How Homeschoolers Cover Physical Education

My youngest with his trophy and medal from the recent tournament. 

Just today I was walking into the local university fitness center with my two boys for swim lessons. We passed an older gentleman leaving and I could see him looking at my boys with a very puzzled expression on his face. I'm sure he was thinking, "Why aren't those kids in school?" If he had voiced this question, I was ready to smile and say, "They are. We're heading in to do some PE."

Each semester the local university offers swim lessons for children. They begin with very young ones and move up through Level 6. It's Red Cross certified. It's taught by college students (overseen by an aquatics director) each semester. And it's extremely affordable for 10 weeks of instructions.

My youngest at swim lessons just today.

Each of my boys have a 40 minute lesson. Unfortunately, they are in different levels and the schedule changes slightly each semester. So for this session, my youngest has his lesson. then lower level students have a 30 minute lesson, and then my middle son has his lesson so we are at the pool for two hours every Tuesday morning. And yes, they bring their book work with them and work on it poolside.

That is one thing I love about these lessons though. They offer a weekly time slot that is during the daytime hours. The majority of kids in this session are older and homeschooled. It's not only great for the kids, you know, socialization and all that, but it's also gives the moms a chance to chat! A complete win-win situation!

Both of my younger boys also participate in martial arts lessons twice a week. Our dojo (school) has a motto, "The family who kicks together, stays together." My youngest son started with lessons, my hubby soon joined, and then we convinced our middle son to try it and he decided it wasn't all that bad.

My middle son with his first place trophy.

He's been taking class now for a few months. He's moved up one belt rank and just recently attended his first tournament. That solidified his enjoyment of martial arts when he took first in kata (forms). He also placed in flag sparring (pieces of a belt are tucked in to their own belt - 2 per participant - and they then try to grab them from their opponent. Only two face off at a time.) My youngest son also placed in kata and flag sparring. 

My middle son jumping in to the pool at the end of his lesson.

These are just two of the things my boys do over the course of the year to tick off that "physical education" box. There are so many options out there that it's nearly endless. Some kids play organized sports. Some dance. Others just walk or do their own fitness routine. My boys happen to love swimming and martial arts and I happen to love that they can do them all year long.

Wrapping Up Swimming...aka I forgot to post this earlier

Since I just posted something on the last day of swimming, I just wanted to share some of the photos I forgot to post. Hmmm....did I ever post about our vacation either? ::sigh:: My blogging "to do list" is growing by the keystroke!

This is Shelby - one of the boys instructors - working with N on the dock to show him proper form for swimming. At this point he is still using a kickboard (and loving it).

J with two of the teen instructors - I think I may have to keep closer tabs on this boy. He's always got folks doing his bidding...

Oops - caught site of the camera the little ham.

N working with the kickboard. Can you see the gap where his two front teeth should be? I so love his grin.

J with Brandy - the other instructor that works with the beginners. She's trying to convince him to go under water.

He's almost got it!

Where's J?? He did it! Woo-Hoo! I was thrilled to catch it on camera too.

Both boys did an excellent job this year.

PS: Can you tell we've had a lot of rain & not much sun this year? Check out N's "tan" or lack thereof.

Last Day of Swim Lessons

Did I mention I'm a tad behind in my blogging? This will become obvious when I tell you that the last day of swim lessons was back on July 17th.

It has been a very wet & cold summer thus far here in Maine. The two younger boys were enrolled in the rec departments swim lessons at the local lake & they are held rain or shine. Unfortunately it was more rain than shine this year. I think the average high for those two weeks was about 60 degrees. I kid you not.

However, the last day was beautiful. It was warm & sunny & it was "Fun Day!" The kids in the program work hard for those two weeks so they can play in the water & get out in the canoes and kayaks which is exactly what my boys wanted to do.

N & J heading out to the "waffle" float in the canoe. J even "jumped" off (with some help).

N & J heading back in.

They boys did take some time to get in the water and play a bit but it wasn't long before they were out asking to take a turn in the kayaks. They had two for the kids to try out. And before anyone worries - they only went about 10 yards from shore before another instructor would turn them & head them back in. But my boys loved it.

