What do your kids do for "extra curricular" activities??

I feel like I'm in a rut with the kids. It seems like all we do is school work and clean the house. I need to find something for the kids to do. Something that is all their own. I would LOVE to have the boys in sports and the girls in gymnastics, but there's no sports for the boys to do since they are in Jr high and High school. I don't feel right putting the girls in something and not the boys.. There are no co-ops here and our homeschool group is full of younger kids and it's a rather small group anyhow. They only get together once a month and it's usually for a field trip. I'm not against field trips or the once a month thing. I just wish that there was something that my boys could do. I was wrong about them being allowed to play sports with the public school kids. So that's totally NOT an option. We live in a small town and I really don't know what they can do here.. I'm at a loss. I feel like they are missing out on so much. What do you all do for "extra Curricular" activities?? Anything out of the ordinary? I need some ideas.

Today we went to the park and flew kites with the girls while the boys fished and went to the skate park. They seem to be in a better mood getting out and doing something. My 14 year old son cracked me up when he asked me to push him on the swings. LOL. Hubby says tonight we are having Atari night when he gets home. Something to break the monotony of our daily lives.

 

I think it depends on their personal interests. There are a lot of programs you can get kids into here in Canada like 4-H, or being leaders for various things like Scouts. Also other programs like the Duke Of Ed. Which allows for extras with some other kids. I am sure there are similiar options in the US. Aside from that perhaps other parent's in your small community feel the same way. What about outdoor hockey at a local rink with other kids their age in winter? Or getting a group together for sledding/snowboarding. A robotics club? Church youth groups? If you don't have options maybe make one yourself you may be surprised at the interest from others

 

We live in a small town as well, but the boys and girls club does sports, and says they aren't affiliated with the school, so maybe that would be an option for you?

We've only just begun, and unfortunately money has been tight, so my 6yo dd isn't in anything yet. Dh started a new job though so once things get rolling I plan to put her in Horseback riding and maybe ballet lessons.

 

My son is in a VERY (extremely) non-competitive soccer group and bowling group. Bowling takes score because it's a league run by the bowling alley, but no one cares about the scores. Actually, I don't think he has a clue what his score is, because he's too busy talking to the other kids to notice (he bowled a 17 with bumpers at the last game, so ... yeah... not competitive! :lol: ). Soccer doesn't even keep score. It's just a bunch of homeschooled Christian kids kicking a ball (badly) back and forth. He LOVES both groups! They're completely different sets of kids, but he gets along with all of them the same. Both groups welcome all ages, too, so there are kids from 3 to about 16 playing.

 

Perhaps there are other moms in your area looking for the very same thing? Maybe you could team up with one or two of them and start a small sports league for the boys to play sports? If not, maybe you just need to make time in your schedule to get them out of the house, take them to the skate park for 2 or 3 hours a week, take them to a tennis court and let them play for an hour or two, or have your hubby spend a little time with them each weekend going fishing, playing golf, kicking a ball, playing basketball in your back yard?

 

DD6- Competitive swimming (although she's not really too competitive just yet)
DD9-Ballet
DD12-competitive swimming, tween book club
DS14-Boy Scouts, Teen book club

 

DS#1 takes swim and gymnastics, DS#2 takes swim. I would love to find an alternative to Boy Scouts for DS#1, but there doesn't seem to be anything around.

 

I so feel for you. I am where you are at--live in a small town, no homeschooled children of jr or high school age (as far as I know and I know just about all of the homeschool families), and have little money to spend on extras. I don't have any answers but you are not alone.

Your family activities sound great. Those memories will last forever.

 

I think it really depends on what they are interested in. If they are really interested in sports maybe you could start a club that meets after church for a game of whatever. I know our church used to rent a gym when I was a kid for what we called family gym night, maybe you could do something similar. If there are few kids in your neck of the woods that are homeschoolers you might need to make it more opened ended for all kids. Weekend hikes are popular here with groups from the church.

Some things don't require big groups. Learning to play an instrument for example. That is something they can really "own" for themselves. They could also play in the church or sometimes they have community bands if your town is big enough to have a community college that supports things like that. If there is a community college you might want to see what activities they have. Sometimes they have sports open to the public (although their might be an age limit), sometimes knitting, woodworking, or nature classes. They might choose to try a new hobby at home rather than in a group.

