a week with the same group. You can read more here.




Little Miss is too young to attend Nerf Club, but my 6th Graders love it, even Missy! They certainly get a lot of exercise running around the gym for the 1.5 hrs we are there.

In addition to Nerf and Gym Clubs, skiing & sledding, we do snowmobiling, ice skating & hiking for our PE here in New England. Last year the kids got to try cross-country skiing & sailing, also! When in Florida we also ice skate, swim, snorkel, scuba-dive, do archery, play games and walk a lot. Mr. T has also joined local basketball teams and flag football teams for PE in the past. And this Mama isn't afraid to call snow shoveling or raking PE ;-)
Our goal is to spend time outside every day, no matter what the weather is like, no matter what the activity is. And to have fun while at it - all that activity and oxygen helps the brain work better doing all the rest of the schoolwork!

My hope had been to link up to Home Is Where You Start From-blog's L.E.N.S. Physical Education Photo Challenge, but I missed the deadline. You can still hop over there to check out Homeschool PE at other homeschools!

I am linking this post to Homeschool Village (for the first time):



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Meillä oli eilen koko päivä kotikoululiikuntaa: ensin laskettelua paikallisen kotikouluryhmän kanssa laskettelurinteessä, sitten ensimmäinen jousiammuntatunti täällä Uudessa Englannissa. Paitsi Mr. A:lla, joka valitettavasti joutui jäämään kipeänä kotiin kipeän äidin kanssa. Tänään me molemmat voimme sen verran paremmin, että pystyimme menemään kuukausittaiseen Nerf-Klubiin. Aamulla kaksi poikaa myös loivat lumet luisteluradalta, että saamme lisää luistelu-liikuntatunteja kotikoulua varten.

Vaikka itse inhosin liikuntaa Suomessa koulussa, nyt näen kuinka monipuolista ja rikastuttavaa se oli. Harmi kun moni liikunnan opettajista ei opettanut tykkäämään liikasta, vaan päin vastoin... Pojat varsinkin kuuntelevat kateellisena mitä kaikkea sain kokeilla liikuntatunneilla lapsena :) Olisi hienoa, jos voisitte lisätä kommentteihin mitä kaikkea Suomen liikuntatunneilla tehdään. Ja mitä on suunnistus englanniksi?

Liikunta on iso osa meidän kotikouluamme. Se vaan saattaa näyttää vähän erilaiselta :) Liikunnaksi lasketaan lumenluonti ja haravointi, moottorikelkkailu ja pulkkamäki, kuin myös tavallisemmat liikuntalajit. Yritämme mennä ulos joka päivä, oli keli millainen vaan.

10 comments:

  1. Suunnistus on orienteering, ainakin brittienkuksi. Meillä oli luovaa tanssia, afrotanssia, paritanssia (kaikki ne valssit yms, joita tahkottiin ala-asteella jo), pesistä, lacrossea, sulkapalloa, lentopalloa, yleisurheilua, hiihtoa, laskettelua, pulkkamäkeä :), korista, kuntosalia, circuit-kuntotreeniä, kuntotestejä, suunnistusta, ikivanhanaikaista tamburiinin tahtiin tehtävää voimistelua (ikivanha ope, seisoi kentän laidalla korkkareissaan!), kaunoluistelua (piruetit yms), jaakiekkoa, kaukalopalloa, ringetteä. Siinä nyt ainakin!

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  2. Great post! I love reading about your homeschooling adventures! Sorry the link up didn't work out... next time.

    We should get our crews together for some winter fun, I mean PE, (ha) soon! :)

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  3. This is so inspiring! We are not very good at this I'm afraid. Hopefully ballet twice a week for Callie and once for Kate is better than nothing! Once we are all feeling better, I'm determined to get us out more!

    And there will be another movie fast! LOL

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  4. neitinomad, en ole kuullut tuota suunnistusta täällä, mutta pitää kysyä tietääkö muut.. Mutta vau mikä lista! Osa oli niin uusia ettei minun aikaan vielä ;-)

    Bethany, absolutely!! Would love to see you guys!! Maybe we can meet for sledding at W's Park - or do have a better place?

    One Acre Follies, I probably should have mentioned it doesn't happen every day. Today 4 out of 5 went outside. I think with 5 kids (or 3 boys??) I'd lose my sanity if they didn't go outside Every Single Day, lol.

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  5. Kiva postaus liikasta! Hienoa, että ulkoilette päivittäin ja se on niiiiin totta, aivot toimivat happihyppelyn jälkeen paljon paremmin. Sen kun muistais itekin.

    Olen omilla liikuntatunneillani (ala- ja yläaste sekä lukio) maastojuossut, kävellyt, suunnistanut, yleisurheillut, jumpannut, kuntoillut (lihaskuntoliikkeitä siis), hiihtänyt, pelannut korista, pesäpalloa, jalkapalloa, lentopalloa, sählyä, kössiä ja varmaan sulistakin; keilannut, uinut, luistellut, tanssinut (pääasiassa perinteiset tanssit), venytellyt, rentoutunut, telinejumpannut, käynyt kuntosalilla, ampumassa ampumaradalla ja varmaan vielä jotain muuta, mikä ei tule nyt mieleeni.

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  6. Vau, Eija!! Ampumaradalle en ole koskaan päässyt, voisi olla jännä kokemus :) Ja mikä on kössi?? Aika uskomaton on kyllä suomalainen koulusysteemi, ja tässä tapauksessa liikuntatunnit!

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  7. Can I just say that I love that we get to "see each other" regularly through our blogs!! :-) Hopefully one of these days, in person again!

    Love this post! Glad you linked it up...

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  8. I loved reading about P.E. in Finland! And what great P.E. adventures you have in your homeschool! My kids did a lot with winter sports growing up, but I've never heard of a nerf club - awesome! My kids and husband had a great time playing nerf ball tag when my kids were growing up, but the homeschool club is a great idea for P.E. fun! Visiting from The Homeschool Village.
    Deb @ LivingMontessoriNow.com

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  9. Wow! Your kids experience a lot of variety in their homeschool PE classes! I need to see what other options we have around here!

    ~Jennifer

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  10. I know, Linda!!! I'm sorry I haven't commented on your blog lately, but I have read your posts - a lot going on in Illinois.. I do hope we see you sometime soon <3

    Thanks, Deb for visiting and commenting! We've loved how creative we can be with homeschool PE. It has become one of our favorite parts of HS'ing!

    Jennifer, I hope you find some fun things to get involved where you are. We'll be headed to FL in April, so we'll switch PE gears a bit there. More ice skating & archery, but a lot of swimming too :)

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