SR 880: Health and PE: Why Fitness Matters – Monica Swanson, Part 1 (Homeschooling Every Subject)

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I realized once my older boys were grown up and

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one of my sons said something about doing beach volleyball while in college,

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and it just hit me like, oh, my goodness,

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I don’t think I ever taught my sons how to play volleyball. And he’s probably

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making a total fool of himself with no idea how to play. They’re like, “oh,

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you homeschooler!” So I was like, “shoot, I have to do better with my youngest

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son.” Hey, everyone, this is Yvette Hampton. Welcome

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back to the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast. I am so glad you

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are back with me today. This is part of our Homeschooling Every

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Subject series, and we’re going through all the subjects, and

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I hope that so far it has been an encouragement to you. We’re going to

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kind of go through all of, you know, history, science, language arts. But

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one of the subjects that I think is kind of the, like, forgotten subject

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oftentimes is Health and PE, physical

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education. And it’s a topic that is important that

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I think we need to focus on. And I think so many times as homeschool

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parents, that gets kind of pushed to the back burner and we focus on all

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the other things, but we forget about this one that is very, very important.

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And so I was thinking through this series and praying through it, and I thought,

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you know, who could come on and talk about this? And Monica Swanson, who many

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of you, of course, are familiar with. She came to mind because the last time

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she was on, she was talking about her new book called Becoming Homeschoolers. And we’ll

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link to that episode. If you missed that one, it was fantastic.

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But I think in that episode, you talked a little bit about your passion

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for health and wellness and all the things that come

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with that. I know you’re the wife of a physician, and so that’s a really

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important. And all of your kids are athletes,

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so this is just a passion of yours. And I thought, you know, you would

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be a perfect person to come back on and talk

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through these things. And so I am super excited to have Monica back with me

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this week. But before we get into our conversation, of course, I want to say

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thank you to our sponsor, BJU Press Homeschool. If you guys are looking for

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we’re, you know, we’re, the year has started out and this curriculum I’m using

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isn’t working out for us. And you don’t know what you need. Call them up,

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you and your family. So check them

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out. Bjupresshomeschool.com. Well, Monica Swanson, welcome back to

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the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast. How, how are you? How, how is your

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family in Hawaii? We are well, and it’s so

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great to be with you again. I always love chatting with you and, yeah, we’re

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great. I’ve got a surfer son in Indonesia right now, surfing.

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I’ve got a son with a golf tournament this weekend. So, yeah, we’re

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keeping up on all the health and pe in school and

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beyond. Yes. So cool. You know, it’s funny

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thinking of PE. Cause typically in a regular traditional

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school, PE, physical education, of course, would be one of

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those classes that you take, you know, daily. And I remember,

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and I went to public school one year in my whole

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schooling journey. It was in 7th grade and it was awful. It was the worst

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year of my whole schooling life. I hated it so

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much. But I remember going into the locker room and we’d have to change into

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our PE uniforms and the locker room smelled like

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aquanet hairspray. Cause this would have been

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1987 or ’88. So it was when

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big hair was the thing and all the girls would spray their hair

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and their bangs up and stuff. And so the whole locker room smelled like aquanet.

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It was disgusting. Still to this day, when I smell aquanet, I

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immediately go back to the locker room. So gross. And

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then when I went to high school, I went to a small private school.

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There were only eleven in my graduating class and 75 in the entire high

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school. And we didn’t have a gym or anything, so we didn’t have any way

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to do Pe. And so we did PE days. And I remember my

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friends who were in traditional school were like, that’s so cool. Cause we would go

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skiing for a day. We’d go snow skiing or we would take a weekend trip

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and go water skiing or we would go bowling or skating. And we had to

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have so many pe hours. And so that was we, we just

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had to do, I think it was like five PE days out of the year

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or something like that to fulfill our pe. I love it. Wow. It

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was so much, so much better than having to change in a locker room

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and go out and run laps around the field. Totally. Oh, man. But it was.