It would probably be best to figure out what they want to do or what you want them to try and then try to search out a way to make it work if you can. I will say my little brothers were very lucky to get homeschooled in the bush. They didn't have any group things as the nearest neighbors were a couple of hours away on snowmachine (no road) but they learned to ski, snowshoe, ran dogs, and of course built all their dog houses etc. You could look at it as they missed out on this or that but you also have to count what they had that they otherwise wouldn't have had. It sounds like your kids are going to have some great memories.

 

Contact local churches, the library, scouting groups, the local parks... they should all be able to let you know of different activities available.
My oldest does scouts right now. He has played t-ball and soccer with the local sports group, karate, and even had a few golf lessons. He wants to start guitar lessons soon, but we have to find someone first.
Even if they don't have an organization to join, just try to get up a group of your own. You can put ads in the local papers, do a search on yahoo groups for homeschoolers in your area, etc. Until you do find some others to join, just make it a point to get out at least 2x a week to play. We ALL need that down time, and honestly, the house will still be waiting on you to clean it when you're done.

 

We are blessed with a large homeschool community and there was plenty for sd to do while she was in high school. We even have a place that is geared to middle and high school students. Professionals or parents offer classes there (for a fee) and they also have things like book clubs, sports/gym, chorus and things like that. If something like that is missing in your area maybe you could put out some feelers on yahoo or craigslist and see if you can find some other hs families in the same situtation. You could meet at a Church or a library. Start small and then build it up.

 

what about Karate, Tae Kwon Do, or Gymnastics? And my kids do 4-H. There is a homeschool 4-H group in our area. (keep in mind that 4-h is not just raising farm animals anymore...public speaking is huge around here...photography, the arts, entomology, dog projects....it covers a lot of areas)

 

Delaney is in church choir and does children church on Sunday. Monday is swim class. Tue she goes with Mommy and Daddy to church to play while the adults do bell choir. Wed is Wednesday Night Owt (a sunday school class on Wed). Thur. is soccer. Friday is a free day in which she often goes shopping with me. Saturday is soccer games and errands. Then back to Sunday!

She is actually in more activities than my older kids!:lol:

There is a library time for homeschooled kids here. So check your library. We don't participate right now but have gone to the preschool story hours. Plus there is usually family nights too there. Plus tons of afterschool community activities like gym ,baseball, soccer, cheerleading, etc. What about boy/girl scouts?

I haven't been able to find any hs groups here either and we live in a small town too. BUT there is so much other things for her to get into that I don't worry

 

I can empathize with what you are dealing with. We faced a similar situation over the last few years when many of our local homeschoolers with older children dropped out of our group and all that is now left are moms with very young children and one family with two sons about my boys' age. (I have ds15 and ds14 still hs'ing. She has twin sons aged 15)

Here are some things that we did:
We invited the other family with 2 sons over for dinner and our boys presented power point projects (with a laptop & projector) after dinner. They worked on them the previous week. (ages at the time 16, 14, 13, 13 & 12)

The four boys organized a medieval feast and invited everyone they could think of, homeschooling and church wide. They worked on this for a school year. By the time the feast rolled around that spring, we had 125 people in attendance, dueling by local reenactors, musicians, and everyone (shockingly) made costumes.

My ds15 at the first monthly park day got all the kiddos together (all ages 4-16) and taught them how to play tag football in a grassy area. This has turned into an incredible time of fun for everyone since and has the kids doing something active without the cost of a league, uniforms or too competitive. I mean, how competitive can you be with those as young as 4 and 5 on your team. They are so sweet to the young ones.

We started literature clubs. People just came out of the woodwork to participate. We have groups for all ages. The high school group began with my 3 boys and my friend's 2 sons. One of my boys is now graduated and we have about 6 in that club now.

Other ideas that we have done or plan to do:
paintball
Game Day (board games during the winter months at our library)
Art classes (Sharon Jeffus with Visual manna came and taught art classes for a day. Again, people came out of the woodwork.

