What kinds of social activities are your homeschooled children involved in?

Question

Multi-part question:
Are most of the activities with other homeschoolers or are they community programs?
Did your children add to the number of activities as they got older?
Can you estimate the amount of time your children spent/spend with only you and immediate family at home?

My kids are still quite young and only my dd is currently involved in extra-curricular activities, although both kids participate in a variety of homeschooling activities--parties, pot-lucks, get-togethers, play dates, weekly park days, field trips once a month... I'd love to see the variety of activities and how age may be a factor in the type and amount.

Of course, if you are a homeschooled student, please let us know what sorts of things you do.

PLEASE pay attention to the question. It assumes that you are homeschooling your child or have homeschooled your child. I am looking to hear of things people have actually done, not suggestions.

Good grief, this is just like my experience of teaching in public schools: kids go off on tangents that have nothing to do with the question asked and then they wonder why they got a bad grade...

Sorry about that last bit, I regretted clicking on the submit. It's actually a different question that has me testy because too many people just can't seem to answer the question straight out. My apologies.

Answer 1

If ur thinking of homeschooling ur kids, ur going to have to find activities for them.
If at the age before school they participate in such activities, then u dont have to worry, having already found those activities, but finding activities that they can participate in, preferably with childrent heir own age, on a daily bases then that would be for the best, just the same that they would get in school.
Your children have their own role in this, some find it hard to make friends outside of school, and some know of children their own age only by going to school and at heart school is one of the only common places where children come together.
But then u would have to send them to regular school, wich isnt a good thing.

Answer 2

I'm a 14-year old homeschooled student. I attended public school until six years ago, and am now more social and involved in more things than when I was in school.

I take a lot of classes at museums and classes organized by homeschooled families. This year, the homeschooler-organized classes are physics, soccer, playreading, playwriting, doing a play, astronomy and a bike club.

The AMNH has classes for high schoolers which I will be in, and I'll be doing anthropology.

I'm looking around to see if there's any way I could apprentice to, or at least hang around, a carpenter since currently I'm not sure if I'd rather be a carpenter or a physicist. I'm not doing that many classes this year, but I'm an independent learner, so I end up branching out to just about everything on my own through the magic of the internet and public libraries.

As I've gotten older, I've done more and more away from home. This is because a) I can go around on my own now -I have a twin sister so there were major scheduling problems when my mom had to drive us around- and b) my interests are more defined.

I'm with my family all day Saturday and Sunday -we go upstate...it's kinda cool even though it puts a bit of a stitch in the social life- but during the week, I leave before noon and come back after dark. But the time I spend with my family is quality time; it's not like we're alienated from each other or anything.

Answer 3

I remember being 14, and being a bit of an "outcast" because I never endeavored to do the things this girl next door talks about. I also remember that the girls who did talk about things like this were 99% of the time making it all up, or at the very least "coloring details" into a much more tame story that they wanted to sound cooler. If you are teaching your daughter right, I am sure you will have more of an influence on her behavior than this girl will. As long as you keep lines of communication open with your daughter, keep talking to her about her day when she comes home from seeing her friend and asking her how she feels about things her friend talks about or does that you would rather she didn't do, and teach her that just because one person thinks something is "cool" doesn't mean it really is, I imagine your daughter will be fine. Are you a member of a homeschool support group? If not, I would try to find one and get involved in it. Parents in these groups are usually very welcoming and understanding. My mother didn't drive while I was homeschooled, but I stayed active in our group by carpooling with other parents. In exchange, my mom would occasionally come along and help clean up after events or invite other kids in the group to our house for an afternoon of swimming or a movie night. If you can work out an arrangement like this, it will give your daughter other peers whom she may have more in common with so she isn't basing her opinion of what is "cool" and "fun" off of what this one girl does and tells her.

Answer 4

Hey :)
My brother and I were homeschooled ...it was a great experience. We also did some Distance Education.

We participated in age appropriate activities, but the number of activities didnt necessarily increase as we got older.

