It's the end of the third week of school. The weather has become suddenly chill. The playground is windy, and the grass is littered with the first colored leaves. The kids wear brightly colored sweatshirts, but shiver because the habit of shorts and skirts is not easily broken. Their summer tans are still dark, and their laughter is ruckus as they run towards the recess yard.

For the first several weeks of school I make a point of heading outdoors for some extra play time. Time to play group games and giggle. Time to teach the kids how to be freinds, good sports, and comrads in play. Remember Capture the Flag and Kick the Can? It's my mission to re-teach these classic games to the younger generations, who seem to have never learned them.

But we're also heading outdoors because natural light helps kids learn.

In fact, "...students with the most daylight in their classrooms perform better-by 20 percent on math tests and by 26 percent on reading tests-than those with less daylight...." which is incentive enough to head outside, away from our fluorescent lighted classroom, with it's single (albeit rather large) window.

The children come back indoors refreshed and lively. They are able to concentrate longer, even if all they do outdoors was sit and read under big trees (and not run around at all.) And it's always the sunniest days in the classroom, when the yellow sunlight is falling in rectangles across the carpet, that we have one of those days: a quiet hum of activity, everyone busy learning, everyone content and focused.

It's a fact that you should keep in mind too, when your kid heads off the bus directly for the T.V. set, or the computer. Insist your child spend as much time outdoors while the weather still permits it! And when planning a workspace for your child to complete homework, or do weekend reading or projects, pick one with an abundance of natural light.

Does your child's classroom have ample natural light? If not, offset the effects of being under artificial light all day with a quick walk around the block, or a story read in a cozy window nook drenched in late afternoon sunlight.