Parents School & gymnastics?

[shelovestoflip]

A couple of thoughts...

My daughter gets car sick and could never do work or read in the car. Be sure you know if this will work for your child!

Definitely bring dinner for her to eat when you drive home. This saves us a lot of time (and we are only a 15 minute drive home!) I do have her shower when she gets home, though...all that chalk and germs and sweat.....

As for doing less homework than is given (ie: not as many spelling sentences), I would consider your child first. My daughter is a perfectionist (and my guess is that is a trait shared by many gymnasts on this list), so if the teacher tells her to write 5 sentences, she will write 5 sentences, even if I were to suggest 3.

I think part of being a gymnast (or any athlete or any kid involved in anything) is that they need to learn, with our guidance, how to manage their time and where they can 'cut corners' if possible.

So while she would hand in 5 sentences like anyone else, we 'fudged' the nightly reading list during the week....instead of the 'required' 20-30 a night, she would read way more on weekends and document it during the week. Not a perfect solution, but it worked for her. I told her she was still reading 'a lot' but just during different time frames. After all, only in school life are you told when (and what!) to read!!

I think that they do learn to manage their time. My daughter quickly figured out to do her least favorite or most time consuming HW first thing after school (she goes to HW club or extended day so does it there). This way, if anything is left for when she gets home from practice, it's math (easiest for her) and she's not struggling with writing answers to ancient SS questions!! She found this to work really well.

Last year (6th grade) she only had one or two nights where there was just too much work....it was Math that 'got left' so I emailed the teacher and explained that she had worked hard on another project that night (which turned out to be a local award winning project and told him she would finish the next day. He replied saying no worries, she didnt' need to do that night's HW. I think it helps that a: she 'gets' math and b: we didn't do that ever before. I try to use these types of teacher requests wisely!

Bottom line, you will figure out what works for you but as your daughter is so young, don't worry so much right now. You have time to make it work for you.....

The other thing is that I wouldn't let your daughter know you are worrying about it. For my daughter that would make it seem like a huge issue and she would then worry!

Good luck!

 

[htimcj]

DD8 trains from 11 hours a week, until 8 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She'll be in third grade this year. What we found worked best was to get up 45 minutes earlier and do all of her homework in the morining. She's an early bird ready to go person in the morning and we found that to work the best. Trying to do anything after practice or even after school just didn't work well. She's at a private school that doesn't have too much homwork and will be there until 6th grade so I don't have to worry too much unitl middle school /

 

[Flippers Mom]

Flipper works out 4 weekdays for 4 hours per day plus 4 hours on Saturday for 20 hours total. We drive nearly an hour each way to the gym. She started 7th grade TODAY. This year, the school is helping by allowing her to leave early everyday. We have been discussing what could be done to free up her schedule for several years and they have said it is nice to work with a kid who is over achieving instead of being a problem. This year, all her core classes are in the morning and PE, choir, art - the "encore" classes are in the afternoon. She leaves 35 minutes early (missing study hall/band) every other day and 10 minutes early on the off days. Of course, all of this is predicated on her keeping good grades, but because of the schools help, she no longer has to change clothes in the car! Flipper attends the public school in a small town, so they have some flexibility that larger districts may not have.

Flipper is also the queen of time management. If she has a few minutes of free time in English, she finishes her math homework. She works on the bus on the way to school. She reads while soaking in the tub - she simply never lets a moment go uncaptured. If all else fails and she is overwhelmed or has too much homework - she misses gym or leaves early (and the coaches and owners are supportive). We also work hard to free up some time for fun and friends. She is a kid, after all!

 

[Mom2Brats]

All I can say is that I'm impressed with anyone who can do public school and gymnastics and not go insane! When we were in ND, dd went to public school but she only practiced 9 hrs a week and I still felt like we never saw here. Here in Las Vegas, she went 16 hrs last year and 20 this year (L7). Last year, I started homeschooling and this year we're going to try the virtual academy since that way I don't have to fork out $$$ for curriculum (I can't justify paying to homeschool when I'm also paying for gymnastics, I do have 2 other kids!)

I will say that I turned down the Nevada Virtual Academy last year because when I talked to them they sounded so strict about everything. This year we are trying Renaissance Academy, which is new in NV but is also available in some other states. We don't start until next week, so I can't say for sure, but it seems more flexible, even though they use the K12 curriculum. They don't have time constraints and the kids are supplied with a netbook that has a 4G wireless connection which means that we can even do schoolwork in the car. Or one kid could do it while waiting for another's sports or other activities.

My husband does shift work here, flying UAVs and has waterfalling weekends, since they work and 8-day week so I'm hoping that this will be a solution that will help us actually see each other more! Last year my middle child went to public school and if the 5 of us were in the house together once a month it was a miracle!

