How many extracurriculars does your child do?

[mathnerd]

I mean things like sports, art, enrichment activities like Lego club, Chess club etc. How do you make time for them? How do you make the time to convey them to practices, events etc (driver/nanny etc or do you do that too)? What do you do when they are at those activities - run errands, work on your laptop or join them in the activity?

I am asking because it seems like I am the only person in my circle of friends who is running herself ragged doing afterschooling, homework, weekly test review for school and multiple extracurriculars with assorted requirements to them. My child is enthusiastic, has boundless energy and keeps asking me to add in more. Having too many extra curriculars actually is a cure for my child's sleep problems as they help tire him out to the extent that he falls asleep while brushing his teeth before bedtime. And he is good at some of them and loves the coaches and the experience of doing them. But the flip side is that a lot of these require their own load of homework/practice which need to be factored into the day - like instrument practice, completing quizzes etc. Do you limit the extracurriculars because of your time limitation or do you make it happen for your child because they show interest in it? How do you accomodate all of it into your day?

[SMRB]

:bigear:

 

We can only manage one right now - soccer for DS two nights a week and games on Saturday. I get 15 minutes of before-schooling for both DS and DD every day. I'm off from work two afternoons a week and do 30 minutes of afterschooling for DS those days after homework and before soccer, and that's it. I would love to hear how others manage it, because I'd like to let them do more.

[mathmarm]

I wouldn't maintain a lifestyle that was running me ragged, but I would go the extra for my child to be involved in things that they are interested in and passionate about. You may want to recruit a nanny to deal with some of the driving and transporting, since it seems you only have one child if you can afford a nanny then it might be worth it--even if just 2 days a week.

 

Personally I feel that 4 weekly/regular activities is the utter maximum that I could deal with and I have a very flexible schedule and plenty of doting adults in Jrs life to help with transport if I needed them to. So long as all homework was being managed effortlessly by the child (and completed at the school) I don't see how you could manage to after school using--is that FOUR math programs? And Grammar, History, Latin and what is BFSU, some sort of science?--do homework and test prep/review and extra curricular fun. It would seem that something from your AS schedule could be dropped, no?

 

You are going to have to become extremely efficient (and probably still clone yourself) to maintain the pace needed to take your kid to 4 lessons/clubs, do homework, 4 math programs, science, history, grammar and Latin. Personally, I'll be taking my infant to his first round of swim lessons in the next several weeks, because I think that swimming is an extremely important and vital skill to have and I would love to keep my child in swimming until highschool. So, I'd be loath to drop it.

 

How much longer are the terms for these various clubs and lessons? I'd probably let the kid finish up his current term--assuming that they were ending by mid-Nov and then re-evaluate seriously. I'd probably step down to just 3 lessons/clubs and see how I felt and how my child were handling it. If I were still tired--then down to 2 clubs or hire a day-nanny.

[SKL]

My kids are of similar age to yours, I think.  They do the following:

 

• School aftercare, 5 days, until 6pm.
• Piano lesson during aftercare on Thursdays.  (They only practice 2-3 times per week at present.)
• Monday 6:30-7:30:  Tae Kwon Do family class.  (Including me.)
• Tuesday 6:30-8:30:  Little Gym gymnastics and hip-hop.  (I either go grocery shopping or bring my computer and work.)
• Wednesday - choice of park, pool, TKD, museum, or intensive studying.
• Thursday 7:30-8:30:  Little Gym gymnastics.  (I might work or just vegetate.  Should probably go for a walk . . . .)
• Friday: we always go to dinner with my work partners.
• Saturday morning:  Nanny comes and takes them to horse riding lesson, swim lesson, and teaches them Spanish/art as time allows.
• Sunday morning:  8:30 church (together), 9:45 Sunday School (my "me time,") and 11:15 dance.  My sister picks them up after dance and hangs out with them while I work.

 

I pick them up at 6pm at school every day, and we drive directly to our evening activity (except that on Thursdays, we grab dinner somewhere first, and I bring worksheets for them to do at the restaurant ;).).  We do "car-schooling" on the way to and from school:  drilling spellings, memory verses, math facts, etc.  On Tuesdays we grab McD's drive-thru and eat in the car on the way to gym.  Mondays we have a snack in the car and eat after TKD.

