Dana R. Peters and Professor Connie L. Blackmore, Physical Education
This study was designed to determine if those who are teaching their children at home are instructing them in the area of physical fitness. This was a survey-based project. The respondents were volunteers, mostly from the Home Educators Convention that was held at Brigham Young University in June of 1998.
Initially, I felt that the web site on Physical Fitness in the Home School would be my greatest source of data. However, the web site failed. I am unsure as to why I didn’t receive any data from this source. Perhaps the design of the site was not adequate in attracting surfers to the page. Whatever the reason, I was left to rely on the data that could be gathered at the Home School Convention held in June of this year. I was fortunate to have Jon Oliver, a graduate student, run a booth for me at the Convention as I was in Kentucky for the summer. Without his help this research project would have not been completed.
I learned a lot from the actual gathering of data at the Convention. Jon was the only person running the booth and was hoarse by the end of the day. It would have been better to have more than one person at the booth to help explain the survey and the purpose of the research project. He also indicated that people wanted to take the surveys with them. If I had supplied self-addressed stamped envelopes, I would have been able to collect more completed surveys.
The other source of data that I considered was mailing the survey. I didn’t pursue this avenue because the cost would far outweigh the actual results. The other challenge in mailing the survey is getting an actual list of people who home school. This can be a very sensitive subject for people and they do not like their names and addresses being put on lists and given to people. I had a challenge in just getting people to sign up to help me with the reliability questionnaire. So in evaluating the best option for gathering data, mailing surveys was not a good option to pursue.
I was able to obtain 105 completed surveys. This falls short of my initial desire of 200 surveys. I decided to analyze the data I had. I believe this number of surveys still gives me a good idea of what is being done and if home schoolers are teaching physical fitness.
The data indicated that 75% of the people felt that teaching physical fitness was necessary. This was determined by using a scale with the numbers 1-5. Using 5 to mean necessary and 1 to mean unnecessary, 75% of the respondents chose a 4 or 5 on this scale. 49.5% of those surveyed said they instruct their students in physical fitness activities. However, most of the respondents (90%) also indicated that they did not have a set physical fitness curriculum. So it would seem that people put an importance on instructing their students in physical fitness and even do instruct them, but they don’t follow a specific curriculum.
This idea was supported further in the section of the survey that required the respondent to fill in the number of times per week they instructed their students in a fitness area and the duration of each instruction. Students were being instructed or involved in aerobic activities more than any other activity, but only 32% were actually participating at least 3 times a week, which is the standard for aerobic activity. Overwhelmingly low was any instruction in the strength area of fitness, ie. weights, push-up, sit-ups etc. Only 27% were even involved in any type of strength activities, with only 9% participating 3 times or more per week.
Interesting to note is that 59% of those who responded indicated that their students participated in organized sports. About the same number, 55%, indicated that they had a personal fitness plan that they followed. There was a very low number of respondents who participated personally in organized sports (14%). Overall, the respondents felt that their family’s fitness plan, and their consistency in following it, needs improvement. On a scale of 1-5, with 5 being excellent and 1 being needs improvement, 57% checked a 1 or a 2 in describing their overall fitness plan. Using that same scale, 49% indicated that their consistency needed improvement ( a 1 or 2 on the scale).
Using the data I have obtained from these surveys, as well as comments made on some of the surveys, I feel that those who instruct their students at home feel that physical fitness instruction is a necessary part of their curriculum. However, it is difficult to find a guide that will help these home teachers instruct their students at the level of each student. The majority of people said they would consider using a Physical Fitness Curriculum Guide for Home School.
Some might say, “Why go to all the trouble of doing this survey and research project? What is the point behind it all?” The surveys I gathered indicated that 370 students would be involved in the Home Schools being taught by these respondents. This is just a small sample of the actual number of students being taught at home. With that many students at home, physical education takes on a new dimension. No longer is it the traditional P.E. class with 40 students learning how to play a sport or facts about fitness. With smaller numbers of students, those teaching physical education need to adapt. With smaller numbers, instruction becomes much more personal. I believe this is good if the instructor gives correct information to the student. However, if an instructor doesn’t understand fitness and how to teach proper technique, as well as what fitness areas with which to be concerned, then the instructor may feel frustrated and not include physical fitness instruction in his/her curriculum.
This research project is more of a reminder about the importance of physical fitness to all teachers, whether they are at home or in a building. I am still hopeful that I will someday be able to develop a curriculum to help those who home school so they can be better prepared to teach in the area of physical fitness. This has been a wonderful learning experience for me. I appreciate the opportunity to conduct this research. The data I have can still be more thoroughly analyzed to find correlations and such but I feel that I have obtained what I desired. Physical fitness is important on the list of most people, but they are not participating in it enough to reach fitness criteria.