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[quote=Anonymous]I'm the PP above who said that I think distance is a huge consideration.   I think that it's important to take the child's whole day into account, not just the time in school, when looking at level of activity.  I think that when you do, you may find that public school is a better option.

I'm going to give you a comparison.

Let's say you're considering St. Patrick's, a school that's known for lots of outdoor time, but also for an agonizing long carpool line.  St. Pat's hours are 8:15 to 2:50.  On a typical day you might need to leave your home, by car, at 7:45, to allow for 15 minutes of driving, and 15 minutes of carpool line.  At the end of the day, the carpool line is longer, so let's imagine that you get home at 3:30, which is, frankly optimistic.   So, on a typical day at St. Pats, your would be away from home for 465 minutes.

Now, let's imagine the same day at Somerset.  You leave at 7:45, and walk to school.  You're there by 8 and let your child play on the playground for 50 minutes before school starts.  At the end of the day, your child gets out at 3:05, they spend those 25 minutes ambling, walking on curbs, stopping to play with a friend and get home at 3:30.

So, before you even figure in recess or PE, the Somerset child is 75 minutes ahead of the St. Pats child.  Do you think they'll have 75 minutes more of outdoor time at St. Pats?  I doubt it.  When I toured St. Pats, I seemed to remember the K and up kids had 2 30 minute recess and PE several days a week.  Even assuming it's a PE day, and that the PE activity is one that involves a lot of movement (not a sure thing, there are plenty of times when PE means sitting in line for relay races, or taking turns watching and doing drills, or even sitting and discussing the rules of games), that means 90 minutes, and that's on the ideal day.

Now, there's another thread hear that's a few years old that says that Somerset has 2 30 minute recesses in K.  Now, whether that's still true, and whether it goes past K, I don't know, but I do know that the kids have some recess every day (because I live close by and have seen the kids playing outside), and that they have some PE (because it's on their website, although not how much.  Even a single 20 minute recess on a no PE day would put them at 95 minutes which is ahead of St. Patrick's on a PE day, and I'd guess that Somerset has more than that.

Now, there might be other reasons to pick St. Pats, but I think that local public schools have a huge advantage for active boys simply because of location, and a more reasonable length of the school day.  I'd start my investigation there.

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