What outside activities are your kids involved in?

[RhondaM.]

I'm trying to find something for my 12 year old to be involved in where he can hang with other kids. I can sign him up for Judo and get involved in a homeschool group. There is an archery club but it loos as if they only meet on Sunday mornings when we are in church.

 

This kid is begging to go to public school because he is bored out of his mind and wants ot be with other kids.

 

I am very tired because of a really bad year and almost want to just send him to public school as he desires. But I am sure that decision will turn around to bite me.

 

So...how can I keep him busy and active?

 

Thanks,

Rhonda

[Ferdie]

We attend a hs co-op for social reasons so my 12 year old ds takes classes with other hs kids. He also attends a mid-week youth group at our church. The youth group has a cafe, skateboarding, basketball, volleyball and a teaching time. He loves it because I give him $$ each week to buy something to eat from the cafe. LOL! He also attends a middle school small group through our church. Some of my son's friends attend the co-op, youth group and small group also so he ends up seeing his buddies 3 times a week.

 

I also try to carpool to as many of these events as possible so he gets some alone time in the car with his friend. The other thing I like to do is invite one of his friends over to our house for lunch after co-op or a few hours before youth group. It makes it easy on the other moms since the get together turns into a carpool and it gives my ds some one on one time with a friend.

 

My ds also plays soccer and has been on the same teams for a few years. He likes the kids on the team, but never sees them except for practice and games.

 

Hope you find something to help him connect with other hs children.

 

I forgot to mention that my dd, who is 10, has a very high social need yet no girls her age in our neighborhood. So I set up a standing playdate for her twice a week each T and Th. Her friend comes to our house one day and she goes to her friend's house the other day. It makes it so easy on me because I'm not constantly on the phone trying to coordinate playdates for her. These two also dance together once a week in dance class so they really get to see each other 3 times a week.

Edited February 4, 2009 by Ferdie

[Pretty in Pink]

We are involved with the local HS group primarily for social reasons. We do attend co-op once a week for the afternoon (12:00 - 3:30 p.m.) and it really throws a wrench into my day but it's worth it because the boys just love hanging out with all the other kids.

 

We also do gymnastics 2x per month with our HS group, ds10 participates in a poetry/literature group thru the HS group, ds10 takes band thru the co-op, and the boys take art lessons with a private instructor (very small class sizes).

 

In the past we have done gymnastics (weekly), community soccer/baseball/basketball, various clubs offered through our HS group, chess night at the public library, etc.

[Jenny in Florida]

My son is 10 (11 next month) and never happier (or easier to get along with) than when he's got places to go and people to see.

 

Here's his current list:

 

Monday - Ballroom dance class

Tuesday - Tap dance class

Wednesday - Ballet class

Thursday - Pipe organ lesson, Choir rehearsal

Friday - Ballet class, Character dance class

Saturday - Extra choir rehearsal about once a month, Model rocket club once a month

Sunday - Sunday school, Church

 

The choir he belongs to is all boys, from ages 8 or 9 up through high school. In addition to rehearsing and performing, they do lots of social stuff. The boys are divided into teams, for example, and acquire points for various things. A few times a year, the choir director adds up the points, and the team with the highest balance gets to go on a fun outing (bowling, skating, to see a show, etc.). They also travel a couple of weekends a year and do a summer tour to sing in other cities and usually do some fun, social things while they're out and about. And this weekend, my son and I are headed to their annual campout.

 

Ballet, in addition to classes, gives him opportunities to perform and, incidentally, hang out with other kids backstage. This year, he was in the company production of Don Quixote with two other boys about his age and several girls. Then, in December, he did The Nutcracker. Between the two shows, he spent a lot of hours in rehearsals and playing in the dressing rooms.

 

And just this week, he auditioned for and was cast in a community theatre musical. I haven't received the exact rehearsal schedule yet, but it looks like he'll be out at least a couple of evenings a week (after his regular classes). The show is The King and I, so there should be lots of kids to hang out with backstage.

 

He keeps me busy, for sure. But he's a really good kid and just so much happier this way. I find he does better with his schoolwork, too, when he's got things to look forward to and care about.

