Homeschooled Physical Education

We found a great indoor rock climbing facility not too far from our house and signed Ryan up for a class of 12-16 years old that meet once a week for a few hours. The place is massive with soaring walls containing lots of routes to navigate and boulders to climb.

I am always amazed at the P.E. options available to us as homeschoolers. In the past we have done everything from archery to snowboarding to mountain biking. Ryan doesn't tend to gravitate toward the typical sports of baseball or soccer, leaning instead toward these more off-beat options.

I used to cringe when people would ask Ryan what sports he played. He knew they expected to hear him say football or basketball or some other sort of organized sport and because he didn't play those sports, he tended to say he didn't play anything. It wasn't until I told him that many of the sports he plays qualify as Olympic sports, that he began to say otherwise.

I hope the rock climbing goes well for Ryan. I love how it challenges him to trust his body to tackle the physical requirement of scaling a wall. To use his mind to simultaneously figure out the best route up and conquer the fear he has of heights. To push himself out of his comfort zone and revel in the sense of accomplishment he receives when reaching the top of a wall.