Time for Outside Activities?

[LauraBeth475]

During the school year, how much time do you spend on outside activities for the kids? Including time spent driving around.

[Melissa B]

Monday through Friday I block out 3:30 - 7:00 for outside activities. We have multiple activities each day.

 

Outside those hours:

Ds has co-op one morning per week. We are out from 8:30-1:30.

Dd 16 has to be picked up from local theaters around 10 PM quite regularly (20 minutes round trip) though she tends to catch rides home occasionally now that she is older.

 

ETA: We also have sporting events on the weekends. Mostly soccer games and regattas.

Edited July 26, 2016 by Melissa B

[catz]

Oh - I would say on average a few hours a day.  My kids are 12 and 15 though and I consider this kind of the peak this type of schedule.  I enjoy it though.  It doesn't feel overwhelming most of the time.   This summer ended up a little nuts, but it will wind back down in 2-3 weeks.

[SKL]

It varies, but generally 1-3 hours per day after school (and additional time on weekends).  We enjoy it, but it does get crazy at times.

[LauraBeth475]

Oh wow! Are these all scheduled activities, like dance and sports, or also more spontaneous stuff like rounding up some friends to go to the park?

[Zinnia]

We have sports practices 3-4 days a week for a couple of hours.  Choir once a week (two kids in different ages, so that makes it a 2 hour commitment).  Games (usually 3) on Saturdays during sports seasons (fall/winter/spring).  In the summer, it's more casual, and I take them to the pool for 3-4 hours.  

 

I enjoy it.  My kids are 4-10, so it sort of comes with the territory.  

[Arcadia]

2015/16

Wednesday - 5.5hrs for science (DS10) and Chinese (both) including drive time

Thursday - 4hrs science (DS11) including drive time

Saturday - 3.5 hrs for German and 2hrs for music for both kids, both includes drive time

 

2016/17

Mostly online class so only out on Saturday for German and music instrument lessons. I want to add a regular recreational sport class else we tend to forget PE.

[SKL]

Oh wow! Are these all scheduled activities, like dance and sports, or also more spontaneous stuff like rounding up some friends to go to the park?

 

In my case, it's scheduled activities.  Sports & scouts, used to do piano & dance, sometimes a library program ....

 

[rebcoola]

We have 1 day a week out at our ALE.  We also try to be done with things by 1 so we can do play dates and gymnastics.  

[Ausmumof3]

I think we are on the lower end, 4hrs Tuesday, 1hr wed, 2 hrs wed. Also an occasional day trip etc. I find any more than one thing per kid gets too dear and too chaotic unless it's something super affordable they can all do.

[kiwik]

This term one half hour thing for each. It is late winter here and I like to keep it easy. Usually I limit it to 2 things for cost and time reasons. But they see kids at school and ds9 has a play date most weeks as well.

[Sherry in OH]

Monday-Friday, a minimum of 16 hours out of the house (music lessons, scouts, and sports/p.e.), more if we have a field trip, club, or other event that week.   Weekends vary from 0-48 hours.  

 

 

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

It has varied from year to year.  I try to find stuff that is nearby though if it is something that meets regularly.  Last year one kid had drama, gymnastics, and choir.  With driving and all that it was about 6ish hours total per week.  A bit more when there were performances.  Then the other kid had drama.  That was an hour and a half total.  He was involved with some outside clubs that he took the bus to.  He had a CC class that he also took the bus to.

 

 

[ScoutTN]

Varies by season and by year. I aim for two weekdays with no activities, all afternoon at home. 

 

This fall our regular things are:

Mondays 6:00-8:30 Cub Scouts (Dh and Ds)

Wednesdays 3:00-7:30 Piano, then to church for choir, dinner, and Bible classes. (All of us, Dh meets us at church for dinner.)

Every other Thursday 6:00-8:30 AHG 

Fridays 9:00-1:00 art and drama tutorial. Free time for me 9:30-12:30!

 

Usually one afternoon out for long walks at the park, swimming at the rec center, playing with friends etc.

 

Times include driving.

Winter will bring basketball 2x a week, practice one evening and games on Saturdays.

Not sure if we will have any sports in the spring. 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 26, 2016 by ScoutTN

[UCF612]

Tuesday Co Op 10-12, 15min drive one way.

Mon-Friday Swim team 4:30-6. 10min drive one way

Mon piano 30 min lesson, 20min drive one way.

Fall & Spring soccer has one weeknight practice for an hour plus Friday night game. Field is 15min away.

Winter basketball, one hour long weeknight practice, Sat game. 5min drive.

[fairfarmhand]

12 hours per week

 

4 kids.
 

This doesn't include my part time work. This is just kids stuff.

 

And it doesn't include my prep time for the homeschool class I teach.

[Farrar]

We have one day a week that's co-op.

 

And then pretty much every weekday evening has theater, ballet, or maker space for one kid or the other. Luckily all of those are fifteen minutes up the road and there's a good express bus (or the subway, but you have to change trains - the bus is better and free for the kids) if I don't feel like driving. Trying to send them on the bus more and pick up only.