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It was a fun memory. It is a fun memory. And homeschooling is very much

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the same when it comes to PE. And so we’re going to talk about PE

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today, but we’re also going to talk about health, because that is,

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they go hand in hand. Of course, exercise and health are,

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you know, kind of one in the same, but different. There are different ways that

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we deal with both of those things. Um, so really quickly, before

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we get into the conversation, kind of give. Give your background

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on why you’re so passionate about this topic,

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right? Well, yeah, it’s kind of funny when I think about it. It’s.

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It’s really academically, my background. I studied

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sports medicine in college. I went on to physical

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therapy school to get my master’s degree. However, when I met

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and married my husband, he was about to start medical school. So I ended up

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getting teacher credentials, and I specialized in health and PE. So I don’t know if

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you even knew that. I did not know that, but I. Spent our first few

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years of marriage teaching in, well, you know,

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student teaching in all ages and then teaching in a high school,

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substitute teaching a lot in health and PE. So it’s my

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actual background, but also, I just have always

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loved sports. I grew up in a family that loves sports, and

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my husband grew up. He played all different sports, but

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he became a professional soccer player when, also when we were first married, just

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before medical school. So he’s done a lot of things, and it’s just always been

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kind of our lifestyle. We moved to Hawaii for my husband’s residency,

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and we just raised kids very outdoors a lot.

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And my husband works in a hospital setting, so he sees a lot of end

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of life situations and really sees consequences of

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lifestyle choices people make. So we’ve really focused

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on, especially my husband. I mean, oftentimes it’s the mom, but my

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husband just sees food as fuel. And, you know, my

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parents have always joked, some people eat to live, other people

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live to eat. And my husband’s like, you know, he

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definitely eats to live. Like, he eats what’s good for

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him. And I’m like, oh, I’m a little bit more like, I give the kids

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some treats, that’s okay. But, yeah, he’s very much sees food as fuel for

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our bodies. So with his influence, it’s kind of kept me on track,

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and it’s just been a big priority in our lives. So that’s kind of the

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background. Yeah, I wish I could say that I was super

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disciplined and always ate healthy foods, and I can’t because my husband’s

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going to be editing this podcast. If I said that, he would be

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like, liar, liar, pants on fire.

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So what you’re saying is my bowl of Rice Krispies

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this morning was probably not the most nutritious thing. It’s so relative, right? We

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can always find somebody doing worse, and we can always find someone doing better.

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Totally. I mean, you know the mom who ate lucky charms this morning? I didn’t

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have that, but I probably had that about three weeks ago.

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So true. Oh, man. It’s funny. He’s always on me. He’s

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like, you need to be eating eggs and protein and things that are good for

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you. And I’m like, I’m one of those people who I eat

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to live. Like, I have often said, I wish there was just a stinking food

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pill that I could take three times a day and not ever have to think

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about food. Well, that’s unusual. Most of us women think about food a lot

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more. Oh, no, not me. I dread it, actually. But that’s

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okay, right? Anyway, so let’s talk about the

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importance of incorporating health and pe into our homeschool, because, again,

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you know that it’s kind of that forgotten subject that a lot of people

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don’t think about, and we really do need to be thinking about this. So

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talk about the importance of teaching our kids

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from this perspective, and let’s talk about it from a biblical perspective.

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Absolutely everything. We want to be

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aligned with the word of God. Well, I’ll say, just being real honest.

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So I have four sons. Three have graduated from high school, and now I have

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a freshman still coming up. And I’d say my first

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three sons of did PE in that they

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were very active, but they were very active in specific

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areas that they loved. So we have a skatebowl on our

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property, actually. So a lot of skateboarding, they were surfers.

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My third son is a professional surfer. So we did our things. But I will

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confess, and this is a good heads up to the younger or the moms. With

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kids still at home, we probably neglected to

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touch on some of the things that I remember growing up in public school.

