Outdoor time – 4-6 hours a day?! Is this possible?!

That’s funny — a stroller never even occured to me…. (I must really be exhausted to not even have that enter the realm of my thinking!) We haven’t used it in at least a year because he always wants to DO everything the older ones do. But we do still have an umbrella stroller so that would be worth a try for my sanity. Thanks!

My oldest is only 7yo, so I don’t have kids yet that need to do hours and hours of school.  We do about 1.5-2 hours of school, which leaves lots of time for outside.

My personal theory is that kids that are young enough that they are not able to do some of their school work independently, are also young enough that they need to be outside just as much as the preschoolers.  My vision is that once DD7 is older and doing more school work, she will be able to work fairly independently while I’m outside with the youngers.  She may come outside to narrate or ask a question, and I’m sure there will still be a certain amount of time that I have to be sitting with her, but again, it shouldn’t be more than a couple of hours, so there will still be plenty of time outdoors.

There is also the option of setting up a place outside to do school work, so the olders can be working while the littles play.  Science projects and other messy activities might even be better done outside.

Of course, time will only tell as to whether my plan actually pans out in reality!

Joanne

I breezed through most of the responses, so forgive me if I repeat.  🙂

We live in MN, yeah, that crazy state that just got a snowstorm last week…  (I was on vacation and missed it.  Woo-hoo!  😛 )  But for us, the way I schedule our days, my kids have a minimum of 2-3 hours in the winter, and a minimum of 5-6 hours outside every day to play.  And in the summer, we sometimes take our schoolwork out there (year-round schoolers here), or we might have a picnic outside, and all of that adds up on top of that 5-6 hours.  I am not an outdoorsy type – you gotta force me out there LOL – but even so, even when I only had 1 and 2 kids, we got outside A LOT.  With my oldest 2, I would go out sometimes with them, but we had a fenced in backyard that I could put them in when I needed a break.  By the time I had 3 kids, I could let the older 2 out to ride their bikes on the sidewalk and just keep an eye on them.  We’ve moved since then to a quiet dead-end road in a small town, so now they are all out there on their own without me, just peeking once in a while at my almost-4yo who just tags along after his big sisters (who are excellent babysitters), and he stays in our yard incredibly well, even with no fence.

In the summertime (we just started our summer schedule this week, actually), we do 1 hour of school in the morning when it’s still “too cool” (or rather, too early) to go outside, then outside till lunch, then quiet time for an hour, then schoolwork during the hottest part of our days, then back outside till time to clean up and do chores before dinner.  Then back outside after supper/devotions/read-alouds, hopefully to take a walk as a family, or maybe to have a campfire, or whatever.  Then it’s time to get the dirtiest into the baths/showers and into bed.

In the fall/winter/early spring, we do 4 hours of school.  That means I get all 4 kids done in that amount of time.  Really happy that my oldest was able to take on quite a bit of her own work this year…  Next year will be even better with another one who can also be mostly independent.  Yay!  So we do that 4 hours right away in the morning from 8-12pm, then lunch, then quiet time, then outside if it’s not dangerous windchills.  I do make them all go out for a minimum of 30 min. in the winter, but I don’t force it after that.  Maybe I’m a mean mommy – but I even try to get them to go out on super, super cold days, just for a few minutes of fresh air.  Not long enough to get frostbite, and I make sure they’re covered really well for that.  Often, even with our cold MN winters, they will stay out until I call them in, 2 of them especially (outdoorsy types).

While the kids are outside, I get some chores done around the house.  But they also help a ton with the chores, too, in the morning and afternoons.  So I can do a lot of bigger projects and decluttering in the afternoons.  And I even get quiet time myself, should I care to take it.

Oh, forgot to mention, even on rainy days they will go outside, unless it’s thundering/lightning.  They have rain boots and umbrellas.  Puddles are fun.  🙂  Oh, and one more thing – my kids have A LOT of play clothes.  😀

And those are my thoughts on getting the kidlets outside, FWIW.

Haha, it’s funny, because for years I’ve chastised myself for not getting them outside as often as other people!  LOL  My kids are dd10, dd almost 9, dd6, and ds almost 4.

The one thing I am not so good at is going on actual nature walks.  We school M-Th year-round, and we still can’t seem to fit in nature walks as a regular thing.  Drives me batty. 

When I taught public school, the other teachers kept elementary kids inside unless the weather was near perfect. They criticized me for taking them out everyday. I told parents at start of year, “We go out unless I am afraid their noses will freeze and fall off!” Besides it was mid-atlantic, winters are not that cold! Only one family ever complained. That child stayed in if it was too cold in mom’s opinion. I would get coats from nurse or lost and found if someone didn’t have one to wear outside.

Those kids needed to run around. I also didn’t keep them in as punishment for bad behavior. Counter -productive!!!

I have tried to remember this with my own children. They need to go outside, even if just for a bit. Fresh air is good for mind, body, and soul. My grandmother would say,”It blows the stink off” – meaning grumpy, bad attitudes.

We don’t get four hours for our youngest ones or even 2 for the olders, but this thread has inspired me to be more diligent about it.

I love to go out in the rain. Neighbors think I am a little nuts! Of course homeschooling really makes them think that!!

Mama Nickles, what about that time from 10:30 until lunch? That seems like perfect outside time. Or outside time could replace the craft time during this beautiful spring and see how that feels? Read outside? I’ve really loved this question and all the answers and am once again looking at our own schedule to see why we aren’t out as much as I want us to be.

I agree with the others. For a five year old, it would be more beneficial for him to be outside more and craft/table time less. Especially with nice weather. Save that craft/table time stuff for cold or rainy days or when a younger child is sick and you can’t go out. Also, going out before lunch and then lunch outside if possible makes little ones really do well with the afternoon nap. I also agree that you could take some readings outside. We always read aloud at lunch and tea time in the afternoon. And bedtime. That is plenty. At his age, imo, he needs more gross motor play than fine motor. He has plenty of years ahead for sitting still!!!

My son, who is now 15, sounds like your little boy. He was never the super rough and tumble boy. He loved to play in his room and build things. His outside time in the early years was more the meandering and picking up sticks you speak of. As he got older and our other children and neighborhood kids were old enough to play outside with him, he started running around more – tag and games like that. In the early years,we had to do stuff with him – shooting baskets, riding scooters, swinging,etc… He would not do it on his own. But now he does all of those things so be encouraged.

I wouldn’t take your son’s room time away. Plan on going out early on hot days and then again in the evening. And, really, 15 minutes is worthwhile. Remember, it isn’t always about what they do outside. It’s about fresh air and sunshine. In olden times, proper gentlemen and ladies took a walk or turn around the garden grounds daily. They were not running around. They did it because they had an innate sense that they needed the fresh air and some movement and of the restorative powers of a little sunshine.

So what if he is doing something sedentary outside. At least he is out in the fresh air. He will be more inspired to do something active if he is already out there. It’s all about striking a balance and every child is different. But give a little more outside time a try. He may not seem to be doing much to you, but children grow and learn in interesting ways. It’s just like many other things. The more he does it, the more he will want to do it. I hope you will find outside time a joy and not look at it as another task to plug into the schedule. Give it a good try. You may find you all really love it. I wish you the best with it.