 

During school aftercare, the girls read a couple chapters in their AR books and work on some simple math worksheets, which I pack for them.  I also pack their gym clothes to change into during aftercare.  They still have plenty of time for playing with friends outdoors/indoors and even staring at the TV on the wall.  ;)

 

At home in the evening, we do homework, extra math practice, and whatever else we have time for.  On a good day they get a bath.  ;)  Nowadays they are getting to bed between 9:30 and 10pm most nights, which is an improvement over last year.  ;)  They get up about 7:30am.

 

Like your child, my kids need heavy exercise every day, and they can't get it outdoors in the evenings in my part of the country.  The trade-off (which I don't regret) is that we don't do any TV, and home cooking is not an everyday thing.  (My sister does cook and set aside some of her excellent food for us to have during the week.  But Panera/Chipotle are not bad and the occasional McD won't kill us either.)

[Uff Da!]

nm

[regentrude]

I do not believe in tons of activities, because I find it extremely important that kids have unstructured time, we have time together as a family, and there is enough time for good meals and *sleep*.

 

When my kids were elementary school age and attending school, all they did was piano lesson once a week and daily practice at home.

With the crazy long school days in the US (in my home country, 1st graders get out of school by 11am!), the kids were tired and needed time to play outside and run around and just relax. Because I am working, they also had to go to aftercare a few days per week- so after that, we just headed to the park to play. At that age, I also did not want to schedule any after-dinner evening activities, because the kids needed time to wind down and sleep.

 

In 5th grade, things changed as my DD started choir, horseback riding and four different clubs at school.  The clubs at school were easy because I just had to puck her up an hour later. Piano teacher came to our house. Riding was an afternoon to relax while watching the lesson. She scaled back eventually.

 

[The Way of My People]

My first grader needs a lot of down time, but we've sort of lost control of the after school activities. He has two nights a week of Taekwon-Do, and one piano lesson (requiring daily practice). He's starting Odyssey of the Mind soon, which will be twice a week. And he'll start Scouts when he turns seven this spring. This is all WAY too much for my introverted, quiet-time-loving boy, but I'm not sure what to do about it.

[trulycrabby]

Evencrabbier9 does club soccer and First Lego League. Soccer practice is 90 minutes twice a week with a game every two weeks or so. FLL is once a week for two hours.

[Caroline]

My kids all play academy or select soccer--practices two evenings a week for 90 minutes and multiple games on weekends. My dd8 also does Girl Scouts. My DS12 plays cello in the school orchestra and has before school practice a couple times a week. DS6 only plays soccer. Dd8 does attend extra keeper training once a week right after practice.

 

My kids almost never attend aftercare. They get to play outside with friends after school almost every day. We eat dinner as a family almost every night after soccer practice.

[ondreeuh]

My 5 year old is in school from 9:15-3:30. He has soccer on Friday afternoons (developmental, not competitive) and will add swim lessons on Tuesday & Thursday evenings soon. We do 30-60 minutes of schoolwork in the morning, about 30 minutes after school, and sometimes extra math before bed when he begs for it.

 

He would be happy with a completely full schedule. Today he woke up at 6:45 and played on the computer for an hour until I dragged myself out of bed. We did schoolwork for 45 minutes then walked to school. After I picked him up he got a half hour of playtime before we went to soccer. We drove straight from soccer to his school where they were having a movie in the gym. We got home at 7:30 and he claimed he hadn't done anything fun today! He played for a half hour and then told me he was ready for bed... No wait, he wants to do math. I told him we can do more math in the morning. :) On the weekend he is always saying he is bored because he likes to be kept busy. I use the weekends to recharge. I would love a weekend nanny who would go take him to activities so I can stay home and chill.

[kiwik]

School here is 9 to 3. We leave the house at 8, drop of ds4 then ds6 at school so I can get to work by 9. I pick them up in reverse order at 3. He has been doing gym on Mondays and a Church club on Fridays but this term we are switching to mini-soccer (no practice, 1 half hour game on Tuesdays) and afterschool care on Fridays. I don't think any of the sports involve practice and games until high school. Your child will have to pick. If he needs more exercise get him a stationary bike or an exercise DVD. (we go to the school across the road and bike several times a week but that is not organised.

[LimitBreak]

I mean things like sports, art, enrichment activities like Lego club, Chess club etc. How do you make time for them? How do you make the time to convey them to practices, events etc (driver/nanny etc or do you do that too)? What do you do when they are at those activities - run errands, work on your laptop or join them in the activity?

