(love this pic, we got it on the way to the library on monday.  I just love the way the sun shoots through the pic and leave lots of spots… this was a lucky shot… I am not good enough to figure out how to find this otherwise)

This is Part 2 of ‘Overlooked Perks of Home School.  See Part 1

S=Sunlight

This might be something where home school is better at avoiding. We try and stay out of the sun between 10 and 2 and then get outside time in the afternoon. Most outdoor periods at schools are during the middle of the day when the sunlight is the most dangerous to the skin.

T=Temperance

This is using good stuff wisely and avoiding the bad stuff. At the age of my kids I don’t think/hope that they would be dealing with drinking, drugs or cigarettes, but they do deal a lot with sugar. Sugar is everywhere for kids, free cookies at the store, suckers at the bank, treats from friends, bags of candy …. from seemingly everywhere. Sugar is also a main ingredient in most processed snacks that kids end up taking and eating in school (see nutrition in part 1). Sugar is unhealthy, addictive and makes it hard for kids to sit still and concentrate. These are all bad things for a learning environment. Sure, sugar is great, and we eat our share of deserts, but we can limit it at home much easier. … out of sight out of mind kind of idea.

(Really this is just a shot with Lily’s eyes closed, but I thought it looked like she was enjoying the air:))

A=Air

Do you know that most schools now can’t open the windows? My husband has worked on several schools and school remodels (he does construction) and most of the windows now are made not to open or to only open a crack. My first thought is fire safety, but fresh air is also super important for health as well as airing and cleaning out the germy air. As long as it isn’t crazy cold we have the windows open at least a crack all the time. Depending on the whether they are open early or late or both, but there is almost always air available.  I love the smell of fresh air!

R=Rest

This is another big one! Kids are kids, they have crazy days and they go through growth spurts. Sleep is not only important for health, but also for a properly functioning mind. Most of the time my kids wake up before 6:30 on their own…. I would prefer to stay in bed till 8 , but there are days when one or both of them sleeps in. With home school I never have to wake them up. If they miss some of the earlier classes, we can just catch up later in the day. It is way easier to teach a rested kid later than a tired zoned out one ‘on schedule’. We also have rest period in the afternoon. The kids don’t usually sleep (sometimes I get lucky and Ian falls asleep) but they have a quiet rest on their bed reading. … and I have a quiet house for a few minutes which is great for my sanity and health.

(Ian loves the monkey bars, but he isn’t quite big enough.  Here he wanted me to lift him up and let him hang for a while…. he loves ‘dropping’ into the sand below)

T=Trust in God

Often overlooked, this is super important to our physical health. Not only to learn about the Bible in school, but learn about how to incorporate Trust In God into our lives. It is something I am still learning, but it is an amazing key to health to let go of what we can’t control and trust God to handle it. … that right there can probably add more years to my/your life than any one of the other things in this list. Not sure if we are doing a better job at home school than a Christian school, but we are doing our best.

There you have it. Not saying that school is terrible or parents who send their kids to school are being unhealthy, just saying it is amazing how much easier most of these points are at home without even putting much time or effort into it. 

This is exciting to me. It is exciting when I see learning, social, and health benefits all coming from the same direction. … makes it easier to continue pressing on and makes me glad I made the decision to try home school.