When I first heard about Family Time Fitness I was pretty excited because true physical fitness has been somewhat lacking in our homeschooling routine. Not that my kiddos aren't active, because they are. Running, biking, scootering, tree-climbing, swinging ....they're pretty busy! However, structured exercise is something that doesn't happen too often with us. I admit I'm not very committed to regular exercise myself, so I feel as though I'm probably not setting the best example. Family Time Fitness has changed all of that!
Family Time Fitness' Fitness 4 Homeschool Core 1 curriculum K-8 provides the perfect way for parents to teach physical education to their children even if they don't have any prior knowledge of athletics. This program is designed to make exercise fun and create an engaging atmosphere. This program gives me the opportunity to teach them fun relays, calisthenics, and games that they have a blast with--well, we all do!
Obviously I knew that having regular physical activity was important; however, I was impressed with this graphic of student brains. Clearly the one who had some movement had more brain activity going on! I have a son who is very active (as in, doesn't like to be still at all) so I am constantly looking for ways to engage him in a positive physical way. I love having this structured program to get his blood pumping and his brain active. I am hoping this will help him be able to focus better when it is time to actually sit and do his school work.
This curriculum, which was created and designed by experts in body movement, kinesiology, training and nutrition, has 260 totally planned lessons that really require no prep work other than making sure you have the appropriate equipment on hand. And when I say "equipment" I mean simple stuff like a soccer ball, a playground ball, a hula hoop, a jump rope, and some plastic cones (or something equivalent). We didn't need to make any special purchases for this program at all.
The lessons come in PDF form and include the following:
- a list of supplies
- warm up
- activity
- cool down
- suggested outdoor activity
Each lesson contains at least 30-45 minutes of good movement and activity, most of which can easily be done indoors if needed. To see Family Time Fitness' Scope and Sequence just click here.
(sorry these pics are blurry, but we had some serious hula hooping action going on!)
One of my favorite features of these lessons is that each exercise contains a link to a 30-second video that shows you exactly how to do it, just in case you're not sure. Sometimes the written instruction is easy enough to follow, but often it helps me just to see someone else do it for just a few times and then I'm ready to teach the kids. Once you purchase this curriculum you have lifetime access to over 200 of these little videos--plus access to any updates and revisions.
Family Time Fitness' Fitness 4 Homeschool is a remarkable deal at $57 for all of this! You can use it for as many children as you need to and you have the online access to all of the videos, assessment tools, emails, updates and more ...for a lifetime. They also offer plans for co-ops and schools as well.
I know my family will continue to use this over and over. It's just what we needed to get us moving! I hope that it will help instill healthy habits for the future. I encourage you to check it out for your family.
You can read what other homeschool parents had to say about Family Time Fitness here.
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