Physical Education Resources

When you are planning your homeschool program do not forget Physical Education! Obesity in young children is on the rise and many traditional school programs are falling short of the physical fitness recommendations by the Surgeon General. Don’t let this happen to your family, click here to read more about this topic. In the meantime, here are two resources to help you jump start your Physical Education program.

The Ultimate Homeschool Physical Education Game Book: Fun & Easy-To-Use Games & Activities To Help You Teach Your Children Fitness, Movement & Sport Skills by Guy Bailey, a Physical Education professional, specifically for use in home education programs, this book is an ideal supplement to a broad based P.E. program. The ten sections include a variety of games for: basketball, football, soccer, softball, raquet and net, recreational sport, playground, fitness building, and rope jumping games and activities. The book includes illustrations and clear instructions that will make physical fitness fun! The book is well illustrated and the instructions are clear and easy to implement. This book is a favorite in our household and there isn’t a game we have tried that hasn’t been a hit. A few of the games they play in their weekly P.E. co-op are included in this book and the program is a popular and well respected one in our state.

Animal Trackers is a preschool physical activity and motor skills development curriculum for children ages 3-5. The curriculum encourages young children to learn and practice the movement motor skills which are basic to physical activity and sports activities.

The curriculum guide introduces 9 Animals and their movements:
Lenny the lizard/crawling and creeping
Dara the Duck/walking and marching
Chuck the Cheetah/running
Kate the Kangaroo/jumping and hopping
Harry the horse/galloping
Maria the monkey/throwing and catching
Marty the Mule/kicking and dribbling
Danny the dog/rolling
Buddy the bear/ transferring weight and balance.

Each chapter consists of 6 learning activities that include: locomotor skills, language/literacy/fine motor skills, sequencing skills, math readiness skills, art/classification skills and vegetables of the week. Although obviously written for a traditional classroom the activities can be adapted for use in the home. Click here to download free sample activities from the guide book.

While simple, the program is fun for preschool age children (and their siblings). Although recommended for ages 3-5, I think it is best suited for children ages 2-4. It would make a wonderful mini co-op and is ideal for the parent who would like to add some fun movement into their homeschool day and prefers a step-by-step guide. In our home I use the activities in our morning activities and allow my kindergarten age children to join in. It makes my preschooler feel special to have her big brothers do school with her and it wakes everyone up!

The optional cd includes a collection of songs to accompany each of the chapters. It is not necessary to successfully execute the program, if you have a nice collection music for children, and don’t mind doing a little extra legwork.

Animal Trackers is available from Healthy-Start Press
Curriculum book $75
Music CD $15
Set with: Curriculum book, song CD and poster $79.95
To order: Download order form

Karin Katherine is a proud stay-at-home mother of four who feels blessed to be the mother of 5 year old fraternal twin boys and two daughters, ages three and 4 months. As someone who never changed a diaper until she had children, Karin is surprised by the fact that she has been changing diapers for the past 5 years straight with no end in sight! As the 7th of 8 children, Karin feels blessed by her average size (in her mind anyway) family and wouldn’t mind a few more– God willing and her husband notwithstanding. Her biggest homeschooling dream is to one day homeschool across the United States in an RV. Please visit her new blogs Mommy Matters and Passport Academy.

Tags: homeschool reviews, physical education

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