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So in public school pe, we would do our volleyball unit, our basketball

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unit. Well, I realized once my older boys were grown

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up, and one of my sons said something about doing beach

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volleyball while in college, and it just hit me,

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like, oh, my goodness, I don’t think I ever taught my sons how to

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play volleyball. And he’s probably making a total fool of himself

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with no idea how to play. They’re like, oh, you homeschooler. So I was like,

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shoot, I have to do better with my youngest son because it is easy to

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say, well, as long as we’re doing something. So making sure we

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cover the bases, I think is helpful. And that’s where perhaps a curriculum

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or doing something that’s a little more official than what I did with them could

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be helpful. So you’re kind of checking those boxes and saying, have we taught them

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enough so that they are, you know, prepared to go out and maybe face some

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of those. Yeah. Being well rounded. So I think

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that’s super important. In general, we

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just. Kids should be active. I mean, there is

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guidelines put out by the American Pediatric Association,

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American Medical association, all the places that will say kids are

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supposed to get like 1 hour of fitness in every day

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from the time they are young. When they’re real young, that can be in the

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form of play. So just running around, usually they’re going to get

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that 1 hour in, but then as they get older, it’s really easy for us

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to forget and to not require it. And I don’t think

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probably the average kid is getting in an hour of exercise unless they’re on a

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competitive of sports team or something. So I think that really requires

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us to be intentional and to maybe track it and require it and to

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introduce them to different opportunities or options for how they might get

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that in. But it’s really healthy for them. I mean, it’s important for their bodies

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as they grow up. And then it’s also fulfilling that

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requirement for what they’re supposed to do as homeschoolers.

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Yeah. Let’s take a break. We’ll be right back.

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We are back with Monica. So you were talking before the break about

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teaching our kids to exercise and making that part of our

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day talk about what that can look like. And I know this might sound like

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a really obvious question, but I’m telling you, it’s not for the mom who’s

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very athletic or very outdoorsy, very

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active. It’s natural for her. For the mom who’s not.

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It’s not natural for her. Right. So maybe talk more to the

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mom who. It’s just not natural for her to get her kids moving. Yeah.

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What are some ways that she can start with getting her kids active?

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And let’s talk about it from like, you know, kindergarten. I mean, seems like

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the little kids, they just kind of run and play all the time naturally anyway,

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but all the way through the high school years. Right. But I also think it’s

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good to note that younger and younger kids are having

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diseases that used to be associated with middle age. So there are

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plenty of. I mean, obesity is a problem in America. In our

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childhood, kids are getting type two diabetes and heart

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disease at a younger and younger age. So even when they’re little, sometimes

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we need to be intentional. And if you’re looking at your kid going well genetically,

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they might have a tendency to carry extra weight. All the more reason to make

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sure they’re active. And I think it’s important to note, I realize there are

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people listening who live where much of the year it is cold or

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rainy or snowy, and you’re like, I’m stuck inside. So this is an

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important question. I’m going to say, look at your calendar just like all

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the other classes, and do your best to fit in some form of

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PE as if it were any other class. And that might be

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really hard to do, and it may not feel very natural, but there are so

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many options. I think sports teams are great. Even the

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little league, the little soccer teams, all the things. It takes a little effort for

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mom or dad to get them out, but it is so good for them. It

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helps them develop character, social skills, all the rest.

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If you’re stuck at home, there are exercise videos that

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kids can do. Little indoor trampolines are wonderful

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for getting the wiggles out. It makes them do better in school, sleep better, behave

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better. So sometimes it takes some creativity, but there are things you can do.

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And if you put it on your calendar, I think you’ll look at it more

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like a class. Yeah, I agree. That’s a great idea.

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I know one of the things that Garrett and I have taken notice

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of in the past several years, maybe the past, like, 20 years, is

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it seems that oftentimes, if our kids are on sports teams, it can

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completely take over the family and the family’s schedule.

