Extra-curricular Activities

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

How many is too much when you have a few children? Right now my ds9 is taking Guitar (30min. a week) and in August Baseball will start up again. Baseball is usually 4 days a week about 2-3 hours each. My ds5 is doing competitive gymnastics 6 hours a week for the year, with meets starting in December on Sat.

Ds5 now wants to take music lessons. We are also dragging a 2 year old to all these practices.

 

Would you sign ds5 up for music too? He is thinking he would like Violin over Piano.

[momofkhm]

How many is too many for you to manage is completely up to you. But according to James Dobson, kids should only be in one thing at a time. I've known that since my kids were small, but never adhered to it since it would mean AWANA was ok but not a sport as well.

 

What you have sounds like a lot too me since it is hours a day -> 2-3 hours of baseball, 1+ hours of gymnastics.

 

Right now our calendar is empty!!! But during the school year it looked like this:

 

Monday - Tennis (pm,all), Teen CBS evening

Tuesday - writing (am, dd1), music (pm, all), dinner with friends

Wednesday - free!!!

Thursday - coop (am, all), Biology (pm, dd1), soccer (evening, dd2)

Friday - soccer (evening, dd1)

Saturday - games (dd2)

Sunday - games (dd1)

 

DS was free to chose something else as well but didn't. He wanted to do a second part of tennis that never got going. DD1 is 15. DD2 is 13.

 

Believe me, once you get this busy, you really enjoy those days at home where nothing is going on!

[Disney Dreaming]

This is something I have struggled with thru the yrs with all 3 of my dc. I tend to lean with letting them pick one thing to do yr round and then maybe one "seasonal" sport. I believe they need time to be kids. Also, the 2 yr old needs some time, and you need your sanity!

[LuvToRead]

For us, I like to spend at least one night a week at home, preferably Monday's. So, we may do 2 or 3 things, but 4-H is only one night a month. Plus, we have church on Wednesday's. I have only have 2 children, though. Right now, we're only doing swimming (during the day) and softball, which is 1 or 2 nights a week. In the fall, we'll do ballet, tumbling, and 4-H.

[chiguirre]

You have a lot on your plate, but music is part of a well-rounded education imho. If you really can't add in another lesson, could you do a year of recorder at home?

 

I think hsers do more activities than schooled kids because some of those activities are outsourcing things they would get in school. Sports substitute for PE, music lessons for music class and chorus, etc. It's just part of the package.

[Starr]

This is an ongoing challenge. Just remember that all activities require more time as the years go on, some more than others. The cost go up as well.

[Samiam]

Fall baseball is 4 days a week, 3 hours a night...for a nine year old??? Never heard of that much for fall ball (we play on various baseball teams).....what kind of league does he play in? Travel team, or all-stars, okay I can see that...but fall ball? Just curious.

[LanaTron]

You have a lot on your plate, but music is part of a well-rounded education imho.

 

I think hsers do more activities than schooled kids because some of those activities are outsourcing things they would get in school. Sports substitute for PE, music lessons for music class and chorus, etc. It's just part of the package.

 

 

This is an ongoing challenge. Just remember that all activities require more time as the years go on, some more than others. The cost go up as well.

 

:iagree::iagree::auto::auto:

 

My kids are older (14, 13, 10, 7) and we do scouts, youth group, music co-op, and we're just starting some sports. It gets crazy at times, and sometimes I wonder why the heck we're doing all this. But the older kids need a chance to get out there and see what types of things they are interested and to see what they can accomplish beyond academics, IMO. I also have a priority ranking of the activities: Scouts and music co-op are musts; sports happen if we have time/money; youth group--happens if we have time, but if the week is too hectic, we just don't go.

 

I try to only do activities that meet a need, not just because a kid says they want to do something.

 

I probably would not sign up the 5 yo for music, too, unless his lesson was at the same time/place as the 9 yo's guitar lessons, and unless you perceive a need for the 5 yo to have music lessons. There will be plenty of time for that when everyone is older, and you don't have a toddler.

[snickelfritz]

For us, there is not a set amount. It depends on location and timing. Each year, I try to have a couple of things that can have their time changed or be dropped without problems. That let's us tweak our schedule.

 

We do a lot, but both girls do gymnastics and violin at the same time and some activities are back-to-back, which minimizes individual trips out of the house.

