Start Your Homework by Taking a Walk

The alarm goes off, and another school day has begun. Often it’s a rush to get everyone ready and out the door on time. Then it’s off to school for a day full of learning, then home again to complete homework assignments. Before your students gets started on those assignments, however, encourage them to take a walk through the woods with you.  

Besides providing valuable one-on-one time with your student for talking about how the day went, problems that may have come up, and interesting things that happened at school, taking a nature walk before starting homework has many other benefits. This article by Business Insider discusses some them. Taking a walk in nature can help:

• Improve short-term memory
• Reduce stress
• Eliminate mental fatigue
• Decrease anxiety and depression
• Reduce the risk of nearsightedness
• Improve your ability to focus
• Perform better when working on creative tasks

Is your student pressed for time? Maybe he or she doesn’t think there’s time to take a walk. Even a 20-mintue nature walk will help your student regain mental clarity after a full day at school.

Do you live in a big city? Some studies have shown that walking down city streets just doesn’t provide the same benefits as walking in nature. Instead of walking through town, go to a park with a lot of trees to get some of the same benefits as walking through a forest.

For more information on the benefits of taking nature walks, check out Florence Williams’ book The Nature Fix.

Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter