Finding Inexpensive Clubs/Sports/Music for Homeschoolers

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Question

One thing I love about public schools are the opportunities it offers kids to get involved in clubs, sports, music, etc. how do you find those opportunities for homeschool kids at a cheap cost?

City Recreation

City Rec Leagues are an inexpensive way to get kids involved in basketball/soccer or other sports. I know our city also offers swimming lessons, gymnastic classes and other programs for anyone in the community. These classes are relatively inexpensive and still really fun.

Organizations for Homeschoolers

There is probably a homeschool organization in your area (check for a facebook group) that offers choir classes or art classes like I took when I was little.

The Arts

A lot of parents choose private music lessons even if their kids are in public school; see if you could find someone who teaches music and trade out babysitting. When I was 12, I really wanted to learn to paint and my aunt had taken an art class at BYU, so I babysat her kids in exchange for art lessons.

How Do I Find A Commonwealth School In My Area?

Here is a link to all the Leadership Education Mentoring Institute (LEMI) affiliated Commonwealth Schools. There are a lot more homeschooling co-ops; these are only homeschooling co-ops assosiated with LEMI. "Statesman Leadership Academy" is the one I belong to; it's in Fort Collins and it's a day a week. I love it because I have formed close relationships with other moms of homeschoolers and I have a way to contribute (I team teach twenty12-18 year olds). Heidi Pope and I are hoping to put together a registered Commonwealth School here in Cheyenne and we have a lot of other moms who are interested, so we hope we'll add one more!

Can My Kids be Involved in Public School Activities While Homeschooled?

I know Bekah and Rosanne were asking if your kids could be involved with public school classes/music/sports etc. I know the schools here in Cheyenne allow you to take however many classes you want from the public schools. I'm guessing it's partly because the school gets funding for your student even if they're only there for a class or two. My brother played on the soccer team, I did choir and guitar and geometry through the school system etc. I think you would have to just check with your local schools to see if they allow that.

Clubs for Kids

Find another mom who is holding an after-school club. Your kids can always participate; homeschooling doesn't limit them. Consider heading up your own club -- my mother-in-law created an after school group for her kids to learn science with other kids in their neighborhood.

Mom School

"A Mom School exists where a mother or father sees specific needs in their own child(ren) and organizes to fulfill those needs...Watch your children closely, stay in tune with their needs, interests, hopes, dreams, fears, goals, talents, etc., and when you see something they need, help them get it. Sometimes that means a certain book, other times it means a field trip of a long talk, and sometimes it will require them interacting with other children or youth in a club or other group" (Leadership Education p. 118)

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The Weekly Club

In their book, Leadership Education, the De Mille's suggest that a once a week club is vital to Love of Learning Education. Examples of clubs they list are "scouts, church youth groups, service project groups, and Mom Schools such as the Young Stateswomen Society, Knights of Freedom and Liberty Girls. A Mom School is under the prview of the mother who takes responsibility for it, and the more she can include her children in the administration and leadership of the club, the better.

"The dynamics of a club can be intoxicating -- it can dominate the kids' attention and focus. By the same token, the club can be inspiring and motivating; the group dynamic and social interaction can apply positive peer pressure in support of the family's culture and the individual's goals" (Leadership Education, p. 100)

How Can You Tell When It's Too Much?

"The consequences of too much of a good thing are that the kids tend to become peer-centered, it tends to deplete mom's energy (lots of chauffeuring and lot of responding to the damands of commitments to the club), it tends to diffuse energy away from the home front, and it creates a fast-paced liestyle that is both addictive and nearly impossible to maintain" (Leadership Education, p. 100).