I am asking because it seems like I am the only person in my circle of friends who is running herself ragged doing afterschooling, homework, weekly test review for school and multiple extracurriculars with assorted requirements to them. My child is enthusiastic, has boundless energy and keeps asking me to add in more. Having too many extra curriculars actually is a cure for my child's sleep problems as they help tire him out to the extent that he falls asleep while brushing his teeth before bedtime. And he is good at some of them and loves the coaches and the experience of doing them. But the flip side is that a lot of these require their own load of homework/practice which need to be factored into the day - like instrument practice, completing quizzes etc. Do you limit the extracurriculars because of your time limitation or do you make it happen for your child because they show interest in it? How do you accomodate all of it into your day?

 

My ds10 does three right now and will be adding one more later this month.

 

I find that I have time for them by having an organized calendar system and by communicating with my husband.  Two years ago I started using an online calendar system which is linked to my hubby's online calendar, which helps because it reminds us of the activities and it also effectively communicates any changes in appointments and practices.

 

We take him to practices ourselves, most of the time hubby and I take turns.  There are days when we all go out as a family.

 

During his trombone and piano lessons, I usually pass the time by reading a book I've assigned to him, go on facebook on my phone, or google interesting articles.

 

He is also in beginner's band in school.  It isn't an after school activity.  He gets pulled-out of math class once or twice a week for 45 minutes per session.  Their math class is 90 minutes long so he misses half of the math instruction.  However, we've been afterschooling math since he was in K so he doesn't miss much.

 

The most time-consuming and stressful activity he will have this year is basketball, which starts in mid-October until the end of February.  He really enjoys being on the team with his friends but he gets flustered at times because he isn't a natural at sports.  Unfortunately, when he was growing up we didn't have as much time to enroll him in local sports programs.  There was too much focus on music and academics.  Also, since 4th grade basketball only has volunteer coaches, we are at the mercy of the volunteer coach's schedule.  It is very last minute and cause havoc in our schedules.  It also requires travel time because they play 6 area elementary schools.  It is nerve racking and at the same time very rewarding for him.  It is an activity that actually challenges him, but it also gives him the biggest rewards - overcoming them.

 

Fortunately though, music and academics come naturally to him.  Being in band, and having private piano & trombone lessons is second nature to him. 

 

We are still trying to be better at practicing at home.  His trombone instructor would like him to practice Everyday.  We are struggling with that one.  Piano practice at home is 3 times per week.  Afterschooling all the subjects I have planned for him doesn't happen everyday.  However, we do an afterschool activity 6 times per week.  He either does MEP math, read classic literature, or read SOTW.

 

He always finds time for Minecraft, Legos, and playing with his best friend everyday.

 

I can honestly say that afterschooling at a very young age has really helped.

[Laura Corin]

My boys stay at school until 5.30.  They either have after school activities or they go to supervised homework time between school finishing and 5.30.  

 

Calvin plays the bass guitar, plays in the school jazz band and sings in two school choirs.  His other activity (another choir!) I am in too, so we go together.  

 

Hobbes is in harp lesson, debating and one choir at school.  Outside of school: Hobbes walks to after-school Drama, and I drive him to after-school Karate and Scouts.  He's going to start walking to Karate on his own too.  I drive back to pick him up after activities.

 

L

[eleileen]

our kids go for swim lessons every tues/thurs & my DH brings them to the pool at our Y on Saturday mornings. My older son wants to try karate or soccer, but we might hold off for now (both will be twice a week), may sign him up for basketball over the winter season (which is once a week on Saturdays).

[AuntPol]

My daughter is a freshman in high school-

-10 hours of dance at studio that is 30 minute drive away each way 4 times a week

-2 hours dance company 2-3 Saturdays a month

-5 hours or more work

-Scouts -every other Sunday (we carpool as it is 30 drive)

-Church dance team and Children's Worship Leader

-School Dance Team -1.5 hours a week

-Fiber Arts Club (school) 1.5 hours a week

-Movie Club(school)  -2-3 hours once a month on a Friday evening

-Study Skills Club (school) -1.5 hours a week (but doesn't attend all of them)

 

Then there are random things a dance master class, school art show, etc.  Many of her school things occur during their weekly flex period -student council, yoga club, movie club discussions, etc.