Oh, and I will say, I've always been one of those moms that teachers probably hate because I NEVER required my child to do all the homework. We had one teacher that had them do 'rainbow' spelling words... tracing their words with all the colors of the rainbow. We just didn't do it. Dd got 100% on all her spelling tests and I thought it was ridiculous busy work.

 

[J&A's mom]

We are struggling with this as well right now. My son's practice starts at 4, he is in school till 3:45, and the gym is a half hour from his school. I found out that if I take him out at 3:30 like I did last year, they will put "Loss of Instructional Time" on his attendance. I haven't found out what happens if this shows up twice a week all year, but I think that is crazy. Last year when I picked him up he didn't miss any instructional time, they were always cleaning up to go home. It may be different now that he is older, but get real!

A letter seems like it may help. Thanks for that.

 

[bribri514]

By the time I was in 6th grade I was training 20, sometimes up to 25 hours a week for L 10. I did this until the end of 9th grade and then again in 12th grade. My younger sister is also a competitive dancer and my mom is a single mom who works full time. A typical day for me would be wake up at 5 am, get ready (I showered at night after practice so I didn't have to fight my mom and sister for the bathroom and kept a big mirror in my room to do make up and hair... well not make up in middle school but later!). Then we'd be at school by 6:30 am because my mom worked at the middle school, it's on the same campus as our high school. I would do homework then, high school started just after 7 and middle school started at 8. Then I'd do a full day of school. If I had a ton of homework I'd do it during lunch but didn't usually need to. All through school I was in a special class with a special education tutor. In middle school I had to do lots of extra work for English because I still was learning it. By high school it became more of a study hall for me which was nice. At 3 (2:30 in high school) was out and during middle school I carpooled with another girl and we'd drive to our gym. Usually we'd be there on time at 4 pm for practice unless the roads were bad (they usually were, our gym is another county over a mountain pass and it snows all the time). Practice went until 8 and then we'd go home and be there by 9 or just after. My mom or I would pack a healthy lunchbox to eat in the car for dinner (cheese sticks, sandwiches, thermoses with soup, pasta in tupperware, things not super messy, had to be careful eating the soup, but also very healthy. We packed lunches too for school like this) In middle school I'd go straight to bed after a shower, in high school I usually would but would sometimes get online for an hour to talk to friends, surf the web, watch TV shows online, etc. When I did gym senior year I drove myself to practice and would drop my sister off.

It was hectic sometimes, but I never once had problems with school. My mom knew all my teachers and was friends with them. She would never talk to them about special exceptions though, she didn't believe in it. She had that idea about all of my schoolwork, that it didn't matter if it was my Deafness or my gymnastics, I could do the regular work. If my homework wasn't done or I fell behind in classes my mom wouldn't let me go to practice (even at L 10!!) I only ever missed school for gym if it were a big travel meet like Westerns or something. Not to judge other families but I don't think letting girls miss school for gymnastics or to catch up on homework is a good idea, especially at the lower levels. Gymnastics teaches you discipline and time management which should help with school. And gymnastics doesn't last forever, I've learned that with my back surgery. School does. It's important to send that message to your kids at a young age. Even though during the week my family was super busy with work and dance and gym and school my mom always had us do things together on the weekend. I had morning practices sometimes on Saturday but that was my "friends day" where I'd hang out with friends, go to the movies, have sleepovers, etc. On Sunday it was family day and we'd go on hikes or ski or visit my grandparents in Denver or a bunch of other things. We'd do laundry, get food for lunches and dinners together, all those other chores too. It worked out really well.

Now that my niece has started school we're working gymnastics into her schedule. They start school at 8:30 and get out at 3:15. She only practices 3 times a week for 3 hours from 4 to 7 then has optional practice on Saturday morning for another 3 hours. We take the subway and buses together. Somedays I'll have school or work and we've been lucky enough to be able to set up a carpool with another family who is at the same gym and at the middle school on the campus where Gabi's elementary school is. Lucked out there! Because of those things though, doing homework in the car isn't always an option and luckily it's not necessary right now. My brother works crazy long hours so we have a late dinner together usually. We're always home before my brother is so I'm working on my cooking skills. While I'm getting dinner ready I make sure my niece gets her homework done. She's in 4th grade and her school doesn't give a lot of homework. It's an inner city public elementary school. They're trying to get the kids doing more field trips and follow a charter school approach since it's a "low achieving" school so we'll see how it works. She's a perfectionist so she will do extra sentences if she doesn't get it or redo entire assignments because she thinks she wrote too messy. She keeps herself busy with her schoolwork! I was the exact opposite. On the days she doesn't have gym but I have school/work, she's signed up for her school's after school program that she'd been doing for years and really likes. They have time for school work, as well as crafts, snack, outdoor time, etc. so she gets a chance to do other things and see her friends. So far she hasn't really expressed interest in other activities, before all she did was rec sports programs through the city so she's used to only being able to do one activity outside school.

