Homeschooling and athletics?

[mamakah]

DH and I are pretty much sold on homeschooling, but dh is concerned about homeschooling and athletics. Ds has shown extreme interest in sports and although we don't know if this will be of any interest to him when he is at the age to start school, we wonder about it.
Does anyone homeschool a child who wants/plays sports? Are homeschooled children able to join public school teams?
I know it seems like such a silly question, but dh loved playing sports in elementary and middle school so we want to make sure ds has that option. I know that there are little league baseball teams, but we have never heard of non school related football, basketball, track, etc. leagues.

Thanks!

[limette]

Some places do allow homeschoolers to join school sports teams.

Where I live it's not necessary because every sport has leagues that aren't connected to the schools. Hockey, baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis...

I don't think that's uncommon either.

[Callimom]

Originally Posted by mamakah

DH and I are pretty much sold on homeschooling, but dh is concerned about homeschooling and athletics. Ds has shown extreme interest in sports and although we don't know if this will be of any interest to him when he is at the age to start school, we wonder about it.
Does anyone homeschool a child who wants/plays sports? Are homeschooled children able to join public school teams?
I know it seems like such a silly question, but dh loved playing sports in elementary and middle school so we want to make sure ds has that option. I know that there are little league baseball teams, but we have never heard of non school related football, basketball, track, etc. leagues.

Thanks!

Access to high school sports is dependent on where you live I think.

It may be different where you live but my kids are all involved in various team sports - hockey, soccer, curling, volleyball, baseball, as well as badminton, swimming, fencing etc. We access city based or community programming for these. We have friends who play football, rugby, tennis, skiing clubs, track clubs etc as well. I'd check with city hall and see if they have a listing of community sports groups.

good luck
Karen

[4Blessings]

As pp mentioned it depends on your state and/or district.

My DS's play baseball, hockey, flag football, soccer, and swim through community ed or community teams. Our state does not allow homeschoolers to participate in school sponsored sports so we'll run into trouble at the varsity level for hockey (about 14-15 yrs old). I've got a few more years to figure out if DS will want to try to play at that level and if he would be willing to go to public school to do it.

Many kids don't play organized sports past middle school. I forget the percentage but it is quite high. You might not have a problem at all if you child chooses not to play at an older age. I wouldn't let it stop me from choosing to homeschool.

[happysmileylady]

It's very dependant on your state's and districts rules.

I am 90% sure that being enrolled in the high school for our district is a requirement for participation in the high school sports. Our next door neighbor home schools and I seem to remember her saying that sports were the main reason she enrolled her older boys in high school. Her daughter is the same age as mine and I am pretty sure that the daughter will be in the public school as a freshman next year, for participation in basketball.

However, there are a lot of league/travel/all-star type of teams for various sports that are totally seperate from high school teams. My sister played travel softball. She was on a team that played tournements around the mid west. They couldn't play during the school year, because IHSAA rules state that athelete who are on a high school team may not play for a travel team at the same time, so her travel team only played summer things through high school.

In regards to scholarships, that is going to depend on the college issuing the scholarship. Some college recuriters were at more travel tournements, some were had more high school things.