N is showing off his skills.

Even little J had a go at it.

He looked so small, but he did some paddling as he went out & back all by himself!

The boys have made some progress in the last three years (N has been in it for three years but this is J's first). However, they are still in the beginners swim class & have been blessed to have the same instructor for all three years. One of the instructors is the lady in the canoe with them at the top. She's been excellent with them. The other is a high school student who is also very, very good with them. They do such a great job helping them overcome any fears of the water.

(and I have just realized I never blogged about another sunny swim day in which J went under water for the first time....sorry in advance for these out of order posts!)

There is really no better way to end the year than by playing in the kayaks/canoes and in the water than by adding ice-cream to the mix. Notice all the drips on J's chest? Not a problem - he still had 15 more minutes to play in the water before we went home.

July Randomness

It continues to rain here more often than not. I don't remember when our climate switched out with the Pacific northwest, but it certainly feels like that lately - not that I've ever been there. In fact, the ten day forecast has anywhere from a 20-40% chance of rain every single day. Did I mention we're leaving for vacation soon?

However, the last two days we've had a lot of sun. That's been so very nice. Yesterday the two little boys started swim lessons. We have them at the lake right here in town. This is our third year participating, but J's first year. I think he's liking them based on his expression in the photo below.

He did very well for his first day. They typically only take kids grades 1 & up but I asked if he could try. He's 5-1/2 & has two older brothers. I thought he'd do well & I think I was right. There appears to be other five year olds there (maybe some four year olds too?) so I don't think he's the exception. Because our town's rec department hosts & puts on the lessons, we pay a mere $10 per child for two weeks of lessons - an hour at a time. The only downer - it's outside at the lake & it's held rain or shine. I think we'll be having more rain than shine this year.

They do let the kids come out to warm up. I think they'll all be in & out a lot the rest of the week.

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My flower garden is having a few more blooms coming out. These are very pretty. I'm pretty sure these are iris (okay - what's the plural of that word??). Deb or someone with more gardening knowledge than me, am I right as to what these are?

I'm also thrilled with the mini-tiger lilies I have coming up. They doubled in space from last year. I'll have to separate them this fall I think or they may take over my little garden spot.

My veggie garden is also showing wonderful growth. My peas are coming up wonderfully! Grandpa told me I had a doe eyeing them the other night but so far so good. I only have a little string fence around the garden, but I haven't noticed any nibbles on anything yet.

I have a few pitiful corn plants coming up. I planted four rows & I counted about four plants when I was out weeding last week. My pumpkins are coming up, my tomato plants are doing well. I also noticed some of my squash, zucchini, and cucumbers are growing as well. My broccoli seems to be doing okay too. Everything else is pretty iffy at this point. However, this is my first garden so I figured I'd plant a little of everything & see what did well.

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My chicks are loving their tractor. It's been great to move them here & there & let them eat the bugs and slugs and other critters that get in there. I love watching them chase flying bugs! They are getting big so fast.

We will be expanding our flock sometime later in the summer as well. We have friend who are buying 25 chicks but don't want to keep that many. They are going to brood them & then we are going to buy six pullets from them. I have no idea yet what we'll be getting but it will be fun! Then we'll have a full dozen chicks.

I didn't realize how much fun I would have with the garden & the chicks. I'm loving this country life more & more.

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This is a pretty busy week here. The boys have swim lessons each afternoon for an hour. My hubby has two night meetings (planning boards) plus two softball games. Thursday night is his only night home with us (as in before the boys have to go to bed). We're also getting ready to go on vacation. I'll tell you all about that after.

Life at the Lake

The two older boys are taking swimming lessons this week & next. So far so good although B is not really thrilled about the whole thing. He doesn't enjoy water & doesn't like putting his face in so he's a bit stymied right now but I'm praying he has a break through soon & realizes that it's all okay and safe and no one is "out to get him." That sort of thing. ;-)

This year they opened up classes to more area towns. They have a lot more instructors as well, but this time slot seems to have way more instructors & aides than there are kids! I know that the beginner class, where my two boys are, has at least one instructor & four aides & there are only five kids in the class. I love those numbers.

