To homeschool or not to homeschool

[mariposa]

I agree with most of the posts here. I very much agree with Shawn's post. I think they are 2 separate issues. I think that 25 hours a week is too much for a 6 year old. I think it is baloney that she has "plateaued at 12 hours a week." There are some very talented little gymmies here that don't go that much and I think they are just trying to get her into that program. Not saying she isn't talented, I am sure she is, but she can do just fine doing hours more reasonable for a 6 year old.

We have always homeschooled and luckily it works out nicely with gymnastics. It is a very big decision though. We love it and it works well for our family.

Good luck to you. Personally, I also think 18 hours is too much for a 6 year old, but it is a personal decision. Have you considered checking out other gyms (like Starmaker did with her super talented little gymmie)? There is no reason she can't progress with more normal hours and still do well.

 

[bookworm]

I can't believe your coach wants a 6 yo to train 25-30 hours a week because she "has plateaued" and to homeschool on top of it. I know it's very flatterring to have your daughter considered for this "day group" and TOPS but take a step back and think about it realistically...as another poster said, 75% OF THE KIDS ARE BURNT OUT BY AGE 12 because they train too much. And I've seen this happen..

My daughter is a Level 10 (and has been level 10 for a few years and did TOPS) and homeschooling was demanded of us and I basically said to them "no, that's her only outlet from gym, she stays in school and we work around it" She has done around 20 hours a week since age (and Level ) 9 and now currentlly does 25-30 but remains in school. I will say that the schools my daughter has been in and is currently at have been great with her practice and competitive schedules.

With that many hours your daughter's risk for injury increases exponentially and that would be a concern as well. My daughter had her first (knock on wood) injury in her third season of Level 10 and I attribute that to the fact that she was not overtrained at a young age. She has made Nationals several times and was a member of the TOPS team ...and never trained 25 hours at age 6. Your daughter needs you to advocate for what's best for her , not what's best (or easiest) for the coach/gym.

 

[sportzmomov3]

Wow, several things here you are faced with considering:

If you took a vote, I think everyone here would agree that 25 hrs+ for MOST gymnasts is too much - regardless of level and age, and certainly insane for a 6 year old!

Also, don't get caught up in the "allure" of TOPs - that isn't a guarantee of success in this sport nor is it mandatory. It's more prestige for the gym than for the gymnast. If anything, TOPs testing only puts more pressure on kids at a young age - for little reward and again, no guarantees. A good gym can incorporate TOPS conditioning into their team program (without more hrs).

As for the homeschooling option - that is a very personal choice that should be made without factoring in gymnastics - at least not at age 6. It only becomes a real issue for high school kids who are in an elite sport, and there are usually ways to work your schedule by then (at least in our area, can't assume that for everywhere...)

I would agree with those who have said, start looking at other programs that suit your DD. Don't give in to pressure by the gym/HC. Kids grow up too fast, have too many pressures these days. They need to have as much normalcy in their childhood as possible, IMHO.

 

[cathiann]

I'm on the bandwagon with everyone else--25 hrs a week for a 6 yr old is insane. My 11 yr old goes 16 hrs a week now--she just got moved to level 9--they normally go 20 hrs, but her coaches said that she's too young for that much time. If you have coaches saying they can't train your daugher for higher than a level 4 at 12 hrs a week, then you need a new gym. Our 4s go 9 hrs a week and we had two girls make National TOPs!

I do think homeschooling can be a great option. We'd consider it, if our school district wasn't flexible about Beth missing for meets. Luckily it hasn't been an issue yet.

 

[bookworm]

I agree with the post on the TOPS allure...the program benefits the gym with its cache of being able to say they had a girl on the TOPS team but you can train TOPS without a formal program and without 10 million hours doing it!! And the unspoken part of TOPS is the cost...the cost of each testing, coaches' fee for each testing and when they make it to Houston, the cost of that whole trip for you, your daughter and her coaches.

They can definitely incorporate TOPS training with their regularly scheduled practices in a decent gym.

 

[hunde2]

My opinion is also that that is a lot of hrs for that age and Level.My daughter was home schooled last year as a 5 th Grader and shortly before the school year started this year we decided to put her back in public school.It was nice to have her home but she felt a little isolated.
She loves school and what they offer(choir and cooking) but gets a little overwhelmed with homework at times.Sometimes I think why do they have to do homework if they are in school most of the day.No homework with homeschooling.
She goes to gym 5 days a week for a total of 20 hrs being a second year Level 9.

