My kids are saddened and appalled by the stories I have told them about my past involving sports. I vividly remember NOT being picked for sports teams in my early public school years so many times that I stopped asking to play. And, required sports at school meant required showers at school which were horrifying and embarrassing to say the least. But as I grew older, I began to enjoy some aspects of P.E. like track and volleyball. So in high school, I signed up for the volleyball team. We had a coach we learned to trust and learn from, and we learned how quickly you can make everyone cheer or let everyone down based on your individual performance.
There is a lot for a child to learn through organized sports. I am still talking about those two years of volleyball today with my children. I am able to use it as an example of how our family can work better as a team. We work hard together, practicing daily basic skills until they are second nature. We benefit from each other’s strengths and work on our own weaknesses. We work together as a team so that no one person has too much to do. When one member falls short, the whole family team suffers. When one of us has a victory, we all rejoice. We build each other up with our words and actions as we cheer each other on, especially in the hard times.
Brian Ray of NHERI.org talks about a study that revealed our homeschooled kids are not much healthier or active than their peers in public school, “If public school students are more obese and less physically active than they should be (in general) and there is little difference between their nutrition and physical activity and that of homeschool children, then homeschool parents ought to pay close attention and consider what they should be changing around their families, with their children and with themselves.”
We probably want to think about getting our children more active and less like couch potatoes, since obesity and laziness are sadly common terms for most children today. An organized sport would be a good choice. Homeschooled children would benefit from sports in these and other ways. Here are some resources and benefits of participating in and studying sports:
Sports are electives that can be put on your child’s transcripts.
History, news, and bibliographies of sports and sports figures are in abundance at your local libraries.
Find out about “Tebow Bills” and access to public school sports.
Adding in sports prepares children for college starting in the middle school years.
We can even capture sports through art.
Whatever decision is made about sports for our families, we need to decide to be the example in how we “run” this race that God has set before us. I need to get off the couch, get off Facebook, get off the computer, and get going in the direction God has for my family team today. I want to receive the prize of hearing my Father say, “Well done!” Don’t you? Let’s run together.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control,lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
~Deborah
dwuehler@theoldschoolhouse.com