There was a flock of ducks hanging around the beach today. They swam off quickly once the kids arrived. I was a bit surprised though as my boys have the third lesson slot of the day so there were lots of kids here before. Two of the ducks did hang around & were eating off the bottom close to shore, coming up on shore, & staying rather close around the area - hoping for a hand out I think.

You can see how close the ducks were to the kids in the classes in this photo. My two older boys are the ones in the swim caps in the distance. They don't like water in the ears & it's a great way to quickly & easily pick them out of the crowd.

Unfortunately for me & J, they don't start lessons at the lake until they are six years old. I was sort of hoping to sneak him in under the radar this year, but they upped the age. Last year they started at age five. I think he will do well. I did talk with one of the instructors who does the beginners & she seemed to think next year would be okay for him to start so I'm going to try it & see how he does.

For now he comes with me with his trusty orange scoop & has a ball building "castles" (click here to see a photo of one) & playing in the water close to shore. After all, there is lots of mud there!

What Can I Say?

J was too young this year to participate in the swim lessons. After all the kids were out at the dock area doing lessons, I would let him go play near the shore while I watched him. This is what he started doing the other day...

Dunk head in water... the lower the better.

Pick head up high so water will drips off the end of your nose.
Catch what you can in your mouth.

Giggle as it runs down your belly.

Oops - I've been spotted. This started him running up to me on the beach saying, "Let me see! Let me see!" It sort of defeated the surprise factor I had going.

Because I sometimes forget to put up photos of B, I had to include this one. He's made some good progress & here he is working with the kick board.

Swimming Success!!

This was the secret to his success - the mighty little swim cap. N has been doing pretty well with his swim lessons but he tended to scream - loudly - at the top of his lungs - for the entire hour - while he was trying to trust enough to float. One observation was that he didn't like water in his ears. We tried ear plugs but we just couldn't get them to stay in his ears. Enter the swim cap. I was thrilled to even find some at the local dollar store (it even came with ear plugs & a nose plug). I bought two - one red & one orange.

The first day he wore it, he wasn't feeling all that great about it. No one else had one. He started to cry. He didn't want to swim. His instructor was great & got him going in the water. He didn't scream once. It was great!

The very next day he did even better. This is day two of the photos. How cute is he in that cap? And here is what he managed to do at the lessons...

He's floating!!!!!!

I didn't start yelling like a nut on the beach, but I did shout out a "GOOD JOB!" & even had my three year old tell his brother he was doing well - his voice tends to go farther than mine.

B also did a fantastic job & here he is showing that he can't let his little brother get the better of him. B really hates getting his head wet & he was dumping small buckets of water over his head by then end of the week.

Both my guys did a great job & really made some good progress at swim lessons.

And so it continues...

Monday morning continued on with the busy-ness of the weekend. I had signed my two older boys up for swim lessons at the lake. I'm actually very excited about it. We've lived here about 3-1/2 years & I've been trying to find more outlets for them like this that were free or low cost. The lessons were just restarted this year (my hubby took them when he was a kid) & it's through our local recreation "department" (I say it like this because we are SUCH a small town that it's actually one VERY organized mom!). The cost was great - $5 a child for residents - and the time worked too. We are going to the 10am slot. It's an hour long lesson & it's for two weeks. By the time the boys are done with their lesson we just head home (10 minutes away) to have lunch & then J can go down for his nap. So far so good. Here are some photos from today's time.

I'm thrilled with how good these photos came out. They take the kids out at least 200 yards from where I am sitting on the beach with J. I had my zoom all the way out on my digital camera - including the optical zoom (or is it the digital zoom) & the photos came out really clear. I'm pretty happy with that. My boys are the ones with the farmer tans & all their ribs showing. I feed them - honestly!

Can he GET any cuter than this????

After lunch my sister & her hubby arrived. They had called a week or so ago & volunteered to take our boys for us overnight. My hubby & I are celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary on Tuesday. We talked about it & decided to take them up on it. My hubby even took the day off & had Monday off as well so he had a nice long weekend & we were able to plan for some extended time together.