Meeting PE "requirements?" Who knew?

[YogaMomOf4]

I homeschool in Texas.  Last year and the year before, I was homeschooling all of my kids.  This year I am homeschooling one, and the others are in public school.  The state of Texas doesn't have any PE requirements for homeschoolers, but when I put my kids back in middle school, they had to take extra PE because I hadn't documented any PE courses for them.  (?!?!)

 

I'm trying to avoid that sort of scenario in the future for my kid who is still being homeschooled.  Do any of you know how to meet PE requirements in terms of kids not lacking in PE credits if they return to school?  Would enrolling in a gymnastic program or martial arts program satisfy that?  Or would my kid still be told her PE education wasn't well-rounded or something? 

 

I tried to look for info online and I got stuff like, "Save and document all of your kid's certificates and trophies from all the different classes and programs they are in."  Uhm . . . okay, but we don't have that kind of money to enroll in lots of programs.  We're hoping we can afford ONE, but we're not entirely sure about that, either! 

 

What do you do about PE?

[HomeAgain]

I document in Skedtrack, any p.e. we do:  Bike riding, soccer, swimming, hiking..anything done as a family or group. 

[regentrude]

Kids have to have physical activity - irrespective of whether your state or school requires a PE credit or not.

Just keep a log of the physical activity. My kids fulfilled their PE requirements by rock climbing, hiking, backpacking, biking, riding horses.

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

It doesn't have to be extensive or expensive. Going for a bike ride or hike or bouncing a ball in the yard counts. Just keep a log. Any physical activity or health and nutrition counts.

 

Did you have to show samples to validate their core subjects. If not, you really only need to document it in their transcripts as physical education. As long as you know they are doing it, you shouldnt have to have an extensive log unless you want to.

 

There are some homeschool or family PE books you could go through. You could also get a health and nutrition book to read together. These would also be inexpensive alternatives.

[Ellie]

I homeschool in Texas.  Last year and the year before, I was homeschooling all of my kids.  This year I am homeschooling one, and the others are in public school.  The state of Texas doesn't have any PE requirements for homeschoolers, but when I put my kids back in middle school, they had to take extra PE because I hadn't documented any PE courses for them.  (?!?!)

 

I'm trying to avoid that sort of scenario in the future for my kid who is still being homeschooled.  Do any of you know how to meet PE requirements in terms of kids not lacking in PE credits if they return to school?  Would enrolling in a gymnastic program or martial arts program satisfy that?  Or would my kid still be told her PE education wasn't well-rounded or something? 

 

I tried to look for info online and I got stuff like, "Save and document all of your kid's certificates and trophies from all the different classes and programs they are in."  Uhm . . . okay, but we don't have that kind of money to enroll in lots of programs.  We're hoping we can afford ONE, but we're not entirely sure about that, either! 

 

What do you do about PE?

 

I can't get worked up over "requirements" that I never, ever have to justify to anyone.

 

Before high school, all that's necessary is a report card that has "P.E." on it somewhere, and you give it a grade. Bam. You shouldn't have to document anything to enroll in a public school.. At most (and I do recommend this) there would be standardized test scores, which does not include P.E.  anyway.

 

But let me clarify: If a parent shows up at the school office one day and says, "Hi! We've been homeschooling! Now we want to do school! What should we do?," then, yeah, she might get stuff like having to document P.E. But if she shows up at the school office and says, "Hi. I'm enrolling Orkie in fourth grade. Here are his records," and she has a cum file with a photocopy of his birth certificate, immunization records, a report card or grade sheet of some kind, and standardized test scores, she shouldn't have to document P.E. :-) **You didn't say how old your child was, so I might have gone off on a tangent, lol. If they were high school age, there should have been a transcript as well as standardized test scores, and even then, the school was not obligated to accept credits earned at home. P.E. might be a required high school subject, so if your transcript did not have P.E. on it, then yeah, there would have to be some make-up.

 

This is a letter from the Texas Education Agency regarding homeschooled children entering public school. It states that homeschooled students should be treated the same way that students from any other unaccredited private school should be treated.

[IsabelC]

We don't have any official PE requirements, I do encourage the kids to be active every day, but the majority of it is just walking, swimming, and riding their bikes. Could you just log all the time your children spend on physical activities - whether it's actual sport or just walking to the shops - and call it "Personal Fitness" or something generic? 

Edited November 14, 2016 by IsabelC

[Hunter]

Books and videos on sports and dances are part of physical education. Read a book. Write a report. Copy a diagram or list of rules. Draw a picture of an athlete or dancer.

 

Log physical activity. Chores, playing and walks count. Daily calisthenics might be something you want to engage in.

 

Attending performances and events count as PE field trips.

 

Ridiculous, but cheap/free to log.

[J-rap]

I just kept a general record of their physical activities. If they took dance lessons, tennis lessons, swimming lessons, I counted it.  If we went on family bike rides and hikes, I counted it.  If there was a homeschool once-a-week gym time, I counted it.  I had them read a couple books on physical activity too.  It was a very easy requirement to fulfill, but I did list the various activities.

[Farrar]

This is for high school specifically?

 

I wouldn't assume that's because you homeschooled per se... I'd assume it's because PE is required and the transcripts you provided didn't have PE credits, only academic ones.

 

If it's for a grade before high school, I'd push back on that. You don't typically have to have a transcript for before high school and if you presumably had the kids doing some physical activity of some kind, that's all you need. "Documentation" could just be you writing up a description.

Edited November 15, 2016 by Farrar

[Guest]

Call or email THSC. I think your school district (unless this is high school) is mistaken on some things.

[City Mouse]

Texas has a requirement in public schools that middle school students must have 5 semesters of PE across 6, 7, and 8th grade. At many schools this means that 8th graders get an extra 1semestr elective since they only have to take PE 1 semester if they took it all year in both 6 and 7th grade.

 

I am going to guess that the OP's child entered public school after 6th grade but before 9th, so the child did not have 5 semesters of PE documented and had to take two semesters of PE in 8th grade. I am assuming this is what transpired rather than the student having to take extra PE to make up for the entire year of 6th grade PE.

 

Can you ask the middle schoo or the district directly what is needed to document the PE requirement?

Edited November 16, 2016 by City Mouse

[Ravin]

That is asinine. I would push back on it. Children should be placed in middle school based on some combination of age cohort grade level and placement testing when coming from home school or private  school. Anything short of high school "credits" don't matter anyway.

[Sahamamama2]

I hope this PDF link works:

 

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwizjdmxoazQAhXoDMAKHZJLALsQFggpMAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.shapeamerica.org%2Fadvocacy%2Fson%2F2010%2Fupload%2Ftexas-profile.pdf&usg=AFQjCNHLx00_wfO3ph-M5Ep-UjMhDBUZgg

 

[....]

I'm in TX also.  I don't want to post too much about it, but after watching what my neighbor went through (when she put her homeschooled kid in ps this fall), I doubt our school district would even accept documented activities.  Our school district obviously has a serious problem with homeschoolers.

 

I would call the school directly and ask.

 

FWIW, we do a homeschool PE program at a local sports center.  Four of my kids attend together once a week.