 

[mrsjoe]

I have been lurking on this board for a while, and your post has been the first that has moved me to write something.
I was an elite gymnast in the late 90s. When i was six, my mother freaked out when my coach asked that I increase my training hours from 3 hours/week to six! (and said no!) Granted my hours increased as I got older, but that was as I matured enough to make clear thats what I wanted. I continued ballet, music lessons, school sport until I was about 10, and again when i gave these up, it was my choice.
Your daughter sounds as if she could be very talented- there are a lot of gyms and coaches out there. Not all of them have every childs best interests at heart, and from the posts above it seems most dont advise 25 hour weeks for six year olds.

You know your daughter best, and you represent her best interests in the gymnastics world. If you're not comfortable, dont do it. I can safely say that along with good coaching, the most important thing in my career was the rational, levelheaded approach that my parents took towards my gym.

 

[Blackie6]

Welcome to the CB! WOW, I would not even want to have to make that decision for my daughter, so big ((HUGS)) to you as you begin her gymnastics journey and already faced with such choice. My DD was also a 6 yr old L4 and I remember how many sleepless nights I had trying to decide if I should even let her onto L4 from Pre-team. She was asked when she wasn't even quit 6 so the hours would have been from 4/week to 10.5 wk for L4 which I thought was insane! We decided to wait until her 6th B-Day and so we did but monitored the impact of the hours on her health and her schooling. She loved it and would have gone many many more hours if we let her. But, we felt that if she loved gymnastics so much, there could be other things that she loved too. As a parent my biggest fear was that she would regret not having the opportunity to experience anything else or cultivate friendships outside the gym. We allowed her to try other sports, Girl Scouts, dive team, chorus, T-ball, and now at age 8 (L5) the violin. We were not at a super serious gym for Pre-team and L4 (2yrs) and have since moved onto another one and still not at an ultra competative program but for us it works. DD "cuts" practice all the time. L5 is 15 hrs and IMHO a little too much even as a L5. My DD is not talented by any means, but her love for gymnastics even after leaving her favorite coach for a different gym (financial reasons) has never dimished! When not at gym she is doing it all at home! I would like to think of that saying "leave them wanting for more... or "too much is not always a good thing..." In other words, maybe try to encourage her to pursue some other interests, keep gymnastics fun for her NOW. It sounds like she is talented, but if she is talented now, she will still be talented in another year or 2, right?

And, let me give you some other things to ponder. Last year at age 7 my DD broke her heel at the gym. She fell off a rope during conditioning and just landed hard on her heel. Recovery time was about 2 months. Shortly after recovery she began to experience heel pain again. Growth spurt and sport like gymnastics caused Sever's disease that gives her imense amount of pain. Since her diagnosis, other friend has developed Sever's and other teamate developed Osgood Slaters (knee pain). Last month best girl on team that was trainning extra hours for L5/6 fell off bars and shattered arm. She will be out entire season most likely. Not saying all these things will happen to your DD, but a 6 yr old going at excessive hours may put some strain/fatigue on her body & injuries are a big part of gymnastics life. Going to the gym that many hours all year round will not allow her to do to much outside the gym. Your family will revolve around her whole schedule. Planning vacations around meets and leaving things early to get your DD to practice on time because a meet or sectional is coming up. Friends will stop asking her to play or sleep over or to parties because she is at gym. It is always nice when someone notices your child and thinks there is something special, but gymnastics is a long journey and there are many obstacles like injury, fear, burn-out, ect...we take it one day at a time still with our DD, and we've been plugging along since age 3. My DD has no desire to quit right now, and we are not going to the Olympics, but when the day comes when she says "I am done" I know there are still other things in her life beside gymnastics. After L5 season we are excited to start softball!

Good luck and hope whatever you decided make sure it is a good fit for your whole family and not just your DD, because this will impact all of you 365 days a year. And, do some homework too. How many upper level girls does your gym have? Is the program sucessful? How long have they been in bussiness? We have a couple gyms in NJ that have top girls at the compulsary levels (4,5 and 6) but no Optional levels because of injury and burnout. How well do they do at States? All levels?? Lots of gyms start out with huge L4 teams that cut in half by L5 and then cut in half again by L6. Most have quit before ever reaching L7.

Let us know how you make out!

 

[emorymom]

There are no "college eligibility" issues with home schooling. The parents create the child's academic portfolio in the same way a high school would generate a transcript. The universities like to see that the teen has taken some classes that were graded, just to make sure the child can deal with a course syllabus. No big deal -- these can be correspondence or community college dual enrollment. The student does not need to do a GED.