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And so there’s that other side of it, too, where, you know, like, right now,

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my youngest is playing volleyball, and she loves it. We love

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it. But it’s a lot of time. And for us right now, it works out

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perfectly because she’s our only one that we’re homeschooling. My older daughter is working

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full time, and I have the time. But if you’ve got more than one

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child and they’re going different directions, playing different

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sports and doing different things, that can. It can eat up your family

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time to where your family’s then being pulled in different directions

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all the time. So how do you navigate that? Cause that’s difficult. It really

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is. And I think this is gonna be case by case. You need to look

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at your family situation and say, what’s reasonable? Like,

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how much does your child love this sport? Or is it more mom and dad

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who are pushing for it? And then I think, look at how many kids do

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you have? What else is going on? Is this gonna derail you and the other

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problems, priorities you have? Or can it be done in a way that’s reasonable

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and helpful? So I think a lot of prayer can go into that.

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Just being just like anything else. Being discerning, asking God to lead

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you and then choosing, you know, maybe we can be find a team that’s a

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little less involved. Some of the teams are just crazy. Like, they’re expensive.

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You have to travel. You miss church on Sundays. It’s like, wait, maybe there’s another

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option. So having the conversations, being prayerful, I think God will

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lead you. Yeah. Be Eric Liddell. I love the

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story of Eric Liddell and his refusal to run

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on Sundays and to train on Sundays. And the Lord blessed him greatly for it.

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I mean, if you guys haven’t read the story of Eric Liddell, it’s

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fantastic because he put the Lord first. And that’s one of the things we’ve

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seen, is you’ll drive by the soccer fields on a Sunday morning

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and there’s tons of people out and they’re like,

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but, but church, right? Go to church and then play

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soccer on another day. You know, but that’s what a lot of the leagues are

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requiring now. And so that’s. They are. And I might just speak into that

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briefly because I do have a lot of people reach out to me with that

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question because it’s a tricky one. And

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my advice typically is, I mean, if my children wanted to do

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a sport and every game was on Sunday, I would probably say no to

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that. Again, I have a professional surfer,

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and most of the time, thankfully, his surf

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competitions were on Saturday, but occasionally they were on Sunday. And that was where our

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family had to say, okay, we are working towards a career in this.

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For us, our faith is every

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day, all day. There are midweek services, there are Bible studies. If we miss

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occasionally, we were personally okay with that.

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Not everyone is. So that’s going to have to be an individual decision.

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But again, depending on your goals, depending on where you’re headed, how

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much. So there’s a lot to consider there, but let it be something

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you bring before the Lord. Sure, sure. It’s definitely a question of

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priority. Where are your priorities? What is the most important thing to

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you? And like you said, your family is super intentional about

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spending time with the Lord and growing in your walk with the Lord and passing

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that on to your kids. And so, and you never know, I

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mean, what the Lord can do with those careers that goddess puts in their

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path, you know, and how he can use them in that way. So, yes. So

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talk about what types of exercise are recommended, because I know not all

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exercises created equal. That is so true. Yeah, talk about

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that. That’s a really good point. So I’ve done some research on

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this topic and again, I just love to talk about it.

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So I have found that the us physical activity guidelines

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and pretty much across the board, all the experts in this field

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recommend. Well, I’ll start with some of just the guidelines. If this is interesting

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to anyone, that children ages three to five are active

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throughout the day. So that means anytime you can get them outside and let them

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climb and run and play, you should let them. Then it’s

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children six through 17 who should get at least 60 minutes a day of

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moderate to vigorous exercise. And that really means that.

