Yeah, the mats making a difference is huge. I read an article a while back that said it's not just about the floor, but your shoes and how you stand. They talked about really focusing on shifting your weight around every so often, not just locking your knees. Also, getting shoes with better arch support, not just the ones the company provides. It seems like a combo of little things adds up. Might try that along with the mat.

You said sedimentary rocks make geology real for beginners... but igneous rocks are the real story of how Earth works. Take basalt from a lava flow, you can see the crystals form as it cooled, telling us about volcano heat and speed. When I show kids a piece of pumice that floats, they get why rock density matters more than any fossil. Igneous stuff is the foundation because it's the start of the rock cycle, everything else comes from it. That plain lava rock holds secrets about Earth's fire that layers just can't match.