MAG Blackjack/Winter Cup

[sce]

Oh- Our coaches said WOGA's homeschool kids do 40 hours of gym per week so they started our homeschool kids out at 30 hours....I think WOGA does 2 a day practices. Not sure though.

That is crazy!

 

[Madden3]

Ok I am NOT letting my older son see this thread - 40 hours of a gym , which sounds absolutely fruitcake to me, would sound like heaven to him.

 

[txgymfan]

World Champion Center homeschool program goes about 26 in the gym at they have the option of 20 at the in house homeschool.

 

[jenjean70]

World Champion Center homeschool program goes about 26 in the gym at they have the option of 20 at the in house homeschool.

So do you add the two together or is it either or....if it's just the 26 hours then our homeschool boys go more hours....that's a lot of hours.....either way, my son doesn't want more hours.

 

[txgymfan]

According to their website it's 20 hours of school in the gym and approximately 26 hours of gym training with additional school work at home.

 

[Seeker]

Oh- Our coaches said WOGA's homeschool kids do 40 hours of gym per week so they started our homeschool kids out at 30 hours....I think WOGA does 2 a day practices. Not sure though.

That is insane. Unless you're a few months out from the Olympics, I cannot imagine doing that many hours.

Unless that is the total time at the gym, but it is spent on a combination of school, gymnastics and breaks?

 

[jenjean70]

That is insane. Unless you're a few months out from the Olympics, I cannot imagine doing that many hours.

Unless that is the total time at the gym, but it is spent on a combination of school, gymnastics and breaks?

I'm not sure- that's just what our coach told me....

 

[krc]

Hi CBer's

If you workout more than 25 hrs a week, you will do pretty well at what ever level you are at. However, it will have absolutely no bearing on your success at future levels. Gymnastics is not a 10,000 hrs to mastery kind of thing. Success at the upper levels is much more contingent on psychological factors rather than physical. Obviously an athlete need to be strong, flexible, resilient, etc.; but, success at the lower levels is NOT a predictor of upper level success. Upper level success is significantly correlated with work-ethic, fear control, self-discipline, deferred rewards; i.e. things that can't be coached no matter how many hours you have. On top of all that, puberty will throw everything for a loop when it knocks on the door to turn Lil' Jimmy into James.

If you homeschool for educational or social/religious reasons - go for it. But if you are homeschooling for gymnastics, you're making a mistake IMHO. Essentially, homeschool + gymnastics is the old Soviet system. The ones that survive are very, very good, but the majority will not complete the course, and what kind of legacy is that? The question is, how much of your childhood do you want to hand over to a dream? Now, don't get me wrong, I think that gymnastics is the best sport for any kid, (regardless of talent) and to be successful does take time. It is simply a costs/benefits decision. High hours=high costs (not money here but, missed experiences, bday parties, trips etc.) Will it be worth it if the dreams don't work out? Please realize, that no coach can look at a 10 yo and say - "he's an olympian." No one can promise that, or even guess. You'd have better luck playing actual Blackjack. (I won 12$ this year BTW!)

I'm a coach, but mainly I'm a facilitator of "growing up." No matter what happens in a competitive career, gymnastics will be over at approx 25 years old. In the end, will it have been a good experience or a bad one? That is the question I keep in the back of my mind as I teach each day.

In all sincerity,
KRC

 

[jenjean70]

Hi CBer's

If you workout more than 25 hrs a week, you will do pretty well at what ever level you are at. However, it will have absolutely no bearing on your success at future levels. Gymnastics is not a 10,000 hrs to mastery kind of thing. Success at the upper levels is much more contingent on psychological factors rather than physical. Obviously an athlete need to be strong, flexible, resilient, etc.; but, success at the lower levels is NOT a predictor of upper level success. Upper level success is significantly correlated with work-ethic, fear control, self-discipline, deferred rewards; i.e. things that can't be coached no matter how many hours you have. On top of all that, puberty will throw everything for a loop when it knocks on the door to turn Lil' Jimmy into James.

If you homeschool for educational or social/religious reasons - go for it. But if you are homeschooling for gymnastics, you're making a mistake IMHO. Essentially, homeschool + gymnastics is the old Soviet system. The ones that survive are very, very good, but the majority will not complete the course, and what kind of legacy is that? The question is, how much of your childhood do you want to hand over to a dream? Now, don't get me wrong, I think that gymnastics is the best sport for any kid, (regardless of talent) and to be successful does take time. It is simply a costs/benefits decision. High hours=high costs (not money here but, missed experiences, bday parties, trips etc.) Will it be worth it if the dreams don't work out? Please realize, that no coach can look at a 10 yo and say - "he's an olympian." No one can promise that, or even guess. You'd have better luck playing actual Blackjack. (I won 12$ this year BTW!)

