Averi, Cody and Carson Houser have no idea exercise is good for them.

They just think it's fun.

The trio just spent an hour running, jumping and skipping their way through P.E. class - and subtly learned about heart rates, cholesterol and arteries.

It's not your typical elementary school gym class. They're on the Missouri Western State University gymnasium floor in a class designed just for them - home-schooled kids.

The class is the brainchild of Dr. Nannette Wolford. The Missouri Western professor and veteran P.E. coach wanted to find a way for her students to hone their teaching skills, so she came up with a course that allowed her students to teach P.E. to a bunch of home-schooled kids.

"Kids are kids - it doesn't matter whether they're home-schooled or in public school," Dr. Wolford says. "If I don't let my students practice, when they get to the schools the kids are all over the place because they don't know how to organize themselves. They can know games and things inside out, but if they don't know how to control their kids, they're not going to have success."

Jennifer Goss is one of those college students. The Missouri Western junior had planned to teach gym at the middle and high school levels, but after going through Dr. Wolford's class, she decided the little ones are just her speed.

Now she says the class is teaching her how to implement what she's learned in the classroom.

"I'm finding it doesn't have to be just like the book," Ms. Goss says. "It may say do four pushups and then do this. But if that doesn't work, then do something else with your kids. It doesn't have to be strictly by the book. You can take that and then make it your own. What I may do with one second-grade class may go wonderful but may not work for other class. I'll have to change it up. I just need to be flexible and be spontaneous, I guess, and not methodical."

That's exactly what Dr. Wolford hopes her students figure out.

"They read the book and get the idea that you don't have to do it just like the book and then they can go and practice it," she says.

Averi, Cody and Carson's mom, Danielle Houser, says her kids are learning, too. They're meeting new kids, learning new games and getting some extra exercise in the process.

"This is a really nice thing for them to get to come to, says Ms. Houser says. "They haven't done a lot of these things since they're not in public school. They're meeting other kids that they haven't met before, and it's good exercise for them."

Lifestyles reporter Tamara Clymer can be reached at tami.clymer@npgco.com