paying for extracuricular activities - Page 2

[34me]

I will probably get totally flamed for this but my son plays travel ice hockey. We started out small, only $90 for a 9 week, two day a week session and all equipment was provided by the parks and rec department. It has been the only activity that got him to sleep at a decent hour and got him to eat more than 1 chicken nugget. So we have kept at it and it, and he, have grown. However, I also work for a parks and Rec department and there are so many activities that kids can belong to if you are in an area with opportunities. In the city I work for you can play roller hockey for $30 for 8 weeks vs my $1700 for 6 month fees. Plus we have reduced rates and scholarship opportunities for those that qualify. And I do have 2 others that don't like sports but do participate in other fee based activities. DD takes a pottery class every 8 weeks through parks and rec that's about $30 and ds#2 LOVEs to go to the Boys and Girls club with his best buddy - it's a bargain at $5 a year! He also participates in Special Olympics as a unified partner which is very reasonable. How do we do it? in no way do we keep up with the Jonses, we live in a house that is nice but only 968 sq ft. We pack lunches, rarely go out, treat ds's games/ tournaments as our vacations (Vail,Aspen, Chicago, Taos and Park City this year) and we use our entire tax refund and b-day gifts from relatives to finance it.

[amyamanda]

I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum from some here. My answer: We don't.

With four kids close-in-age, my kids have built-in playmates. They have a yard, a reasonable amount of toys, a swingset, some trees to climb, cats (and now hens). We are also lucky enough to have a swimming pool.

We do a playdate once a week with the best friend of the older two. We do very low-key pick-up sports seasonally if it fits in. We have a homeschool gathering one day a week in nice weather. We go to the library. We have art/craft supplies. I play music and we dance and do acrobatics on the living room floor. We go camping in the summertime. Once a month we get together with friends of all ages for a Sing - one dad brings his guitar, and we take turns picking songs. We visit friends on their farm and enjoy the animals. We hike as a family. In the summertime, our usual big vacation is a medieval re-enactment festival, which is great fun and has all kinds of classes and activities for all ages. It's not very expensive (for a family vacation) and we are there for 10 days.

I wish I could afford guitar lessons for my oldest, but $100/mo is too steep for us, never mind for just one kid. So I'm using what I know of music to teach both of us together.

Aside from the finances, I can't imagine having to do all that driving, and keeping littles happy while the bigs are at activities, etc. I'm an introvert and a homebody. I'd be a mess.

Fortunately, we have a number of similar-minded friends, and we homeschool, so there isn't much peer pressure. Though come to think of it, most of our homeschool friends are involved in a one-day-a-week wilderness adventure program that costs upwards of $1500 per kid per year. I could have three kids involved this year if I wanted to, but I can't afford it.

My kids don't seem to suffer. I was waaaaay overscheduled as a kid (I think every kid in my town was) with 1-2 activities a day after school, and sports games and concerts on weekends, in addition to church. Maybe I've swung to the other extreme partly as a result of that experience. But I also think it is fine to say "As a family, we are limiting how we spend our time/money/energy, and for now we will not do activities"...or "for now each person can choose one activity and that's the limit.

[starbound25]

amyamanda=thanks for your post, you sound like how we would be living if we do have another child, and I love that it sounds good and happy

[wombatclay]

Barter!

Around here the "organized" activities are crazy expensive (a family membership at the Y is several hundred dollars and then each Y activity costs extra on top of that) so there is a sort of "activity underground". For example, one SAHM used to be a vocal coach. She offers group singing lessons for children in her home for very little money per child since it lets her do something she loves, and while it adds to the family income she isn't "depending" on getting a specific amount. And another teaches piano in exchange for items of interest to her... eggs from home raised chickens, a woven rug, a knit sweater, gutter cleaning/lawn mowing, that sort of thing. There's a roaming playgroup as well that meets in parks... one mom leads the kids in yoga, another teaches basic belly dance, and the kids can play chess against each other (or an adult) or team up for ultimate frisbee or badmitton or whatever.

ETA-

In the summertime, our usual big vacation is a medieval re-enactment festival, which is great fun and has all kinds of classes and activities for all ages. It's not very expensive (for a family vacation) and we are there for 10 days.

That wouldn't be Pennsic would it?

[emilys_mom1]

Your right, it is very expensive for all the extra's for the kids. I have 3 kiddos and this is what we do so far.

6yr old
Horse riding lessons: $35 every other week
Summer school program:$36 2 1/2 days a week, she will go every other week
Swim lesson: $80 for 4 weeks (4 days a week)

4yr old
Gymnastics: $45 a month for once a week lesson
Swim Lessons: $80 for 4 weeks (4 days a week)

2yr old
nothing right now

The grand total a month will be:$277 a month or $554 for 2 months of summer. That is only for 2 kids. Next summer will be more with adding swim for DS and some other activity since he will be 3.

[Tradd]

Well, there are ways to keep costs down, or at least contained.

There's always the Y, as PP mentioned. Plus the parks & rec department of your city/township, although in some cases, these might be more expensive.

