How much do you race around to keep DC busy?

[litlwons]

We pulled our DS out of school in December, it just wasn't working, and decided to homeschool at least for awhile ( I am open to all possibilities), I want this to work. I am feeling a little overwhelmed and out of balance.

My DS is six years old (Kindergarten) and very social. He loves to play with other children and because his brother is only a baby, he dosn't get much of that at home. I am trying to keep him active but it is wearing me down.
How much do you drive around to keep you DC busy? Right now we are out of the house at classes or playgroups three-four days a week. One of those days we are gone the whole day....

One of his closest friends is moving in two weeks, we had many playdates monthly and this challenge to keep him active is only going to get more challenging. He has been asking to go back to school, when I ask him why he says his friends and recess (1 hour of a seven hour day ), he was misserable when he was there.

I want this to work out, I believe in homeschooling, but I am having a hard time.

Thank you!
Kathleen

[dharmamama]

My kids are younger than yours, and I don't race around to entertain them because they entertain themselves, but my first inclination is to say that you don't have to fill up the time your son used to be in school with all sorts of activities. It's good for kids to have to come up with their own fun.

Does your neighborhood have kids your son's age? Especially with the weather getting warmer, your son will be able to play outside with them in the afternoons.

If his school friends don't live in your neighborhood, arrange a playdate or once a week or so after school with some of those kids.

Kids don't really NEED as much social interaction as school makes them think they do. Your son might enjoy spending time with other kids every day, but you won't be harming him if he doesn't.

Namaste!

[Butter]

Not much at all. We have friends in walking distance (we live in a large city) and visit them a bit, but mostly my kids entertain themselves. Both of my kids are very social but they don't need a lot of activities, probably because they have never been in school. You son has very recently been in school where he was extremely stimulated by all the activities. If this is stressing you out (the activity level) start cutting back gradually. Chances are he'll begin entertaining himself most of the time and once or twice a week will be plenty.

[Citymomx3]

My kids are all in activities of their choosing and yes, I drive around a lot getting them to where they need to be. Dd12 takes a Musical Theater class once a week, is in the school play (she goes to public middle school), and will start a hip-hop dance class in a couple of weeks. Dd9 also takes the Musical Theater class and is on a competitive dance team that meets up to 5 days a week. Dance is her passion and she would be at the studio every day if she could. Ds5 takes a boys hip-hop dance class once a week and just started Little League baseball which meets 2x a week.

None of us can stand hanging around the house very long when there's so much out there to experience. Dd loves going to the Hall of Science and other museums so we try and get out to something every other week or so. We drive around to different restaurants to try various ethnic cuisines. We want to try and get to the library every week as well. Our homeschool group has many events and activities planned and we want to make as many as we can. The kids have birthday parties, playdates, and like going to the playground. Just taking a bus into Manhattan to walk around makes for a great day.

My kids are very outgoing and social. I don't mind that they want to experience it all. I grew up poor and never had the means to do anything other than entertain myself or stay on my block to play. I hated it. I want my kids to have opportunities and experience (almost) everything they want, so they can pick and choose what they like and want to keep doing. I find it fun and enjoy it right along with them.

And believe it or not, there is still plenty of quiet at home time, where they play wonderfully together (most of the time, lol) and come up with very imaginitive and creative games.

Maybe you can invite kids over to your house a couple of time a week so you don't have to run around so much. Are there kids on your block for him to play with when they get home from school? Maybe you can do fun stuff with him in the backyard (create science experiments, look up leaves and insects in a field guide, give him a tape measure and let him measure everything he sees). I find that my kids get very antsy/grouchy/wild when they're cooped up in the house all day. Now that the warm weather is coming, you'll probably fall into a better routine.

[4evermom]

When I first pulled my ds from school (he was only there about 10 days of 6 weeks), he felt like he had to go someplace everyday for a couple of months. Now, he usually wants to stay home and it is hard getting ourselves motivated to go anywhere.

[Brigianna]

One of the many, many advantages to me of homeschooling was not having to do the running-around activity zoo. Maybe you could work on some fun things to do there at home?

[RiverSky]

Originally Posted by litlwons

How much do you drive around to keep you DC busy? Right now we are out of the house at classes or playgroups three-four days a week. One of those days we are gone the whole day....

I have pretty much exactly the same schedule as you, but I love it. I also don't have a baby to take with me, though. I find that bringing the supplies you might need to make your day easier is great, a cooler full of healthy snacks, folding chairs so you have a comfy place to sit no matter where you are, can really help.

Are you friendly with the moms of the other children? If not, perhaps you could make a little extra effort to get closer to some of them? And thereby enjoy your time there much more.

Also, perhaps you need to try to reclaim one day a week for staying at home for a while, to keep yourself sane. Try to decide which outing stresses you out most, or which your DC enjoy least and remove that from your schedule for a while. Or even take a one week vacation from activities, just to relax and de-stress, then go back to what you were going.

I find that even one extra day off after a weekend is often enough to recharge me for the next few days of activities. Good luck!

[luvtjones]

We are racing around a lot. Our schedule looks like this:

Monday: afternoon Theater Workshop and evening Opera appreciation class
Tuesday: morning drawing class and afternoon opera youth chorus rehearsal
Wednesday: 2 afternoon co-op classes for each dc (11 and 3) plus I am teaching a class. Late afternoon writing class.
Thursday: 2 afternoon co-op classes for each dc and every other week Young Chautauqua meeting in the evening.
Friday: Free day!
Sunday: Church activities and participating in RE (I usually teach or assist every other week)

We really like to keep busy and pursue our interests. After I signed Ds up for the drawing class, however, he asked me not to sign him up for anything else for awhile.

Our problem is that my husband thinks we should be at home all day, doing lessons etc. We constantly argue about the level of housework being done (he says I should "integrate the housework into the curriculum". I think we have more interesting activities to pursue.) Both my kids and I are also extremely sociable, so getting out of the house and being around other people is vital for our well-being.

The other problem I am finding is my husband is feeling excluded and doesn't like us being away from home so much, but that's a whole other issue.