Sports for Life

"Sports for Life" is a lifelong philosophy towards fitness which involves choosing sports that can be enjoyed for a lifetime at a level which can be sustained.

Throughout a lifetime, there are a large variety of physical opportunities available. They can range from participating in a soccer team, taking swimming lessons, cleaning a house, doing yard work, playing football, dancing, and oh so many more. Some of these activities have greater appeal to specific age groups, and some are much easier logistically to do at certain ages. One aspect of a Sport for Life philosophy is choosing sports and activities that can be enjoyed by a majority of ages groups.

Think about typical physical activities enjoyed by active adults. The list may include, biking, running, walking, hiking, swimming, dancing, skiing, and tennis. Most of these activities can be done individually with little special equipment. Kids can learn to do all of these things.

Team sports such as baseball and soccer have a definite role to play in the lives of children, but become more difficult to do on a regular basis as adults. These sports build camaraderie, are fun, promote fitness and should not be ignored. However, as we get older, we run out of time. Finding practice and game times that can accommodate all group members is near to impossible.

Another aspect of the Sports for Life lifestyle is participating in sports at a level that can be sustained. So often, people say, "I'm training for the X run. I really need to get in shape so I can complete it." Although it is natural to have periods of greater and lesser fitness throughout life, being generally fit is an excellent strategy. Instead of focusing on winning the race, the person with the Sports for Life attitude would focus on being able to complete it no matter the season. Depending on the person and sport, this could mean being able to run a 5 km race on any given day, or a 25 km race on a given day. The point is the sport and amount is sustainable for the participant.

Competitive sports offered by many schools are in direct conflict with this philosophy. Instead of training the kids to be fit for life and enjoy the sports they are mastering, kids are required to attend practices 4-5 days per week and train at high intensity levels. The short term desire to win is strong with both the kids and the leaders of the activities. Unfortunately, in addition to creating burn out, these levels can lead to injuries which can eliminate most fitness activities for months at a time. Over a lifetime, adults will look back on the days they played a sport and say, "I wish I was in good enough shape to do that." Where as if they were taught to enjoy the sport, they may continue to do it forever.

Participating in family athletic activities and behavior modeling are the two major components of training kids to enjoy sports for life. When kids are young, going hiking as a family is easy to do. Kids don't need 10+ miles of trails. They will be happy with a mile long trail through the woods. Likewise, they don't need 100 mile bike rides, but riding bikes as a family will teach them that biking is something to always be enjoyed. This doesn't mean that kids shouldn't run on the playground, or ride bikes through the neighborhood. These activities are excellent for kids, but it is important for them to see that their adults enjoy these activities as well. Training kids to adopt a sport for life philosophy involves participating in the target sports with kids.

In addition to doing these activities with the kids, it's important for the adults to enjoy fitness on their own or with other adults. This is behavior modeling. When kids see their parents exercising each morning before work, they will grow up to do the same thing as adults. Instilling these behaviors at a young age results in healthy adults who enjoy activity.

The Sports for Life philosophy means learning to love fitness activities as children which can be enjoyed the entire life long. It also means enjoying these activities at a level which can be sustained. Not at levels that ramp up and ramp down to achieve certain goals such as finishing a really long running race. If you need to develop a PE program for your school, or are looking for a way to teach kids to be fit, I strongly suggest a Sports for Life philosophy.

Math, Computers and a Spirit of Competition

Kids love to win. Well we all love to win. Analyzing the competition for many activities can be an excellent lesson in both math and computers.

For my kids, the competition was running. My daughter had a taste of victory and wanted more.
 

My son wanted victory too. So they both began training for a race. Each had very different methods of data tracking in preparation.

My son created a book to log his training. He used an iPod Mini and a run mapping program to track his time and distance which he recorded in his book.

The calculations were to predict how fast he could run 7 km, based on his time for running 4.44 km. He compared his projected time with races results of participants from the previous year. The funny thing is that he hasn't done this yet in math, but intuitively knows how.

My daughter downloaded race results from prior years to a spreadsheet, which she sorted by age, gender and time. She passed some information onto her brother and used the data to determine how fast she would need to run to receive a trophy, and how fast I would need to run to receive a trophy. Unfortunately, since she began her analysis, I have caught pneumonia and will not be able to compete in this particular race. I hope the kids achieve their goals, but either way, am tickled to see that running has inspired them to do a little math.




