Healthy Body Homeschool Unit Study: Helping My Strong-Willed 4-Year-Old Build Healthy Habits
Healthy Habits, Healthy Body If you’ve ever tried to convince a very opinionated 4-year-old to brush their teeth, wash their hands, or eat a vegetable — you already know the struggle. I know it well, too. (And this is why we now have the Healthy Body Homeschool Unit Study.) Lil Miss Mouse (our sweet and spunky 4-year-old) is full of life, imagination, and a strong will. And while I absolutely love her firecracker spirit, I’ll be honest — it has made some things really challenging. Like… convincing her to brush her teeth without a fight. Or getting her to wash her hands after using the bathroom without a dramatic sigh. Or asking her to eat something green without the dreaded, “I don’t like that.” I get it. To her, brushing her teeth just feels like an annoying task I was forcing on her. Washing her hands is boring. Eating healthy isn’t as fun as eating dessert. But I worry about her health when all she wants is junk and she resists brushing her teeth, ya know? And honestly? I don’t want healthy habits to feel like a power struggle — I want them to feel natural for her. Something she actually wants to do. So… I got an idea. What If I Made Learning About Good Habits for a Healthy Body FUN? One night I had a thought: What if I approached this differently? What if I turned healthy habits into something she could explore, play with, and learn about in a hands-on way — instead of something I just nagged her about every day? I know that kids learn better and remember more when they learn through playing. I decided to create a few little activities to help her understand why we brush our teeth, wash our hands, eat healthy, and stay active. But then… I did the ADHD thing and I researched and hyperfocused and next thing I knew, I was elbows deep in a unit study. The more I brainstormed, the more I realized there was SO much I wanted to teach her about taking care of her body — not just hygiene, but also nutrition, exercise, and rest. And the more excited I got, the more I kept adding to it. And then, BOOM!, I had a fun, full, (and fabulous) Healthy Body Homeschool Unit Study. And honestly? It turned out way better than I expected. The Best Part About the Healthy Body Unit Study – She Likes It When we sat down at the table for the first lesson of the healthy body unit study, Lil Miss Mouse was immediately drawn to the pages on brushing teeth. We talked about germs (bacteria,) cavities, and brushing teeth before diving into the activities. And you know what? She had fun! She drew and erased and cleaned food bits off the teeth at least a dozen times. She did the same with the flossing activity. For each, I demonstrated the correct technique and had her practice. The next day we did a lesson about healthy foods. We sorted foods into “more healthy” and “less healthy” categories. For many reasons, we are just sorting foods into things we should eat more often and foods we should eat less often. (We do have things we avoid altogether, like artificial food dyes, but that’s a whole different lesson.) After that, she started pointing out healthy choices during meals or asking “mom, is this more healthy or less healthy?” Making wise food choices became just a little bit easier. Funny: when I asked her to circle all the ways she likes to play and move on the exercise page, she circled all of them. Every single one. (She hasn’t even ever played tennis!) But I’m not surprised because this girl loves to move. Inspired by that activity, I decided to get a kite from Dollar Tree and teach her how to fly a kite. We have had great weather for it, she loves it, and now we have one more way to get fresh air and exercise together. =) We’ve Still Got a Ways to Go, But We’ve Made a Good Start Now don’t get me wrong — we didn’t magically solve everything overnight. There are still moments when she sighs dramatically about stopping to wash her hands. But good habits take TIME. She understands why we do these things. She knows that brushing keeps her teeth healthy, eating fruits and veggies makes her body strong, and washing her hands keeps her from getting sick. And while we’re still working toward consistency, I can tell you this: And honestly? That’s more than I hoped for when we started. And Now It’s a FULL Healthy Body Homeschool Unit Study (and It’s in the Shop!) I ended up turning everything we did — all the lessons, hands-on activities, and printable worksheets — into a Healthy Body Homeschool Unit Study for kids ages 4-6 complete with a parent/teacher guide. SIXTEEN pages of unit study, SIX pages of parent guide, and about two weeks’ worth of lessons (should you choose to space it out that much.) It covers things like: And also? It’s just… fun. Short lessons. No lengthey lectures. Just play-based learning that helps kids understand why their health matters. It’s On Sale Through the End of March Since I know so many other homeschool moms face the exact same struggles I did, I put the Healthy Body Unit Study up in my shop — and it’s on sale through the end of March. If you want to check it out, you can grab it here: Healthy Body Unit Study And if you do end up using it with your kids, please tag me on Instagram or Facebook [@ClassicHousewife] — I’d love to see it in action in your home. It’s nice how something that started out as me trying to solve a problem turned into some way that I can help other families do the same. Isn’t that one of the good things