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Moderate to vigorous, that means they’re huffing and puffing. So that

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doesn’t mean some of the things that you might call

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exercise that are still good. I mean, even stretching, stretching is good,

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but we want to get those kids moving their body in a way that strengthens

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their heart. Now, there are three different types

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of exercise that are recommended. Kids include in their weekly

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schedule, and that is aerobic exercise, muscle

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strengthening and bone strengthening. And I think that’s really

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interesting. Aerobic exercise should be the greatest focus in the growing

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up years. Just get kids again huffing and puffing their body, strengthening

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their heart and that walking, running, cycling,

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any kinds of sports where kids are running around. Muscle

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strengthening should be part of kids regular weekly exercise

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as well. They say at least three times a week they should do something that

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includes muscle strengthening. And that can be as simple as doing some

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push ups, some sit ups. If you have bands that you can use

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indoors, it doesn’t mean you need expensive equipment. When kids are

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young, kind of pre adolescence, lifting weights isn’t

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recommended because that just is a little too much on their developing bodies.

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But they can do some of those simple things, climb rope,

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you know, things that are working their muscles that aren’t

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actually like weightlifting, but then bone strengthening.

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Interesting, really can overlap with the other two. The things that strengthen our

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bones are things where there’s some pounding involved. That’s

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why for aging people, it’s really important that you walk or

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do something where you’re actually hitting the ground rather

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than say just cycling because our bones get strong through

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that. I believe this is going back to my school days,

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but it’s called the piezoelectric effect. Oh. And it’s where you.

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When you walk or hit the ground, your bones are actually strengthening and

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growing. So kids need that, too. So there is overlap. If they’re

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already running around, they’re also strengthening their bones.

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But being sure to include that aerobic exercise as many days a week as

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possible, and then strengthening exercises should be the main focus.

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Wow. So interesting and so good. And I know you’d mentioned, you know,

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videos. There are the wonderful world of YouTube.

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I wouldn’t just sit YouTube in front of your kid and say, here, go find

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some exercise videos, but there are some really good ones. As a matter of fact,

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as I was researching for this episode, I just googled, I think, you know,

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like pe and homeschooling. Yep. And I found several blogs that

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had links to different YouTube videos and

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websites that have just fun exercises that kids

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can do inside the house. Now, of course, we want them outside as much as

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possible. Right? Getting that vitamin D and sunshine, because that’s good for them in the

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fresh air. But like you said, especially in the winter months when it’s freezing cold

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outside, you know, we don’t want them to slip on the ice. Yep. Um, but

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there are ways that even inside, they can get. Get their hearts

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moving. Get their bones moving. This was really funny. Years ago.

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Uh, this is probably five or six years ago, we were at a friend’s house

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in Franklin, Tennessee, and it was some sweet friends of ours.

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We actually filmed part of the movie at their house. And her grandmother was

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visiting. I think she was from Iowa, but I

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could be wrong. She was from another state, though, and her grandmother was 86

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years old, I believe. Grandma Vivian, she was the most

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amazing lady. And we were outside

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one day, and she was walking around outside on their property, and she was

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picking up sticks. And she was so funny. She stopped, and she

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looks at me one day, and she goes, you know, I don’t need sticks.

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She goes, but I’m picking up sticks because if I don’t keep my body moving,

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it’s gonna stop. That’s right. And I was like,

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I love that. And she was. I mean, she could climb stairs. She was

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so active. And she was, you know, old, and she had arthritis,

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and she had some old people pains. But

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I just thought that was the greatest thing I had ever heard an older person

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say. Yes, if you don’t use it, you lose it. Right? It’s true.

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Exactly. And so even with our kids, you know, they need to be using their

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bodies, and we do, too. And that means that as moms, we should

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probably be alongside of our kids exercising as well. It

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does. They learn more by what we model than anything we tell them.

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And I, and just to give a quick word here, my first book I wrote

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five years ago or released five years ago. Boy, mom, I have a whole section

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in there about the importance of raising kids to be healthy. But I do give

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kind of a, a big sister tough love here where I say, really,

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our kids only know what we teach them when they’re young. And it’s

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so important that we give them this foundation of health because truly, the things that

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are beginning to happen in their body or in their teeth, you know, all the

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things that we should be doing with our kids by the time they’re grown

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and, you know, leave our homes, they’ve already got a foundation.