Check out these great blogs full of educational activity ideas.

Designing a Dance Routine - Math Patterns

We created mathematical patterns by choreographing dance routines.

Math is hiding everywhere. As a dance teacher I was responsible for determining how the dancers would move around the stage during a routine. From straight lines, to circles, to V's to multiple lines, the dancers needed to change positions multiple times, without bumping into each other, and in a way which was visually appealing to the audience. Although it sounds simple, in can be quite tricky moving from a straight line into a circle. In addition, groups with twelve dancers have many more symmetrical configuration possibilities than groups with other numbers.

Our group began with eight dancers, but the number was constantly being altered. At times one or two students were not able to dance in an appearance so the positions needed to change. Depending on who was missing, the changes could be barely noticed, to requiring one-half of the group to memorize new positions.

While I was working on my project, my seven year old daughter designed her own dance routine positions for her and her father. Then it occurred to me that this critical thinking and problem solving activity could be easily given as a project to children learning about patterns. There are so many possibilities of unique designs which can be created and shared.

In one of our groups there are seven children. Three are dressed like birds, one like an owl, two like bats and one like a baby bat. With this combination arranging the dancers in different positions creates different visual effects. For example, at one time the bats are in front and the birds are in back. At another time there are two small circles; one with birds and one with bats. At still another time the kids are arranged in a V. Putting the owl at the point, the birds on one leg and the bats on another leg let the owl be the boss during that portion of the dance.

Because we don't normally think of dance in terms of mathematics, it is surprising to many people how much math is involved. Participating in this type of dance is an excellent way to supplement math and pattern skills learned during school.

For more excellent ways to study math through dance please visit Math in Your Feet. The author is a dance teacher who hosts special hands-on math days at schools all around the country.

Middle Ages Music and Dance - Make Your Own May Pole

Week 6: We danced around the May pole and made pan flutes.

Some of the string, wind and percussion instruments of the middle ages, such as the dulcimer and fiddle are still played today, while others have changed form and been combined with various instruments into the instruments we know today. Common people of the middle ages often played the bagpipes as the materials (wood and sheep skin) were readily obtainable. Middle age instruments such as the zink and crumhorn have been modified into the recorder and clarinet of which we are familiar. The Zink, a wind instrument that looks like a curved recorder, was a very common instrument. The Crumhorn took a lot of wind to make sound, looked like an umbrella handle and sounded like a bagpipe.

Although flutes are often pictured in middle age images, they were difficult to play and weren't nearly as common as pan flutes. Constructed from bamboo, the hallow reeds were bound together with string like materials often made from animals.

Our pan flutes were constructed from plastic drinking straws and tape.

Beginning with the longest straw, subsequent straws were trimmed 1/2 inch shorter than the previous straws.

The first time we did this activity, following the book Pythagoras and the Ratios, we used slightly different pipe lengths which turned out to be a more advanced lesson in measuring and fractions.

After constructing pan flutes we learned a maypole dance. During the middle ages, and today, in certain locations in Germany, children dance around the maypole on May 1st. By dancing in patterns to the right and left, the ribbons are woven around the pole resulting in interesting designs.

The pole we used was constructed from several lengths of PVC piping glued together and set into a base.

The ribbons were made by finger knitting long lengths of yarn.

We learned several things dancing around the maypole. First, it is easiest to begin with a small number of participants and gradually add people two at a time. The patterns are repeated in one direction to weave the yarn onto the pole and then done in reverse to unwind the weave.

Going in the reverse direction, it is sometimes necessary to look up to ensure the ribbons are unwound in the proper order, but it is much easier to unwind by dancing the pattern.

When kids weren't busy dancing or constructing pan flutes, they were busy making their own music.

For more middle ages history activities, be sure to sign-up to Highhill Education and receive posts via email.

Enter your email address:


Delivered by FeedBurner

Active Pattern Activity

We did active math by creating different patterns with a ladder.

I've been following Malke's blog Math in Your Feet for quite a while. She teaches math through dance, drawing off her extensive background in percussive dance. Reading her blog has given me new ideas in regards to math education, so when this ladder was laid on the floor during the older kids tennis practice, we couldn't resist playing and making math patterns.

We started by taking turns creating simple foot patterns, and then progressed into more difficult patterns.