 

My son has

-Science Olympiad

-Scouts -once a week  -once a month with partner and at home

-Baseball -2-3 times a week random

-Chess Club at school

 

**He had fencing and Jui jitsu but we stopped those when he went back to school so he has time to adjust to homework (still a slow process).

 

We carpool for my daughter's school and most of the girls do the same activities except dance team. I have to pick up separate for that. I am a sub at the school and I have one permanent day and I both take and pick up on that day. She leads Children's worship while we are in church and dance team is after church and usually she can get a ride home. She works at studio but that goes with dance commute. Sometimes I go home (adds another 40 min -1 hour but it's my "quiet" time of the day lol). I have one activity of my own that meets near her studio once a month so that helps. Sometimes my husband will pick her up. My husband takes my son to school and my son rides bus home unless he has activity after school, then usually my husband picks him up but sometimes me. My husband is Scout Master and Baseball coach so he just takes my son to those.

[chaya]

my schooled kids are in dual-curriculum schools so they dont get home until late afternoon (high schooler gets home at 6, 1st grader at 4:40) so there isnt all that much time left. my first grader takes basketball on fridays but thats easy, its in the school so I just have to pick him up. now he also wants karate, that is twice weekly so I'm not sure I can handle it but it would be so good for him (he's low tone and socially quiet) so I think I will just make it happen.

 

My high schooler takes guitar on monday nights and also goes to a math-help place twice weekly, she loves math now so I make that happen too even though I do feel run-ragged sometimes. school got off to a slow start this year because of all the holidays so they havent started afterschool clubs yet, we'll see what she gets involved in.

 

dd plays her guitar as a form of anxiety management, so I never have to remind her to practice, its like breathing, she's always playing when she has free time.

 

My 4yo dd wants to take ballet or gymnastics but I just cant figure out how to fit it in. the classes tend to be when the bigger kids buses come home and I like to be home to greet them.

 

 

 

I do nearly all the driving (dh takes dd to/from guitar lessons). I usually run errands while they are where they need to be, but it doesnt always work that way. sometimes I run home to put littles to bed and then run back to pick the kids up. sometimes I take my homeschooling lesson-plan work and work in the car while I wait. if the weather is nice I'll go for a walk. and sometimes I just play candycrush :001_smile:

[Saddlemomma]

My Dd just finished up beginning soccer.  In addition she has To-Shin Do on Thursdays and Saturdays.  She and Dh also do puppet ministry on Sats. with our church.  Lastly, she attends PE and flute (band) at the local ps and will be starting Star Bright Children's Theatre this month.  All this at her request.  So far, all this extra-curricular stuff hasn't affected her schooling.

[maize]

We go in cycles, times when we have lots of extracurriculars and other things take a back seat (we do math in the car...) and times when we pull out of most extracurriculars and just focus on basics. As my kids get older I expect more focus on fewer activities, but right now we're exploring and dipping our toes into numerous things. Our current list (not all for one child) includes violin, cello, piano, choir, gymnastics, Irish dance, book club, scouts, co-op, and ice skating. That's more than I could keep up long term.

[Χά�ων]

DS is in band, and speed skates. That is all unless you count dry land training, he does a LOT of dry land at a gym in the city. 

[dancingmama]

My son does Boy Scouts on Mondays, and dance and drama on Thursdays.  He wants to add Karate but we're running into a scheduling problem with his sister's schedule which is dance five days a week, three of those days 1/2 hour away.  

 

Any more than that and I wouldn't have time to afterschool him anyway as he likes to be asleep no later than 8.  

[msk]

We've prioritized homemade family dinners and calm downtime in the evenings, since my husband and I both work full time and our kids currently need to be in bed by 8:30 to feel good the next day.  So far everything my 2nd grader does is within 2 miles of home and/or something we do with her, but as my preschooler gets older and both kids ask for different things I am sure this will get harder.  Her homework load is very light right now and we just do light and informal supplementing of academics rather than any formal programs, so that helps too.

 

Right now, my oldest is in four activities; one is after school once a week, two are on weekends, and one is one weeknight plus one weekend afternoon per month.  Whoever drops her off either sits and reads or does the activity also, depending on what it is.  The evening activity (a scout meeting I'm also involved in) wreaks havoc with our "family dinner and calm downtime" goal, I am very glad it's just once a month!  I dread adding more evening activities, although as the kids get older I assume they're less apt to be volatile in the evenings and can stay up later too.  I am really, really hoping most of their extracurriculars can be after school programs so all they'll need is to be picked up later than usual.

