OT- Homeschool What type of activities are your kids into?

[OceanAnnie]

I'm thinking about introducing the kids to karate and gymnastics or dance. Scouts too.

What do your children like to do?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

My girls do dance and tumbling/gymnastics.

We are dabbling into acting. Did the expensive route briefly until I snapped back into reality (she was too young in retrospect, but it was a professional acting class--she just needs some maturity to catch up with the rest of her).

Now we just do plays at the community center Very much school-playish. All kids who sign up get a part--with the little kids doing the 2 liner walk on.

Next we will look into an art class--b/c I swear I am just too deficient to really teach her. They love art--I hate messes and I"m not creative.

She wanted to play soccer--but I missed the deadline last year...so I will consider it next year as long as we don't miss the deadline again.

 

[DiznEeyore]

My ds did karate for years, but then lost interest. He's been asking about going back, though -- he'd like to start taking aikido with my dh. There aren't many kids in that class, though (it's late at night -- doesn't get out 'til 11 pm), and I was hoping to get him in with more kids his own age.

He also takes guitar lessons from my brother and swimming lessons at the community center in my mil's town. He has a dirt bike up north at my parents' cottage, and goes on a camping/kayaking/mountain bike trip with my bil and mil every summer. He also plays paintball with a league from my mil's church. (Dh and I joke that we should've had more kids so the poor thing wouldn't have to be "everything to everyone"! LOL)

He also takes classes every summer at a local college's "Kids on Campus" program. Usually something fun and art-related.

His favorite thing to do, though, is to hang out with the other kids from church. Several of them are homeschooled, too, so they have the luxury of getting together anytime -- they love that!!

 

[disneymom3]

Fun question!!

My kids just started a gymnastics class though class is used loosely in this case. Basically it is in a gymnastics studio, but there is no formal structure to it. There are instructors there to keep everyone safe and they help them to do things and learn new skills if they are interested. It is aimed at homeschooled kids and all three of mine at 4, 5 and 9 can go together. It is two hours one day a week and for all three of them I pay $15 weekly and they absolutely love it. There are a lot of kids there, but it is amazingly organized and well run.

DD used to do Karate and had some classes in the day and some in the evening. That is done and we are glad. It was just a really big commitment. She is way into theater and also takes piano lessons and is in Girl Scouts.

We are considering 4H for everyone next fall. They meet once a month during the afternoon and again, they can all participate at the same time.

Coming up here in Feb and March, all of the kids are taking a class of their choice through community ed. The one that DS 5 chose happens to be aimed at homeschoolers and is during the day on Thursdays. DS4 is taking a preschool level one during the day on Tuesdays and DD opted for the weeklong theater workshop and a clay camp that are evening and weekend classes. Luckily they are spread out pretty well, so we won't get to crazy.

We are all also in a weekly co-op where we do history, science and communications and then every other week go to a gym in the winter and a park in the nice weather for lunch and playtime.

 

[nuzmom]

co-op, archery, baseball, choir, library

My DS9 and DS4 attend a co-op where DS9 does art, history, and science. Gym is every other week. We are an archery family (DH & I are instructors) so DS9 has done that for years. He's shooting in an adult league and a junior olympic group. DS4 is just starting with that but plays with other kids while we do archery, so it's sort of an activity for him, too. DS9 does baseball in both the fall and spring and takes lessons in late winter/spring. DS9 has tried guitar but had lost interest, we're now considering piano or trying guitar again. He also sings in our church choir. DS9 has also taken group swimming lessons. They both attend library programs in the summer and DS4 is attending an after kindergarten program now.

Great topic!!!

 

[Pixiedust34]

Too Many! We belong to 3 homeschool groups. With one, we participate in a weekly PE and choir co-op. The other 2 groups offer field trips, nature walks, social activities, events such as Multicultural Fairs, etc. We drop into those other 2 groups as our schedule permits and participate in activities that interest us.

We also take weekly indoor swimming lessons for homeschoolers. My kids love to swim. In the summer, we live at the pool.

On top of that, ds is in his second year of Tae Kwon Do. We have to go twice/week year round. Dd is in her 5th year of tap, jazz, and ballet lessons.

One other outing that keeps us hopping is that ds gets speech therapy twice/week. I don't really consider this an "activity," though it does eat into our schedule.

We've been thinking about getting more involved with the youth group at church, though with the above going on we haven't found the time.

In order to get school done (we use Sonlight--lots of reading!), we keep a pretty tight schedule. It all does get done, though!

 

[nuzmom]

I forgot to add Cub Scouts. DS9 did it from the start up until this year. The group he was in just wasn't "his thing". I think the cub scout experience depends sooooo much on the leader. Our leader was very involved with other stuff and cub scouts would be cancelled at the last minute or just "thrown" together. They also didn't get their "rewards" until the end of the year. My DS just didn't like that.

OceanAnnie - what ages are your kids?

 

[bear74]

oh my you all are busy. I plan to put DD in girl scouts when she is old enough. Not sure what else. Will try to start swimming lessons this spring. lots of good ideas though.

 

[OceanAnnie]

OceanAnnie - what ages are your kids?

I didn't see your question! 4 & 2! I'm looking ahead in some cases.

I may try Suzuki violin lessons for them soon. I'm going to see if they'd be interested.

 

[dis-happy]

DD#1 is totally into horses. She spends any amount of time she can at the barn, doing her thing. She also competes in Eventing. She's 16 now, but has been taking lessons since she was 8. Eventually, her other activities (ie. ballet and tennis) were less important to her than horses. They say focus is good! Oh, she does do a youth choir once a week.

DS#2 is our tennis child. He plays 5 days a week in our neighborhood. This doubles as PE!

DS#3 is in K. I need to get him into something, probably t-ball this spring.

They all do French classes (taught by a homeschool mom). And church activities. And our homeschool group has lots of park days, holiday parties, field trips, etc. Overall I like what we're doing and it seems pretty balanced. As a family we also try to do travel opportunities when they arise---we've skiied in Tahoe, travelled to DC, spend time in CA at least once a year, and of course, there's WDW!

 

[laceemouse]

Youth group at church is our number one thing, particularly for dds 12 and 14. They have stuff going on at church several days a week, and the younger two have church stuff also. My ds10 is in a scout group for hsers, he will be moving from cub scouts to boy scouts in a few weeks. Dd 8 does girl scouts with our hs group. All 4 are taking hs p.e. 2 days a week at our community center. The younger 2 are taking an art class there now, and the older 2 are taking fencing! We just moved here and dd8 has done dance in the past and wants to take it again, not sure when we will start that up again. We are planning to join a one day a week co-op for next fall. We are new to hsing and moved a few months ago to Texas so we have never done co-op before and were not able to join mid-year. I have heard it can be tough to get in to some of them so we will see. We do sonlight also, which I love, but we tend to get behind on math (which no one loves) so it is a juggling act time-wise!

 

[summersfam4]

My HS'd DD is in Tae-kwon-do (along with me lol) 3 day/week, this gives us time together outside of schooling, practice, and focus, we have a great class. She also recently took up a HS art class that has a primary focus on types of art and art history thank goodness, as the last one I sent her too, she came home with many projects we could have done at home, but we paid a hefty price . She also starts piano this coming Tuesday, because she loves to play by ear at this time, and I prefer that she start to learn the correct way. Little DD attends a Montessori preschool that her sister attended previously, when she starts HS and extra activities I don't know how we will do it lol , we'll need some PD for sure! Of course, some good organization skills for me along with a timer to tell me what to do and when, a nanny, a housekeeper, and a limo

Kelly