I'm a coach, but mainly I'm a facilitator of "growing up." No matter what happens in a competitive career, gymnastics will be over at approx 25 years old. In the end, will it have been a good experience or a bad one? That is the question I keep in the back of my mind as I teach each day.

In all sincerity,
KRC

I agree. My son is very muscular and it looked like he would dominate in gymnastics from a physical standpoint. Six years later at age 11 he is just starting to learn how to use those muscles and do correct body positions. He has had many fears and he fights them every day. He doesn't want to go to the Olympics and he gets frustrated when people ask him that question. He might want to do gymnastics in college but right now his goal is to make it to level 10. He doesn't want to homeschool and do gymnastics 30+ hours per week. He is happy with what he is doing although I know he misses practicing with the boys who are homeschooling. Middle school is going to be an adjustment with off campus PE and fighting with the public school about courses and we'll face it again in high school. Right now he is progressing and enjoying the sport...God willing it will stay that way.

 

[Madden3]

I think gyms on any wide scale doing homeschool programs is a problem IF it causes families who prefer to do school-school to think they have to homeschool in order to be competitive. That is not true, nor is it helpful for kids or for the sport.

But if you are homeschooling for gymnastics, you're making a mistake IMHO.

I think I understand what you are saying, but I have some problems with it I will try to explain.

If a child cannot learn well at home, or is unhappy being homeschooled, then it is a mistake to homeschool them no matter what the reason.

But in that case, wouldn't it follow that if a child is not learning well in school, or is unhappy being schooled, it is a mistake to not find another option and one option might be homeschooling?

Of course people "homeschool" many ways. But I would say that homeschooling means the parent(s) actually provide instruction to the children or learn/discover alongside the child (depending on the method) at least for the most part. Every homeschooling parent I know homeschools, at least in part, so they can spend MORE time with their children, not less. So, basically the opposite of the Soviet system of separating children from parents so they will better serve and be of value to the State.

IMO any program that includes school AT gym with an instructor or tutor who is not the parent, is not homeschooling. Not really. I would call that private school. There may be legal reasons to call it homeschool. But that is not the same as what most people think of when someone says homeschooling. For good reason!

So I, as a homeschooler, do not like getting lumped in with “gym school” programs that are nothing like what I do as a homeschooling parent.

Even when gymnastics is a primary reason to homeschool, (and in my experience it seldom is) why does it have to be that the parent has an unrealistic fantasy of gymnastics glory? Might not some gym parents homeschool because their kid loves gym, and practice is 4-6 days a week for several hours late into the evening, so in order to ever see their kids and have a less crazy home life and simply so their kids get enough sleep, the decision is made to homeschool? I do not see that as a mistake.

I have been homeschooling for 3 years but regularly involved with homeschooling families for 14 years. In my experience, homeschooling is not something that people do without a lot of thought and multiple reasons. Homeschooling as I understand and practice it is a remarkable experience that takes a tremendous amount of work for the parent(s). There is no way a parent would take that on only due to Olympics dreams, unless they are of the CGP variety. And there are plenty of those who do not homeschool.

 

[Sasha]

There is no way a parent would take that on only due to Olympics dreams, unless they are of the CGP variety

KRC is speaking to exactly these people. There are more than you might think.

 

[krc]

@Madden3, My post was not meant to be a slam on home schooling per se, but on the notion that in order to be successful in gymnastics you must or should be in a alternative school setting (home or cyber or tutoring) that allows for extended hours in the gym. I used the term "home-school" to apply to any non-traditional school in this scenario. My shorthand, my error. I've worked with some tremendous home-schoolers. They are some of the smartest (and most well-adjusted) kids I've worked with. I have no problem with a well-executed homeschool program.

Unfortunately, there are a few clubs out there that say that in order to be good, you must alt-school and be in the gym amazingly long hours. My problem (and this is for boys only, girls are completely different) is that this is a false promise and un-realistic. Boys do not get good at this sport until post-puberty, and no coach can foresee when or if that will happen. Choosing alternative schooling may be the right road for many families in many situations. (Elite girls are a prime example.) I just don't believe that the lure of future gymnastics success is a good enough reason. And it is sold that way far too often.

Again - my apologies if this sounded like a home-school slam. Definitely not what I intended.

KRC

 

[Madden3]

Ok then we are entirely in agreement. Thank you so much for the clarification.