 

I have heard a rule of thumb of 1 spiritual,1 athletic, and 1 cultural. We don't stick to that because our sports activities are their PE.... But it's an idea.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

How many is too much when you have a few children? Right now my ds9 is taking Guitar (30min. a week) and in August Baseball will start up again. Baseball is usually 4 days a week about 2-3 hours each. My ds5 is doing competitive gymnastics 6 hours a week for the year, with meets starting in December on Sat.

Ds5 now wants to take music lessons. We are also dragging a 2 year old to all these practices.

 

Would you sign ds5 up for music too? He is thinking he would like Violin over Piano.

 

 

Well, I don't consider Music "extracurricular". It is an integral part of my kids' education and is actually required. So, yes, I would definitely do music.

 

Of course, I consider PE to be integral in our curriculum, too. It doesn't have to be sports related, though. Dd took dance classes for years, and I counted it as PE.

 

It helps if multiple kids are involved in the same activity. Both of my older kids are doing karate. It definitely helps to only have to drive one place at a time.

[at the beach]

Well, I don't consider Music "extracurricular". It is an integral part of my kids' education and is actually required. So, yes, I would definitely do music.

 

Of course, I consider PE to be integral in our curriculum, too. It doesn't have to be sports related, though. Dd took dance classes for years, and I counted it as PE.

 

It helps if multiple kids are involved in the same activity. Both of my older kids are doing karate. It definitely helps to only have to drive one place at a time.

 

Not to hijack, but does music have to be in the form of paid lessons? I agree music is important, but can't one include music in a curriculum by purchasing recorders and doing some lessons at home on those or on a keyboard, guitar, whatever?

 

I think that we have come to undervalue learning things on our own and over-value the benefits of paid instructors for everything from tennis to art to music. If a kid has a passion for something, that's one thing, but otherwise, I have to wonder how much of the hard-earned money that I am spending and how much of the energy I am expending is really worth it?

 

This is what I am struggling with right now. We have lots of extras and in some ways I am not happy about it. I agree with the pp who said be careful what you take on because it only becomes more intensive and expensive as the kids get older. I guess my advice would be to choose one outside thing and try to manage the rest at home. Now, if I could just follow my own advice. :tongue_smilie:

 

ETA: I will share what we currently do. We have piano and violin for dd 13 and dd 11. Dd 11 is on summer swim team. Dd 13 dances heavily and will have 15 hours a week at the studio starting this fall, plus four weeks of dance camp this summer at five hours a day. Dd 11 takes a ballet class during the school year and will do one week of dance camp this summer. I would like for dd 11 to try riding as I have heard it can be as beneficial as O/T but we haven't attempted that yet.

Edited June 23, 2010 by Violet

[LanaTron]

I want someone else to do the research, planning, teaching on some things; then I just get to be the supportive mom and relax a little.

 

And when they get older they need to see how they stack up against others, at least mine do.

[Guest nancywilson1]

I would suggest that instead of going for 2 different activities like Piano & gymnastics or basketball, go for a single thing like dance. It would fulfill their music hobby as well as help them do some physical work out as well. It is well said that dancing is the best exercise. Rest you can leave on your Kid's capacity, how much can he/she handle at a time.

[IsabelC]

I think it should depend totally on the time, money and energy you have available to you.

 

On the one hand, there are many worthwhile activities to choose from, and kids can get a lot out of them. But on the other hand, extracurriculars are a nice-to-have, luxury item, and it's not child neglect/abuse if you provide few or even none! Six hours a week of gymnastics is a huge commitment for a 5yo, and it would be perfectly reasonable to say no to any other activities if you feel it's too much, especially considering that the gym time is only going to increase if he stays serious about it.

 

FWIW, my 5yo does four extracurriculars but they don't add up to that much time - swimming 30 minutes per week, gymnastics 45 minutes per week, piano 20 minutes per week and Girl Guides 90 minutes per week, so a total of just over 3 hours per week. She has asked to do dancing but we have told her no.

 

Oh sorry, only just realized that this was an old thread being dug up. Guessing you decided a few months ago lol!

[NanceXToo]

Personally, no. I would not sign a five year old up for a second activity if he's already doing something that takes 6 hours a week- that's how many days a week? 3? 4? 5? No, I wouldn't add another one for him.

 

Especially when the poor 2 y/o has to sit through all of these things.

