Keeping Active

Sometimes it can be hard to keep up the exercise side of things in homeschooling. Some kids are naturally active, while others tend to prefer more sedentary activities. We’ve managed to do regular runs around the block at certain periods of the year, usually as training for the homeschool cross country or the Weetbix TRYathlon. But at other times it just feels a lot harder to motivate anyone.

Lockdown hasn’t really helped. During normal non-covid seasons, the kids can participate in a range of homeschooling physical activities such as rock climbing, swimming, gymnastics, dancing, sports etc. So the last 10 or so weeks have looked a bit different in terms of exercise.

Like most people, we have been for fairly regular walks. These are nice, but they don’t exactly get the heartrate going! Some days I have set the kids to playing soccer or tag in the backyard or jumping on the trampoline as a substitute for a run – they’d much prefer these more fun activities and I find it’s easier to get their buy in! What’s even better is if they have a run around with some friends: exercise without them realising it! If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past 10 weeks it’s that it really helps to have a more flexible approach to exercise.