Having a healthy home can facilitate better learning outcomes.
Our children are multi-faceted and simple things that seem unrelated to academics have a big impact on their learning.
Here are a few tips for creating a healthy home that supports learning.
1. Get enough sleep. Institute regular bedtimes for your children and start early with rhythms such as story time, bath, or a snack that help children settle into sleep. Make sure you get enough sleep as well, so that you can function as a patient and alert mama.
2. Drink enough water. Water helps purify our bodies from toxins and keep us hydrated. Some families have color coded water bottles, and others include herbal tea time as a way to induce more water consumption. Our Restoration Home Habits often include building a water drinking habit as it's a basic for good health.
3. Eat whole foods. Nutritionists have many opinions about what constitutes whole foods, but I love Michael Pollan's assertion to "eat food, mostly plants, not too much". I think if we make fresh, unprocessed vegetables the stars of our meals and include sufficient protein to fuel young brains we will be off to a good start. It's when refined carbs, sugar and food dyes start to creep in that behavior problems often surface, so working towards a diet that is mostly unprocessed vegetables is a great place to start.
4. Stay active- Children learn best when academics are alternated with movement, so be sure to include some active breaks in your day. You could make a list of the large motor activities from our resources to help with ideas, or take a brisk walk half way through your school day, or even do a quick 7 minute work out with your kids, but taking breaks to blow off some steam is super helpful for better attention during reading or seat work time.
5. Get fresh air and sunshine. Vitamin D helps our immune systems stay strong, and walking barefoot and being in fresh air is great for detoxing from time spent on computers.
More Suggestions
In the Restoration Home Community we've been collecting recommendations for better health for our families.
Families like products from Earthley for recovery from seasonal illnesses. We use Sinus Saver and Cough Be Gone. We also put Good Night Lotion on at night to help with sleep (it contains magnesium).
Moms say that when you give children grape juice at the first sign of stomach flu, symptoms are alleviated.
Sleep issues can impact bed wetting (among other things) so checking out your child's jaw placement could nurture better school days.
Healthy children equals better homeschool days, but on days when illness does hit, just keep reading out loud and loving your children and don't stress about learning loss. The Peaceful Press offers lesson plans that are peaceful and fun, and offer margin for rest days.
Shop the Peaceful Press
What are your favorite tips for a healthy home? Our resources include healthy recipes (and some that are just for fun), large motor activities, and life giving books that help us work towards whole homes. Grab yours today!