Category: Blog

75 Ways to Love Homeschool Physical Education

When we first began homeschooling, I never thought about adding PE to our schedule. I knew my boys were active on their own without any coaxing. I figured that as long as we kept moving, we’d be developing motor skills. I didn’t see a need to add a formal Physical Education course to our routine. Lately, I have been more intentional about adding physical activity into our days, and I do that using a wide range of activities like the seventy-five options below.

Homeschool PE in the Backyard and Around the House

Exercising with children, tweens, and teens doesn’t require a lot of money or even much specialized equipment. We tend to look for ways to get PE accomplished with supplies and materials we already have around the house. We try to keep mixing it up so that we don’t get bored. And we take the liberty to make up our own rules for standard games just to make them more interesting. Sometimes we mix school facts into the games for extra review.

1. Wiffle ball/baseball

2. Basketball

3. Throwing and catching

4. The monkey bars and swing set

5. Hopscotch (Can be done on tile floors with a masking tape outline.)

6. Exercise video

7. Dance marathon

8. Ping pong

9. Air hockey

10. Foosball

11. Lifting weights (You can use soup cans and water bottles as weights, too!)

12. Jump rope

13. Using tools to dig trenches and build forts

14. Running

15. Building an obstacle course

16. Skateboarding

17. Shoveling snow

18. Making snow forts

19. Volleyball

20. Corn hole

21. Going for walks around the neighborhood

22. Riding scooters & bikes

23. Water play with sprinklers or slip and slide

24. Jumping jacks

25. Push ups and sit ups

26. Heavy household chores

27. Playing Twister

28. Yardwork

29. Juggling

Homeschool PE that Requires a Bit of Money or Travel

There are some really great exercise opportunities out there that I want my children to be able to experience. This often means spending a little money and getting out of the house. Lessons and organized sports require more of a commitment of time and money but can be well worth it. We also enjoy taking advantage of homeschooling days at our trampoline parks, roller skating rink, and ice skating rink.

30. Karate lessons

31. Gymnastics

32. Aerial obstacle courses

33. Trampoline park

34. Inflatable play places

35. Organized sports through our town’s recreation department

36. Hockey

37. Ice skating

38. Treadmill or elliptical machine in your home gym

39. Wii sports or other active video games

40. Bowling

41. Skiing or snowboarding

42. Dance lessons

43. Homeschool gym classes

44. Horseback riding lessons

45. Golfing

46. Fencing classes

47. Boxing or kickboxing

Homeschool PE with Other Kids

There is nothing like getting together with other kids their own ages to inspire my boys to get up and get moving. We often meet up with other homeschooling families during the day. Sometimes we play organized games; other times we let the kids run around and decide what they’d like to do. Some of our favorite new games have been introduced to us through other families. Best of all, getting together with other families allows us to play sports that require more players.

48. Local parks and playground get togethers

49. Kick ball

50. Dodge ball

51. Pick up games of soccer, baseball, basketball, etc.

52. Capture the flag

53. Gaga ball

54. Hosting a homeschool field day

55. Playing tennis at the town courts

56. Playing at the skate boarding park

57. Nerf gun fights

58. Limbo contests

59. Classic kid’s games like Red Rover, Mother May I, and Red Light Green Light

60. Double Dutch

61. Chinese Jump Rope

Homeschool PE with the Family

We have so much fun exercising as a family. We enjoy trying new things and encouraging each other to keep trying. We enjoy making family memories while trying to stay fit and healthy. I firmly believe kids learn by example, so it’s only fitting that we’d plan activities we can all do together.

62. Bike riding

63. Kayaking

64. Swimming

65. Body surfing or boogie boarding at the beach

66. Indoor rock climbing

67. Snow sledding

68. YMCA family membership and classes

69. Hiking

70. Letterboxing

71. Geocaching

72. Roller skating at the local rink on family night

73. Yoga

74. Walking around the mall, zoo, aquarium, etc.

75. Paddle boat rides

01/28/2025
Movies Egypt

Studying ancient Egypt is an exciting adventure for both you and your child, especially when you immerse yourself in the period through the help of great books. BookShark covers Ancient Egypt for several weeks in both Level B Reading with History for ages 6-8 and Level G Reading with History for ages 11-13, so your children are exposed to this fascinating period twice during their elementary and middle school years. To supplement your reading, there are plenty of excellent movies to help you further visualize the ancient Egyptian culture, history, and geography. Below are my top 8 choices for online streaming about this ancient civilization. Take your pick from YouTube, Netflix, or Amazon.

YouTube Videos about Ancient Egypt

1. Kid’s Animated History Egypt

This short, animated show is perfect for kids using BookShark Levels B or G. It explains how Ancient Egyptians took advantage the Nile’s flooding and also explains how Upper and Lower Egypt unified. Your kids will learn fun facts about Egypt told in a simple, easy-to-understand way.