Colleges. Love. Homeschoolers. There's only so many applications from high school students with a 3.8 GPA and a two page list of all the same extracurriculars that an admissions officer wants to see.

And the issue is a non-issue at this point because she's a good long way away from that!

Now ... I don't see why she would need to train much more than 12 hours a week but homeschooling is fabulous. Maybe 15 --

Why don't you home school her so she can have plenty of chill, explore other stuff time, stay ahead of her grade level and have no homework and be able to sleep in when she needs to, and take some of the money you would have spent on the day program and spend it on privates? Train smarter, not longer?

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I think there's another issue that hasn't been addressed enough here: kids need friends outside the gym.

In my opinion, it is unhealthy for a kid's life to completely revolve around the gym when they're young. They need social contacts that have no connection to gym, and school is an ideal place for that.

I also want to echo the sentiments of other posters: I think 12 hours/week is more than enough for a 6-year-old.

 

[Wally]

Home school if you want to give more experiences that school classrooms with 25+ kids in it can. Home school if you agree with it and know you can open your child up to many things but don't do it to get her into a gym for those hours. Home schooled children in the right homes can achieve well beyond the classroom where a teacher cannot individualise experiences. If she is doing 12 hours now, keep her at that because it will gradually increase and by home schooling you can give some of the experiences she might miss when she is training longer hours.

PS AS Bob says Friends outside gym & other activities. Plenty of time before going full time.

 

[mariposa]

There are no "college eligibility" issues with home schooling. The parents create the child's academic portfolio in the same way a high school would generate a transcript. The universities like to see that the teen has taken some classes that were graded, just to make sure the child can deal with a course syllabus. No big deal -- these can be correspondence or community college dual enrollment. The student does not need to do a GED.

Colleges. Love. Homeschoolers. There's only so many applications from high school students with a 3.8 GPA and a two page list of all the same extracurriculars that an admissions officer wants to see.

And the issue is a non-issue at this point because she's a good long way away from that!

Now ... I don't see why she would need to train much more than 12 hours a week but homeschooling is fabulous. Maybe 15 --

Why don't you home school her so she can have plenty of chill, explore other stuff time, stay ahead of her grade level and have no homework and be able to sleep in when she needs to, and take some of the money you would have spent on the day program and spend it on privates? Train smarter, not longer?

I agree that homeschooling is great!! We have so much fun as a homeschooling family, I can't imagine it any other way! If you choose homeschooling, do it because you believe in homeschooling and the benefits it can have for your child/ren and family. As I mentioned before, I do not think a 6 year old should be in the gym 18+ hours a week.

I think there's another issue that hasn't been addressed enough here: kids need friends outside the gym.

In my opinion, it is unhealthy for a kid's life to completely revolve around the gym when they're young. They need social contacts that have no connection to gym, and school is an ideal place for that.

I also want to echo the sentiments of other posters: I think 12 hours/week is more than enough for a 6-year-old.

GT, my 7 year old is homeschooled (not for gym reasons though, we have been homeschoolers from the start) and she has a TON of social contacts/friends outside of the gym. Most homeschoolers I know are part of active homeschool support groups that give their kids friends that are like them, homeschooled. Plus, she has all the neighborhood kids. She is in Girl Scouts, too.

I just have to dispel those homeschooling/socialization myths anytime I see them. Just a huge pet peeve of mine.

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Homeschooling and the Myth of Socialization
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What About Socialization? - Homeschooling Articles - Homeschool.com - The #1 Homeschooling Community

Home school if you want to give more experiences that school classrooms with 25+ kids in it can. Home school if you agree with it and know you can open your child up to many things but don't do it to get her into a gym for those hours. Home schooled children in the right homes can achieve well beyond the classroom where a teacher cannot individualise experiences. If she is doing 12 hours now, keep her at that because it will gradually increase and by home schooling you can give some of the experiences she might miss when she is training longer hours.

Well said, Wally.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

GT, my 7 year old is homeschooled (not for gym reasons though, we have been homeschoolers from the start) and she has a TON of social contacts/friends outside of the gym. Most homeschoolers I know are part of active homeschool support groups that give their kids friends that are like them, homeschooled. Plus, she has all the neighborhood kids. She is in Girl Scouts, too.

I just have to dispel those homeschooling/socialization myths anytime I see them. Just a huge pet peeve of mine.

Sorry, I should have been more clear. Suffice to say that I have seen some kids for whom I thought homeschooling worked quite well, and some who just made me think "wow, this kid needs to get out more."

My main point I'm trying to get across is simply that I don't think kids lives should completely revolve around the gym at a young age.

