Extracurriculars

Extracurricular activities are a very interesting topic if you homeschool. Some say it is vital for socialization, others say that the less running around you do with the children, the better. I think both are very valid points!

I feel that when the children are young you should have a strong home rhythm, with as little going out as possible. Nature walks, celebrating our festivals and visiting family is what we enjoy as a family. We limit visiting family to once a month as it is a long drive and the children get exhausted. But we love our family visiting us. Family is a big part of our lives as they are special. We wish we saw Oma and my aunts and uncles more.

Now that the children are getting older we allow certain extracurriculars. Once a month they do woodwork.

This is a new thing this year and they are really enjoying it.

Caleb with his drawings
for the art badge

Hannah is a girl guide and Caleb a scout. Sheth is not interested in cubs at this stage.

They do pottery with a master potter. They love it so much that they are saving their money to buy their own wheels.

Swimming class 2011

They do swimming in summer. This has just stopped, thank goodness as it was all getting a bit much.

The other thing they do is horse riding. Caleb and Hannah have been doing lessons for about three years now. Sheth does random lessons when he feels like it. They won't be riding for the next year or so with their teacher, my good friend, as she is pregnant. They will be riding with friends though.

This may seem like a lot of extracurriculars, but the only reason they do so much is that:

a. Pottery is one block away from us.
b. Horse riding is one block away from us in the opposite direction.
c. Swimming is a ten minute drive away, but all three children do their lesson together and it is a once a week lesson. We only do this for twelve weeks of the year.

The guides preparing
for Kontiki

d. Girl guides and Scouts are thirty kilometers away. This is once a week on different days. I go with Hannah and Greg goes with Caleb. They love it so much that I would never want to give this up!
e. Caleb has been selected out of almost 90 children to be a Table Mountain National Park: Junior Ranger. We are so proud of him! He does this one Saturday a month. He gets picked up by bus and dropped off
again. This is very exciting as he had never gone on a bus before.

If you noticed the older two do the extracurriculars that are longish drives. Sheth stays home and doesn't go with.

I enjoy my free time when the children go to pottery. It gives me time to clean, read, watch a programme or do school preparation - whatever is the most important to me on that day.