WAY Comes Home - homeschool wellness

Last year, our family tested out a wellness program tailored to homeschoolers.  WAY Comes Home was a positive experience for us, so I'd like to share a little about it with you.  Way is more than just "homeschool PE."  It's a comprehensive wellness education program that includes a PE aspect.

We received a box of supplies that included things like glitter glue, marbles, a balance scale, a binder, paperback student notebooks, dvds, flash cards, and more.  The WAY Comes Home program is currently on sale for $99.95.

The entire program, all 3 levels, was a little overwhelming at first, but once we got into it, it was a lot of fun.  We'd watch a segment of the exercise DVDs and work out with the class on screen together.  We had discussions.  We did activities.

Being homeschoolers, we tailored the program to our family.  With the vocabulary words, we might use them for handwriting, creative writing, or use them for brainstorming and discussion.

I think sometimes as parents, we assume that by living a reasonably healthy lifestyle, our kids will just know why we make the choices we do.  WAY gave us the opportunity to discuss that reasoning.

One of the activities involved sorting cards into the 3 baskets provided.  Then we acted out some of the cards.

Which is easier for some cards than for others!

This is the periscope of Jack's submarine poking out of the "water."

Brianna drew "skateboard."

I was happy to help her act that one out.  Oh, and I drew elephant, so I was an elephant on a skateboard in this picture.

Even now, almost a year later, this was one of the most memorable activities.

I squirted some glitter glue into each of the children's hands, and then we shook hands with each other, to illustrate the spread of germs.

This was a fabulous way to learn about good hand washing techniques!  With a built in self check, "Is there still glitter there?" it helped the kids realize how long they should be washing to get rid of all the germs.  And it very clearly explained why we wash frequently.  My kids will still ask for hand sanitizer if we're away from a sink when preparing to eat something.  (As an aside, I'm really liking Honest Hand Sanitizer the purse sized natural spray sanitizer from Honest Co. - affiliate link)

Another favorite of the kids was when we used the balance to show how food (energy) in, and energy expended through activity balance each other out.  We talked about what happens when you're lopsided one way or another.  It was after this activity that Eli said, "We should walk there, to use more of our energy!"  I could tell the lessons we were learning with WAY Comes Home were really sinking in.

There are 3 levels to this program, broken down by age range:  Health Safari, for K-1st grade students; Me Mysteries, for 2-3rd grade students; and Innerspace Adventure, for 4-6th grade students.  The Parent Guide pictured above offers suggestions for including other levels in certain activities specific to one level.  We did everything as a group, and I would guess that the feedback they got from most of their homeschool family testers indicates that many other families did, too.

Because we were "testers" prior to the product launch, we were sent additional Student Notebooks from the updated final run.  One of the features that makes these notebooks unique is that although the notebook pages are colorful and engaging (center above), the covers (above right) are blank!  The creators of WAY did this on purpose, so each child can personalize the cover and feel ownership of their notebook, and by extension, their wellness choices.  Once we get a little further into our school year, I am looking forward to starting this program up again with the boys in their new Student Notebooks.

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