Here are some of the patterns we created:
1. Step with one foot in each square alternating feet
2. Step into each square with two feet
3. Jump with two feet in each square
4. Step forward, step forward, step backward - step forward, step forward, step backward
5. Jump and rotate 180 degrees turning to the right into the first square, jump and rotate 180 degrees turning to the left into the next square
6. Jump inside a square, jump with legs split outside the next square

At first glance this math looks like a lot of fun with patterns, but there is a lot of math vocabulary embedded in creating and describing the patterns.

This activity could be easily replicated with sidewalk chalk if a ladder isn't available. In addition, sidewalk chalk is more flexible and hop scotch, ladder and other designs could be used as the base.

This post is linked to:
Teaching Blog Addict
Sola Gratia

Math, Aerobics and Dance

Have you ever considered teaching math through dance? Since I discovered Malke's Math in Your Feet blog over a year ago I have thought of dance in a whole new light. Malke is a dance teacher turned math teacher. In her special classes students learn to think about math through dance in terms such as symmetry of movement, feet patterns, and degrees of rotation in turns.

I've always participated in dance classes and two years ago I taught aerobics. As part of my teaching I was responsible for choreographing routines. Here are some math skills I used in conjunction with aerobics and dance:

1. The music is comprised of patterns which repeat every eight beats. The eight beats repeat further for four measures at a time. Therefore, designing steps that repeat every eight steps and combinations of steps in groups of four works well with the music.

2. Some patterns begin and end with the same foot and some result in a switch of feet. Making a distinction between the two is important for designing routines on the fly and when there is time for choreography.

3. Moving while dancing to make patterns with the other girls is very mathematical. Two photos above the girls are in a V-position, later they danced in a circle.

4. Kicking leg height - Most girls in this picture are kicking to 90 degrees.

For a very different and creative way to teach mathematical vocabulary and concepts through dance be sure to visit Math in Your Feet.

This post is linked to:
Hip Homeschool Hop
Tried it Tuesday

* I did not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I'm just a homeschooling mom who has found many products that I like. If you're interested in the products I recommend on this blog I want to make it easy for you to find them. 
** I am an Amazon associate and receive a small portion of the sales on orders made after clicking in from this site, which I promptly spend on homeschooling books and supplies for my children.

Human Body - Week 24 - Muscles

Week 24: The kids located muscles in the body and took turns as physical trainers explaining exercises to target those muscles.

Muscles enable us to move and it is very important to exercise them to keep them strong.

For this week's human body study each child had a list of four muscles. Their task was to figure out where the muscles were, create exercises that targeted the muscles and train the family.

Muscle List
Deltoids
Biceps
Abdominals
Hamstrings
Frontalis
Triceps
Calves
Latissimus Dorsi
Pectoral
Gluteus Maximus
Quadracepts
Trapezius

 To identify the muscles my son immediately turned to the computer.

My daughter turned to a book. Both methods worked well.

 He's doing push-ups to strengthen his pectoral muscles.

 The frontalis muscle is in the forehead. She is raising her eyebrows to strengthen the frontalis.

Push-ups with hands forming a small triangle was my husband's idea for strengthening the tricep muscles. It was very challenging.

 He's doing a bicep curl using the chair as weight.

I was surprised by how difficult it was for the kids to connect body movement to specific muscles. By the end I think they got the idea. They definitely learned the locations and scientific names of a few muscles in the body and had some fun doing it.

Encouraging Outdoor Physical Education

Physical activity is essential for keeping kids healthy. As homeschoolers, it's all too easy to get wrapped up in indoor learning and forget about going outside. Hobbies can be absorbing as we strive to finish a knitting project or a building of blocks. Learning is great for the brain and when researching on the internet, aren't we all distracted by new websites to visit and videos to watch? We must not forget to get outdoors.

Last year when my daughter was sick we stayed inside more than ever. I didn't realize at the time how detrimental it was to my personal well being. I still went out to run, but it was usually in the dark. This year we have worked outside time into our day. Although it takes even longer to get through the school day everyone is happier.

We spend two hours each morning working on reading, writing and math before spending 30 minutes playing outside. We return indoors for another hour or so of piano, German and Spanish before eating lunch and heading outside for an hour long break. After that we sometimes come in, sometimes stay out and often head to sports and music lessons. This routine has been better than any of our other school plans of the past. We even go out when it's raining.

Here are some of the things we do outside that encourage physical activity.

We walk to the playground and everyone climbs, even me. Some days we play tag and some days we play ping-pong.