2. The Great Mystery of the Pyramids of Egypt

This 3 minute animated film explains how the Egyptians built the pyramids. It’s perfect for kids studying Level B Intro to World History.

3. King Tut and His Treasure for Kids: Biography of Tutankhamun

Ideal for kids using BookShark Level G, this five minute documentary offers a fascinating look at King Tut’s life and his tomb.

Netflix Movies about Ancient Egypt

NOTE: These shows are no longer available at Netflix. Hopefully you can locate them on other streaming platforms.

4. The Pyramid Code

This documentary explores the pyramid fields and ancient temples in Egypt over the course of 5 episodes. The Pyramid Code features interviews with experts in many fields: geology, physics, astrophysics, archaeology, hieroglyphics, etc.

5. Egypt

This BBC documentary dramatizes several exciting discoveries in Ancient Egypt including Tutankhamun’s tomb, several other tombs discovered in the 1800s, and the decoding of the Rosetta Stone. This is rated PG and should be appropriate for students using BookShark Level 6. Your budding archaeologist will love this documentary, but others should also find it interesting.

Amazon Films about Ancient Egypt

6. Ramesses II: The Great Journey

Follow the journey from Ramesses II’s death at the old age of 92 to the burial ritual. Explorers search for his tomb in this approximately one hour long documentary. Although it covers very little of Ramesses II’s reign, it is a fascinating look at what happens after his death. Rated G, this is appropriate for kids in both BookShark Levels 1 and 6, though those in Level 6 will likely find it more interesting.

7. Egypt’s Lost Queens

This documentary, which explores the Egyptian women who went before Cleopatra—Hetepheres, Hatshepsut, Nefertari, and Arsinoe–is rated PG-13, so you may want to screen it ahead of time. Watch this show to learn an angle of Egyptian history that isn’t often explored.

8. Ancient Egypt: Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings

This documentary is hosted by Dr. Joann Fletcher, a renowned Egyptologist and the same person who hosted Egypt’s Lost Queens. Here, she examines the life of a couple who lived in Ancient Egypt and whose remains are now housed at the Egyptian Museum of Turin.

While your children are learning about Ancient Egypt and reading excellent literature related to the time period, choose some of these interesting documentaries and shows to teach your children in a different way and to enrich what they are learning. Bonus: Add in some of these hands-on activities, too.

01/07/2025
10 (Quiet) Games to Play in the Library
When most people think of the library, they think of long shelves of books, tidy reading nooks, and librarians with glasses on their noses; they don’t often think of games. However my boys and I have a lot of fun in our library by planning a few fun activities ahead of time. I do remind my boys that we need to play games quietly and be careful not to disturb others by running or being boisterous. But being quiet and courteous does not rule out enjoying ourselves with these ten activities and games.

Form Here

1. Scavenger Hunt

To get my kids acquainted with our library, I send them on miniature scavenger hunts with a list of things such as:
- a music CD
- a book that’s thicker than 2 inches
- a magazine
- a picture book with yellow on the cover
- a bookmark
- a reference book that cannot be checked out
We’ve done a few different scavenger hunts through the years, and my goal was to help them realize all that our library has to offer while playing a game.

2. Random Acts of Kindness

One morning the boys and I spent a few minutes writing encouraging messages on decorative squares of paper: “I hope you have a nice day” or “I hope you enjoy this book.” Then we spent a few minutes scouring the shelves for some of our favorite books. We stuck the messages inside and hoped that the next reader would enjoy finding them.

3. I Spy

My kids love the game I spy, so it was a natural choice for a library game. Find a location where a lot of book covers are showing and you can talk quietly. One person looks around and mentally selects a book. Then he offers clues while the others guess.

I Spy With my Little Eye
- a book about dragons
- a book that is green and white
- a book that has animals on the cover
The rest of us would try to guess what book they had chosen. It was a great way to get us looking at new and unusual books while honing our observation skills.

4. Find the Author

Compile a list of book titles and have the kids find the author of the book. This game helped my kids learn to use the online card catalog to find specific books and their location in the stacks.

5. Book Tic Tac Toe

Draw up a large blank tic tac toe board for each of the kids. Before arriving, have them fill in each section of the board with the title of a book and the author (if they know it). Once at the library have them search for the books. If the books are available, they can put an x in the box. If the book is checked out, they put an o in the box. They win if they get three x’s or o’s in a row.

6. Random Writing Game

Pick a book category like skunks or dinosaurs. Then have your kids find a nonfiction book about that topic and challenge them to write down the first word or sentence they see on the tenth page of the book.

7. Alphabet Hunt

There are two variations to this game When my kids were younger, I’d write all the letters of the alphabet around the edge of a paper plate and make small cut marks between the letters. Then I challenged them to find each of the letters on their plate in the library. When they find a letter they fold the letter out of sight. The game ends when all the letters have been found. For older kids I challenged my boys to find a book title or author for each letter of the alphabet and fill in an alphabetized list. This version often required a few trips to complete.

