MOOKs, how many activities is too much?

[Deleted]

What do your school-age kids do?  Can you please lay it out for me?

My DS1 is 5.5 and he does these things once a week each:

Swimming lesson
Soccer
Trumpet lesson (includes 20-30 mins practise every night with H)
Gymnastics

We're going to cut the gymnastics soon.  Unfortunately all his friends do a million things too.  It's so easy to get overscheduled.  I'm not liking it
He needs to do swimming because of where we live, and music is non-negotiable.  And I guess a team sport is important.  AHH.  How do people do this with 3-4 kids?
My DS2 doesn't do anything yet.  He will start swimming when he turns 3.  

You??

[jg183]

ugh not a mook but it does sound stressful.
Luke is in gymnastics and swim. we were doing music too but I needed a break and he gets it during the school week at his daycare.

I can't imagine how tough it will be when he has more of a say!

[musiclover]

A is 6 now and mainly his does gymnastics. He'll also begin swimming lessons in December. For me, 1-2 activities per child is all I can handle.
N is not in anything yet.... Poor 2nd child lol. We'll pick up something for him next year.

[Deleted]

Oct 20, 2014 21:32:18 GMT -5 @therealmc said:

Dylan does Lego club and he has dance class twice a week. Thankfully swim lessons ended although he needs to keep going to that. It feels like too much to me but I don't know.

LEGO CLUB!!  omg, my DS1 would flip out if we had this available.  It's just as well we don't, haha.

What do they do?  Is it through the school?

[charlielove]

Right now she does gymnastics once a week. She does swimming lessons in the summer, and soccer and softball during those seasons.

I think 1-2 weekly activities for her plus school and homework are enough for us.

[Deleted]

Oct 20, 2014 21:40:13 GMT -5 charlielove said:

Right now she does gymnastics once a week. She does swimming lessons in the summer, and soccer and softball during those seasons.

I think 1-2 weekly activities for her plus school and homework are enough for us.

What kind of homework does she get nightly?

So far we just have reading (and trumpet)

[devonpow]

Henry is 7.5. His schedule is:

monday - reading tutor 5-6pm (at home)
Tuesday - nothing
wednesday - Lego club (2:40-3:40)
Thursday - after school science class (2:40-3:40) and soccer practice (5:30-6:30)
friday - play group (not really an "activity" but somewhat)
saturday - soccer game 
Sunday - nothing 

The amount that he does is fine and he still has a ton of free time. Soccer ends in a few weeks and I need to get him in a winter sport. I think doing at least one sport a season is really important. 

Around here most kids do a crap ton of activities. Things like Kumon and Russian math are big - but I'm avoiding "academic" extracurriculars got him. Already I feel like his friends have very limited time for play  dates now and it's going to get worse. 2nd grade is when kids try out for the traveling sport teams, plus a large majority of his friends started Hebrew school which takes a lot of time. H is actually under scheduled comparatively 

(Elliot is only in one class currently - music - but he is in preschool 3 days a week and does a yoga class there. He is going to start swim and  soccer in the spring)

[charlielove]

Oct 20, 2014 21:47:02 GMT -5 @starbound said:

Oct 20, 2014 21:40:13 GMT -5 charlielove said:

Right now she does gymnastics once a week. She does swimming lessons in the summer, and soccer and softball during those seasons.

I think 1-2 weekly activities for her plus school and homework are enough for us.

What kind of homework does she get nightly?

So far we just have reading (and trumpet)

She has 2-3 worksheets, reading a (short) book with her sight words, practicing letter sounds/sounding out words, counting and sight word memorization nightly.
Eta: this sounds like more than it is...the worksheets take her max 15 minutes but usually less.

[tuck]

We homeschool, so our daily schedule is going to be pretty different from most people's, no matter what. We are typically done with school by noon, and the afternoons are for grocery shopping, going to the park/beach/whatever, and free time.

I tend to keep us to one weekly commitment per child. More than that makes me twitchy.