On the Farm, Preschool Unit
Preschoolers love learning about farms! Doing a preschool farm study is a great way to introduce them to some new things outside of their small world. Unless you live on a farm, most four year olds haven’t seen cows and pigs and goats in real life. Also, most kids like animals and baby animals so it’s a win-win. =) “On the Farm” is the second study we are doing for our preschool year. We have several friends with small farms and Lil Miss Mouse adores baby goats, feeding animals, and gardening. This month we will be digging a little deeper and learning a little more. What is a farm? First order of business is defining a farm. The simplest definition is this: an area of land used for growing animals or crops. Farms can be small, run by one person or family, or very large businesses with lots of employees. Farms come in many shapes and sizes. In this unit we will look at some of them. Some Types of farms: Meat and dairy farms grow animals to eat their meat or their milk, such as cows, goats, chickens, pigs, ducks, and turkeys. Milk also is used to make cheese and yogurt. Crop farms grow fruits, vegetables or grains to harvest and eat, such as corn, wheat, carrots, beans, strawberries, or pumpkins. Grains like wheat and corn can eaten whole or ground into flour to make bread. Livestock farms raise livestock for their resources or labor. Alpaca and sheep wool can be sold to make yarn for making blankets and clothes. Horses and donkeys can be sold as work animals. Orchards and tree farms grow trees like apple trees or Christmas trees. Fruit trees like apple, orange, pear, and plum trees take a long time to grow and produce a lot of fruit. Bee farms are called apiaries. Some people have very large bee farms that produce very large amounts of honey and beeswax. A lot of small farms also have small bee farms called hives. Some farms grown one thing, like fish farms, flower farms, and peanut farms. A lot of farms have many different types of things they grow, and family farms often make and sell their own products. Types of farming equipment. All farms need some type of farm equipment and tools. Small farms use smaller tools but they still need something to dig up the ground or harvest it, something to haul supplies, and tools to take care of the animals. When we think of farm equipment, we usually think of the big ones. =) Some of the most common items are: But if you have a kid who really loves big trucks and tractors and all sorts of large machinery, then you can use this list of 20 pieces of farm equipment (with pictures and uses.) Farm animals Livestock farms, dairy farms, and meat farms will have LOTS of animals. They grow lots and lots of animals to make lots and lots of milk, wool or meat to sell. But they might only have one type of animal on their farm. Produce farms may not have any animals at all, although some produce farms also like to have bee hives to help with pollination. Family farms will probably have many different animals and crops. One farm could have cows, horses, goats, sheep, pigs, rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys! The animals you’ll find on the farm depends on the farm you visit! Vegetables and Fruits Did you know that we tend to identify fruits and vegetables by whether or not they are sweet or savory? But there is a botanical definition for “fruit” that actually makes some our favorite veggies classify as fruits! Botanically speaking, a fruit is produced from a flower and plays a role in the plant’s reproduction, whereas a vegetable can be any part of a plant and does not. This means that our savory squashes and beans are technically FRUIT – at least as far as plant botany is concerned. For the purpose of this lesson, since we will use the botanical definition, and when we are cooking, we can use the culinary definitions. =) Dairy Products Dairy products are all things that are made from milk. These can be made from cow milk, goat milk, or any type of milk. Milk, cream, butter, cheese, yogurt, and cottage cheese are all dairy products. Did you know that you can make your own cheese, butter, yogurt, and cottage cheese at home? Using raw milk is best but you can use pasteurized milk from the grocery store, too! Milk has healthy fats, vitamins, and protein for our bodies. Meat products Some young kids don’t know which types of meat come from which types of animals. And some don’t realize the meat at the store comes from animals at all! Take a trip to the meat section at the grocery store or a butcher shop and talk about the different types of meat you can buy. Activity: Make playdough turkey legs, hamburgers, chicken nuggets and more, while discussing what meats come from which animals. (Use the poster in my farm kit for reference. See below.) Farm to Table: There are many ways of getting food from the farm to your table. The most important thing to remember is that everything comes from a farm, big or small, and without farms we wouldn’t have food! Farming is hard and dirty but it’s very important work. If you have a small garden or farm in your yard, you’re doing important work, too! Ways food gets from the farm to our table: How many different ways have you gotten food from a farm? Can you try a new way like visiting a you pick farm or a butcher shop? On the Farm Preschool Unit Study I have a companion study kit in the shop that goes along with this unit study. In this kit you’ll find some printable posters, some worksheets, some activities, and some recipes. On the Farm