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Extra-curricular activities

Find advice on the best extra curricular activities in secondary schools and primary schools here.

After school activities - how much is too much?

14 replies

MollyMission · 18/05/2012 07:42

Currently my DS (year 2) does:

Monday - tennis after school
Tuesday - nothing
Wednesday - science club
Thursday - judo
Friday - beavers

Am thinking about dropping stuff and taking up new experiences in year 3 but keen to keep the beavers/cubs thing going.

Year 3 presumably will step up the homework - already has 20mins a day plus weekend work.

Of course I will ask him what he wants to do - problem is that he's a great joiner in and always wants to do everything!

So how much is too much and what would be reasonable?

What do your kids do?

Thanks.

OP posts:
DeWe · 18/05/2012 09:37

I think it depends on your kid and their siblings.

Dd1&2 (year 6 and 3) do a lot and enjoy it. Ds (reception) does ballet only, and that's because we'd be there anyway between the girls lessons. He wouldn't cope (at present) with things after school.

Dd1&2 (particularly 1) would do more if she could, but can't fit it in with other activities. I have two evenings where I'd driving from one to another activity.

You may find there's more after school clubs to do from year 3.

MrsLetch · 18/05/2012 14:41

I agree that it is totally up to what you and your child decide, what your child can cope with and their tiredness levels, amount of homework given and so on..

My DD does a lot and I often get the rolled eyes from other mums who think my DD does too much...

My DD does:
Monday 3 hours Gym
Tuesday 2 hours dancing
Wed 3 hours gym
Thursday - day off
Friday 3 hours gym
Sat - day off
Sun - 3 hours gym.

She is 8 and also in year 3.

But her levels of activity are phenomenal, she has zero ability to sit down and just is a very active and always has been (which is why I sent her to gym, to calm her down, in the first place).

The other week, I took her to a 3 hour gym training session, and in the afternoon we went out and she saw a gym friend there...and did four hours of running around and doing gymnastics on a big field.

Last week she came out of another three hour training session and did 107 backward walkovers on the way back to the car.

Last weekend, she stayed at a friends house overnight, stayed up to 9.30pm, woke friend up at 6am to start playing, went for a 3 hour training session at 9am (on the way home, friend was knackered and commented on my DD 'MrsLetchchild is never tired') but my DD came home and had a two hour bounce on the trampoline.

Sure, I get people insinuating all the time that my DD does too much, how does an 8 year old cope and so on... but I know my daughter best and I know she can and does cope. More than that, she thrives. She's doing well at school, I never wake her up in the mornings and she has just asked me if she can start swimming lessons on her day off. I said no Grin.

Honestly, everyone has an opinion and every child is different - what would knacker out another child would be nothing for my DD, so you have to do what's best for your child, not what someone else thinks.

PS Your child's hobbies sounds lovely to me :)

TheCunningStunt · 18/05/2012 14:44

I agree it's child dependant. You know your children and as long as they enjoy it and get a good mix of free time too...I see no issue. My five year old swims on Monday , does martial arts on a tuesday and Thursday and is keep to join beavers when old enough.

RaspberryLemonPavlova · 18/05/2012 23:14

It does depend on your children and their siblings. I spend all my time juggling. I also find that DS2 used to spend a lot of time in the car or hanging around places after school whereas DS1 could just go home and chill at the same age. Whether that is the reason DS2 wants to be busy all the time I couldn't say.

DS2 y4 currently does

Monday Gym Club (before school)
Chess Club (after school)
Swimming Lessons

Tuesday Cathedral choir
Youth Orchestra

Wednesday School Orchestra
Cubs

Thursday Woodwind Ensemble (before school)
School Choir
County Junior Wind Band

Friday Cathedral Choir

Saturday Piano Lesson and Tae-Kwondo

Looking at that it seems really brutal, and he learns 2 other instruments as well so has to fit in all his practice. But he loves everything.

The Cathedral Choir is very new and as it takes up more time he will need to drop other things.

basildonbond · 19/05/2012 09:19

It completely depends on your child - what would be far too much for one child wouldn't be enough for another

dd (y4) is a 'joiner' - she loves doing activities and is always asking to do more but I've instigated a 'one in/one out' policy

Her current week is:
Mondays - gymnastics (after school club)
Tuesdays - nothing
Wednesdays - swimming squad
Thursdays - swimming club
Fridays - nothing
Saturdays - swimming club & riding
Sundays - cricket

She's also learning the piano so fits practice and homework in on top - she was doing ballet on Tuesdays and gymnastics on Fridays as well but has recently dropped those so she has some time just to flop and play and draw and cook etc etc

Ds2 on the other hand at the same age just did one swimming lesson and one cricket session a week and that was it - anything more would have been torture for him

With dd when she started saying she was too tired to do ballet, that's when she stopped (she's never too tired to go riding ...)