My brother and I are kind of following the schedule my mom had for us as kids (he's a lot older though so things were much different for him growing up, no crazy activity schedules!)

 

[Granny Smith]

My dd will be starting her Sophomore yr of HS (brick & mortar), she is training L10. She trains 20hrs a week. When she started HS there was an adjustment period for her, but I think she had her "schedule" down by November and then the rest of the school yr was easy sailing. She does get homework, but never really brings home a lot with her. She does take advantage of free time at school and will do whatever she can.

This yr her gym hrs are changing and she will be going 3-7pm, rather than 4-8pm last yr. She might end up being 5-10 minutes late to practice. I'm trying to decide if I want to pull her out of school at 2:30 (school ends at 2:37, but she never gets out that quickly.) I know it doesn't sound like much, but not sure I want to get into doing that daily.

We also have to deal with this yr, her lunch period is at 10:30 in the morning. I'm not going to be able to just get away with a snack in the car on the way to practice, I'm going to have to have a mini-meal for her! It's always something, I tell ya!

 

[txgymfan]

Talk to the school, the last fifteen minutes of school are not the most productive. She should be able to get out in time for you beat traffic and her to have a late lunch. After all of these years she deserves it.

 

[rach]

I'm English, but my daughter has trained 25 hours a week since she was 11 and is now nearly 16. She leaves school 15 minutes early and gets the train to gym which is an hour away. We pick her up. The school has always been really supportive and appreciate that the gym is very important to her and also gives her numerous life skills. She does have to keep her academic standards up though, which she definitely does. She is EXTREMELY organised and does homework before school, lunchtime etc. She has very important exams (GCSEs) this year, but I have no worries. It has become easier as she gets older, but it has all been driven by her. If your daughter really wants to do the gym she will find ways to keep up with the work. talk to her school as much as you can - they are almost always willing to work with parents, especially if they can see the benefit to the child. Also if your child id successful they get the reflected glory! My daughter is in the England team and it has become easier to ask for time off because the school can see tangible results. There isn't the home schooling opportunities or culture in the UK that there is in the states, but even so I think that i would have kept her in school - it makes her a more rounded person and provides things that we never could at home.It isn't always easy for any of the family, but it has definitely been worth it! Good luck!

 

[Iwannabemargo]

I think its a question of speaking to the school. I'm in the UK too and my daughter has been going to gym for a year now. We live 35 minutes drive from the gym and I found that she couldn't do the Thursday night session (finishing at 8pm) as the cumulative tiredness kicked in. The coach offered to make up the hours on a Wednesday and the head teacher at her school agreed she could take wednesday afternoons off to do gym - they just credited her the hours as "off-site learning".

She is much happier at school now as she isn't so tired , win win all round.

Its interesting that your daughter is managing with her GCSE's Rach, gives us hope for the future, mine is only now moving into juniors - will cross the secondary school issue when we get to it !

'margo

 

[Natasha]

My dd has late practices, 5pm to 8:30 or 9pm every day except Wednesday, and right after school on Friday and then Sat morning. The optional girls all practice 18-19 hours a week. She goes to bed very early on Sun and Wed. Our gym has a homework room for the optional girls to go do their homework. So, if they don't finish their HW before practice starts, they can go to the HW room during practice to study or get it done when needed. The gym philosophy is that school comes first. (Which works well for us since that is my philosophy and we don't have any conflict with the coaches that way.) Occasionally Samantha would be late for practice because she was finishing HW last year, but this year we carpool some days, & don't have the option of leaving late, so It's nice that she can use the HW room at the gym if needed.

 

[raenndrops]

Thank you for your response. She is only entering 3rd grade, 8 years old. It's tough because there aren't a lot of other kids who have a schedule like her, even the kids that she's in the gym with because most of them are older & they live in town. We have definitely considered homeschooling, it's kind of intimidating though . I'm a stay at home mom, so it's doable, but still scary. Why can't parenting come with a manual!?!?

If homeschooling is intimidating, there are online schools. If you live in Ohio, I would recommend Treca Digital Academy (TDA). They provide you with the computer, the internet access, the scanner... everything you need. They often give students laptops with internet access built in. Then DD could work on school work on the way too and from gym as well as at home. And it can be done around her gym schedule.