8. ABC Order

Pick a random stack of books, and have your children work to put them in alphabetical order. We typically do this on a small table with a selection of books we plan to check out anyway. That way we aren’t making extra work for the librarians.

9. What’s My Number?

Write a list of non-fiction books by title and have your children write down the Dewey Decimal number once they find the books. Sometimes I pick titles of the same topic so they can see how they are arranged and put in order by number all the way to the hundredths. Other times I make sure to use vastly different subjects to get them moving throughout all the non-fiction shelves.

10. Map It

Practice map drawing skills by mapping out the interior of the library, labelling all the different parts.

The upside to all of this fun is that my boys are also learning how to use the place at the same time. I want my boys to associate the library, books and reading with fun and enjoyment, so playing these simple games keeps their moods upbeat when we visit to checkout or return books.

About the Author

Joanne Rawson is the author of the blog Our Unschooling Journey. Known around the web as Mother of 3, Joanne began her blog when she first started homeschooling her three boys in 2012. She lives in Connecticut with her family and enjoys reading, crafting, and travelling… all of which usually ends up on her blog.
01/07/2025
10 Science Shows for Kids on Netflix | Elementary Level
We all have days where we need a break or something extra to cope with a bad day. Netflix is the perfect resource for finding those little extras. And since there are so many educational shows on Netflix, you don’t even have to feel guilty about regularly relying on these videos.

My kids thinking watching Netflix is a treat and they hardly even realize they are learning. But they’ve absorbed so much about ecosystems, outer space, and the human body in ways that visually supplement our literature-based curriculum.

The science shows listed below are specifically good for kids in Kindergarten through fifth grade and cover topics especially interesting to them: animals, space, the Earth, the human body, and so much more.

1. Magic School Bus

The Magic School Bus is a classic show that is still relevant today. Ms Frizzle covers topics from geology and dinosaurs to weather and the water cycle. If there is a science topic you want to learn more about, The Magic School Bus probably has an episode for you. Pair the program with a Magic School Bus picture book for extra reinforcement.

2. StoryBots

Have you ever heard the statistic that four year olds ask almost 300 questions a day? Well StoryBots is out to answer those random questions.
- Why is the sky blue?
- Why does it rain?
- How do birds sing?
This show is definitely for the younger kids, but it will still engage older elementary kids who have the same questions, especially if you go a bit deeper beyond the video by doing extra research.

3. Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That

If you like the nonfiction Cat in the Hat books, you’ll love the videos that go along with them. They cover many topics but mostly focus on nature. There is a lot of information about different animals and habitats. We’ve enjoyed episodes about deserts, bees, bats, and rainforests, for example.

4. Space Racers

For kids who love space and want to learn more, Space Racers is a good fit. It covers all kinds of space topics like satellites, the moon, and stars. This show is probably better for younger elementary, but it’s a great supplement for your homeschool science curriculum about outer space.

5. Bill Nye the Science Guy

Bill Nye was a staple of my childhood, and I am so excited to be able to share him with my kids. His videos are fast paced and entertaining which is the perfect combination to hold children’s attention. Plus he tends to cover intriguing topics in ways that kids can appreciate: the human body, electricity, and chemical reactions, for example.

6. Quiz Time

This show is for younger kids, probably preK and Kindergarten, but it covers some science concepts as well as observation, logic, and more. It’s in the form of a quiz show as the characters complete tasks and solve problems.

7. Jungle Book Safari

Jungle Book fans, now you can learn all about animals from Mowgli and Baloo! Each episode of Quiz Time features a different animal. The shows are only 10-15 minutes long, so they are a quick way to learn more about animals in short bursts of time.

8. Mighty Machines

Have a truck lover? Mighty Machines will be a lifesaver. From airplanes to trucks, this show covers many different types of machines, showing them up close and personal. Although it’s a bit cheesy with some silly voice-overs, it has real footage of massive tools that kids are fascinated by.

9. Fishtronaut

If animals, animal habitats, and animal behavior are on your list of things to study, Fishtronaut is the right show for you. It’s meant for preschool age and up.

10. Brain Games

This show answers questions you didn’t even know you should ask. Brain Games thoroughly explains each topic using multiple experiments and explanations. This show isn’t necessarily meant for kids, but it definitely keeps their attention.

Besides these ten shows, Netflix has hundreds of documentaries on almost every topic imaginable. Simply search for any subject that arises in your science curriculum or that your kids express interest in. Even adult documentaries can usually work for kids, especially if they have a natural curiosity about the topic. Go load up your queue now so you’ll be ready for the next day when you need a video diversion.

Grade by Grade Information
01/07/2025