Taking tips from home schoolers

One of my favorite things about being home schooled was the fact that I wasn't bound to a schedule. I could do a week's worth of school in two days and have the rest of the week open. I could do schoolwork in my bed if I wanted to (and I often did). If it was a sunny day outside, we went outside and put off our schoolwork for another day to catch up on it.

Public schools are starting to figure out that perhaps the "traditional" classroom with desks and chairs may not be the greatest idea. And while the purpose of this experiment is to attempt to combat obesity, it looks like there's an added perk.

ROCHESTER, Minn. - The fidgety boys and girls in Phil Rynearson's classroom get up and move around whenever they want, and that's just fine with him.

In fact, stretching, swaying and even balancing on big wobbly exercise balls are the point of this experimental classroom. The goal is to see if getting children to move even a little can help combat childhood obesity.
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The data aren't in yet. But anecdotally, Rynearson and Superintendent Jerry Williams say the fourth- and fifth-graders are more focused on the curriculum than their peers in a comparison group in an ordinary classroom. And there are fewer distractions than in the traditional setup — where a lot of time is spent trying to get children to sit still.

"Sitting isn't bad," Rynearson said. "But I think kids need to move."

The classroom is the idea of Mayo Clinic researcher Dr. James Levine, also the mastermind of an office of the future that encourages more movement from deskbound white-collar workers.

For schoolchildren, Levine says, "My dream was kids shooting hoops and spelling," much like the American basketball game of "H-O-R-S-E."
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Williams, the superintendent, has already been converted to the new concept and thinks it could be expanded, with or without the computers and iPods. "I would love to have this move from a single classroom to the whole school," he said.