 

I personally can't imagine doing as many things as many people here seem to do, but obviously some families thrive on being really busy and love it!  It must be really rough when a constant-activity-type kid has stay-at-home-type parents, though, it would be very hard for me to keep up that pace.

[vonfirmath]

Two: AWANAs and Choir

 

And sometimes that seems like too many. His bedtime is 7:30p to assure of enough sleep for a good day at school the next day.

 

When DS is at AWANAs, I'm a Listener in another class.

 

When DS is at Choir, I'm at home with DD. DH takes him and spends the time reading.

 

[IsabelC]

My Mr10 is only doing athletics at the moment, and will replace that with another sport when the season finishes (probably soccer). He wouldn't do anything unless we insisted, but we decided to require them all to do some kind of organised sport or exercise. He also plays recorder when he is at school, but that's so little time commitment that it doesn't really count.

 

Ms8 wants to do everything so we have to limit her. She does athletics and will resume gymnastics when school goes back from the summer break. She also does Guides (takes a bit of time because she is very keen and wants to earn every badge there is lol). Her biggest love is horse riding, so she does that as often as we can afford, which is nowhere near as often as we'd like. She is also begging to start some kind of music lessons again, but we haven't decided on that yet. She does online art lessons from time to time, but mostly does her own sketches, which I don't count as an activity, since it's self-directed and I don't have to organize anything much.

 

Ms5 is likewise in athletics and planning to do soccer for winter. She is also in Guides and she takes violin lessons too. She would love to do ballet but we have said no as there are many things about it that don't sit right for us.

 

Our main limitation is financial, so they would probably do a little more if we had more money, but not a lot more, as we also believe it's crucial not to over-schedule them. Firstly, because it's good for kids to have real genuine downtime, and secondly because happy Mom = happy kids.

 

 

[Rush]

I believe in extra-curricular activities and I try to do everything so my kids could do sport, art & music edu + other intellectual activities. 

 

[Garga]

My kids aren't really into doing activities, my ds8 more than my ds11. When I tell them about other activities they could do they never want to. If they do anything it's because I make them go to things.

Here are the official extracurriculuars:

The go to Karate, but it's a homeschool class at 11:00 two days a week.

They go to our church boy's program on Wednesday nights. It's sort of a boy scouts/Sunday school kind of class.

This is a sort of extracurricular because I see so many people posting about music lessons: I teach them piano here, so the lessons are just part of our homeschool. There's no running them to lessons. We just sit down in the living room and I teach them the piano.

[MistyMountain]

I guess I am in the minority but my oldest only does girl scouts right now. She has something coming up on the weekends soon and I might eventually add one regular thing on the weekend. We can't afford multiple activities at once and during the week there just isn't time. Plus I am a big believer in unstructured time and not over scheduling. She is in school so long I want her to have time for free play. I make dinner early and we have a regular bedtime routine and she goes to bed at a decent hour. I also want time for doing her homework, a little math time and reading. A lot of the after school stuff is scheduled so that we would be having dinner late. I'm perfectly okay with them not having a lot of activities. I didn't grow up doing any extracurricular activities. I did swimming lessons for them for a while but the instructors were not very good or the lessons were super expensive and the kids were not even listening. I do want them to learn to swim but the lessons weren't doing that.

[SKL]

We had to drop one of the extras (hiphop), as we could no longer get everything done with 2 hours of gym in one evening.  But, archery is being added on to the Saturday morning activities.  I also hope my kids will check out the chess club that has started at school (during aftercare hours).  My kids don't really know chess well enough to compete, but it sounds like the program is set up to teach skills, which I think would be good for them.  It wouldn't cut into anything else we do.  But I'm not going to "make" them do it at this point.

[bakpak]

I'm blown away by all the extracurricular activities of your children. My DD4 loves the concept of lots of things, but she can't keep it up emotionally. Therefore, we try to restrict things to 2 scheduled group activities a week, although sometimes we overlap a 3rd for awhile. She's obviously crankier when that happens from the overstimulation. That's not including extra trips to the playground or walking/hiking trips with the family. If I were homeschooling we could do a lot more, but she's tired after spending all day with noisy/active kids.

