Homeschoolers and sports
In some areas homeschoolers are alowed to join in the local schols sports teams and in other areas homeschoolers are creating their own teams in order to play sports. For many children when either of these two options are available they are thrilled. But what if the parents aren’t?
I was inspired by this post over at tiny grass, Sports - Do kids really need them?. Trish lists several great reasons why she does not want her children playing organized sports. In a comment to her post one person mentions bonding with peers as a reason to participate. As Trish responds “I believe that an appreciation for the interaction of multiple ages is what brought me to homeschooling.”
In sports, as also in a classroom, teams are groups by age and stick closely together. Of course there is some safety to this. No one wants to see a five year old trying to play football with teenagers. Even trying to be safe there is a chance of the smaller, younger child getting hurt. But does that mean he should only be allowed to play with other 5-6 year olds? Would a friendly neighborhood game work just as well as an organized team would for building bonds, getting exercise, and having fun?
I admit to being a bit biased against sports. My experiences in high school were that those who could run, jump, and throw a ball were not expected to strive as academically as those who could not. And yet they were treated as though they were. The year I graduated, in fact, our school’s wrestling team took state while those on the team were given free rides in most classes and the wrestling coach himself did some rather shady things while others looked the other way. The school itself often moved funds into the athletic areas leaving the academics to wait.
How do you feel about homeschoolers and sports? Should homeschooled children take advantage of organized sports programs available to them? Should they enter the public and private school teams if they can, or stay with local teams made up of homeschoolers exclusively? Or do you prefer to stick with less formal sports activities?
school, sports, education, homeschooling, homeschoolers
July 30th, 2007 at 10:34 am
I think that I will let my children decide if they want to be involved in organized sports or not. It is not like I would lessen the teaching for my kids because I want them to do well in a sport. I would expect my normal high standards and if they could not achieve that while in a sport they would loose the privilege of participating. I think that sports can be healthy and fun if done right.
July 30th, 2007 at 10:52 am
My kids have done community organized sports. We have had some positive and negative experiences. I’d be fine if they just played broom ball out back with the neighborhood kids every day.
However, I would not utilize public school programs. You start to blur the lines and risk the state stepping in and having more authority over home education. It will never be worth it to me.
July 30th, 2007 at 11:25 am
Though our 4 children have never gone to ps, a couple of them have played sports with them. Interestingly, the two that have or are playing are our girls and not our boys. In all honesty I have not had any problems with the school or with my kids interacting with ps kids. It could be because:
*we live in a very small rural town
* the kids have played with the town teams first, so they already knew the other children
* the school is very small and very friendly
* I have worked with the park and rec. department and know many people
It could be some of those, all of those, or none of those. :o] The only I know is it has been a positive experience for the kids.
July 30th, 2007 at 11:38 am
Several families we know opted to put their kids into public school once they got to old to play intramural sports at the elementary level. I find this so sad … sports is the most important thing in their education?? It seems to me they are sacrificing an awful lot to be able to play competitive team sports.
Our family’s experience with homeschool sports leagues has been mixed. Sometimes we have not been in complete agreement with the coaching philosophies. Ultimately we have decided not to encourage “organized” team sports, but rather tried to organize sports days — rent a gym for a day of basketball or volleyball, complete with contests, prizes, food, etc.
July 30th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Sports has been an important part of our lives. Our kids have wanted to participate and having been athletic ourselves my husband and I have encouraged it. We have steered them in certain directions. Our whole family skis. Nordic skiing is a relatively inexpensive sport that we can do as a family. As they got older our kids raced, too. We also discouraged sports that sucked too much time away from family and too many weekends.
Overall it’s been a very positive experience and they’ve made great friends through it.
July 30th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Ours are still pretty young, but our oldest tried tball for the first time in the spring with our local homeschool sports league. My husband was her coach and we knew most of the families involved from other activities, so overall a positive experience. If she never wants to play anything else again that’s fine with me, we get our exercise in lots of fun ways. I think it’s great that we have a homeschool sports league; they provide great opportunities for families to try different sports.