So, on Mondays Sadie has speech therapy, and Holden has Girl Scouts on Friday. Girl Scouts takes at least 3 hours when you factor in driving time. I'm trying to get to where we do one additional out-of-the-house thing with our local homeschool group a week- this Thursday we are going to a playdate with a bunch of homeschool kids.

I'm of the opinion that less is more when it comes to scheduled activities. I think creativity flourishes best when kids have plenty of time to just be.

[bridgilly]

G has horseback riding lessons once a week and piano lessons once a week. She has to practice piano for 20 minutes every day plus she has homework every day. I don't really want to schedule much more than this for her, unless it's a play date with a friend. It stresses me out thinking about having another activity for her and she really likes having the free time to play with her friends.

[Dorothy Zbornak]

Dance 2x a week, swimming 2x a week. Totally enough for us.

[katfco]

Sadly, Abby is not in anything. She does before and after school daycare. In the past, we've tried to get her into karate and gymnastics, but they were at the community center and she just wasn't mature enough for the classes.

[chasbride07]

DS1 has religious ed on Monday, karate Tuesday & Thursday, and boy scouts once a month on Tuesday and then every other Sunday.

D22 has karate on Thursday.

DD goes to Little Gym Tuesday morning with the nanny.

I would love for all of them to do some sort of team sport but honestly I don't know how much we can handle. If the boys wanted to do a sport, then we would have to give up Karate. I think I'll end up putting DD in gymnastics in the next year. The boys will likely do swim team next summer for 2 months.

[nilex0102]

We currently do gymnastics, soccer and swim once a week and it is getting to be a lot with birthday parties etc. swim is about over and I am glad it is for a while. I am very against over scheduling because I think it is good for them to have to entertain themselves part of the time. And DD does gymnastics for now. Enough for two years old by any means

[jsillyfun]

Our plan is one physical activity and one music class. Swim lessons will just be in the summer but every day instead if once a week. Probably also Girl Scouts but that's only twice a month.

[greenkitty98]

B is in Cub Scouts (Lion Cubs is for K, but it isn't available everywhere) and Kindersong. We will be starting up swim lessons again mid November.

[skwcm80]

Two is L's max, with one being ideal. I don't know how we would fit in more than two activities plus school. Both kids will be swimming in a few weeks.

[thedahliharpa]

Speech once a week after school
Soccer practice once a week after school
Soccer games on Saturday.

W/ both of us working and all of the school responsibilities we are at capacity. In summer she does swim once a week instead of soccer.

If she stays at her school they offer very affordable music lessons after school starting in the third grade. She would do that since she's already at after school care most days.

[EnchantedSoul]

DS1(9yrs) had
Mon: St. Catherine's Kids Club
Tues: soccer
Weds: karate
Thurs: soccer
Friday: karate
Sat: soccer
Sun: soccer (sometimes)

3-4 hrs nightly homework. Soccer just ended and we are not adding another sport. Last night, we had our first issue. He wanted to go out and play with friends at 6:15. He couldn't, because he still had 1-2 hrs of hmwk left, dinner and shower. This is way too much. If he had less hmwk, it would be doable.

[fusion]

2 will be our absolute max with three kids, and def not 2 each at the same time unless they are going together. J does a gymnastics preschool T/Th. Anna doesn't do anything yet. They'll both start swim in the spring and Anna will go to preschool with J then too so they'll both be doing both things but at the same time (and preschool is dropoff). I'll probably do dance with Anna next fall and start J on something else then as well. Going to be crazy with 3.

[twirlermom]

DD1 is quite a busy little girl. Currently she has a baton lesson on Monday, gymnastics on Tuesday, nothing Wednesday, gymnastics again on Thursday, dance on Friday night. She goes to preschool 5 days a week from 9:15 - 11:45. Then all her activities start between 5 and 6:30.

DD2 currently is only in gymnastics one night a week. Most of the other things we have DD1 doing we can't get DD2 started in until she is 3. So next year she will be in some more activities.

DD1 asks me each morning what activity she has that day. She seems to have a lot of fun with each of them.

