too much? extra-curricular for littles

[raindrops]

While homeschooling my daughter's Kindergarten this year, I realized that the more I stay home, the more I can focus on getting her work done. So I'm looking at next year's extra-curricular opportunities for next year, and they're all smack dab in the middle of the day. Will all this driving be too much of a distraction from school? I prefer the activities to be after about 2 p.m., so I have all day to make sure we accomplish what we set out to accomplish. Instead of activities, should I just take them to the playground on my own schedule? I dislike driving and running around too much to activities I've committed to. I want more freedom. I won't have to drive my son to preschool next year, and don't want to fill in that time with other committments.

[TKDmom]

What kind of activities are you looking at and at what times?

 

I've had to cut waay back on our activities because they were interfering with school. I've decided that a weekly park day and several days a week of Taekwondo (in the late afternoon) is enough. But I have a 6th grader and a 4th grader.

 

My 2nd grader can get his schoolwork done by 9am (he's an early riser), so I would have plenty of time for outside stuff with just him. My only concern would be making sure he has enough unstructured play time. Kids should have lots of time to play and use their imaginations.

[Ellie]

I wouldn't do activities in the middle of the day, not because I couldn't get a kindergartener's work done, but because IMHO, we just need to be *home* with our children.

 

If you schedule lots of outside activities now, you'll find it more difficult to stay home when your dc is older and it's more important to do the Official School Stuff.

[raindrops]

There's a swim and gym class at the Y from 11:15--12 on Mondays, and 11:15-1:00 on Wed., a music/dance class for the almost 4 year old, and a dance class for the almost 6 year old at the same time Wed. 3:45--4:30, piano lessons, and AWANA late Wed. night. I suppose I could make Wednesday our extra-curr. day (and just do swimming instead of the gym portion on the program), and skip school that day. Then I wouldn't have to run around the other days. Oh, and there's co-op on Fridays 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Otherwise, Monday, Wed., and Friday we'd have somewhere to run off to during the time I'd like to do school, allow for imaginative free play, and practice piano. I'm thinking even co-op would be too much. We also go to church on Sunday.

[raindrops]

Sorry this is confusing. I was in a hurry.

[kristin0713]

We have an activities/co-op day on Wednesdays where we get the bulk of our activities done. That leaves the other four days for school, and when we do go out on those days it isn't until late afternoon. I do think the activities we do are important so they get *some* time in a leaning environment with other kids and with other adults teaching/leading them but I prefer to schedule most of it in the same day so our other days aren't so choppy and we can still have playdates, etc.

[Wabi Sabi]

I try to limit our activities to after lunch, although I'll make exceptions for something like an occasional all-day field trip. If we get started by 9:00 that still gives us at least three hours to focus on bookwork each day, even on a day like today when we were busy from 12:30pm until this evening. I also insist on having at least one or two days each week with nothing at all on the calendar. It works for us.

[Ellie]

There's a swim and gym class at the Y from 11:15--12 on Mondays, and 11:15-1:00 on Wed., a music/dance class for the almost 4 year old, and a dance class for the almost 6 year old at the same time Wed. 3:45--4:30, piano lessons, and AWANA late Wed. night. I suppose I could make Wednesday our extra-curr. day (and just do swimming instead of the gym portion on the program), and skip school that day. Then I wouldn't have to run around the other days. Oh, and there's co-op on Fridays 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Otherwise, Monday, Wed., and Friday we'd have somewhere to run off to during the time I'd like to do school, allow for imaginative free play, and practice piano. I'm thinking even co-op would be too much. We also go to church on Sunday.

 

o_0

 

Ok, that's a boatload of outside activities. My dc and I would be worn out, and my house would look like a train wreck if we were gone that often during the day, that many days.

 

In my world, there would only be the piano lesson and AWANA. There would NOT be classes of any kind at 11 a.m., and there wouldn't be a three-hour co-op.

[Gentlemommy]

We usually get (table) school done by 10am. We do school 6 days a wek SL that daily school times can be shorter. My kids work better this way. I read to them at various time of the day.

