Fitting pe into schedule

[choirfarm]

Dh wants my oldest in particular to have pe. I can't figure out how to schedule it regularly. Part of it is weather. We will start school next week and as it has been in the 100's here, we would need to do it at 7 or 8 to get it in before it got overwhelmingly hot. It is already 85 or hotter by then as it is. Of course in December to March we would need to do it in the middle of the afternoon as it would be too cold here in the early morning. We live way out in the country, so going to a high school or gym or something would take 20 to 30 minutes just to drive one way. We have 50 acres to walk on.. just avoid snakes and wild hogs, so I'm not comfortable unless I'm with them.. Here is our tentative school schedule with a 9th, 7th and 2nd grader:

8-8:30- I will be watching Chalkdust Geometry with my 9th grader, 7th grader will be watching and doing Chalkdust Pre-Algebra on his own and 2nd grader will be eating breakfast and doing her morning routine.
8: 30-9 Boys continue with math and I will do Saxon phonics and violin with the 2nd grader
9-9:30 I will work on science with one of the boys. Oldest is doing Chemistry so it may be going over module summary answers or making sure he has what he needs for experiment, etc. My 7th grader will be doing a real textbook with General Science for the first time so I will need to spell out my standards, help him read it, memorize vocab, etc. My 2nd grader has a break.
9:30-10 Boys continue to work on science. I will work on phonics, singapore math and FLL and WWE
10-10:15 Boys take a quick break while I continue working with my daughter.
10:15-12 Boys will work on English and History, though middle one wants to do Spanish in that block. However, Monday will be planning, and Friday I will need to have history and literature discussion with both of them. We will be doing TOG on the rhetoric and dialectic level. They are also both doing IEW intensive C. So I will need to watch the DVD with them so I will understand what they are supposed to do. My daughter will do her vision therapy on the computer as well as handwriting/copywork during this time period. Perhaps finishing math or doing some kind of math drill that doesn't need my help.
12- 12:30 lunch
12:30-1:30 My oldest will practice his piano while middle one does history or Spanish. I will do history or science with my 2nd grader. It will be TOG for history but I'm not sure for science. I guess one of the Apologia Elementary books I have on the shelf.
1:30-2:30 Oldest does Spanish I while middle one practices piano. I continue to do science or history with youngest.. Oh, literature with TOG as well.
2:30-3 Introductory Logic for oldest, Typing Tutor for middle .. I may collapse
At 3 we will do our house cleaning.

Out of house activities:
Monday nights once a month- Homeschool meeting

Tuesday nights once a month- music committee meeting

Wednesday
2-4 Piano lessons for my boys. I used to take my dad to wal-mart and such, but since he just died I don't have to anymore. It is only 10 minutes away and their lessons are an hour long each. So I can leave one at home and take and switch off.

5:30-9 Daughter has AWANA, boys have youth and I have choir and praise team.

Thursday- Violin lessons, errands and vision therapy with my daughter in a neighboring town starting at 1. My husband is taking off at noon and he will do Chemistry labs, General Science labs, any tutoring for that as well as possibly teaching my middle one clarinet. (We have three in our closet that he played and my middle one would like to learn to play.)

Friday- nothing

Saturday- nothing

Sunday- church all day

[Laura Corin]

It looks like your evenings are fairly free. Would it be possible to do PE when the heat starts to fade a little? Then in the winter you could do it straight after school, before household chores.

Calvin and Hobbes both run for half an hour a day. On rainy days they do strength/stretching indoors. In addition they each practise a martial art and have a swimming lesson once a week.

Best wishes

Laura

[AngieW in Texas]

If you go to your library, you should be able to find some conditioning books. I'd recommend doing a variety of exercises and planning for 30 minutes/day.

You can make a list of possible exercises and assign a time for each of them and then he can choose what mix of exercises he wants to do. Some should be cardio and some should be strength. You'll have a lot more options if you go buy a set of handweights.

I like this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiots-Guide-Conditioning-Illustrated/dp/1592574564/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247929932&sr=8-1

Some standard things you can do for p.e. indoors are jumping jacks, situps, pushups, jumprope, and minitramp.

[mcconnellboys]

I was also thinking of evenings if you do it at home. Do you have space for some basic equipment (jump rope, exercise ball, etc.?) Could you buy - or rent from your library - videos of various types of exercise to have him do on his own (or with Dad, etc.)?

Is there a Y or other exercise type club he could attend on Mondays, Tuesdays when you have your meetings? Or on Fridays, Saturdays, when you have more free time? Any teams sports and/or swimming he could do on his own?

How soon will he be able to drive? Perhaps he could take himself to his exercise events soon....

[Jenn in CA]

We only do fitness/PE 3x/week, 30-40 min/day. If you can do a Saturday that leaves only 2 weekdays which is easier to fit in.

My high schoolers plan their own daily schedules so they sometimes exercise first thing in the AM, sometimes in the later afternoon. Right before dinner is often a good time because we're home and there's nothing else planned.

We have a Concept 2 rowing machine. It cost a lot but it's been worth every penny. 5 of the 6 of us use it, and it will last for decades (unlike the treadmill which died after a few years) because it has no motor. Indoor rowing is a sport in itself and we (dh and I) love it. (The kids tolerate it.)

The nice things about having your own machine: the weather doesn't matter, no transportation time, no waiting for others.

I come up with motivating challenges and such periodically and offer rewards (the best being extra video game time... it's free and the boys decided they'd rather have that than cash!).

[Laura Corin]

I just came across this site: Royal Canadian Airforce (http://www.gettingfitagain.com/5bx.php) exercises to be done at home for all fitness levels. I've seen a caveat that the sit ups should be replaced by scrunches to meet today's standards, but I thought that it might be useful for you.

Laura

[Lizzie in Ma]

There is a new EA Active that can be done with 2 people that is incredible. I have lost pounds and inches using that and the Wii Fit. My kids are conditioning and toning with them too. For "fun" we also have the Outdoor Adventure game, major cardio there and they have new stuff coming out that is mindblowing. There is a Wii Fit plus coming out with better customization options and more things to do, a new Outdoor Challenge, the new Sports Resort and last but not least, one called Your Shape.
This is not kid stuff exercise wise.
For me and my 13 year old, it is great together time as well as serious exercise to do the EA Active together. It mixes sports with working with resistance bands.
Just my .02