Tuesday, November 8, 2011

What to do next?

Fall semester activities are drawing to a close, and we need to plan for winter/spring.  This stuff makes me crazy.  They both want to do extra activities, so we have to balance the right activities among two kids, sorting out dates, figuring out what their friends are going to do, and what is affordable and reasonable from a time perspective. 

Should we do gymnastics this winter?  On the plus side, there are classes for E and A at the same time, and we think they'd both really enjoy it.  On the other hand, the class is a drive away, in another neighborhood entirely, so none of their friends would be in class, and we probably wouldn't continue much beyond one or two classes, so is it really worth it? 

We didn't do dance for E in the fall in favor of soccer, which was maybe a bit of a mistake.  Can we join dance (which switched to a year-round calendar rather than semesters) in January?  But if we do that, how do we fit in gymastics? 

And they really do need swimming lessons - two friends of E's take swimming at a local place, but the class is Wednesday afternoons at the same time as A's soccer, which we'll definitely do in the spring again.  There's an expensive swim class on Sunday afternoons we could join in the early spring with classes for both E and A at the same time, but it's pricey and do we want to drive across the city ever Sunday afternoon at 5 pm?  There's a rec center swim class that's super cheap, but we've found with the rec centers you get what you pay for. 

E's new school, as a start up, doesn't have a music program and she is definitely musical.  At 6, should we start her on music lessons?  Piano?  We think so, but when will we fit that in, and what will she practice on?  Can we buy a piano?  Where the hell would it go?  (I have A Plan, Rich is skeptical.)

So does that mean she'll be doing religion school, plus dance, plus swimming, plus piano?  That is too much.  Maybe we skip dance, but add piano? Hold on piano til next fall, when she's 7, and add dance back in? 

And what about t-ball?  Realistically, t-ball will only happen if Rich and I decide to coach.  E is only kinda into t-ball, but A could play next year.  Should we be a part of building a team now so that A can play next year? 

A right now is easy - he'll keep his music class, and start up spring soccer, and we'll squeeze in swim lessons at some point.  But it's clear that A's skill set is firmly in the sports section.  If this continues, we're looking at years of soccer and t-ball and any other sport we can squeeze in, while meanwhile he also is interested in music, too.  In addition to the three years separating the two, which puts them in very different age categories for most activities, right now it also looks like they're going to want to do entirely different activities. 

Bottom line, this is the stuff that makes my head ache. 

5 comments:

Elaine said...

I hate the class scheduling stuff. Good luck!

Laurie said...

I agree with Elaine. Yuck!

We like gym in the winter, but have no clue what we're doing this year either.

Herself said...

Gives me a headache too.

Rachel et Natalie said...

way too many options....

Marya said...

This is going to be a huge struggle for us very soon because David goes to Sunday/Hebrew school and that is about all we can handle. I am scared to add Ari and then I do want them both to find something they love to particpate in. I already know why my Mom was so excited when I got my license.