Gross Motor Skills in Gym --Please Explain

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I have (probably stupid) questions for people who understand Phys. Ed. curriculum.

Is there any constructive (important) need for including dance in a P.E curriculum? In my mind, the point of P.E is just to get kids to be active and healthy in general, and so I am probably not understanding the point of much of the curriculum. (I home school so I can include what I want in P.E.)

Acknowledged bias: I hate dance. My preferred musical genres do not possess much in the way of dance unless one counts headbanging as a dance. If the intent is just motion inside, when it rains or is cold, I could replace it with Karate or Tai Chi or something I kind of know how to do.

If polka dance/square dancing/line dancing provides a specific benefit over these other activities, I am wondering what they are and if it outweighs the negatives (my own dislike, which I can get past if I have to, and my own issues with learning and then having to teach complex movements I don't know, which is harder to get past.) If dance is important, and I have to learn some, I would rather almost anything else, so I am assuming I could substitute something else?

(My son and I are both terrible at trying to imitate complex movements, although my son also has trouble with simple ones, as well. so I will have to simplify it anyway. )

They also have the jump rope thing stated in the actual curriculum --where you have to jump into the rope that 2 people are holding on either end.

When I was a kid, the girls at recess did this. I was really bad at it, and played baseball with the boys instead. I would think that for a girl there might be social consequences to not learning this. (I could not do it, but played baseball with the boys again, which would have been a problem, if I felt I required tons of female friends.) I can't think of any consequences for a boy. Am I missing something? My son is not athletic in general, if you have not guessed, and so no advanced skills are needed. He just needs enough so if he does want to do something sporty with other kids at some point he will not be mocked.

I never had a dance class in school, and I'm pretty sure it's not on the SAT, so I don't see any harm in substituting with some kind of martial art. Both teach coordination and involve learning established "moves".

I always thought gym class was about showing up and making an effort. I think a lot of kids wouldn't be able to do that jump rope thing.

I always figured they threw square dancing, etc in for girls like me who aren't interested in sports. I always really enjoyed that part of gym.

Socially, the only thing you might want to teach him is how to do a basic side to side step with the beat, so that if he ever attends any sort of dance in high school or college he has a basic move to fall back on during fast songs.

I think the dances you mentioned that are often done in P.E. probably have to do with coordinating steps in correspondence with another person.

Dance helps social skills in addition to motor skills, especially in these folk dances, because there is a sort of greeting that you have to start with. You also have to be able to communicate with eye contact to make sure you know/remember in which direction your partner is going, and so you can meet up in the right spot facing the right direction.

I did not like doing dance in gym class, maybe because no one took it seriously. However, other times that I have done these types of dances, I have LOVED it. I once went to a Swedish festival and participated in the folk dancing. There is also a group near me that hosts contra-dances. I like being able to be social without having to think up things to say to people.

It is hard to learn the steps when you are new, but the people in these groups are fun-loving, easy-going people who like getting new members, so they are very forgiving of your missteps.

Martial arts may correspond in some way to the physical benefits of dance, but I don't see it providing the benefits of the social interaction. My son took Tae Kwon Do for a while.

I'm a very poor dancer---socially. I have trouble synchonizing my movements with my partner's. Part of this might be because of some kind of "social deficit."

I'm not bad at "boogie-ing," though. I make people laugh with my comedic movements--a sort of combination of athletic and clumsy. West Indian people, especially, are amused by me. To them, dance rhythm is of the utmost importance, even when they're a year old and just starting to walk.

I agree with nerdygirl- I think PE classes are meant to practice different types of physical skills, and coordination and movement is a physical skill. Dance is purported to help with other athletic skills as well because of the timing and coordination involved.

I always disliked PE in general, although I liked certain sports. I lack coordination and athletic prowess.

You didn't specify how old your son is, but allow me to share some of my early elementary school experiences. I HATED gym! To add insult to the injury, my parents put me in a private school with an accelerated curriculum, and gym was no different. The worst was gymnastics and tumbling (in second grade, mind you). The gym teacher was kind of a [female dog], also a personal friend of my primary teacher, who wasn't a nice person, either. I pretty much failed everything in class; jumping jacks was about the only thing I did OK in. There was also jump rope; the individual variety, where you hold it yourself. THAT WAS THE WORST UNIT OF GYM! I couldn't do even a single jump; the rope kept hitting my feet. The gym teacher, in collusion with my primary teacher, had me "keep practicing over and over until I get it right". Needless to say, I didn't get it right; my parents were called to intervene, after I started saying I wanted to hang myself with the jump rope in the school bathroom over a toilet (yes, that detailed ). Years later, my public high school gym class had a jump rope unit too, but as long as my teacher saw me outwardly participating, he pretty much didn't care how well I did, which I loved.

That private school also had pay-for Saturday dance classes, operated by an outside company, that students could take for extra academic credit. (During the same time slot as Saturday detentions, since the building was open anyway.) Needless to say, my parents enrolled me; otherwise I'd get an F for gym. The instructor had an army-like personality, but never singled anyone out, even me. The class taught dance rhythmics, simple footwork, jumps, and kid-friendly stuff like the chicken dance (where I did great) and the electric slide (where I always bumped into my neighbors, and tripped over my feet once). Overall, I kind of hated it; occasionally shouting out song lyrics was the only redeeming aspect. For two decades afterwards, every time I did the chicken dance, I'd think of that damn class. I didn't get over it fully until I did it on a cruise at age 29, while blitzed drunk, next to attractive women who later danced swing with to "Mambo #5".

Of course, now it's like night and day. I go to the gym to lift weights and take cardio dance classes. Although I still can't even look at a jump rope without loathing. And after I learned to dance in classes I took as an adult, I lost count of how many times it helped me meet women, with the fun swing and Latin moves I was doing while dancing with them. On and off a cruise ship. But those were dance classes I voluntarily picked out and took as an adult; they had no connection to that Saturday class in early elementary school.