We have busy schedule, but we like it-

T-coop 10-1 play at the park, 3:30-5:30 play date at our neighborhood park

W-riding lesson 3:30-5:30 (they stay after to play)

Th-3:30-4:30 play date at the park, 5:30 gymnastics

F-10-1 play date at the park with three other hs families

S-3:30 riding lesson

 

Most afternoons, we go to the neighborhood park to play for a couple hours, even if we aren't meeting anyone there.

[twoxcell]

The only day I go anywhere during school time roughly 9am-2pm is Friday. Friday is our light school/co-op/field trip/fun day. Otherwise all of our activities are in the later afternoon/evening. I find that in order to Home school I need to actually be home. ;)

[Aurelia]

Personally, I'd drop the co-op and make Wednesday the outside activity day with no school. It would be too overwhelming otherwise.

[raindrops]

Thank you, everyone. I appreciate your thoughtful comments. I'm leaning towards making Wed. the outside activity day. That way I can focus on school the other 4 days, while allowing some flexibility for playdates and playground time in the late afternoon. I'm a little sad about not doing Friday co-op, but it seems that the quality of Wed. activities trumps co-op--as long as I can regularly get together with a couple homeschool families. We can always do field trips on Saturdays as a family, which I prefer anyhow.

[Ellie]

Sounds good to me.

 

When we were hsing, I could only bear a once-a-month park day with other homeschoolers. Weekly was way too much. My dds and I did a weekly field trip, but it was just us, on our own time schedule. Dds had Missionettes on Wednesday night, and a weekly dance that started after 5. Otherwise, the week was just ours.

[Incognito]

Your kids are young - if you want to do the Friday co-op too, you can. If you would rather be home, that is fine, but school with little ones really doesn't take that long each day.

 

For instance, my 1st and K kids have done 2 weeks of our history cirric, their Bible, 1 week of phonics, 1 week of math, and other things in three mornings of work time (one of which we left home early for a doctor's appointment). We also went to skating this afternoon, and I had errands to run after that. Oh, and the kids did some impromptu science learning about food webs while I was running my errands.

 

We are busy and out more than I like this year, but it has been good for all of us. I feel like dying every winter here - the gray weather and rain do me in. So we are out of the house for sports on Monday/Wednesday, then Thursday they have a class and a religious class, and Friday we have a co-op. Yes, it's too much. But NO, it also isn't. It is not hard to cover academics in the time we are home. We read together lots (less than last year, but still lots). We have plenty of time to do K and 1st academics before we leave the house M, Tu, W. They do different academic things on Th, and Friday it's what I consider social/playdate time (but we also hit academic things then too).

 

Anyways, I think either way is fine. Don't do things and drop out if others will be let down if you quit, but Y classes and such can just run for 8 weeks and you don't do the next set if it is too much (IMO).

[NASDAQ]

Well, it depends on who you are and who your kids are.

 

I hs because I don't work and play well with others. I'm not a great fan of recreational classes. We do music fairly seriously on Wednesday afternoons/evenings, ballet on Thursdays, and that's about it.

[briansmama]

Thank you, everyone. I appreciate your thoughtful comments. I'm leaning towards making Wed. the outside activity day. That way I can focus on school the other 4 days, while allowing some flexibility for playdates and playground time in the late afternoon. I'm a little sad about not doing Friday co-op, but it seems that the quality of Wed. activities trumps co-op--as long as I can regularly get together with a couple homeschool families. We can always do field trips on Saturdays as a family, which I prefer anyhow.

 

 

We do this- work with a 4 day school week and 1 day for outside activities. They have other things throughout the week as well, but on the other 4 days they come in the afternoons, after lessons.

[MeganW]

We are out for activities every single day. Reading tutor 4 days a week, CC (9am-3pm co-op), fine arts co-op and world cultures co-op (1 day a week on alternate weeks), physical & occupational therapy appts (2 days a week), dance 2 days a week, homeschool PE at the Y (2 days a week), church choir, AWANA, baseball, gymnastics, swimming, and soccer. We do a full slate of schoolwork, but very little of it is at home. Most is at the reading tutor's house or in a therapy office. We LIKE being busy!

 

I dislike driving and running around too much to activities I've committed to. I want more freedom.

