Extra Curricular

[oneboy3girls]

What activities , workshops do your hed DC do? Are they at the weekend or evening?tia

My DD1 goes to Rainbows on a week day evening and ice hockey on a Saturday morning. All the other children at these groups go to school (all the girls at Rainbows are at one school together) but she's not left out because of it.

Some regular once-a-week stuff, and some one-off workshops and things. We go to about 2 organised things a week, on average, almost always HE specific (just because everywhere is so blooming crowded at weekends and school holidays).

We also hang out with friends between 3-4 times a week.

It's a mix of "structured classes/workshops" and "occasions when a bunch of kids get together somewhere and do stuff on their own agenda"; mostly the latter.

It's actually an anxiety for me at the moment - we seem to get one quiet down day at home a fortnight if we are lucky

For us, it's just exploded in the last six months, which is very much to do with the age and stage of my children - these are the kinds of activities they are craving, so I provide as much of them as the calendar will hold, and just hope I don't double book us too often. Some of our friends go to 2 or even 3 group activities in a day, but that is too much for us!

My kids do not have many, just not the energy for it from anyone (or the cash...).

My kids created a hobby/media club with another HE family and they together with a few others one afternoon-evening a week or more if there is time/energy to make games and other projects together. It's lovely (and not just because it's at someone else's house and DP takes them ).

The older kids are also all part of St. John Ambulance youth groups which meet one evening a week until they are old enough for other responsibilities.

My eldest is on the waiting list for the library's coding club and they;re all hoping to take a BSL course once they're 11 (we used to do a family one that doesn't run anymore and the kids course requires them to be 11).

Other than that, I keep an eye out on places around town that do one off workshops - museums and media places and parks have them from time to time. I've also arranged workshops in the past on special occasions like DD2 and her older siblings had a horse riding course for her 4th birthday and the older two are hoping to go to an ice skating workshop next winter when the rink comes back to town.

Outside of 'school hours'

Competitive gym, three evenings plus one weekend morning a week. Ballet three classes, plus a private lesson, modern jazz, tap X2 on the other evenings. Gymnastic holiday camps and ballet workshops.

It's all very time consuming and expensive. We don't have a day off. Though to be fair, little to do with home ed. because I think we'd do it all anyway even if using a school

I think much of what is available happens after school hours to incorporate school children.

We take dd to orchestra, string group, 2 choirs, jazz orchestra.
These are provided by the LA and available to H.ed children. One of them is private sector.

Music lessons and language lessons are during school time, but would usually be called extra curricular, but to dd they are curricula iyswim.

Sometimes if she isn't too busy she goes to the local youth club, but hasn't been for a while. This is evening or outside school time.

There are a lot of extra curricular stuff during school hours, the type that school children usually have to gain permission from HT for absence. These are ad hoc though.

We don't but plenty of H.ed dc join organisations such as Brownies, Scouts, etc.

Some have dancing lessons - dd used to dance 3x per week and saturday, but hasn't the time now.

Ours do ballet, choir and tennis plus 2 instruments each.

Ds is 16 with HFA and ADHD. It's important that he does a lot of personal development activities so he does far more 'extra curricular' things than academic.

There's nothing around here for home educated kids of his age, so everything he does is community activity, open to everyone.

Weekly drama plus summer schools
Martial arts 2-3 times a week
Science group for teens at a science centre
Volunteers at the same science centre, supporting younger children, once a month
One day a week volunteering/work experience at a special school, supporting GCSE students
Youth Assembly meetings once a week, and additional training/workshops
Duke of Edinburgh's award meetings every couple of weeks, and training
He does a lot of work experience too, when we can find placements.

Actually, looking at that, he probably has a 70/30 split in favour of non-academic activities. I hadn't realised it was so much .

Swimming = lifeguarding skills lesson, plus 2 sessions for "fun" - lesson is after school hours, fun ones are any time we choose.
Canoeing = weekend lesson
gym = whenever he and Dad can be bothered to get up early enough to go together
cycling = weekly trip to woods (plus uses bike as transport)
art club = twice weekly after lunch
debating club = weekly 2pm
conservation volunteer = monthly at weekend
church = fortnightly (as we do so much at weekends)
workshops = whatever is on offer = have done philosophy, drama, singing, bike skills, etc...
online = currently we are doing Italian, personal finance and photography (usually do 2 at a time and get certificates)

In the past have done St Johns Ambulance (for 6 yrs) and cubs (3yrs)

I don't really make much of a distinction between "academic" and extracurricular", given that I think the extracurricular things are equally important in developing life skills and at least some of them may form the basis of a career. My teenaged dd is not too interested in studying in a directed way (i.e. exams, courses etc), though she likes the actual subject matter well enough, and does not expect to pursue a career which needs a high level of academic qualification.

She used to do lots of "academic" subjects such as maths, science, philosophy and history recreationally in groups. The opportunities to do that have dropped off dramatically as so many of her age peers have concentrated on exams, while the younger kids aren't at the same level as dd. Anyway... she does

Martial arts 4x a week (eve/weekend)
Voluntary coaching martial arts weekly (eve)
Strategy games weekly (day)
Guitar group weekly (eve)
Girl guides fortnightly (eve)
Choir weekly (eve)
Guitar lesson fortnightly (daytime)
Minecraft weekly (daytime)
Ice skating fortnightly (daytime)
Chess weekly (daytime)
Park play weekly (daytime)
Sailing weekly (weekend)

plus some ad hoc volunteering and babysitting which she's looking to expand, or maybe get a part-time job. It sounds a lot but isn't really, because she's not doing any formal study alongside it.

My 8yo does mostly daytime stuff because she's tired by the afternoon and so am I, plus I don't enjoy fighting traffic if I can avoid it! She does

HE park play 3x a week (day, different groups)
Toddler music weekly (day)
Chess weekly (day)
Drama weekly (eve)
Sports weekly (weekend)

They both do some occasional one-off workshops during and after school hours.

Back in school now but we did:

During school day and all weekly (but thankfully not all at during the same period )
Drama
Piano/Music Theory/Singing
Spanish
Recorders
Football
Conservation
Whole history days and separate History
Art/Animation
Archery
Multisports
Orienteering - odd days.

'After School"
Brownies
Cubs
Swimming
Hockey
Dance

Amazing how much time and energy DC had for learning when not in school.

We (parents) loved HEd but DC wanted to be part of a school again, which is a good school but we would love to HEd again.