Homeschool World Forum

[Lorelei Sieja]

I just worry about all these extracurrliculars taking over. We want the best for our kids, but in trying to do too much, we risk destroying what we have. During the years I lived in OK while homeschooling, my kids were in Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4H, art lessons, dance lessons, soccer, the Home School Support Group, Home School Fridays (we met once a month for team teaching, workshops, and such), horse riding lessons, gymnastics, Suzuki music lessons (twelve classes a week!), my son took a week-long community ed class on construction, three of them had paper routes, they were in religion classes at church, and we went on field trips. Not all at once, mind you, but in the span of four years!

DOn't do this to yourself! I felt llike printing a bumper sticker that read "If I'm a homeschooling mom, why do I feel like I live in the car?" It was too true to be funny.

When we moved to NC, I had had enough. They dropped out of everything except soccer, and my son stayed with Boy Scouts. (He's an Eagle Scout now). As a family, we got involved in community theater, and were all on stage in the same musical. That was enough. We had time to build family relationships, support and encourage one another, AND get our homeschool work done!

We don't want to duplicate the public schools! If we did, we'd send our children there. The public school children are so overwhelmed and overscheduled that they do not know how to be CHILDREN any more. Let us give our children the most precious gift we can give them. A happy childhood. All the rest - it's just stuff.
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Lorelei Sieja
www.raisingcreativechildren.com
Nurturing Creative Young Minds and Wiggly Bodies

[Jill]

I agree.
A mentor of mine told me..."Don't let the good crowd out the best." Which meant to choose the BEST opportunities for your child's future and even though there will be other things that are good and probably worthwhile, learn to say no.
It has been good advice.
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Jill
http://www.homeschool-by-design.com
Where love and learning go hand in hand.

[Matt Conrad]

We go through a scheduled-events cycle around our house. We start making commitments one at a time and next thing you know we're overscheduled and running around nearly every day. So we start cutting back--until we're sitting around the house too much, and it all starts over again.

When we started homeschooling I thought eventually we'd figure it all out and have a nice smooth road that we could follow for years and years. It has been years now and hasn't happened yet . . .
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www.HomeSchoolDayBook.com -- software for easy homeschool record keeping and time tracking

[Miss_Kristy]

During the summer, we don't do any scheduled activities or sports. I like to have the summer free to go camping for a few weeks if I want or to go out of state to visit family. Also, the PS kids are always at my house during the summer months so my kids have plenty of friends to interact with.

We try to schedule things for the winter months when we're all couped up in the house and ready to kill each other. LOL