MollyMission · 19/05/2012 12:20

Thanks everyone for your input.

Piano? Oooh how lovely to lean an instrument ..... starts thinking .....

OP posts:
ragged · 19/05/2012 15:35

lol, DD me running her around to 9-10 activities/wk at the end of y3. Impossible to sustain. Be careful you don't burn yourselves out.

Dancergirl · 22/05/2012 23:02

I like my dc to have at least 2 weekdays doing no activities. It does depend on the child but having said that, even with the most active of children it's good for them to have plenty of unstructured time for them to see a friend, play with their siblings or just chill out at home.

My 3 dds all do ballet and the older 2 do brownies/guides as well. Dd1 is very keen on ballet and does a lot of classes each week but luckily they are often one after another so she still manages to keep a few days free.

putri · 30/05/2012 21:48

Mine does piano, ballet, gymnastics (6hrs/week), and swimming. Her choice although I won't let her quit swimming until she's good at it. She has Sat-Mon off but the end of June her gymnastics schedule will change, more hours, and our schedule will be similar to basil + the other activities that dd wants to keep.

I was sad when dd wanted to quit French club but it was understandable. Nobody else from her school, only me to practice with and it was a mad dash to get there.

morethanpotatoprints · 01/06/2012 16:21

I think it depends on the dc's and their interests. My dd is quite odd and enjoys lots of things, but gets emotional about them and feels the need to do well. She's not competitive with others just against herself.

Monday - 2 hours dancing. 2 hours music
Tuesday - as above
Wednesday - 2 hours music - violin lesson
Thursday - 2 hour choir practice- 2 hour music practice - singing lesson
Friday - As mon/tues
Saturday - 2 hours dancing - 4 hours music - maybe concert / competition
Sunday - 4 hours music

I know its alot but whilst it is self directed I don't intend to stop anything. She is fit and healthy and has never really been one for toys. Much to everyones annoyance. It makes present buying difficult.

Hardboiled · 04/06/2012 15:06

Hi morethan, I gather your DD is 8 and I wonder where those 18 hours of music a week come from. Are they in her school? Do you mean she practices on her own all those hours? Even Sunday? Does she go to a saturday junior academy? It's just curiosity really, as I'm trying to fill DS life with more music which he's mad about but I'm finding it hard besides the usual saturday option which is not an option right now for us.

morethanpotatoprints · 04/06/2012 16:21

Hardboiled. Hello, yes dd is 8 and does do all this music. We are lucky as she is home at 3.30 every day and her dancing school and music centre are all very close to home. Her dad is a professional musician and I play too, but completely different instruments. She is able to practice on her own as its been part of her culture to listen to other students as dh teaches from home. She knows how to practice if ykwim. She isn't at a jd as she doesn't want to stop dancing on saturday but she practices after dancing and on sunday too. She plays 4 instruments all at different levels. Only just starting exams now though and she doing grade 2 violin soon, grade 3 vocal and also plays piano and just started sax. She is a good grade 5 in places of all instruments especially when it comes to sight singing, reading, and Aural which she regularly gets 100% at grade 8. Only because she has perfect pitch though. Our 2 older dcs weren't interested at all and are sporty.

morethanpotatoprints · 04/06/2012 16:34

Hardboiled. I'm not sure if your dc is taking exams but even if not the abrsm website has a good forum for parents, teachers, and much more,. Even though dh involved in music to a great extent, I have learned so much from here. Can't do a link sorry, you should be able to find it though. You need to register to post but you can read posts without.

Hardboiled · 04/06/2012 16:49

Thanks. Yes he is taking Grade 4 exam on two instruments this month. Loves to compose and be left alone to find new tunes and ways to play his pieces. Has just started a mini rock band with some mates. It's just fun really but the other day he said he didn't know what Hogwarts house he woul've been sent to by the sorting hat as there wasn't really one for "the musical ones". It was sweet, fully his own thing, and it suddenly hit me that that's how he sees himself!

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