Dance Moms-How do you handle academics for your children? (cross-post)

[at the beach]

If you have a child dancing a lot of hours a week, how are you handling academics for that child? 

ETA: I should have said in the title "Moms of kids doing heavy extracurriculars" and not limited it to dance. Sorry.

Edited July 17, 2015 by at the beach

[Gwen in VA]

Not a dance mom, but my dd does music for typically 5 - 6 hours per day, with extensive involvement on the weekend as well.

 

1) I need to remind myself that she is going into music. She isn't going to be able to take the most rigorous classes in every subject, though she is trying to prove me wrong!

 

2) We use the summer in addition to the school year, though she is crazy-busy in the summer so she can't do more than finish up one or two classes. Usually she finishes up math and at least one other subject over the summer.

 

3) She has little "spare" time, but we remind her that she has a LOT of spare time -- she just chooses to spend it doing music!

 

4) She is a good student, so so far we haven't had to cut back on HOW we cover the subjects but just when.

[Grace]

Hi Violet,

 

I may not be qualified to answer your question because I don't have dancers but my now 8th grade twins are gymnasts. They presently train 4 hours a night so between 20-24 hours a week.

 

I started home schooling when they were in first grade so my situation may be different. I do not homeschool because they do gymnastics but home schooling allows us to persue gymnastics with much less stress.

 

We do school from 8:00 - 2:00 most days except Wednesdays when they have piano lessons at 1:00 and Thursdays when they take some outsourced classes. This is plenty of time to finish a rigorous academic schedule. They know they need to put in some extra school time during meet season when we may need to take time off to travel to competitions.

 

I plan to maintain a similiar schedule in high school, knowing they may need to put in some "home work" time on the weekends (like most of their gymnast public school friends do). I will NEVER compromise my academic choices for gymnastics. I love gymnastics for many things it offers them but it will never come before their schooling.

 

I think of it as a part-time job. Many high schoolers have part-time jobs. And they manage their studies and their job. It is the same with my twins and their training. And many of their team mates attend public school (but get exempt from PE) and manage fine.

 

There are many on-line program and part-time schools available for student athletes or actors but I feel they do "just the minimum" and that will never fly with me.

 

Our tenative schedule for Next year will be:

 

Chalkdust Geometry

BJU Biology with Dive CD or BJU DVD and outsourced Lab

BJU Geography or AP Geography online

Excellence in Literature with IEW History writing lessons

Spanish II with BJU and possibly spanish tutor for more speaking practice

Finish Latin I with Latin Alive and possibly Latin II

Photography II

Piano lessons and Music Theory

 

Not sure this helps much and may not fit your situation because she may train more than my daughters.

Good Luck to you and your daughter finding the perfect balance.

 

Grace

[at the beach]

Not a dance mom, but my dd does music for typically 5 - 6 hours per day, with extensive involvement on the weekend as well.

 

1) I need to remind myself that she is going into music. She isn't going to be able to take the most rigorous classes in every subject, though she is trying to prove me wrong!

 

2) We use the summer in addition to the school year, though she is crazy-busy in the summer so she can't do more than finish up one or two classes. Usually she finishes up math and at least one other subject over the summer.

 

3) She has little "spare" time, but we remind her that she has a LOT of spare time -- she just chooses to spend it doing music!

 

4) She is a good student, so so far we haven't had to cut back on HOW we cover the subjects but just when.

 

Hi, Gwen, As I said in my edit in my OP I should have asked re: kids who are heavily involved in extras. Sorry about that. 

 

Anyway, it's good to hear how others handle these things.

[at the beach]

Hi Violet,

 

I may not be qualified to answer your question because I don't have dancers but my now 8th grade twins are gymnasts. They presently train 4 hours a night so between 20-24 hours a week.

 

I started home schooling when they were in first grade so my situation may be different. I do not homeschool because they do gymnastics but home schooling allows us to persue gymnastics with much less stress.

 

We do school from 8:00 - 2:00 most days except Wednesdays when they have piano lessons at 1:00 and Thursdays when they take some outsourced classes. This is plenty of time to finish a rigorous academic schedule. They know they need to put in some extra school time during meet season when we may need to take time off to travel to competitions.