ONE activity per kid at a time. The multiple activities per kid at the same time can really drive costs up.

See if there are ways you can reduce the cost. In a family I know with multiple daughters, virtually all were into ballet. The older two (16+) covered the cost for their dance lessons by teaching the real little kids (4-6).

In a small dance studio, for example, perhaps you could barter cleaning services or office work for your kids' dance lessons.

Sometimes churches will have free/low cost activities (baseball/basketball/volleyball).

[jeca]

I find the best deal and value in town and go from there. i also limit it to one activity at a time. You'd be amazed at what great camps the city government can offer also for pretty cheap rates sometimes especially during the summer.. I also include it into the budget with "bills" that way I already know to plan for it. This summer total DS is going away to camp through the Y and the girls are doing a week of day camp through a military promotion all for $40 total. the most I will pay for this summer is DD to go to soccer camp for a week for $110 : The Y offers great rates in sports also. A lot of camps do scholarships too We stop normal activities during the summer so they have a chance to do other things. On a normal month we pay for guitar lessons, gymnastics and ballet for about $130 a month, I include it with our bills.

[OkiMom]

I dont' have that age child yet but I remember when I was younger my family and others would switch activities.. For example, my mom was good at different crafts so kids would come over to learn different crafting things. Another parent was a dancer so we would go and learn dance with her.. The dads were always willing to go out and teach us baseball/soccar etc.
Maybe you could get together with other parents and work a schedule for the kids to learn different activities without paying a lot for them..

[amyamanda]

Originally Posted by wombatclay

ETA- That wouldn't be Pennsic would it?

You betcha.

Unfortunately, we are going to forego Pennsic this year in favor of staying home and using DH's vacation time and the money we would have spent on our vacation to work on our house so we can get it on the market this coming spring...

...so we can sell our house and buy land and live in our Pennsic tent while we build a cabin (and live in the cabin while we build a house)...

We should PM about this. I am forgetting where you are, but maybe we have crossed paths there....

[amyamanda]

Originally Posted by starbound25

amyamanda=thanks for your post, you sound like how we would be living if we do have another child, and I love that it sounds good and happy

Aww, thanks for saying this! I know it's a bit counter to the way most people do it, but it works so well for us. It is good and happy.

My kids are well-rounded and they have lots of fun. I think part of this is that we haven't set up the expectation that they "should" have activities or that they're deprived if they don't have them.

OTOH, if I had a kid who was craving outside stuff and I couldn't meet her need at home, of course I'd find a way to fill that need. But my kids are all happy, content, fulfilled. And me, too.

[wombatclay]

Unfortunately, we are going to forego Pennsic this year in favor of staying home and using DH's vacation time and the money we would have spent on our vacation to work on our house so we can get it on the market this coming spring...

Too funny! We just bought a house and are skipping pennsic this year to use dh's vacation to work on the house.

Actually, OP...depending on your kiddo's interests you might find a free group, club, or association that would suit. The Society for Creative Anachronism http://www.sca.org/ does medieval recreation but also in depth study of and instruction in medieval skills, crafts, dance, foods, weapon work. Membership is very inexpensive, classes and family events are common and equally inexpensive. So you could learn belly dance, sword fighting, cooking, painting, fiber arts, history, etc for a pretty small financial cost.

I bet you could find a free source for a lot of things... community theatre troupe for a child who wants to act, chess in the park, ASL social group, a mensa group, building skills from Habitat for Humanity. And some organizations will offer internships for young people... like a library volunteer program, acting as a camp counselor for a "free" camp experience in a different week, intern in a health clinic, etc.

[A&A]

Also, your kids can be in AYSO (soccer) for $100 per YEAR (each kid). That gives them about 12--14 weeks total (spring and fall) of playing soccer.

[jentilla]

We were tight growing up, but we were always allowed to do whatever activities we wanted. I say one a week though per child for my sanity.

Dd had 2 this spring, but ds is still too young so I buckled.

This fall we will have:
Homeschool co-op once a week that has 4 classes so she'll get lots of fun in one day $300 13/week
Ballet 45 min per week $45 monthly
Tumbling for ds once a week at $40 monthly

A lot of times you can pre pay an save 20-30% off the entire class.

[mommaof3boz]

amyamanda-that is our family too. The only thing we do in karate, 100$ per month total for 2 kids. Other than that nothing, and we like it that way. We also live on farm and have animals, 200 acres to run wild on, etc.

[timneh_mom]

There are SO many ways to help a child be well-rounded than to drive him or her around to all kinds of scheduled, expensive activities.

I know this was ages ago (I'm 39), I grew up in a very small college town. We lived out in the country. I was in 4-H, after having some riding lessons, I got to ride for free because I worked in the barn, I took piano lessons but it helped that both my parents played. After they got divorced, we had very little money, and my mom wasn't keen on running me to town for all this stuff. But I still got to pursue my interests.

Look at what your kids like to do. Figure out how to do it at home or find cheaper ways. Even if we can afford it (we can), I probably will not enroll my kids in all that stuff. IMO, they don't need the expensive, scheduled stuff and a lot of other things are just fine.