 

My 5 y/o does extra curricular activities 1-2 days per week (1-2 hours per week). Right now he's in a "indoor youth soccer league" at the Y which runs for one hour, one time per week.

 

Before he started that, he was doing gymnastics for a few months- again, for one hour, one time per week.

 

Once a month, he does a homeschool PE class at the Y for an hour. And that's about it. He usually only has one activity at a time which I think is enough for his age.

 

My 10 y/o daughter does a bit more. She also does the Youth Indoor Soccer (once a week for an hour) (the league only runs for a few months btw), the homeschool PE class (which is only once a month for 7 months), Judo (once a week for an hour, ongoing), Girl Scouts (once a week for an hour and a half, ongoing over the school year), and a library book club (once every two-three weeks for an hour, only goes for a few months).

[Cherryanne]

We plan to try to limit outside activities to two per child. At the moment it's working but we'll see how it goes when the kids are older. :tongue_smilie: At the moment our daughter doesn't have any activities but that's due to some serious separation anxiety on her part.

 

I think it depends a lot on the family. Personally, I'm a bit of a homebody but I know plenty of people who thrive on lots of activities. I don't know how some of them manage it but they do!

[RahRah]

I also don't consider music to be an activity since we're HSing and DS6 would likely be doing something music in school.

 

We do piano lessons once a week (30-min - Wednesday) and then practice daily for 15-minutes per day with a break on Sunday.

 

He is in cub scouts which requires two den meetings a month (1-hour each - 2 Monday's a month) and one pack meeting a month (1-hour - 1 Tuesday a month), along with the activities he does throughout the month to complete badge requirements, belt loops and pins.

 

He has swim lessons twice a week since he's quite a little fish - so 2-hours a week (Tuesday and Thursday) for that to develop his strokes.

 

And one afternoon a week he goes to Lego Club which he loves and is a 1.5-hour program (wednesday) and follows his piano lesson.

 

This leaves us open for a variety of opportunities that come along at local venues that are one-day or two-day type programs. One of our local museums, for example, does a monthly geography program for children (HS or not) where the kids learn about a country, do a craft related to the country and other activities. Another local museum does a similar program based on archeology (so dinosaurs, ancient civilizations, etc.). If those type programs look interesting or are a good add-on to where we are in our lessons, we do those too.

[NanceXToo]

Not to hijack, but does music have to be in the form of paid lessons? I agree music is important, but can't one include music in a curriculum by purchasing recorders and doing some lessons at home on those or on a keyboard, guitar, whatever?

 

I think that we have come to undervalue learning things on our own and over-value the benefits of paid instructors for everything from tennis to art to music. If a kid has a passion for something, that's one thing, but otherwise, I have to wonder how much of the hard-earned money that I am spending and how much of the energy I am expending is really worth it?

 

That's a good point, too. "Music" is a required "subject" here in PA but that doesn't mean we have to have paid music lessons or even necessarily play an instrument at the moment. I decided that when my daughter got a little older if she had a serious interest in learning to play an instrument, maybe I'd look into some form of lessons but that in elementary school it just was not a necessity.

 

Last year for music (4th grade) we used the site makingmusicfun.net which has a 'meet the composer' section, and each week, we'd read a mini bio about a different composer and then listened to samples of his music on Youtube.

 

This year we're using the same site, but using the "meet the orchestra" section which talks about all the different instruments- their history, how they're made, how they're played, fun facts about them, and then we go onto Youtube and watch/listen to them being played.

 

We also have a bin full of simple musical instruments that the kids can play with whenever they want. Sometimes we make our own simple instruments. We've got Rock Band and American Idol and DJ Hero games. We have a Kids Tunes station and CDs and radios. We sometimes attend live musical performances (a band playing at a park for charity, a musical/play at a small local theater, going to watch marching bands perform, etc). When we go to my brother-in-law's house, my oldest nephew has drums and a guitar and he'll let the kids play with them and teach them a bit here and there.

 

There's only so much we can do at once outside the home anyway. Like I said, my daughter's already doing Girl Scouts, Soccer, Judo and a Book Club on a regular basis right now. At some point you just have to decide that enough is enough and the rest can be learned at home/more informal. And the little one in question is only 5. And a 2 year old has to go along to every activity.