 

I plan to maintain a similiar schedule in high school, knowing they may need to put in some "home work" time on the weekends (like most of their gymnast public school friends do). I will NEVER compromise my academic choices for gymnastics. I love gymnastics for many things it offers them but it will never come before their schooling.

 

I think of it as a part-time job. Many high schoolers have part-time jobs. And they manage their studies and their job. It is the same with my twins and their training. And many of their team mates attend public school (but get exempt from PE) and manage fine.

 

There are many on-line program and part-time schools available for student athletes or actors but I feel they do "just the minimum" and that will never fly with me.

 

Our tenative schedule for Next year will be:

 

Chalkdust Geometry

BJU Biology with Dive CD or BJU DVD and outsourced Lab

BJU Geography or AP Geography online

Excellence in Literature with IEW History writing lessons

Spanish II with BJU and possibly spanish tutor for more speaking practice

Finish Latin I with Latin Alive and possibly Latin II

Photography II

Piano lessons and Music Theory

 

Not sure this helps much and may not fit your situation because she may train more than my daughters.

Good Luck to you and your daughter finding the perfect balance.

 

Grace

 

Hi, Grace, Wow, that is a heavy outside schedule. That's quite a bit more than we do. I don't know how you do it. I'm also unwilling to compromise academics because my daughter and I both know that professional dance would likely not be in her future (ballet), but that doesn't mean she doesn't love it. Some great moms on this board made me see that it's fine to pursue a passion in high school even if it won't necessarily lead anywhere. Anyway, looking at your schedule for next year, I see that you are debating whether to continue with Latin. That's something I wonder here. She's currently in Henle Latin 2 in an online program. But she started German this year with OSU online and loves it. Well, it's a lot easier than Latin, for one thing. I am so hesitant to drop Latin for her because she has been doing so well with it. For next year:

 

We're also looking to do geometry next year. I'm probably going to let her use Teaching Textbooks Geometry.

 

Science will likely be either Apologia Chemistry or Spectrum Chemistry.

 

Then, she'll have German 2 with OSU online.

 

Possibly Latin (I cringe when I think of stopping Latin)

 

American History/Lit (MODG) This looks quite manageable.

 

Religion (MODG)

 

Grammar (MODG and they use Warriner's--the writing assignments correlate with the religion course, and I want her to have one more run through of formal grammar)

 

Oh, and in addition to dance, she plays violin. We had to stop piano lessons. It was just too much.

 

It's really good to hear how others are handling academics with these kinds of outside schedules. Thanks.

[Grace]

Hi, Grace, Wow, that is a heavy outside schedule. That's quite a bit more than we do. I don't know how you do it. I'm also unwilling to compromise academics because my daughter and I both know that professional dance would likely not be in her future (ballet), but that doesn't mean she doesn't love it. Some great moms on this board made me see that it's fine to pursue a passion in high school even if it won't necessarily lead anywhere. Anyway, looking at your schedule for next year, I see that you are debating whether to continue with Latin. That's something I wonder here. She's currently in Henle Latin 2 in an online program. But she started German this year with OSU online and loves it. Well, it's a lot easier than Latin, for one thing. I am so hesitant to drop Latin for her because she has been doing so well with it. For next year:

 

We're also looking to do geometry next year. I'm probably going to let her use Teaching Textbooks Geometry.

 

Science will likely be either Apologia Chemistry or Spectrum Chemistry.

 

Then, she'll have German 2 with OSU online.

 

Possibly Latin (I cringe when I think of stopping Latin)

 

American History/Lit (MODG) This looks quite manageable.

 

Religion (MODG)

 

Grammar (MODG and they use Warriner's--the writing assignments correlate with the religion course, and I want her to have one more run through of formal grammar)

 

Oh, and in addition to dance, she plays violin. We had to stop piano lessons. It was just too much.

 

It's really good to hear how others are handling academics with these kinds of outside schedules. Thanks.

 

Violet,

WOW!! You too have an impressive schedule planned. I hope I didn't sound "snarky" in my response about being "unwilling to compromise academics"... I didn't mean it to sound like you were. I apologize if it sounded like that.:grouphug:

 

My daughters will not be going into Elite gymnastics and will most likely not even pursue gymnastics in college. They do gymnastics for the love of the sport. I do love that they have found a passion in something.