Search online (yahoo groups?) for other local hs'ers to do things with you. many times if you arrange something as a mom, others will flock to your activity, class or field trip.

Blessings~

 

my kids will sign up for what ever sport they are interested in at the moment (for the most part) and some take karate. There is also scouting. At this point and time everyone can do something but once we go back to the states I will be in the same boat as you age wise. I will have a teen and just about everything stops at age 12 because then they just assume every child is in high school. At least there is scouting and 4-H for the teens. Attend church? Maybe there is a program or two there they can join?

 

Do you attend a church with a youth group? How about music lessons? I know a family of homeschoolers who started their three boys in piano lessons as teens. The had a good time! Even if you don't have a church with a youth group often times other churches will let non-members come to their youth groups. My kids are being raised Catholic, but they attend a youth group (older dd) and FW friends (younger two) at the Methodist church a block from my house.

Another friend has a son who is an Explorer which is like a Jr. Fireman. They learn about fire saftey, help clean up the trucks after a fire run, and if they show enough responsibility and leadership they even get to go on some trainings dealing with real fire. It's pretty cool!

Good luck!
Edie

 

Many churches have sports teams. Call around and see if you and your kids could get involved in any. Also check and see if they host scouts or keepers of the faith. Does your county have a rec department? Many times they have programs for older kids and teens who have aged out of little league.

DS 10: football, basketball, and baseball
DD 5: cheerleading and t-ball
DD 11 months: eats, sleeps, poops, cries, pat-a-cake, making messes and laughing!

we do keepers of the faith at home since we don't belong to any groups...check online and see if there is something else you can do for your kids without being involved in a group. Some programs allow you to start your own group with your children.

If travel isn't an issue go to a larger town once a week and go skating, bowling, movies, museums....etc.

Remember to just have fun!

 

We do do a co-op. We're also involved in a couple field-trip co-ops (where we're all homeschoolers, but all we really do together are field trips).

My son is in Karate. He was just recently invited to the leadership team, which means he'll get to go to the dojo more often. He's very excited.

My oldest is a competitive gymnast and is at the gym 14 hours a week, not to mention meets and such on weekends. (THANK YOU GOD that we made it through another season!)...things slow down now...summer practice drops to 11 hours a week. YAY!

My youngest does gymnastics, also, but that's just once a week.

We do a smattering of classes. We belong to a yahoo group, and every once in a while they'll post a science class, or something. My oldest will be doing an Art Journalling class for 3 weeks in June. Fun stuff, but also some serious stuff, too.

We participate in a loose "International Day", where the kids do a country report/display and we set it up like a science fair where the kids can walk around and check out each other's countries.

Several other things like that. Most days I feel like a car-schooler, not a home-schooler.

 

I think there may be stuff for your boys if you look around a little. Bowling, tap dancing, Boy Scouts, music lessons, 4-H, skiing, gymnastics, karate, and swimming are possibilities. Could you get together a few kids for a small recreational sports league? I remember someone who worked for Fellowship of Christian Athletes talking about having an open invitation for his son's friends to come over at a certain time every Sunday afternoon for a game of flag football because he didn't want them in organized tackle football yet. You could pick the sport and do something similar with teens you know.

 

My son, age 13, just started taking piano lessons and he loves it. He's been bugging me for lessons in anything (piano, drums, guitar) and we never had the money until now. He's been playing 4 weeks. It's not too late to get your older kids into music. You might try that. Sometimes piano teachers will give you a discount if you put them in a group lesson.

The other idea I have for you is volunteering. At 14, your oldest may be able to volunteer at the local hospital, humane society and library. It seems that 14 is the magic number-at least it is around here. All those places accept kids at 14. Plus it looks good on your homeschool transcript and he can use it on his job applications after he turns 15 or 16.

I've been starting to put together things to do for the summer for my kids. I'm getting models, canvases and paint, bird houses to paint, cake mixes, small art kits, books, comics, Mad Libs, water balloons, puzzles and whatever else I can think of and put the stuff in big plastic bins. Then the kids can pull stuff out to do when they're bored. I also have lined up the Regal $1 movie schedule, locations of community pools, and Kids Bowl Free. Between those things and seeing friends sometimes, that should keep them busy.