Effectiveness of an Outdoor Education Program with Homeschool Students

Compared to their public-school peers, homeschool students are less physically active, perform worse in health-related physical fitness tests, and have poorer body composition status (Kabiri et al., 2017; Kabiri et al., 2020; Long et al., 2010; Tribby & Berrigan, 2021). The purpose of this study was to examine the impacts of an outdoor education program (OEP) on homeschool adolescents’ physical fitness level and life skills. Homeschool students were recruited to participate in a nine-week OEP that included activities such as hiking and mountain biking and a pre- and post-test to assess physical fitness and life skills. Descriptive and inferential (e.g., paired-samples t-tests) statistics were used to analyze the resulting data. Findings reveal that male homeschool students self-report higher levels of life skills and that the OEP had a greater positive impact on males’ fitness outcomes. Recommendations for OEP practitioners include developing OEPs that increase the frequency and decrease the duration of physical activity time and emphasize skills such as emotional control. Recommendations for future research are to utilize large, diverse sample sizes and to consider at-home activities that may influence variables of interest.