 

What has helped us the most is starting early. My dds are early risers. They can not sleep in no matter how hard they try! So we start our day by 8:00 am. The other thing that is helpful is a routine and also learning how to be flexible with the routine!! The flexibility is quite difficult for my type-A twins!!

 

Gymnastics is also my girls social circle. I feel we need to accomodate the parties and the sleepovers and the texting because this is their closest friends. It is all such a balancing act.

 

I would love to re-visit these threads next year and see how everyone is handling these busy outside schedules. I know I may need some "tweaking" in mine.

 

Regards,

Grace

[Gwen in VA]

It is all such a balancing act.

 

:iagree:

 

I just realized that dh and I will be watching a movie alone tonight. I had intended to give my musician a well-deserved break (regardless of the state of schoolwork) and do a family movie night tonight -- and I just realized that she is doing a performance until 9. Aargh!

 

One additional thought about schoolwork for overcommitted kids -- I won't sign her up for FIVE online classes. She needs to have some subject that is flexible and can give when time gets super-tight.

 

Next year dd will hopefully do Latin and Brit Lit with Scholars Online, and AP chemistry and AP US Gov't with PAH. But she will do math with me -- and I'm not expecting much math to happen until the summer!

[at the beach]

Violet,

WOW!! You too have an impressive schedule planned. I hope I didn't sound "snarky" in my response about being "unwilling to compromise academics"... I didn't mean it to sound like you were. I apologize if it sounded like that. :grouphug:

 

Grace, No, it didn't sound snarky in the least! It was good to hear that I'm not alone in feeling this way. 

 

My daughters will not be going into Elite gymnastics and will most likely not even pursue gymnastics in college. They do gymnastics for the love of the sport. I do love that they have found a passion in something.

It's also good to hear that there are kids doing things regardless of whether it will "lead" anyplace. 

 

 

What has helped us the most is starting early. My dds are early risers. They can not sleep in no matter how hard they try! So we start our day by 8:00 am. The other thing that is helpful is a routine and also learning how to be flexible with the routine!! The flexibility is quite difficult for my type-A twins!!

Well, my daughter used to be an early riser but this year it has become tough to get her up.

 

 

Gymnastics is also my girls social circle. I feel we need to accomodate the parties and the sleepovers and the texting because this is their closest friends. It is all such a balancing act.

 

I would love to re-visit these threads next year and see how everyone is handling these busy outside schedules. I know I may need some "tweaking" in mine.

I agree. It would be interesting to see how we're all managing.

 

 

Regards,

Grace

 

Again, thanks for all your input! :001_smile:

[Melissa B]

Excellence in Literature with IEW History writing lessons

 

Hi Grace,

 

I considered doing something like this as well. What do you plan to call this class on your transcript and how much credit are you giving? Thanks so much!

 

Melissa

[Grace]

Hi Grace,

 

I considered doing something like this as well. What do you plan to call this class on your transcript and how much credit are you giving? Thanks so much!

 

Melissa

 

I think I plan on just calling it English I and assigning 1 credit. My plan is to tweak it some so we don't do all the writing for both courses. We may just read and discuss the Excellence in Literature books if they are in the middle of a research paper for IEW. But I don't have a problem with assigning a history essay and an English essay in the same week.

 

I have no idea how this will work out though!!!! I am hoping to work through Elegant Essay and Teaching the Classics this year or through the summer too! Probably unreasonable expectations but I do know I plan on doing the History Writing lesson 2 and a literature program with whole books/writing.

 

Probably not much help

Grace

[memphispeg]

I have had one dd dancer, who went on to college. Now another one, a jr. in high school. Neither will be professionals but, dancing gives them all those important life elements missing from school. I told them that dance is their social life, their party life, their extracurricular life in general. They could not and cannot do other non-school activities without giving a little in the dance area (not the school stuff). This is a choice that they constantly must evaluate. That said, no going easy on the school work, learning time management has been of the essence. I will say that it has been nice that they have a passion that is a creative and physical outlet for them away from school. Their summers have been danced-based rather than academic-based. Summer has never been for school here!

