Extracurriculars - Curriculum Review Part 1

This week I am starting a series reviewing curriculum, classes and extracurriculars as decide what to keep, what to toss and what to add for the upcoming school year.

I am starting with extracurriculars since that is what prompted the review. I have signed Froggy up for swim team for the summer. This is a test for us on many fronts. It could fail (and thus make life simpler in many ways) for any combination of reasons.

1. The team while it says it is not competitive and welcomes beginners may decide she is not developmental ready.
2. Froggy may decide she is not up to it or willing to put in the effort/time
3. I may decide that the time slot and/or commitment just does not work for our family
   

Or it could be a huge success and thus require a total revamp of how life works at The Landing.

Summer Swim Team meets five times a week for one hour. My understanding is that we can easily elect not to attend all sessions each week but it is unlikely we will be able to participate and attend less than three. Worse yet all but one of the practices each week are in the evening right at what is now our dinner time.

That being the case it is a huge commitment, which then requires rethinking all other commitments. It is great time to try the concept since many of her other extracurriculars such as Religious School and Ballet will be ending around the same time.

Assuming that it works, we will need a new plan that will allow us to incorporate the concept. When we first enrolled Froggy in an extracurricular, we established that there should be one each of a sport, a musical activity and a scouting like activity at any given time and that within those categories she would be allowed to pick. Add in Religious School (which I view as non-optional) that makes a reasonably full schedule while allowing time for fieldtrips and short term special classes.

And yet I find myself torn. I want Froggy to continue with Ballet yet she and I both want her to start Suzuki Piano. She wants to take soccer and gymnastics and swimming. She wants to take ballet and piano. I can't say yes to two sports plus swimming but maybe I can say yes to one plus swimming? Can I say yes to both ballet and piano? I could if I could count ballet as her sport but there is swimming.

So here is our plan for Fall extracurriculars assuming swimming works.
Swimming
Religious school
Girl Scouts
Ballet
Piano

If swimming does not work we will do
gymnastic (Fall) /Soccer (spring)
Religious school
Girl Scouts
Ballet
Piano

This is not ideal but it is a compromise I can live with and a very packed schedule for one little girl.