[Sophia]

When my ds was 12 and wanting more friends, we put him in Scouts for two years.

Unfortunately the friendships he made there were not healthy so we had to pull him out. Argh!

What did work was a homeschool choir-he doesn't care about singing but he really liked the friends he made there and so did dh and I.

Speech and debate club has also brought some good friends into his life.

I guess you have to just search out the right activities for him and sometimes you can only do that by trial and error. Iow, it's not one activity fits all, y'know?

 

Hope you find something for him!

[RhondaM.]

Thanks everyone. We don't have a coop in our area and the homeschool group is pretty small.

Maybe boy scouts and 4-H, though I've never been able to understand what 4-H is exactly, or how it works.

 

Rhonda

[Deece in MN]

My dc did Judo for 6 months and then we switched ds into Jui-Jitsu which he attends 3-4 nights a week. He loves it! He also bowls on a youth league every Sat. and participated on the high school team this year.

 

My dd has swim team through our local Y 3 times a week, skating 1 night and recreational hip-hop class 1 night.

 

This is the most our dc have done at one time (we used to limit outside activities to 1 thing). It has been a lot of running around for me as someone has something every day.

[LBC]

We're not in a co-op this year, but have been in the past. My kids are in quite a few things, and I'm (usually) happy to drive them since I can see the positives for them.

 

We all ski/snowboard once a week with a large group of homeschoolers (we are signed up for homeschool lessons), and this is the best opportunity for us to connect with our homeschool friends. Unfortunately, we only do it for 6 weeks per year.

 

Dd 15 - Synchronized swimming 2x/week, Hip Hop, voice lessons, Young Life.

 

Ds 13 - Drum lessons (since this is private, it doesn't give him relational time with other kids).

 

Ds 11 - Badminton 2x/week.

 

Dd 8 - Karate 2x/week, and tap dance.

 

Most of the activities I've listed don't lead to building friendships. We only seem to be able to build lasting friendships though our homeschool related activities, since the other kids they meet all have lives that revolve around their school friends.

 

I hope you're able to find something that works. I sent my kids to school for a year, and I would take that year back if I could. Middle school age is such a hard time to start school for the first time.

 

:grouphug:

 

Lori

[Vicki]

My dd plays on a homeschool basketball team that practices 6 hours a week and plays other teams. They have a tournament this weekend. She also takes guitar lessons. Both of my children attend a jr./sr. high co-op on Thursday afternoon and are involved in our church.

God bless,

Vicki

[Cedarmom]

What about debate or speech club? We are a part of NCFCA(Nationl Christian Forensic Communications Association) My son loves it and has made some really good friends.

[Tutor]

We do some activities with a local homeschool group. (They like to know that they aren't the only homeschooled kids on the planet... sometimes it feels like it.) The university museum offers free art and science classes every other week after school that we go to as we can. They also offer summer classes. My 8yo is in Cub Scouts. We just signed the kids up for swimming lessons which start next week, and we are trying to get our 10yo a membership at the local fencing club.

 

Most of their friends are at church or youth group, but that has actually caused some issues since most of those kids go to the private school across the street from the church (our church is heavily involved in the school), so we often feel that we don't get much support or encouragement from the families at church since their first response is, "We'd love to have them at [name of school]." Ugh. They don't understand how unsupportive that is and how left out it makes us feel. [sorry to run-off and vent like that, but I have to let it out every once in awhile or I feel like I'm gonna explode. :D Better now.]

[AuntieM]

he took a woodworking class at the homeschool co-op. It was great - he cleared an area in the basement, and whenever he got bored, he had a woodworking project to give him something to do. There was always something that needed sanding or hammering!

 

He also enjoyed Tae Kwon Do class. It was wonderful discipline and great exercise, plus learning new forms to move up the ranks gave him something to practice in his down time.

 

He is going to start guitar lessons next month, just bought his new guitar last weekend.

 

My point is, whatever activity(ies) you decide on, choose one at least that will give him something to work on at home between meeting times. Otherwise, you are only filling his time for the length of the meeting.