[J-rap]

***

Edited February 19, 2023 by J-rap

[anissarobert]

I wish I knew the answer, but I can tell you that we have the same type of problem here. DD takes 6 ballet classes per week, and she has rehersals for her performing company as well. She does want to study ballet in college, but that may not be possible do to the same problem that would keep her from a professional career. (She has a fused spine due to scoliosis surgery.)

 

No matter what she decides to study in college, she will need $, so her grades must come first. She has fallen behind this year, and will need to give up at least one summer intensive to catch up before the start of her senior year. (We don't have the money anyway. :001_smile:)

 

I think the only thing we can do is to work hard to reach a balance.

[regentrude]

My DD does not dance but she is doing heavy extracurriculars. She rides horses and spends 25+ hours per week at the barn.

We handle academics without compromise. School comes first. She is required to put in five hours of school work in her core subjects (math, science, English, history and French) every day - details see my signature line below. Electives are in addition; we will work on those over the summer.

We begin school work at 8am, so she is done by 2pm (that includes a lunch break). On weekdays, she usually leaves for the barn around 4pm - so this does not interfere with school.

What is hard is juggling her social life outside the barn (the horse girls, fortunately, satisfy a great part of her social needs.) But that she needs to figure out herself.

Btw, horses are only a hobby for her; she has no plans of turning them into a career. Right now, she is looking to major in biophysics or something related - heavy math and science.

[Nan in Mass]

We have had years that were gymnastics-heavy. School came first. I dealt with academics by having mine start school early and have a definate ending time. We "did" school from 7-2 + math and sometimes Latin in the car and after gym. They had about an hour of down time, if they were lucky, during the week. They tended to write their papers weekends, as well as some reading and, of course, math. We fit in extra reading during the summers. When the older son was in 11th and 12th grade and taking CC classes, he pretty much worked on school whenever he wasn't sleeping or at the gym or at some sort of family function, except for a little down time with his computer during the day. Although he read and finished his math book during the summer, I tried to keep summers as a real escape from our regular lives, and he traveled for at least 3 weeks every year, sometimes 3 months (hence the unfinished math book), so he got plenty of long breaks from his grueling schedule.

-Nan

[AngelBee]

Mother to a houseful of competitive dancers. :)

 

Mine are younger, so I don't have a lot to add.

 

Dance is one big reason why we choose to homeschool.

[ayden]

Hi! I'm very new here and not even home schooling at the moment, but we are going to begin home schooling this fall in 9th grade because of my daughter's gymnastics schedule. She currently practices 20 hours/week and this May will begin two-a-days and practice 25 hours/week. So I have no experience with what you are asking and not sure of our schedule because of her two practices per day. I am planning on algebra I, physical science, english, writing, civics, and health. I have not decided on anything else. I would like to just school four days a week and use the 5th day to play catch up or read, etc., but we'll have to figure out if that will work for us.

 

I'm so glad I joined this forum where there are parents with kids heavily involved in an extracurricular. I know I will learn a lot from you! There are other home schooled girls in the gym, but half of them go to Providence 2-3 days/week (2 days for the younger kids and 3 days for the high school kids) and the other half do Abeka. Nothing wrong with either and everyone at the gym is happy with their choice, but I am going with my own plan and feel a bit out there.

[at the beach]

I appreciate everyone's comments here. Thank you all.

 

[KLA]

Could I bring this thread back up? I'm planning for high school with a ballet dancer and would love to hear how your schedules are working out this year. My dd is bright and can handle the more advanced classes but as I make plans, I'm trying to keep her schedule manageable.

 

Anyone care to chime in on schedule ideas? Tips that work and don't work? Outsourcing classes and the extra time they take versus just trying to do things at home? I'm at the very beginning of planning high school and don't know how to start mapping it all out.

 

Thanks

[1Togo]

We start early and school, including at least two music practices, must be finished before we head out the door for dance because we often don't get home until late in the evening. The schedule is tight, so we don't go out for classes, but dd is doing one online class and may do one more for the last two years of high school. Honestly, the best tip I can offer is to work steadily through the day. There just isn't any time to daydream or goof off. In the end, the student has to be motivated.

