We don't participate in very many activities but through the years we've done baseball, soccer, Upward Basketball, horseback riding, ice skating, swimming, church camps, computer camps (taught by oldest!)...
Now all three girls are in Ballet $$$$ My oldest helps with the classes and that helps with price.
My husband and I play trumpet in our church orchestra and participate in the local jazz and orchestras, when time permits. I've taught my children the basics of music and now am attempting to get some into music lessons.
Our church puts on a major pagent every year and we suspend school for a month while participating in that. (Talk about a wonderful theater experience!)
What are some extras ya'll get to do?

All four of mine have participated in karate at one time or another. Three of them still do altho' it's starting to dwindle down now. Two of my girls take dance (ballet & jazz), one plays in the church handbell choir and sings in church every chance she gets. My son sings and plays his drum in his church praise band. The girls did gymnastics through our county Parks & Recreation Department. We did swimming lessons when they were younger and now they just swim in our pool for fun. For a few years we participated in a homeschool music and drama group that met weekly then put on their production at the end of the year (usually several performances). Hmmmm ... there's probably more but that's all I can think of at the moment.

My girls are already asking how many activities they'll get to participate in after we move (and the house hasn't even sold yet!) I'm hoping to be able to get them into most of their outside activities through our homeschool group or our church. I found that when we do more community-based activities it can be very hard to coordinate schedules (like now we have co-op, dance, and karate ALL on Thursday!) I want them to be able to do all their "fun stuff" but don't want to drive myself crazy trying to get them there.

My daughter takes about 13 hours of dance class per week. Her favorite is ballet. I pretty much just giggle at those people who ask about my kids' socialization. My daughter was Clara in The Nutcracker this weekend. In one scene when she was the only person on stage, I was amazed by her. She was so confident, so sincere, and absolutely having so much fun. Over 500 pairs of eyes were looking at my little girl. I seriously doubt she will live a life as a hermit as most fear about home schoolers.

Monica, I wholeheartedly agree with you about socialization. It's very rarely a valid complaint against homeschoolers. On the whole, I think homeschooled children are often better spoken, more confident, etc. than their formally schooled peers. Since homeschooled kids can particiapte in just about any type of extracurricular activity that formally schooled kids can, I don't see any real lack off opportunites for socialization. I only see positives with homeschooling, like more time with family, safety, more one on one instruction... My daughter is only two, so we don't really do anything curricular- or extracurricular- yet. But, I figure I will base our choice of activities on her interests at the time, what's available where we live, what's affordable for our budget, what skills are priorities to us, etc.

Hi Veronica,
Welcome to the board. Hope we hear back from you often.
When I get asked the socialization question, I usually pretend the questioner is asking about ME and respond, "Well, I try to get out as much as I can ...."
Tee hee!
Christine

Hi there

I know this is an old post but here's my input:

When I let my children do too many activties there are many things that suffer, the first of which is interpersonal relationships. The next is our home and then our pets.

I have one social butterfly who would do everything that was available. But it is more important for her to build those relationships at home.

My oldest (12 yog) does horse riding and ballroom.
My son (10) bikes three or four times a week with Dad and does guitar and swimming.
Our butterlfy did: Pottery, Brownies, Rhythmic Gym, swimming (she is stopping swimming)
My 4 yob bikes and swims.

I do Pilates!