 

[gymdog]

There are no "college eligibility" issues with home schooling.

I don't remember who brought it up upthread, but there are essentially eligibility issues for anyone who wants to pursue NCAA athletics, through the NCAA clearinghouse. This is something anyone planning to home school through high school should be aware of if the student is on track to pursue athletics. But it would be a bit premature at 6, really, I suppose.

I was actually talking about this the other day, but I don't think it's in the best interest of gyms or gymnastics should be pushing homeschooling on families that wouldn't otherwise pursue it. That's setting up families to make choices that they wouldn't make otherwise and maybe don't have the full information to evaluate, and setting them up to potentially resent or regret the situation. If families decide to pursue homeschooling independently, that's fine, and even reasonable to take gymnastics into account in that decision, but I don't think it's necessary, nor do I think overall pushing it is the best strategy. Some athletes will thrive in public, private, whatever school too and may prefer that. A one size fits all approach for an individual athlete isn't focusing on the goals of helping THAT child develop their full potential and use gymnastics as a medium for personal growth. We need to maintain some sense of perspective here and give families the opportunity to have lives and make decisions independently of gymnastics.

 

[emorymom]

I don't remember who brought it up upthread, but there are essentially eligibility issues for anyone who wants to pursue NCAA athletics, through the NCAA clearinghouse. This is something anyone planning to home school through high school should be aware of if the student is on track to pursue athletics. But it would be a bit premature at 6, really, I suppose.

Ah, I looked at the NCAA portfolio requirements. Bit more than the elite private colleges want for academics really, but they generally do require extra testing, specifically subject SAT tests in addition to the general college boards.

But that also brings to mind that there are a great many private and public virtual schools now. Such schools have teachers assigned to the student, are accredited and are the same as attending brick and mortar school except that you can do your work on your own schedule. Some people do switch to accredited instead of home school by high school even if they continue to work on an independent track.

 

[Billy]

Ah, I looked at the NCAA portfolio requirements. Bit more than the elite private colleges want for academics really, but they generally do require extra testing, specifically subject SAT tests in addition to the general college boards.

But that also brings to mind that there are a great many private and public virtual schools now. Such schools have teachers assigned to the student, are accredited and are the same as attending brick and mortar school except that you can do your work on your own schedule. Some people do switch to accredited instead of home school by high school even if they continue to work on an independent track.

This is exactly what we intend to do with Boo when the time comes. I'm perfectly comfortable with creating a curriculum at the elementary school level (she's currently in 2nd grade) but I will find her a more standardized program by middle school, not only because I'm not confident in my abilities at that point, but also for college purposes. And there are several programs to choose from nowadays. K12 is available in our state and I've heard good things about Bridgeway Academy (Amber Trani graduated from Bridgeway and is not competing for the UGA Gym Dogs), too.

 

[mariposa]

Sorry, I should have been more clear. Suffice to say that I have seen some kids for whom I thought homeschooling worked quite well, and some who just made me think "wow, this kid needs to get out more."

My main point I'm trying to get across is simply that I don't think kids lives should completely revolve around the gym at a young age.

Got it! Just don't want others to read it and just see homeschoolers need socialization. LOL. It is such a common myth and drives me batty when I get the question from people "ARen't you concerned about socialization?" Ugh.

I agree that a kid's life shouldn't completely revolve around gym, 100%. Actually easier for it to NOT do that when you homeschool. My kid still has time for lots of other activities (when the budget allows) to explore and have fun with.

 

[ginnymac]

I would love to hear back from the original poster. Have you discussed this further with your daughter's coaches?

 

[Aussie_coach]

I wold seriously look at removing your daughter from such a gym. Any coach who thinks its acceptable for a 6 year old to train 25-30 hours a week does not have enough knowledge of a child's body to coach them safely. Training this many hours before puberty will cause long term problems which will damage her body to the point where she will be forced fro the sport entirely before she is even old enough to compete internationally. If the coaches can't get good progress from her on 12 hours a week then perhaps she needs better coaches. I know I sound blunt here but your childs health will be the key to her success in gymnastics. Yes she will eventually be training 25-30 hours a week, and probably much more, but not at the age of 6.

 

[al08506]

I have discussed further with her coaches and also looked into various homeschooling option in our state. I am very comfortable with her coaches, and fully believe my daughter's development into a strong, independent and healthy woman is our common priority. Any opportunities gymnastics offers her are just icing on the cake.

Homeschooling is looking like a better alternative because of the flexibility it provides. We are still talking about 20-25 hours of gym per week, but with built in flexibility.