As we got older, the more self-directed the learning became. We were involved in a few community programs ...I think attending too many structured programs may defeat the purpose of homeschooling - there is no point in participating in activities just for the sake of it.

Homeschooling gives u an opportunity to experience the real world and not be limited by the institution that is mainstream school ...homeschooling taught us to think for ourselves. We spent approximately half our 'work time' at home. Generally we did desk work from 8am til noon in our primary years and in high school years we did 8am - 4pm, 3-4 days a week. The rest of the time we went going to exibitions, to galleries, to new places and to meet new people, and eventually to part-time work.

Hope that helps.

If u want to know anything else (including more details), please don't hesitate to contact me :)

Answer 5

Let's see...
I'm thinking that we have an even balance between community-wide and home-school activities. And yes and no, they have more activities as they get older - and sometimes they have less.... At home with only me/family? Hmmm.... probably 3/4 of waking hours.

Individual piano lessons -- social interaction with teacher and her family.
Group violin lessons -- social contact with other students before and after sessions.
Church on Sunday -- some home-schoolers but mostly not.
Team Ultimate Frisbee every week -- All home-schoolers
4H -- mostly NOT home-schoolers, weekly activity, monthly meetings, Summer county fair -- full week 24/7 together!!!
(4H with horses, dogs, pigs etc... AND all of the people that come with them!)
Equestrian Team -- 99% Public schoolers.
Neighbors: some other home-schoolers, many public-schoolers. Daily play, and helping each other with projects and chores.
Work: housecleaning, stall cleaning, leaf raking, house-sitting, dog-sitting, newspaper delivery, landscaping, home construction, .... and much more --- regular contact with all of the people.
Birthday parties, art classes, carving classes, family reunions.
Shopping --- amazing how many people --- and there seems to be no distinction --- I couldn't tell you if they are home-schooled or public-schooled and they probably don't know about us either - but smiles are all the same.... everyone saying excuse me... or whatever in the same nice tones!
Also, camp counseling --- 99% non home-schoolers.
Recent: car buying --- don't know if people are home-schooled or not. Great communication with everyone.

The reality of life for us is that people are people. Every now and then we run across bad-manners but not often -- and for every rude person there are at least 300 to 400 that are kind and helpful.
I would never stop and ask, "So, were you home-schooled???" LOL.

Answer 6

I spend a great deal of time with my children. I have a 6 yo son and a 15 yo son. We usually do a lot of community activities together. We take classes, pottery, local history, tai chi, all together. My kids don't belong to any homeschooling group but my oldest has one friend that is homeschooled. Since his mother raises him and works he usually goes to classes, trips, museums with us. My kids also belong to bowling leagues, and hockey league. Plus, of course, church activities.

There are times when we don't do anything for a few weeks but crack the books or just spend time at home doing nothing at all. Then sometimes its so hectic I can't believe I get anything done. They have friends from their leagues, church, different community classes. Some are homeschooled that we happen to run into here or there, some are public schooled, some are the kids of my friends.
The one thing I have noticed is that usually my oldest doesn't mind his little brother tagging along. He does go out with his friends by himself but sometimes he offers to take the youngest with him. He also takes him to community classes if I can't make it for one reason or another. I don't ever see that in the other older kids.

Answer 7

Community programs

my two boys are 8 and 6 and they are in taekwon do 3 hrs a week, beavers is 2 hrs a week, shopping and banking and general running around 5 hrs a week, swimming during open swims 6 hrs a week, playing with friends 2 hrs a week.... unless they go to or host a sleepover....

socializing with other homeschoolers starts up next month and we have to travel for it.... so it varies month to month...

Yes as they got older they added more to their social activities...

estimate the amount of time alone with kids....?

you mean how often do i actually "see" my kids in a day?

maybe 10 or 12 hrs a day? :)

they get up at 5 or 6 am and dont; go to bed until 8:30pm...

so the only time i don't see them is when they are in their rooms playing or in a different room in the house doing an activity like reading or playing on the computer....

or when they are out of the house at an activity....