[NASDAQ]

I wonder about that. My kids aren't in school, but they have fewer lessons than a lot of the school kids. Both older two do piano (my mother is a piano teacher), cello (my name is NASDAQ and Suzuki ate my life), Orff (mandatory for Suzuki participation), and swimming. Piano and cello are two lessons a week and half hour of practice per kid, per day. Swimming is Monday/Wednesday, and at an inconveniently late time that requires getting home late for dinner. The three-year-old does piano and Orff. We're Sabbath-observant.

 

Some people just have really different levels of energy. Some people are very happy on the go all the time.

 

I don't think it helps that schools have long days and homework from very early ages.

[Library Momma]

My daughter is a joiner and has always done as many extracurriculars as she could fit in her schedule:

 

DD11 now does:

 

Fall travel soccer, Girl Scouts, afterschool enrichment program. rec basketball, Middle school basketball team, Middle school track, Spring travel soccer.

In the past she has also done dance, gymnastics, cheer camp, ice skating, knitting club, book clubs, Indoor soccer, school chorus, recorder club and school plays.

She is in the school band so she gets to play her flute every day but that is during school hours.  She also has participated in science competitions but that has been through Girl Scouts.

 

My DD9 is less of a joiner. He does:

 

Flag football, martial arts and Boy Scouts.

Next year he will be able to join the school band.

In the past he has tried basketball and soccer but hated them.  He also has done movie making, recorder club and Lego League.

 

I guess I have to say I'm glad I signed my DD up for scouts when she was in Kindergarten  Here there are about 7 classes per grade and while the students in her class change each year her troop says the same.  Each year she has had a few of her scout friends in her class and it has worked out well.  My son has just started Boy Scouts and it is only because his friend's mother is the Den leader and all of his friends are in the Den.

 

I'm also glad my daughter started sports early and tried a few before she found what she liked.  Competition is fierce to make the middle school teams and unless someone is supremely gifted athletically, they have no way of participating if they have never played before their tryouts.

 

We just make it all work fitting in afterschooling in when we can.  Homework comes first and so far everything has fit together like a puzzle.  

[bakpak]

I'm blown away by all the extracurricular activities of your children. My DD4 loves the concept of lots of things, but she can't keep it up emotionally. Therefore, we try to restrict things to 2 scheduled group activities a week, although sometimes we overlap a 3rd for awhile. She's obviously crankier when that happens from the overstimulation. That's not including extra trips to the playground or walking/hiking trips with the family. If I were homeschooling we could do a lot more, but she's tired after spending all day with noisy/active kids.

 

I suspect when DD4 is older, she will be in a ridiculous amount of activities. She's still too sensitive at this age and requires plenty of down time. It's s good thing to find out young, so we can keep an eye on it as she gets older and wants to join every activity that catches her fancy.
 

[SKL]

Bakpak, when my kids were 4, almost all their extras were at "school" (their daycare center had coaches come in).  They didn't need any special clothes / equipment, outside practice, and best of all, Mom didn't have to get brain damage over the schedule.  LOL.  They also had a KG at the center (with pull-outs for the extras), so I didn't have to fuss much over extracurriculars until my kids were in 1st.  I always encourage others who choose daycare/preschool to consider this perk as they evaluate options.

 

By 1st grade, I could expect my kids to change into their gym clothes etc. during aftercare and we'd usually go straight from school to the Little Gym and then home.  So it was a little extra trouble, but not much.  I arranged for the company that did their piano lessons in KG to come to their current school during aftercare, so that is one less thing to worry about.

 

The thing I find difficult is to fit in daily therapies on top of everything else.  Something's gotta give, right?  I am also trying to give them time to watch some educational DVDs.  It doesn't sound like rocket science, but I haven't figured it out yet.

[LLMom]

If they arent driving, they get to do one activity per season.

[mathnerd]

My daughter is a joiner and has always done as many extracurriculars as she could fit in her schedule:

 

 

I like how you worded your description! I am going to borrow your phrase and use it! My son is a "joiner" too :)

[Camelfeet]

nm.  :)

 

   

[nd293]

I allow maximum two activities per week per child - I got this tip for staying sane and sensible from an older, wiser Mom!. If they had an activity with practice and match, then only one activity. They can change activities after a couple of terms if they want. I like them to gain exposure to different things. If they showed exceptional natural talent I in one area I might have to review the policy, but so far that hasn't happened. Over the years, between the two kids we've had Girl Guides, swimming, Bollywood Dancing, Belly Dancing, trampolining, recorder, netball, drawing and ice skating. Dd13 is trying piano this year.

