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Athletics and homeschooling
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To keep this short and to the point, I basically want to ask if anyone can give me advice about my 12 yo son. He has always been quite athletically gifted. The problem is that there is not a lot of options for homeschooled kids and competitive sports in my community. We tried the local community sports for the first time this year and it was crazy…practices and games were going on all week! The coaches and other parents were surprised about our family’s decision to not continue participating through the entire year, especially since my son made the summer All Stars team and we turned it down too because it involved my son having 3 hour practice EVERY day, plus out of town games! CRAZY!
But, my son does like sports and is good at it. We want to give him opportunity, but it is hard to find a balance. Have any of you found a happy medium?
Athletics around here are the same way. Is your son open to different kinds of sports?
I know around here baseball, soccer, bball, football are not good options b/c of what you mentioned above.
We have found swimming at the local Y to be a good option. We can do the meets or not with no penalties. During the fall, winter and spring, meets are held on Sat. mornings and practices are offered throughout the week but are not all required. It is more based on one’s ability AND desires (e.g. more competitive or more relaxed).
Also, two of our sons are taking tennis lessons right now and will have an option to compete in a spring league. I don’t know all of the details yet but it sounds similar to the swimming. We can compete to our comfort level, which I like.
I also think swimming and tennis are sports our children could use throughout life moreso than some of the others and they can do them individually as well (practice I mean).
As for competing, I have two sons who LOVE competing. Chess is another thing we’ve discovered. Our local library has a group that meets and plays competitively but for fun. You can come and go as it fits your schedule.
Our 4 sons also take taekwondo, but they do not have any competitions except two a year. This has been a good sport for them i terms of conditioning, GREAT during our rainy, wet winters when outside time is so limited, etc.
I don’t know if any of this helps but thought I’d share the happy medium we have found, which led us to step away from soccer for the main reasons you mentioned. Not saying the team sports are bad, but the time commitment required was too much for our family.
Where do you live? There ARE homeschool teams available, but it depends on how close they are to you, and how willing you are to travel.
And YES it is crazy! lol My oldest did track and field last winter/spring with a competative high school team–all homeschool kids. He liked it enough to join the cross country team this summer/fall. Now my daughter is joining a homeschool basketball team (she’s in 7th grade) We have TWO groups here that do that. Our teams compete mostly against private school teams, but a few other homeschool teams and my son’s last meet (for cross country) was mostly public school teams. We do Y sports for the younger kids, but they only go so high up in age. My daughter is just now transitioning over from Y recreational stuff to the competative homeschool team. BUT it does take some level of committment for the parents too, because unlike school that provide busing–*I* am the bus that gets them to practices, games, etc. and not all of them are very close. (Most are within an hour with a couple exceptions like the homeschool state track meet which was optional due to the distance.)
As far as how much time– my son’s c.c. practices are an hour and a half, track was 2 hours. My daughter’s basketball ones are about 1.5 hrs as well, all twice a week. They are expected to do at-home practice or workouts because again, unlike schools that practice every day after school, we have to borrow other fields/courts, etc. so they don’t get in as much practice together. My son’s teams REQUIRE him to do runs at home and keep track online where the coaches can see if they’re doing their “homework” or not so there’s some accountability *I* don’t have to enforce which is nice. lol
My son is good at any sport he has tried so far. He does do swimming, but he is wanting something else added since he is getting older and would like an extra competitive sport. (swim meets are not very often)
Tennis is an option, I will look further into that. I have never thought about taekwondo, that is something interesting. I will talk to hubby about it.
And there are some great homeschool teams available out of town, but it’s a good hour drive to get there. Doing that at this point with high gas prices is not going to work for us! 😮
Thanks ladies!!
And YES it is crazy! lol My oldest did track and field last winter/spring with a competative high school team–all homeschool kids. He liked it enough to join the cross country team this summer/fall. Now my daughter is joining a homeschool basketball team (she’s in 7th grade) We have TWO groups here that do that. Our teams compete mostly against private school teams, but a few other homeschool teams and my son’s last meet (for cross country) was mostly public school teams. Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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