Daily walks encourage exploration, and we often walk, especially when it's raining. By walking daily the kids have learned their way around the neighborhood, discovered nature and gotten that much needed Vitamin D.

Simple games and activities in the driveway often keep us active. Soccer or just kicking a ball back and forth, monkey in the middle, ping-pong, hula-hoop, jumping rope and frisbe often entertain me and the kids.

The key to our physical activity is routine is that outdoor play time is built into the schedule so we don't forget it.

This post is linked to:
Misc Monday

Encouraging Indoor Physical Education

Physical activity is good for coordination, weight control, and general well being. It's also just plain fun.

It's not uncommon to enter a room find my husband like this,

or me like this.

So it's not surprising that our kids do this.

Encouraging physical education is something that comes naturally to my family, but it doesn't come so easy to everyone. It's so important to good health.

Simple equipment can go a long way to encourage indoor physical activity. Tucked into the corner of our living room kids can find a mini trampoline, jump ropes, hula hoop, and stilts.

They often bounce between reading a story and working through a math lesson. Kids need activity and having some fun equipment available in the room can go a long way to creating life-long good physical health.

Persia Unit Study - Battle of Marathon

Week 3: We tried to run as far as Pheidippides.


Darius attacked the Greeks at Marathon. Before the battle began Pheidippides ran 150 miles to Sparta to seek assistance. The Spartans were busy with a celebration and promised to be there in a few days. Meanwhile, the Athenians battled with Darius' troops and won a great victory losing few men to Darius' thousands.

We watched this video on the Battle of Marathon. It uses video game technology to create an animation of how the battle was fought.

After the battle Pheidippides ran 26 miles to Athens to bring news of the victory. Nobody is certain if this story is real or just a legend, but the kids got a better idea of how far he ran.

I run quite frequently, so planned to take the kids out on alternating days with me. They are good runners, but I didn't want to get stuck walking a long way back. The plan was to run every other day with each child while slightly increasing the distance.

The first day we completed a loop and then drove the route with the car to determine the distance; 3.8 km. The second day the distance was increased to a loop of 5.8 km. My son ran 4.9 km before needing to rest. My daughter made it to the third day and completed the entire 8.5 km loop before she decided that was enough running for her. Although it was much less than the 26 mile (42 km) Pheidippides ran, it was excellent for a child.

To see more of our history activities please visit our history page.

This post is linked to: 
Hammock Tracks

Persia Unit Study - Darius - Persepolis

Week 2: We made a three dimensional model of the Hall of One Hundred Columns.

Persepolis was a palace city built for the kings of Persia. Located in modern day Iran, the sight contained several different castles. One of the castles was known as the Hall of 100 Columns and functioned as a greeting hall for the King to greet his Satraps (governors). They came from all over the empire bearing gifts. We watched this video on Persepolis.

Then the kids worked together to create this model of the Hall of 100 Columns using Google Sketch-Up. They learned about the standards library, patterning features and adding material painted surfaces during the process. The columns were actually constructed from black marble and had bulls at the tops.

They found these columns in the standards library and used them instead. They also found the throne in the standards library.

After inserting one column, they copied it ten times to create a row and then copied all ten, ten more times to create 100. The floor was covered with a large carpet, so they painted their floor to look like a carpet too.

To see more of our history activities please visit our history page.

This post is linked to:
Show and Tell
Show and Share
Relentlessly Fun
Hip Homeschool Hop
Montessori Monday
Living and Learning at Home

Make Your Own Jump Rope

I was both shocked and pleased when my husband did a craft activity with the kids. He's really into fitness and ordered a kit to create your own jump ropes.

It's brilliant! Making jump ropes is good for fine motor skills, math - creating patterns and measuring proper length, and gross motor skills too of course. Jumping is excellent for physical health.

This post is linked to: 
Teach Beside Me
Show and Share SaturdayMontessori Monday
4th Grade Frolics
Relentlessly Fun
Arts Play Wednesday 
We Made That 
Works for Me Wednesday 
True Aim Education
Funky Polkadot Giraffe


* I did not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I'm just a homeschooling mom who has found many products that I like. If you're interested in the products I recommend on this blog I want to make it easy for you to find them. 
 ** I am an Amazon associate and receive a small portion of the sales on orders made after clicking in from this site, which I promptly spend on homeschooling books and supplies for my children.