Extracurricular Activities

Some may say I over schedule.  Some may say we do too much.  I just like to say that our daughter is well rounded!  ;o)

So, what do we do for extracurricular activities?  Let's go back to when our daughter was 3.  I was so excited that she was finally able to enroll in something.  We signed her up for her first dance class.  It was a ballet/tap combo.  She loved it and I watched every second of her dancing around on that floor, each and every week.  She is 7 1/2 now and she is still at the same dance studio, but is now taking 1 hour of ballet, 1 hour of jazz/tap, and 1 hour of their mini company class (yes, I am there 3 hours a week).  She's been there for over 5 years now and she still enjoys it!

When she tuned 4 we enrolled her in soccer at the local YMCA.  The contact between her foot and the ball was far and few between, but she loved practicing her ballet moves across the field and digging holes in the dirt.  We have braved the 100 degree summer heat to watch her and her team attempt to work together in getting the ball down the field.  This coming spring will be her last season with the U8 age group, then she would move up to the bigger kids.  I'm still not sure what we will do.  To break it down, she hates the heat and hates running in the heat...but she still says she wants to keep going because "the more she practices, the better she will get." She is right, but I'm still not sure what will happen.  

When she turned 6 we enrolled her in the swim team at the Y.  Swim team is a big summer commitment but she loves to swim and she does pretty well.  Thankfully summer swim is not as competitive as the year round swim (she is not quite at that level).  This summer she will move up to compete against the next age range, so it will be a bit of a change, but she is enjoying it so far and has several friends.

When she was about 6 1/2 we started her with piano lessons.  She's been taking them about a year right now and absolutely loves it.  She will usually play her pieces without me asking her to and has performed in a few recitals.  We don't have a piano at home so she has to practice on a keyboard.  We are hoping something will fall in our lap one of these days.  ;o)

So, yes, we do have several extracurricular activities, but two out of the four are seasonal, and don't happen at the same time.   From the end of fall to the beginning of spring, things are a little more relaxed.  Soccer and swim keep us busy, but it is fun at the same time.  We are all usually excited when they start and ready to be done towards the end.