subject: Yoga Home School [print this page] We started our Yoga Homeschooling! It's been going well these past few weeks. Yoga home school has a regular curriculum, yoga asana and philosophy curriculum as well as yoga home economics, such as cooking healthy, ayurvedic food and using ayurvedic herbs and vitamins. It also emphasizes sustainability and contributing to the household community with mindfulness and love.
Yoga is my kids' daily physical education. My kids are 10 and 12, so we don't do the regular Storytime Yoga, in which we act a story out with yoga. Recently I made up a great sequence to teach kids Spanish using yoga and movement, however, when my daughter looked at me she said, "Mom, we're too old for that!" So, the way I teach older kids yoga through story is to stick to stories with philosophical themes to help them live in the world while teaching a lot more physical alignment.
What I'm covering here in this blog are the basics. If you'd like a detailed description of my yoga home school curriculum with stories and lesson plans, subscribe to the League of Yogic Storytellers! Each morning I start with meditation on breathing, using a story I created. Then, I tell a story or two, which is also incorporated into their reading, writing, geography, history and art curriculum. Math I do have to get help with, what's what I use our tutor Laura for! I am using stories from Argentina right now, because naturally we are in Argentina! I use the stories for a week or when I feel they are ready to move on. I also relate it to yoga philosophy. For instance, in the Argentine story I am using the girl protagonist requires great strength. So in the yoga class this week we are focusing on sun salutations, the three warrior poses and building up strength this week.
For yoga philosophy, I have told them a simplified version of Arjuna and Krishna from the Bhagavad Gita, in which Arjuna requires strength to make choices in life. I bring this up, as well as other elements that the Bhagavad Gita teaches, throughout the day when we are washing dishes, cooking, walking outside, dealing with difficult feelings or even elation.
The practice really brings us together as a family. My son said the yoga practice makes him feel energized and is building up strength in his legs in order to work with foot, ankle and knee pain caused by flat feet. My daughter is gaining more confidence, building up strength and flexibility. She is also making incredible leaps and bounds in reading and writing, and using art as her focus of interest. In public school, she was two years behind. My son was bored in school, and I swear public school was inhibiting his learning rather than helping. So I think it's all making a difference!
Yoga home school does require that you have to be organized, patient and flexible! But if you are dissatisfied with your public school, try homeschooling and add yoga! Have faith in yourself. You can teach your kids at home and put a yoga curriculum in place! Homeschooling is gaining momentum, so you will likely find dozens of like-minded moms educating their kids at home and develop a great supportive community. Already here in Buenos Aires, I've met another home schooling mom!
It's a national security problem and a disgrace that our public schools are in shambles. So don't give up on public schools entirely, but get politically active and demand high-quality public education for all children and an end to the US warfare state, which wastes trillions of dollars. Every child deserves a quality education, because every child in the world is really your own! So I hope you reach out to other children and teach kids yoga classes as well!