[Sparkle]

My kids are in 4-H. We don't do animal raising, although that is certainly an option with another club. Mine are involved in projects like archery, photography, entomology, football, geology, gardening, Legos, cooking, etc. It's a lot of fun, and they can participate up until age 19.

 

My oldest is also involved in youth group and youth choir at church.

[klmama]

My kids do martial arts, Awana, homeschool support group contests (speech, spelling, geography), homeschool co-op, and occasional classes in other interesting things. Also, there are after school clubs at the library available (chess, games, dance, wii), although we haven't gone there yet. Still, it's an option if we wanted to meet more kids.

[skimerinkydo]

Boy Scouts! Boy Scouts! Look around and find a good troop. You can visit some and then decide.

 

My 11yo is in boy scouts through our church. Since ds also likes to play chess, we invite other boys over to play chess with him.

[Carol in Cal.]

My DD, 12, is in a children's chorus. She has reached their highest level, so their schedule is fairly intense--2 hours of rehearsal once/week, music theory private lessons, an extra 90 min practice monthly, additional rehearsals and dress rehearsals around the performance dates, as well as the performances themselves. There is usually a choral retreat annually for a weekend, and 2-3 choral workshops (half of a Satursday) in addition to the other rehearsals. There are also fundraising projects and optional other musical projects--this year she has been invited to participate in an opera, and last year she went to Hawaii (I chaperoned) to participate in a children's choral music festival. BIIIIIIIIG commitment. The kids really get to know each other well.

 

She is also in a homeschooling nature awareness class that meets from 9 to 3 one weekday per week. Those kids bond, like crazy.

 

She is taking confirmation classes, so has more Christian fellowship her own age than before.

 

And our local Christian homeschooling support group is sponsoring a Presidential Fitness program--once a month for an hour. No bonding there at all--the entire families come, they record their times, and leave. People are cordial but there is no real mixing.

 

And she just finished a season on a First Lego League robotics team. They bonded, totally, even though they didn't know each other before. They met 2-3 times per week throughout October, November, and January; and learned to be a team. I would not say that these are now bosom friends who call each other on the phone all the time, but they are keeping in touch via email and thinking about reforming the team for next year's competition, especially since they made it to the state championships this year even though they were new.

[JFSinIL]

My dd, 12, beats up boys. OK - it is martial arts and she LOVES it when they get padded up and spar. Grown men are known to back away when she charges!

[mom31257]

We belong to 2 different homeschool groups. We have friends in both, so it's given us twice the opportunities for fellowship. There are several in our area and surrounding counties. One offers Contenders for the Faith and Keepers at Home, clubs similar to scouts. We attend that once a week.

 

Our dd takes sewing lessons once a week. Our ds is playing basketball right now in a Christian program. We are very active at church (usually there 3 times a week), and they have neighborhood friends who come and play.

 

If we had a co-op here in town I would do that as well. I am very interested in scouts for my ds next year. They have to be in 1st grade, so we're waiting on that. I can't say I was impressed with girl scouts, but I've heard good things about the boy scouts here. Some 4-H programs have homeschool groups that meet in the day as well.

 

I pray you find what works best for you both!

[Desert Rat]

My boys are in taekwondo and soccer. We're currently looking for friends so I'll be following this thread closely.

[mktkcb]

ok,

12yo son, not very athletic, very artsy/musical/dramatic: All of these are pretty much 1x per week: Piano lessons, Taekwondo hs class, AWANA, PE coop with hs group, Musical theater (large group, 2 large productions/year), Children's choir (Sun, we're at church anyway).

 

15yo dd: violin lessons, taekwondo hs class, AWANA, hs sports, Musical theater, hs choir, hs high school coop classes.

 

17yo dd: AWANA, Musical theater, coop class, com coll class, hs sports.

 

I try have all my kids in some of the same things to save time and energy, so you'll notice that all of them are doing theater, 2 of them are in the same tkd class, both girls are in coop classes, etc. Most of what we do is in a 5 mile radius of our home. I am at max capacity (no way we could fit anything else in w/o eliminating something else), but are able to handle it. I have high energy kids, and they need outlets. I would definitely look for things your son can be involved in.

Kayleen