how do you manage sport?

[MathsMadMummy]

hi all

now that DH and I agree we will be HEing our DCs, we've started talking about practicalities etc.

one concern of ours is sport/PE type stuff. TBH it's the one thing I think school might be better for, as they'd do lots of team games etc.

this is distinct from general fitness BTW - they get plenty of running around time. DH is fit and does a lot of running. it's just... well, I don't want them to miss out on group sport. DH reckons he we can teach them all the skills, have a kickabout etc which is true, but IMHO it's not the same is it. it's the camaraderie, discipline etc.

we can't afford much in the way of extra-curricular activities though. stuff like football coaching is really pricey!

any suggestions? what sports do your DCs do?

My ds1 (nearly 7) does Karate and has swimming lesson once a week. He also gets to run round like a loon at beavers once a week too.

However, that costs us £80 per month and he wants to start horse riding in the summer!!! Gulp!

The rest of the time, its a case of going out to parks and running around/on his scooter in the back garden. We have 2 large parks close to us and we take his bike there and he can ride around for ages. He also likes football.

My ds1 found PE at school very frustrating as it is very structured - even for such young children - he just wanted to run around with his friends and play games but they were all about "making shapes" and "moving appropriately" (??) He didnt enjoy PE at school at all.

I think the answer is when the weather is good, get out there, take bikes, scooters, footballs, whatever! Under 16s can swim for free now too!

Also, how about gardening??? Very good exercise! (and your lawn looks great!)

HTH x

DH takes them to the park for football, cricket, tennis training with him as I would be completely useless at it!! I hated sport at school and hated team sports most of all. This has not affected my ability to function in society - it taught me nothing about 'working as a team' - all it taught me was that in the eyes of PE teachers, it is OK to pick on someone for being rubbish at something. OTOH I have worked successfully in a team in work situations.

In other words, don't over estimate how good PE teaching in school is. Our sports centre (council run) does football for 4-7 years, which was about £1. DS1 hated it; DS2 didn't even want to try it. So it's worth checking out what is on offer and at what price.

They all dance; we swim sometimes; they do climbing at an indoor climbing wall when we can afford it; they play on their scooter; they skip occasionally; they run round with friends and go to Cubs/Scouts where they get the opportunity for various 'sports'.

I would second the gardening idea - mowing the lawn and growing fruit/veg is also quite useful and the latter will save you money!

I'm not a home educator, but I wonder I'm very interested in outdoor play environments, so ɪ hope you don't mind me joining in. This is not to do with team sport specifically, but I was wondering whether you have any scope to make your garden more of a place for play? It wouldn't have to cost much - for example building balancing beams out of old planks, and balancing steps out of chopped logs, swings made from ropes and tyres, that sort of thing.

You could perhaps plan a project together to build something like a willow den or even a treehouse - there are loads of books on this and again, it doesn't necessarily need to cost a huge amount of money, if you can beg and borrow and use scrap/recycled materials.

I think that planning and making things like this would foster many of the same skills of co-operation and discipline (for example proper use of tools, working together to create something).

Just to shove my oar in...

I also think there can be far too much emphasis on team sport far too early. It's only vital to be learning to do team sports at 5 if you'll be spending a lot of your time with a large group of other people your age working to an external agenda... (ahem)

We do a LOT of dancing, a LOT of climbing (parkay rather than rock ), a LOT of cycling. We play in and around water a lot. We use playgrounds a lot. But I think that team sports are something to nurture when a child is ready for them, and when that moment comes, there's lots on offer

For those who like it, there are often local HE sports groups - in our area, there is weekly multisports and weekly rock climbing, just off the top of my head. And that's before you even think about all the after-school type activities that anyone can join in with.

During the summer, local families seem to often organise informal rounders matches round here - they're lovely.

And a local HEor who can play tennis well hires a court and does some informal teaching weekly - we split the cost of the court so that's very cheap.

Also another local HEor who is a PE teacher runs a PE session which my kids don't go to but others do.

My friend's boy gets cheap football coaching by his dad being one of the coaches!

Cross that bridge when you come to it

thank you all

love the garden ideas... unfortunately we don't have much of a garden (a tiny patch of grass out front) - but maybe if we move...

sport is quite important to DH in our family, and we want it to feature in our lives IYSWIM. I'm glad there seems to be a lot around for HE families, I'll have to look around here. hoping to find cheap clubs - a lot of things round here are so expensive though! like £5-10 a session which really adds up!

Our local park has football/cricket matches so I guess you just see if you can join the team. and maybe if we find enough interested people we can start our own thing up! that'd be pretty educational

I do take your point about school PE not being so great BTW, they just have more resources!

also look at mini rugby which is loads cheaper than football - we pay £50 membership for the year, only buy boots in the sale, and most clubs do second hand shirts. Otherwise a lot of HE groups do sports activities and get cheaper rates.

Our local golf club does children's membership at about £45 for the year and they can go to coaching sessions in the school holidays. If we were at all interested in golf, I would ask if they could set something up for home edders at quiet times! I might suggest it to the LA man next time he's here.

Our children did a huge amount of sport whilst home edding.
Just looked at the last report we sent to the LA for the year before she went to college and it lists:

Sailing, Dancing, Swimming, Ice-skating, Bowling, Rugby, Canadian canoeing, Kayaking, Bell boating, Body boarding, Rock Climbing, Abseiling, Zip Wires, Assault Courses, Orienteering, Grass sledging,Bike riding.
Apart from the dancing all of the above were in the company of her home ed peers, some as one offs and others on a regular basis-so do check out your local home ed group, you may be lucky enough to have one like ours.
And as a home ed group we got them all at educational rates-MUCH cheaper than usual!

And there was a brilliant sports day organised at last yearsHesFes

I know that this is late but the BBC have this scheme on at the moment called Thrillseeker which my local paddlesports club were involved in, you can always look for cheap/free events in your area to have taster sessions in a variety of sports