 

P.S. As an aside, I do like the dance idea mentioned in this thread by someone else though when it comes to music and doing that instead of some other physical activity so you're getting two for one! My 5 y/o did gymnastics for a few months, now he's doing soccer for a few months, and when that ends, I was wondering what I should try next with him so he has something to do...maybe I'll look into dance for him!

[AnitaMcC]

How many is too much when you have a few children? Right now my ds9 is taking Guitar (30min. a week) and in August Baseball will start up again. Baseball is usually 4 days a week about 2-3 hours each. My ds5 is doing competitive gymnastics 6 hours a week for the year, with meets starting in December on Sat.

Ds5 now wants to take music lessons. We are also dragging a 2 year old to all these practices.

 

Would you sign ds5 up for music too? He is thinking he would like Violin over Piano.

 

 

I feel that this is something totally dependent on the family dynamics.

 

For us... our rule of thumb is the kids must do do at least two activities outside of school (this has been the rule even in ps).

 

Dd currently does Kung Fu and Music:

Kung Fu: Mon (4 hrs), Tues (4 hrs), Thurs (3 hrs), Friday (2 hrs) (regular classes, teaches some classes, gives private lessons, and trains for competitions). She trains more during spring/early summer for AAU nationals and AAU jr olympics.

Guitar/Piano lesson: Monday 1-1:30pm.

Band practice usually Wednesday evenings 2-3 hrs (1 hr drive each way)

Homeschool Teen Group: Thursday noon to 3pm.

Drum lesson Friday: 5-5:30pm.

Band practice Saturday or Sunday 2-3 hrs (1 hr drive each way)

She does additional lessons in Kung Fu some Saturdays at another school (45-60 minute drive each way) and of course the tournaments.

 

Ds#1 currently does Kung Fu, Bowling league, Civil Air Patrol:

Kung Fu: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 45 minute classes

Homeschool Teen Group: Thursday noon to 3pm.

Civil Air Patrol Thurday evenings and additional weekend activities

Cyber Patriots (part of CAP) Monday evenings 1-2 times a month plus occassional competitions.

Bowling league Saturday morning.

 

Ds#2 currently does Kung Fu and bowling league same as Ds#1. He will be joining CAP in March. He was in scouts but didn't want to continue.

 

Ds#3 currently does Kung Fu and bowling league same as Ds#1 & Ds#2. He also does cubscouts (den meeting once a month, pack night once a month, and 1 outing a month).

 

Dh and I do a lot of running around with the kids but we feel it is very important to get them doing activities. For my boys they would do nothing but vegetate if we don't get them out of the house. Dd homeschools specifically so she can spend much time on Kung Fu and music.

Edited December 7, 2010 by AnitaMcC

[fairfarmhand]

it's all up to you how busy you want to be...

 

for my family...

 

we farm so we have work to do here that is priority. I cannot abide my house to be in continually disarray. School must be done to my standards. I cook almost every night. We want to be home in the evenings.

 

Anything that interferes with any of the above is not going to happen.

[fairfarmhand]

Not to hijack, but does music have to be in the form of paid lessons? I agree music is important, but can't one include music in a curriculum by purchasing recorders and doing some lessons at home on those or on a keyboard, guitar, whatever?

 

I think that we have come to undervalue learning things on our own and over-value the benefits of paid instructors for everything from tennis to art to music. If a kid has a passion for something, that's one thing, but otherwise, I have to wonder how much of the hard-earned money that I am spending and how much of the energy I am expending is really worth it?

 

This is what I am struggling with right now. We have lots of extras and in some ways I am not happy about it. I agree with the pp who said be careful what you take on because it only becomes more intensive and expensive as the kids get older. I guess my advice would be to choose one outside thing and try to manage the rest at home. Now, if I could just follow my own advice. :tongue_smilie:

 

ETA: I will share what we currently do. We have piano and violin for dd 13 and dd 11. Dd 11 is on summer swim team. Dd 13 dances heavily and will have 15 hours a week at the studio starting this fall, plus four weeks of dance camp this summer at five hours a day. Dd 11 takes a ballet class during the school year and will do one week of dance camp this summer. I would like for dd 11 to try riding as I have heard it can be as beneficial as O/T but we haven't attempted that yet.

 

my dd has take piano lessons for a couple years. NOw that she has learned to read music, we bought her a guitar and a learn classical guitar for dummies book. I'm buying my other dd a handbell set for her birthday. I can't wait to see what she does with them.