[KLA]

Yes, I'm thinking that going out for too many classes (we have a three day a week school we could take classes at) will take time in transportation and getting ready, packing lunches etc. I have a very motivated dancer and student. Online classes seem like a great way to get other teachers, although we haven't tried a live one yet. I'm trying to find the best way for her to dance all she wants, do challenging academics (that's what she wants) and have just enough down time and sleep :)

KLA

[Mommy22alyns]

I'm glad this post got brought back up and am :bigear: for any ideas. Obviously we're not in high school yet, but Rebecca is likely to be training for a lot of hours by then.

[Tasia]

Thanks for bumping this - I'm also starting to plan high school for my serious dancer. He's in 8th this year and is doing fine so far, but his academic load will have to increase next year when we add a real lab for science and a couple electives. :bigear:

[abbeyej]

We're just at the beginning of this journey (9th grade; first year in the "pre-pro" division at ds' ballet school), but I can "think aloud" about what we're doing.

 

First, yes, we're limiting outside classes. Being *at*home* for most of our school hours each day is tremendously helpful. Ds does have two online courses and one "in person" course, but the online courses are flexible with his schedule and the in person course comes to us. In past years, when the kids were younger, we could easily do two half-days a week out at various enrichment classes, etc, and still get necessary work done. Now? It just can't happen.

 

Ds is reasonably self-motivated and naturally a morning person, so we get a fairly early start, and he's often working even before I'm up. I printed his assignment book for the *year* in August, so he knows what's required for every class already.

 

He works hard straight through the day -- usually until it's time to change for ballet. I told him last spring when he chose this, that the new ballet schedule would pretty much mean he did "school and ballet" and not much else. He seems okay with that (you know, 90% of the time, lol)...

 

In the car on our way to the studio, we listen to Teaching Company lectures. It helps me feel like all of the driving time isn't completely wasted.

 

Other activities have been minimized.

 

I don't know that we're doing anything surprising or revolutionary. Get up early. Work hard. Stay focused. Try to get everything done. Try to make use of the commute. Try to eat well and get enough sleep.

 

He's got a hefty academic load, but so far so good...

[KLA]

So I'm really at the beginning of this and planning for high school so bear with me if I'm asking silly questions. I think I'm concerned about some of the upper level high school classes when we get there.

I mean, can you do lab sciences well at home via online class (I'm not saying you can't, I just can't picture it)?

 

And can you find rigorous online classes that have deadlines, grades and high expectations of the students?

 

How/when and even do you decide to lighten up the academics because ballet takes up such a significant amount of time? It's hard for me to think about saying "no" to an honors course that she is capable of because she just doesn't have time. She might very well have time, just aren't there yet to know it.

 

Finally, any outside classes I'd consider would be core classes. So is it worth the investment of leaving the home to have in those core classes done that way. We have an option of a two day co-op (academic, not enrichment) or a three day school where she is now for a few classes.

 

I'm not necessarily asking for specific answers, just trying to wrap my brian around both planning for high school and doing it well with a serious ballet dancer on a full schedule.

 

I appreciate any and all thoughts.

KLA

[abbeyej]

...I mean, can you do lab sciences well at home via online class (I'm not saying you can't, I just can't picture it)?

Sure. It takes a bit of set-up, but there are some very decent kits, etc, available to help you set up a lab that's at least as good as many small schools... You can supplement with videos as necessary, but most high school level lab work *can* be recreated at home.

 

And can you find rigorous online classes that have deadlines, grades and high expectations of the students?

Sure. Absolutely. This year, I feel like we meet various parts of that in various ways. Ds' pre-calculus class with Derek Owens is rigorous, has graded work, and very high expectations -- but the deadlines are a bit flexible. His online French course (through GAVS) has strict deadlines and grades, but, um, I wouldn't say it's particularly rigorous or has very high expectations. ;) That said, most of his other work *is* pretty rigorous and *we* have high expectations, so I think he's getting the message.

 

How/when and even do you decide to lighten up the academics because ballet takes up such a significant amount of time? It's hard for me to think about saying "no" to an honors course that she is capable of because she just doesn't have time. She might very well have time, just aren't there yet to know it.

So far, we haven't had to face that. I think it depends so much on individual kids. Some thrive on having a challenging schedule. Some work more quickly or plod along carefully but slowly... It's always going to be a balancing act, with or without the hours and hours of dance...