Answer 8

I'm 14 and have never attended a public school ever,and I take art classes once a week,spend the night at my best friends once a month or so,and go on home school field trips if they sound interesting.I do all my schoolwork self-taught,because language arts and math are on the computer,and the rest I don't have to have my mom teach me.I live so far up in the woods from town,that with gas the way it is,me and my mom can only afford to come to town once or twice a week,but that's what cellphones and Internets for.I'm not much of a social butterfly,so just having a couple of friends keep me happy.

Answer 9

My 11 yo DS has (in the past) taken a co-op homeschool class in Latin and private violin lessons, as well as being on the swim team (city parks dept.), in the (hs) chess club, Boy Scouts, AWANAs, and fencing classes. We attend a park day about once a month and will start attending a gaming day and tennis lessons next week. We also do field trips about once a month.

My 6yo DS is not quite mature enough for organized group activities, so he's only riding along as brother goes to his stuff so far. Of course, he does play during the park days and is invloved in our field trips.

They both attend church activities every Wednesday night, while I'm at our Women's Bible Study.

I have limited each of them to two regularly-scheduled (weekly) activities (lessons and clubs) at a time, as I don't want them (or me) to be so overscheduled that they don't have time to spend with their neighborhood friends.

WOW! When I write it down, it looks like we've done quite a lot!

Answer 10

My children are involved in four types of activities: homeschool groups (2 groups), church, community, and family.
My daughter is in 9th grade this year. church activities:
This year she is involved in the Fine Arts program. She sings in the choir (this is a competition choir) and a human video (acting out a song) This involves one to two rehearsals a week, district and national competitions, and tons of fundraisers (usually service related fundraisers, not just selling) She is also involved in the youth group which includes (in addition to services) once a month small group meetings, and the opportunity to participate in fun things at least once a week from outings to the mall, sporting events, ice skating, lake outings, concerts, dinners, so on and so forth. She also attends a Sr. High girls Bible study that meets once a month, and she assists her pastor at church once a week.
Homeschool groups: we belong to a local support group which has a youth group. They get together at least once a month for social activities and service projects. This group also has get togethers once a week that we attend and a chess club. Our second homeschool group is a teaching co-op with close about 120 families and close to 350 children. She works on the yearbook and takes a couple of credit classes. They also have a youth group which gets together for lunches and social events outside of the co-op.
Community: she serves the community with service projects that includes working with elderly shut ins, food drives, clothing drives, and things of that nature.
Family/social: we have a family night at least once a month where we go out and do something fun as a family. She also has tons of friends which means tons of sleepovers, parties, get togethers, mall outings, so on and so forth. This is on top of all the other stuff mentioned.
My son is in 2nd grade.
Chuch activities: he is in a scout type program which meets once a week, and also includes campouts, pinewood derby, and tons of service projects from picking up trash at the church to helping in the community. he is also in a bible quiz program which meets once a week and has tournaments once a month. He also is in the yearly children's Christmas production which involves one to two rehearsals a week for about 4-5 months of the year. The kids in this production also go to nursing homes to minister to the people there.
Community: his involvement in the community is limited to sports right now. He takes karate, ice skating lessons, and baseball. Will probably trade the baseball for soccer later. All of that is several practices a week.
Homeschool group: weekly pe classes, kids club for arts and crafts and science experiments that meets a couple of times a month, chess club. In our co-op, there are no social activities, but tons of fun classes with tons of friends.
Family/social: same as his sister. Lots of friends means lots of sleepovers, play dates, birthday parties and outings.
NOW, add to that field trips. We go to the zoo, museums, the symphony, and plays. Last year our field trips included a bakery, a radio station, a homestead park, civil war recreation, the US mint, a medieval fair,....I'm sure I've left something out.
Time spent with the family alone? Well, Wednesdays and Fridays we are gone all day with service projects, library, and teaching co-ops. So that leaves, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. We are usually here at home alone together studying. Weekends can range from a nice quiet rainy day together, to leaving at 7 am and not returning until after dark.
am I raising sheltered children with no concept of real life? hardly! Sometimes I crave a little solitude, but I know that will come when my children are successful adults on their own, doing their absolute best for their own families.