[Deleted]

Oct 20, 2014 21:53:41 GMT -5 charlielove said:

Oct 20, 2014 21:47:02 GMT -5 @starbound said:

What kind of homework does she get nightly?

So far we just have reading (and trumpet)

She has 2-3 worksheets, reading a (short) book with her sight words, practicing letter sounds/sounding out words, counting and sight word memorization nightly.
Eta: this sounds like more than it is...the worksheets take her max 15 minutes but usually less.

Woah, I totally jinxed myself here.  Yesterday DS1 came home with "spelling words" 
Nothing too complicated, just "and" "the" "that" etc.  But still!  spelling!! it's starting...

I hate homework for little kids.  He's so wiped out at the end of the school day, I feel terrible making him do more work when all he wants to do is run around outside with his brother

[charlielove]

Oct 21, 2014 21:36:23 GMT -5 @starbound said:

Oct 20, 2014 21:53:41 GMT -5 charlielove said:

She has 2-3 worksheets, reading a (short) book with her sight words, practicing letter sounds/sounding out words, counting and sight word memorization nightly.
Eta: this sounds like more than it is...the worksheets take her max 15 minutes but usually less.

Woah, I totally jinxed myself here.  Yesterday DS1 came home with "spelling words" 
Nothing too complicated, just "and" "the" "that" etc.  But still!  spelling!! it's starting...

I hate homework for little kids.  He's so wiped out at the end of the school day, I feel terrible making him do more work when all he wants to do is run around outside with his brother

Oh no! I try to get most of the stuff done while with her while C2 takes a nap so they can go outside and play the rest of the afternoon. Hopefully it's not too time consuming for him!

[Deleted]

Oct 21, 2014 21:45:30 GMT -5 charlielove said:

Oct 21, 2014 21:36:23 GMT -5 @starbound said:

Woah, I totally jinxed myself here.  Yesterday DS1 came home with "spelling words" 
Nothing too complicated, just "and" "the" "that" etc.  But still!  spelling!! it's starting...

I hate homework for little kids.  He's so wiped out at the end of the school day, I feel terrible making him do more work when all he wants to do is run around outside with his brother

Oh no! I try to get most of the stuff done while with her while C2 takes a nap so they can go outside and play the rest of the afternoon. Hopefully it's not too time consuming for him!

That sounds like a good schedule.. Does C1 have an early pick-up? or do a half day?

Here school finishes at 3.30 and the kids just want to run around after being cooped up all day.  All our reading/spelling/trumpet gets crammed before dinner at 6pm and bed at 7pm.  Ugh!  I hate it.  We need to come up with a better system.

[charlielove]

Oct 21, 2014 21:50:16 GMT -5 @starbound said:

Oct 21, 2014 21:45:30 GMT -5 charlielove said:

Oh no! I try to get most of the stuff done while with her while C2 takes a nap so they can go outside and play the rest of the afternoon. Hopefully it's not too time consuming for him!

That sounds like a good schedule.. Does C1 have an early pick-up? or do a half day?

Here school finishes at 3.30 and the kids just want to run around after being cooped up all day.  All our reading/spelling/trumpet gets crammed before dinner at 6pm and bed at 7pm.  Ugh!  I hate it.  We need to come up with a better system.

She gets out at noon. It does make it harder that he gets out so late. That is a long day for little ones.

[thedahliharpa]

Oct 21, 2014 12:45:53 GMT -5 EnchantedSoul said:

DS1(9yrs) had
Mon: St. Catherine's Kids Club
Tues: soccer
Weds: karate
Thurs: soccer
Friday: karate
Sat: soccer
Sun: soccer (sometimes)

3-4 hrs nightly homework. Soccer just ended and we are not adding another sport. Last night, we had our first issue. He wanted to go out and play with friends at 6:15. He couldn't, because he still had 1-2 hrs of hmwk left, dinner and shower. This is way too much. If he had less hmwk, it would be doable.

I feel overwhelmed some nights with worksheets,sight words and reading. 3-4 hours of homework scares me!