[rmtzc2009]

I allow the kids to do activities that fit with some of our family goals.  It's important to us to eat dinner together regularly.  I know the stress I as an adult feel when I'm scheduled full and running from this place to the next.  I tend to think we are creatures of habit and often (not always) take on patterns we are taught.  We try to teach the kids balance.  Before we sign up for activities we talk in detail (spouse, me and child) about what this new activities commitments will be and if it works with existing commitments.  We often will say it's activity A or activity B.  Below is what we do:

LL Baseball Spring/Fall practice 2x week 2 hours plus a 3 hour game Saturday

Soccer Spring/Fall practice 1x week plus a 1 hour game Saturday

Church program Wednesday nights 6:30-8

And while we are waiting  for Spring sports my boys are doing dodgeball on Friday nights from 6-7.

 

I really try to pay attention to how the schedule is impacting the kids.  Anything that is causing us to much stress is out.  My only suggestions that I am still trying to learn myself is not to do everything.  While we feel it's important to keep commitments as much as possible sometimes other priorities take precedent.  An example is on occasion the LL Baseball will schedule a Sunday morning game.  We let them know upfront that Sunday Morning games/practices are not an option for our family.

 

Best of Luck!

 

 

[SeaConquest]

We are just transitioning from ASing to FT homeschooling, but my 5 year old goes to day camp from 9-3:30 in the summer and then does music, soccer, Hebrew School, and surfing as extracurriculars during the school year. When soccer is not in season, he does tennis or musical theatre.

[HS Mom in NC]

(My oldest is 18 and and working/job certification and my middle is 16 and at a community college full time. They both drive themselves.)

 

I'm homeschooling my 8 year old.

 

Tae Kwon Do:  3 classes per week, each class is almost an hour long

Art Class with Larry: 2nd, 4th and 5th Tuesdays 1.5-2.5  hours long (includes bringing a lunch and playing with kids after)

PE: once a week 1 hour (the kids bring a lunch and play for about 1-1.5 hours after)

[debi21]

I am constantly reevaluating our extracurriculars. I think my general goal is music plus 1 or 2 physical activities.

 

Right now, my son, 4.5, is going to preschool 3 days a week, has a weekly Kindermusik class, and is doing a karate class twice a week. He will have soccer in the spring. This fall, before we started karate, he had swimming lessons. He wants to swim again in the summer and I want to start piano lessons sometime in 2014. Last academic year, when he was 3 and didn't have preschool, we did gymnastics, swimming, and dance class. He has also done some "sports camps" in the summer to teach some basic rules/skills.

 

I have been trying to let him try out some different things to see what he likes and get him some experience with teachers and social experiences. Overall, he has loved everything. I think, despite having two introverts for parents, he really likes being with kids. It is hard to fit in playdates with other activities, and especially now with preschool (which I just view as play time).

 

 

[BuddhaMama]

We're struggling with being over scheduled right now.... My kids are exhausted and crabby most evenings. They are going back to school tomorrow after being on spring break this past week and I am DREADING it. 

 

School 9-3:30p, 30 minute commute each way. Our girls attend a French language immersion charter school. 

 

My 1st grader:

• Mondays: twice a month Girl Scouts from 3:30-5:30p
• Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays: Book Club (enrichment reading program) until 5p
• Fridays: hangs out during little sisters violin lesson

 

Kindergartner:

• Mondays: private violin lesson (thankfully DURING school hours)
• Tuesdays: weekly Girl Scouts meeting until 4:30p (I'm the leader)
• Thursdays: after school sports club until 5p
• Fridays: group violin lesson until 4:15p

We used to do gymnastics on the weekends, but decided to take a break from it. Weekends are usually pretty packed with play dates, bday parties, spending time with extended family, going to zoo/science center, etc.

 

The commute is killing me. We leave the house at 8a and usually aren't home until 6p. We eat dinner every night together as a family (priority for us). So by the time we get home, make dinner, eat, homework, afterschooling work, we barely have enough time for baths and story.