Health: Teaching Your Homeschool Student About Good Nutrition
One of the major benefits for parents of homeschool students is that they get to teach their children about the importance of good nutrition. Anyone who has spent time in a school cafeteria is sure to remember the food served there. Students had choices between meals like chicken nuggets and fries, pizza, and American goulash. These are not the most nutritious meals, for sure. Things are not getting any better. Many schools now have contracts with soda and fast food companies. Schools have vending machines full of sodas and sugary snacks. Faced with these choices, children do not usually make the best decisions, and in the process they are creating bad habits that may last a lifetime. Homeschool parents have the ability to ensure that their children are getting nutritious meals. Thus, when faced with choices at restaurants and when out with their friends, homeschool students are likely to make better choices. Homeschool parents can help their children make healthy eating a habit that lasts a lifetime.
It's important that homeschool parents teach their children that "healthy and nutritious" is not synonymous with "tasteless and boring". There are many things the homeschool parent can do to make healthy meals that are delicious, filling, and interesting. Healthy eating starts with whole foods. Whole foods are foods that haven't been through excessive processing before they get to your table. Foods like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and spices are delicious and they can be incorporated into any diet. The tough part for parents may be getting their homeschool children to give healthy foods a try.
Are you afraid your homeschooled students will turn up their noses at a lunch of lean meat, potatoes, and vegetables? You may be right if you don't take the time to make things look appealing. A few things that parents can do to make nutritious food more appealing to homeschool students is to use foods with a variety of colors. Steaming or stir-frying fresh fruits and vegetables are great ways to bring out bright colors. Cutting foods into fun shapes is another way to pique the interest of the homeschool student.
Preparing healthy meals may take a little more effort than serving processed and prepared foods to your homeschool children, but it will all be worth it when the homeschool parent hears their children asking for seconds. Homeschool parents can even teach their children lessons about the importance of good nutrition by having the students help with grocery shopping and preparing meals. The homeschooled child will quickly get into the habit of reading food labels and creating delicious and nutritious meals. Best of all, parents who take the time to teach their children about the importance of healthy eating will be helping their homeschool children create habits that will last a lifetime.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling parent, author, children's rights advocate, and Founder and C.E.O. of Learning by Grace, Inc. She and her husband of almost 3 decades reside with their 8 children in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Rothschild co-founded Learning By Grace, Inc. because "our current system of education has broken its promise..." Learning By Grace, Inc. delivers Internet-based multimedia education to PreK-12 children in the United States and throughout the world.
Rothschild has authored a number of books about education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Daily Education News Blog contains feature stories on alternatives in education.