Torch, Fall 2004

8 TORCH / Fall 2004 ach Spring Semester a group of students get together in Cedarville’s Callan Athletic Center gymnasium. These are not your typical University students — they’re younger and much smaller. The students are 4-12 years of age and are on campus to take physical education courses two days a week. They are homeschooled children of faculty, staff, and alumni, and they are providing a service to CU students. The homeschoolers’ physical education training is part of the “Physical Education in Elementary School” course, commonly called “Homeschool PE.” It is a junior-level, required course for all multi-age physical education majors and is the creation of Assistant Professor of Exercise and Sport Science Teresa Clark. “When I arrived on campus, the students in the class took turns teaching each other elementary physical education lesson plans,” Clark explained. “This format was not equipping our future physical educators to the level that I wanted them to experience. I wanted this experience to be with children.” So about five years ago, Clark sent an e-mail to the Cedarville University faculty and staff, asking if they would be interested in bringing their homeschooled children to the physical education training. The response was greater than she expected, and B y C essna C atherine W inslow E