HOTM: Extra-Curricular Activities

What is your weekly extra-curricular routine? Do your kids take music lessons? Sports? Are they involved in church activities? How much time does this leave for family time? Are you over-scheduled or relaxed in your outside programs? Share with us your thoughts on this!

We are so fortunate to be a part of a great homeschool group here in Colorado. I will miss them so much when we move next year. Many of our extra-curricular activities involve CCHE (Classical Christian Home Educators). Shelby (the owner) works really hard to find economical, educational, and fun activities for the kids. We usually join them 1-2 times a week.

Cristian also participates in JOAD Junior Olympic Archery Development. I heard about the program through a member of CCHE who participates in the program in another town. I had tried to no avail to involve C in some sort of class- soccer, t-ball, underwater basket weaving. He's not your typical team sport kid. He would rather do something individually. So, when I heard about JOAD, I was elated. C had been talking about archery for awhile. How he heard about it, I don't know. We started about 3 months ago and he loves it. He has INCREDIBLE instructors. He enjoys the company of the other participants. In addition, it's a great thing for him & Daddy to do. C goes to JOAD about once a week.

I would say we're really relaxed in our extra curricular activities. I think there are weeks I feel overscheduled, but then I reevaluate and adjust. We have activities we participate in with other families, but then we use this time as bonding time with one another, too. I think it's REALLY important to have a good support system that is accepting and positive about homeschooling, particularly if there are people in your life that object to hs'ing. Too, it's important for our children to be around children outside of the home. That's just my personal opinion. We leave LOTS of opportunity for C to be with solely Daddy, Bella & me, but it's good to have outside experiences as well. I admit most of his experiences involve other hs'ed children. I think that hs'ed children are very different socially from children conventionally schooled. I think those are positive attributes. That said, I don't object to he or his sister having friends who aren't homeschooled. He has friends in the neighborhood who aren't and I think it's fine. I think as long as everyone involved is having a good time and aren't stressed out by the amount of activities involved, it's great.

For more HS experiences, please visit the Heart of the Matter icon to the right :)