[MEmama]

DS has at least one if not two sports pretty much daily year round. Mostly he gets himself around town to where he needs to go; travel time isn't a factor here except for away meets and races. In summer and fall we do a fair bit of traveling for races throughout New England.

 

He also does volunteer work, so that's a few hours a week.

 

He will be taking a couple outside classes this year which pretty much eats up an entire day for us. Important experience and challenge, but a time suck.

[Jan in SC]

We are gone a lot. We have activities or sports most evenings. This is the first year we'll have an extra driver in the house, and I'm pretty excited about that. Most nights we have something between 5-9pm. If someone is in a show, it will be much later.

 

This year, I'm not sure what to expect because two of my dc are starting school.

[Rebel Yell]

Oh wow! Are these all scheduled activities, like dance and sports, or also more spontaneous stuff like rounding up some friends to go to the park?

This fall, I will have a senior and a sophomore. I do not count hanging out with friends as an "outside activity."

 

For Sweet Child: dance and rehearsal 15 mins from home, 3 days/ week for 3-4 hours each, she drives herself. More rehearsals in spring for musical, plus performances for Holidays and Summer show season. Also, Praise Team, youth group, Buble study at church, also drives herself, 10mins from home.

 

BabyBaby: Karate or Judo 4 days/week. 90min classes, 15-30 mins from home, needs a driver. Plus youth group and Bible study with SweetChild.

 

Possibilities for this year: science class, cosmetology apprenticeship, job, community college class. Time will vary, none over 30mins away.

[MysteryJen]

Swim team takes up most of our time. Ds2 has judo or aikido five nights a week and saturday morning.

Swimmers swim afternoon to early evening five nights a week and Saturday morning. Plus at least 2 mornings a week. 2 meets a month, all weekend. Judo tournament once a month. Music or other lessons are during school hours.

Dd2 is starting high school, so the schedule is much tighter this year.

 

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[catz]

Oh wow! Are these all scheduled activities, like dance and sports, or also more spontaneous stuff like rounding up some friends to go to the park?

 

Well, for us we have music lessons (5 in total), dance, theater that comes and goes.  My dd takes an art class.  Homeschool Co-op during the school year.  Monthly book club.  Monthly science club.  And then more loose park days and stuff like that. 

 

We have a bunch, but my kids are approaching peak age for this stuff and I'm pretty sure homeschooling wouldn't work for us without daily out of the house stuff. 

[kitten18]

We have activities every day (ballet, gymnastics, rock climbing class). M-F I will be out of the house for 2-4 hours a day for a total of about 16 hours. I'm hoping to carpool 1 or 2 days a week this year, it would seriously help my sanity.

[ItoLina]

About 3 hours a day on weekdays and then Soccer games on the weekends during the season. Yes it busy, and probably not for everyone but we really enjoy it.

 

 

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[LauraBeth475]

Thanks for all the answers!

 

I'm trying to figure out how to balance great activities with not feeling so chaotic. (We had 15-20 hours of outings a week last year.)

 

Any scheduling and organizing tips?

[Dmmetler]

This summer, DD has been doing several hours in the gym every day M-F we're in town- her gym encourages it since the girls don't have regular team practices and are doing outside camps, etc (so a set weekly class would have low attendance), and for an active kid when it's 105 out, spending three-four hours in a gym, taking a class or two, doing open gym practice, and hanging out with other kids (the gym has a Pokestop, so a lot of the kids seem to go just to have social time and catch Pokemon) is fun.

 

During the school year, she'll have two live local classes/lessons away from home, a night a week of cheer practice, and will probably do two tumbling classes/week as well, possibly with some open gym time before or after to give me more time to run errands and her some hang out with other kids time. We also host homeschool clubs at our house a couple of times a month and she's taking 3 online classes.

Edited July 27, 2016 by dmmetler

[Tess in the Burbs]

It changes every season.  Some years the kids have a lot going on, other times nothing.  It's always changing based on interest level.  

 

We currently have 1 car which has been amazing.  It allows me to say no to a lot.  For the fall one kid has scouts and I am involved...so that drive and activity time is about 3 hours(not close by) twice a month.  Plus at least one weekend activity.  She will have piano as well and that will be about an hour total weekly.  My boy is doing soccer and that will be several days a week, I expect twice to be 2.5 hours each, and weekend about 2 hours(event and driving).  

 

There was the time we did swim team AND gymnastics team the same year....I was a driving crazy lady!!!  And there was the semester neither did anything.  Ahhhhhh

 

We have no rules.  If we can afford it, and our one car isn't busy, you can do it.  

[happypamama]

About 3.5 hours one night when the older kids do back-to-back classes. They take turns sitting in the waiting room during thenother's class, and I usually grocery shop in that time. We also have about 3 hours, or really, about half the day, once a week for the other class, but everyone goes to that one at the same time. A few times a month, we take a day or half day to do something -- park day, field trip, etc. -- with our homeschool group.