Homeschooling unit page

[annie]

I'm a homeschooling mom and I'm putting together a health and fitness unit for my kids. They're 7 and 5, so I don't want to get too crazy. They've noticed, and not been particularly thrilled about, the changes we've made to our meals and snacks. I'm not forcing them, but I am lovingly nudging them (hard) into a more primal lifestyle. I'm hoping that by explaining things more clearly they'll better understand. We'll see how it goes.

I have these books on hold at the library:
The omnivore's dilemma : the secrets behind what you eat (Chevat, Richie)
Essential Eating : the digestible diet : real food for better digestion and weight loss (Quinn, Janie)
Real food : what to eat and why (Planck, Nina)
The real food revival : aisle by aisle, morsel by morsel (Vinton, Sherri Brooks)
Fit kids : raising physically and emotionally strong kids with real food (Behan, Eileen)

Someone recommended The omnivore's dilemma : a natural history of four meals , by Michael Pollan, in a juvenile version, but our library only has an adult version. I don't know if any of the books I'll be picking up next week will be helpful, but I'm hopeful. I already knocked out several "healthy" eating books because of their emphasis on vegetarianism or grain-laden diets. I know there are a few books frequently mentioned on here (GCBC is the only one that comes to mind right now) but they sould a bit clinical or scientific to me. I haven't read them, though, so I can't really tell if there's a way to take their information and work it for early elementary kids.

I have PB and the cookbook, along with the poster of the nutrition pyramid as it should be. My kids cook twice a week with me, so they'll be planning primal meals for those nights and helping prepare them. I think we'll also go berry picking, hiking, and play! I'd love any other ideas or suggestions anyone has. Books, activities...anything.

[inga]

5 and 7? GCBC is not for them then... I havent read any of those books you listed tho so cant help.
Why not plant a garden? It doesnt need to be more than a few carrots and lettuces in a pot but they would have fun getting dirty.
Go to the park, pretend you are hunting each other One kid can be the animal and they can make animal masks or something.
Make Grok-style music, make clothes without sewing machines, make basic tools (spears with cardboard tips perhaps)
Visit old caves or somewhere they have cave art (museums maybe, I dont really know), make your own cave art.
Dig a hole to cook dinner

You could have all sorts of fun basicly living like groks, studying other cultures.
I envy you your homeschooling years

[annie]

Thanks...those are great ideas! They've been asking for aprons, so we're going to make those. I love the idea of hunting each other at a park! So much fun

[Zophie]

Hi Annie!
I also homeschool my 10 year old daughter. She is in the K12 program.
A big part of her schooling is in the kitchen. You can teach so much there like math, health, art, science. For health reasons K had to be on the ketogenic diet. Finding PB was a such a gift.
Some of the things we have been doing are camping, gardening, swimming, rock climbing, bugs, and birds. We have picked our fruit and learned how to can/dry it. There is a bird nest that we have been keeping track of every day. (3 eggs!) Running around catching bugs has taken care of getting her to sprint. K has to water and take care of her part of the garden. (a lot of things get picked a bit early)

I love your berry picking idea.

I wonder if you can just find some information on what sugar/grains do to the body. I bet they have so much fun cooking they will ease into it really easy. Is everyone in your family primal?

[jqbancroft]

I was home-schooled all 12 years and loved it! Props to incorporating PB nutrition/lifestyle into the "classroom"

If I were to homeschool this, I would take each of marks "laws" and make it into a week's a lesson. For the segment on sprinting, I would create fun games that include sprinting, maybe like the game someone suggested of hunting each other in the park. For the don't eat poisonous things, I would go to the grocery store one day and have the kids find things that look healthy, or are aimed at kids, but are really full of sugar (maybe make a comparison to the beautiful butterflies, frogs, etc. that are actually poisonous to other creatures/humans?). Anyway, that's how I would organize it!

Also, I think most of the books you selected might be way over their head (but hey, some home school friends I had ran circles around me!), but don't be surprised if you find yourself doing the reading and then synthesizing it all for them!

[fufonzo]

I was home-schooled all 12 years and loved it! Props to incorporating PB nutrition/lifestyle into the "classroom"

If I were to homeschool this, I would take each of marks "laws" and make it into a week's a lesson. For the segment on sprinting, I would create fun games that include sprinting, maybe like the game someone suggested of hunting each other in the park. For the don't eat poisonous things, I would go to the grocery store one day and have the kids find things that look healthy, or are aimed at kids, but are really full of sugar (maybe make a comparison to the beautiful butterflies, frogs, etc. that are actually poisonous to other creatures/humans?). Anyway, that's how I would organize it!

Also, I think most of the books you selected might be way over their head (but hey, some home school friends I had ran circles around me!), but don't be surprised if you find yourself doing the reading and then synthesizing it all for them!

The poisonous things game sounds like a great idea!

I agree about the books. Were you going to be reading the books to them or were you going to read the books and try to make activities and teaching points out of what you learn? If those books are for them, it'll be way over their heads I'd think.

[Grumpycakes]

Book learning is way overrated. Teach them that life is in the living of it, not the reading about it.

[Paleo Man]

We had an interesting pot luck dinner for our whole informal "clan" of interested acquaintances, including homeschooled kids. We picked a date for the dinner. Set it mid fall. The rule was that everything anyone brought or ate had to be hunted, fished, or gathered from the wild. The fare was pretty sparse, but seeing the challenges involved was an education for all of us. Everything from prickly pear cactus to wild berries and pinon nuts, to quail and venison and trout.

This sort of thing can give a glimpse of something pretty enlightening about kids in our ancestral times. These days, families regard kids as essentially a worthwhile drain on family resources. But in times past capable and resourceful kids could help keep a family fed. There is nobody in the world more justifiably proud than a kid who provides something that actually helps feed his or her family. The dinner was an opportunity for that sort of contribution and pride.

[Melody]

Another homeschooler here.
IMO kids are pretty primal on their own. They play all the time, mine forage everywhere we go. We cook constantly and talk about feeding our bodies the right way.

[annie]

Thanks for all the ideas! Primalchild, I agree that book learning can be overrated. However, my 7 year old is a reader! He loves reading anything and everything, especially if it's non-fiction. I'd like some books that I could read bits and pieces from, at least. I know my son would (sadly) believe that grains are not good for our bodies if he reads it in a book more than just me telling him that, especially since he's already learned that corn is a vegetable and the conventional food pyramid.

jqbancroft, I LOVE the idea of taking a week with each of Mark's rules. And even more, I LOVE the poisonous foods hunt in the store! What fun we'll have!


Melody, I would have to agree that kids play and forage without thinking about it. However, my kids and I don't see eye to eye on healthy foods. They're learning...but the two oldest have been in the public school system long enough to hear CW. Plus they shop with me and watch TV on occasion, where commercials are geared towards getting them to want, want, want. In a lot of ways, I think part of raising them is frequent, if not constant, encouragement towards healthy living not "popular" living.

Zophie, my husband and I are mostly primal eaters. We eat all our meals and snacks accordingly, but cheat a few times a month still (smore's when camping as an example...when we cheat we go all the way!). The kids eat lunch and dinner primally, but we're still working on breakfast. They still have bread or cereal 3 or 4 days a week. When it comes to fitness, my husband still lifts, runs, all according to the personal trainer's advice, not according to Mark's. I haven't gotten him to read the PB yet, but he's making strides...we've only been at this for four months, two of them we were living with family and in hotels while moving from one coast to another! So, we're getting there!

Thanks again everyone!!!