 

It doesn't sound like you would ENJOY having this much going on, so don't do it! :)

 

You *can* do a thorough job educating your child and being busy, but it is not what feels right for everyone. I have friends who don't leave their homes more than once a twice a week! Do what feels right.

 

Do be aware that kindergarten doesn't take more than 1-2 hours a day. More than that and you are going to burn your child out. Don't plan on being home and doing schoolwork all day long!

 

Another option - there is a yahoo group here called "Field Trip Friends". They schedule playground dates, field trips to the fire dept, etc. There are several every week. I have friends who don't do any co-ops, but do field trips all the time. The good thing about that is you aren't committed beyond what you have signed up for that week, so it is easy to adjust based on the season of life. You may want to look and see if there is something in your area like that.

[raindrops]

There is a local co-op group that meets every OTHER week, so that's a possibility. As far as personalities go, I tend to be more introverted, and need time at home to recharge. My daughter, on the other hand, is a social butterfly who never stops talking & wanting to go places. :001_rolleyes: I love adventures and activities, but my

personality doesn't provide me with the energy for them all. So I'm trying to balance my energy limitations with my daughter's endless social energy.

[Ellie]

There is a local co-op group that meets every OTHER week, so that's a possibility. As far as personalities go, I tend to be more introverted, and need time at home to recharge. My daughter, on the other hand, is a social butterfly who never stops talking & wanting to go places. :001_rolleyes: I love adventures and activities, but my personality doesn't provide me with the energy for them all. So I'm trying to balance my energy limitations with my daughter's endless social energy.

 

Well, here's the thing: It's possible that the reason God gave an extroverted child to an introverted parent is that the child needs her extrovertedness to be tempered by your introvertedness.

 

Children are *very* much affected (or afflicted, as the case may be!) by being around hoards of other children on a regular basis. Peer pressure. The more they're around each other at young ages, the more they come to depend on their peers, the same peers who are equally as immature as they are themselves.

 

I say all this as an introverted mother of an extrovert. :D

 

An every-other-week co-op sounds as if it might be a good solution.

[Wabi Sabi]

All I know is that I'd be doing MY children a great disservice by only allowing a monthly park day and severely limiting opportunities for social interaction with other children. I feel very strongly about giving my kids opportunities to make and nurture healthy friendships and relationships with those outside of our immediate family. YMMV. Your daughter seems to have a stronger need for socializing and there's nothing wrong with that, IMO.

 

There is no one size fits all solution. All families are different and you have to do what is going to work best for your particular family.

[Ellie]

All I know is that I'd be doing MY children a great disservice by only allowing a monthly park day and severely limiting opportunities for social interaction with other children. I feel very strongly about giving my kids opportunities to make and nurture healthy friendships and relationships with those outside of our immediate family. YMMV. Your daughter seems to have a stronger need for socializing and there's nothing wrong with that, IMO.

 

There is no one size fits all solution. All families are different and you have to do what is going to work best for your particular family.

 

 

Is this the day that we're going to disagree with each other? :D

 

I didn't explain in great detail all the outside, social activities my children were involved in. I did say that so much time away from home *in the middle of the day* was not a good thing, and it seems not to be a good thing for the OP, or we wouldn't be having this conversation.

 

My dc were in Sunday school weekly. They were active participants in our church's youth award programs (which varied depending on where we lived and which church we attended; it could have been Missionettes, Pioneer Clubs, or AWANA). They were active participants in 4-H. They did Camp Fire for five or six years, which included day and residential camps each summer. They did Highland dance (younger dd for nine years), ballet and marching band. They did skate day once a month, and a six-week homeschool bowling league. None of these activities happened at 11 in the morning, on week days, during the Official School Year. Most were not with other homeschoolers (or they were a mixture of homeschooled and other-schooled children).

 

Our monthly park days gave us the opportunity to nurture healthy friendships and relationships with those outside our immediate family, in a relaxed, unstructured setting, and to find the other children (and parents) who were our kindred spirits, and with whom we met casually during the month. In some cases our families became friends, not just our children.

 

So if you were imagining that I was advocating that the OP stay sequestered in her house except for one monthly park day, you might want to read again what I actually said. It is the mass amount of time in age-segregated group settings that are not the healthiest.