 

Finally, any outside classes I'd consider would be core classes. So is it worth the investment of leaving the home to have in those core classes done that way. We have an option of a two day co-op (academic, not enrichment) or a three day school where she is now for a few classes.

 

For me, two or three days a week outside the home would *not* be an efficient use of our time. Even when the classes are good, it works out to an awful lot of wasted time. But again, it's hard to answer in the abstract. For us, we can get a lot more done at home.

 

For outside classes this year (9th), we're doing, as I said: pre-caclulus with Derek Owens (asynchronous online course); French 1 with GAVS (asynchronous course work; weekly class "chat"); Latin 4 Prose (small group that meets at our house, which is ideal)... Also Thinkwell AP Chemistry, which is online and grades multiple choice work, but it's not exactly a "course" since there isn't a teacher to answer questions and provide feedback... Other work is traditional books / textbooks / ME stuff. :) (Ancient and medieval history, literature and rhetoric, Bible as literature, art history...) He also takes dance history as part of his dance curriculum, but that's just an hour of lecture per week, short tests and exams, and a paper each semester.

 

Basically, we've tried to fill specific needs in different ways depending on what works best. I've tried to minimize time outside the home *other* than dance, 'cause I find it's a better and more efficient use of our time.

Edited October 16, 2012 by abbeyej
(typed "French" when I meant "Latin", lol...)

[KLA]

Abbeyej - thank you for answering me. Very helpful. Things are beginning to come together in my mind.

I'm really seeing the value of not being out of the house so much for classes, I just need to figure out how best to outsource the classes I don't want to teach myself. After speaking with a friend today and reading all the advice here, I realize we may not have to compromise on academics, just get creative about how to get everything in.

 

I want her to be very prepared should dance not work out, since that's an extremely likely possibility given injury potential and the small percentage of dancers who go professional.

 

Thank you

[Mom22ns]

I'm still at the beginning of the journey with an athlete too, but I'll share some thoughts.

 

So I'm really at the beginning of this and planning for high school so bear with me if I'm asking silly questions. I think I'm concerned about some of the upper level high school classes when we get there.

I mean, can you do lab sciences well at home via online class (I'm not saying you can't, I just can't picture it)?

I'm not sure why you see this as a problem. We've done full labs with our sciences always. I have gradually purchased the equipment as it was needed and have everything from a dissecting kit, slides and microscope for biology to flasks, beakers, test tubes, burners and chemicals. We do have to do some of our labs outside or in the garage (with the door open) due to the flames and fumes. :D

 

And can you find rigorous online classes that have deadlines, grades and high expectations of the students?

We don't use outside classes, but the answer is yes. See the outsourcing sticky for more ideas

 

How/when and even do you decide to lighten up the academics because ballet takes up such a significant amount of time? It's hard for me to think about saying "no" to an honors course that she is capable of because she just doesn't have time. She might very well have time, just aren't there yet to know it.

I don't plan to lighten academics for gymnastics. However, we won't use courses that are inflexible. There are times that we are traveling more and it would be unreasonable to keep a normal school schedule. We just have to take a bit longer to get through the challenging academics.

 

Finally, any outside classes I'd consider would be core classes. So is it worth the investment of leaving the home to have in those core classes done that way. We have an option of a two day co-op (academic, not enrichment) or a three day school where she is now for a few classes.

I would not leave the house 2-3 days/week. Maybe that is because we live 10 min outside of town and going anywhere just wastes too much time, but I think even short trips waste a lot of time. You get ready, gather stuff, drive, unload... Busy schedules just don't have time for all of that.

I'm not necessarily asking for specific answers, just trying to wrap my brian around both planning for high school and doing it well with a serious ballet dancer on a full schedule.

 

I appreciate any and all thoughts.

KLA

 

I don't know all the answers. Ds is in 10th and spends most of his time on school. He has disabilities that make school slow for him. Dd is just in 8th grade, but I see her taking a more rigorous path through high school in spite of the 20+ hours/week at the gym. Many high school kids get jobs and work that much and still take the most rigorous path through school. Gymnastics is social life, friendships, fun, recreation and sport all wrapped up in one. It is her choice of how she uses her free time. It doesn't leave time for much besides school and gym, but at least homeschooling means that some of the school time is spent together.