On the Subject of "Kids and Bicycle-Ability" - by Sharon Bagatell

As a new school year begins, I've been looking back on the past two years I spent teaching kids in my home. My students -- ages 9 to 13 and all with learning difficulties -- did well, making progress in many areas: reading, math, writing, geography, science, etc., etc. But in my mind, far and away, the greatest strides were made in a "subject" many wouldn't consider a school "subject" at all: bicycling.

When I first dreamed up "Explorations II", a home-based learning setting, I envisioned kids on bikes; having been a public school teacher, boxed into a building five days a week, the very image of kids out on neighborhood streets at 9 a.m. seemed so liberating, so harmonious with a child's nature. So each morning we'd set out on our bikes -- greeting the dog-walkers, observing the changes of the seasons, "getting our blood pumping." Maria had just learned to ride a bike and was very hesitant, and I, as the only adult, was in awe of traffic, so we kept close to home in our intown neighborhood of Ormewood Park; one honk of a car crossing Glenwood Avenue in East Atlanta told us we had no business out in world on bikes. And of course we rode on sidewalks whenever we could.

Eventually we began riding weekly to a homeschool cooperative in Grant Park and became known to the homeschool community as "The Bicycle Brigade." We worked on hand signals and basic safety and sang the praises of helmets after Sam's crash into a telephone pole. (The helmet, the paramedics said, saved his life.) We went everywhere we could within the bounds of Moreland Ave. and Boulevard -- but "bicycle-ability" stopped there; to get anywhere else required a car.

But that changed last February when Explorations II became the first group in Georgia to complete the Kids II Effective Cycling Course - thanks to ABC and instructor Barbara Corley. The course literally opened up the world to us. With the combination of cycling knowledge and on-road skill practice we were able to use our bikes as our main mode of transportation from then on: to travel weekly to our volunteer work at Southface Energy Institute, to go out to lunch, to get to the natatorium, to the downtown library, to Emory, to Stone Mountain -- all over! In fact, on one of our "out to lunches" far from our neighborhood, someone stopped me and asked if I was that lady who rides all over town with kids trailing behind me! "Bicycle-ability," though, became more than simply getting around.

As a teacher, I saw that cycling was truly a vehicle for all kinds of "subjects" of learning for kids: spatial relations, directions (right vs. left), map-reading, geography and topography (climbing hills!), history, simple machines, the cardiovascular system, reading (street signs, etc.), even writing (bike ride adventures make great stories!) A creative teacher or parent could use the bicycle to teach just about anything! But perhaps most importantly to me was the impact the Effective Cycling course -- and cycling in general - had on the individual kids. After taking the course I saw each of them grow in significant ways. What a thrill to hear fearful Maria calmly and confidently calling out "Car back!" on Auburn Avenue; to see shy Sam be proclaimed group ride leader; to have "wild" Jack's mother finally allow him to bicycle alone to school; to have Billy, who struggles with responsibility, follow through on fixing a flat; to see Taylor's grin of pride and accomplishment after a ride to the library downtown.

Cycling has clearly been a vehicle for personal development for each of these kids; they can now move with infinitely more confidence and independence through the world around them. I don't give report cards, but I'd say that in the area of "bicycle-ability," my students have excelled. I highly recommend to all parents and teachers that Effective Cycling be a true "subject" of study for their kids as well.

For more information on Kids II Effective Cycling courses offered through ABC, call the ABC Office at (404) 881-1112.