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And so not to put a heavy weight or

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burden on parents, but I think it is our responsibility to do our

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best to give them that foundation and to teach them what is health so that

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then they can make their own choices when they’re grown. But if you send them

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off into the world with a really, you know, unhealthy foundation, it’s

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really a bummer for them to have to live with that. So do your best

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with what you’ve got. You’ll never get it perfect, but at least try it.

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Yeah, absolutely. And I think kind of, you know, like reading. We talk a lot

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about reading and the importance of reading because you’re experiencing something together with your

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kids. I think exercise and being active is the same in

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that, you know, when we, when I take a walk with one of my girls

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or you just do something together, you’re building memories with

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your kids. And there’s something about being outdoors, something about

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being side by side, walking together, you know, doing whatever

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that it just opens up the opportunity for

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conversation because they’re not on their phones, you’re not on your phone. There’s no,

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there are no distractions. You’re just together doing something

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that’s helpful, meaningful, healthy for you. And so that’s, I think, a great way

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to build relationships with our kids as well. I agree. Well,

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we are out of time, but we’re going to come back on Wednesday and we’re

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going to talk about health. We’ve talked about PE today. I want to dig

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deep into the world of health because that goes hand in hand with

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physical education and needing to teach our kids how to

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live a healthy lifestyle in addition to the exercise

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and teaching us as well. And at the end of the week, we’re going to

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actually touch on the importance of moms and what we can do to take care

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of our bodies as well. And so I am excited to continue this. Tell

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us really quickly, though, Monica, you didn’t mention this, but you have a new course

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that is available and it actually talks somewhat about

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this. Tell us what your course is. Yes, super

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quickly. I have the Well Rounded Homeschooler

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Course that I’m so excited about. I in this,

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I just cover the five building blocks of a well rounded homeschooler.

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And that fifth building block is raising a child

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who is balanced in their health, and that includes physical, mental

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and emotional health. And I have a whole bunch in there about the importance

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of and all those facts I was rattling off

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about how much exercise they need, what kind of foods they need, as well as

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how much sleep they need, the importance of all that, and then a whole section

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00:25:13,898 –> 00:25:17,530
as well on mental and emotional health tips, things that we can do as parents

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to make sure we’re covering all those bases as we raise our well rounded

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homeschoolers. Amen. And what’s so funny is, you guys, I didn’t even

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know that she had this course when I invited her to come on and talk

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about this. And so when we jumped on before hitting record, she’s like, I just

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put out a new course and we talked about the. I love these exact things

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00:25:34,262 –> 00:25:38,046
so much. Yeah, it’s my favorite thing. So I think that part of the course

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00:25:38,078 –> 00:25:41,606
is like a highlight to me because I just think it’s stuff we don’t think

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about a lot. And we’re like, we could overlook that. So, yeah, I hope it

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helps. I’m sure it will. We’ll put a link to that course in the show

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notes so you guys can easily find it. Thank you guys for being with us

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today. Stay tuned to the very end to hear what’s coming up next on the

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00:25:54,014 –> 00:25:57,806
podcast. And if you have not subscribed to our newsletter, you can go to our

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00:25:57,838 –> 00:26:01,586
website where you can find find all things Schoolhouse Rocked, the movie, which

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00:26:01,618 –> 00:26:05,042
is free to stream all of our podcasts, our

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00:26:05,066 –> 00:26:08,538
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00:26:08,554 –> 00:26:10,506
like to support the Schoolhouse Rocked ministry,

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00:26:10,618 –> 00:26:14,242
SchoolhouseRocked.com. have a great rest of your day and we’ll see you back here on

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00:26:14,266 –> 00:26:14,850
Wednesday. Bye.