Parents Balancing gymnastics and academics

[mommyof1]

My daughter is currently in second grade and hopes to compete L3 next year. We have started considering after-school child care options that will accommodate this, and it got me thinking about the long term. I can see how homework and gymnastics could remain manageable through the end of elementary school, but I just can't imagine how it could possibly work in middle school or high school. If she stays in gymnastics that long, practice will begin 1/2 hour after middle school lets out and last until 8:00 p.m. four nights a week, no matter what level she's competing. I just don't see when or how she would get any of her schoolwork done. Then over the summer, she will be forced to choose between gymnastics training and some very rewarding academic summer programs. Parents who have been there and done that, how do you make it all work? I know that this is all far in the future, she may not stick with the sport that long, and I should really just be worrying about the mill circle right now, but I am a planner and I like to know what's coming.

 

[3LittleGymmies]

My daughter is in 3rd grade and is competing new Level 4 this season (old Level 5). She has practice 15 hours/week. She gets out of school at 3:30, but they release the pick-up kids after the bus kids leave, so me picking her up would have her in the car at 4:00. The bus gets her home at 4:00, so she does that. Practice starts at 4:30 and is about 10 minutes away. It's a mad rush to get there on time and she eats something on the way there. There is definitely no time for homework, and she finishes at 8:30, so there's not really time then either unless it's something quick. Since school starts pretty late here (bus comes at 8:40), she usually does her homework in the morning. I have read on CB that some teachers allow kids to do homework on the weekend or non-gymnastics days, but not my daughter's teachers. We have been discussing home schooling (she brought it up, not us) and are considering doing that starting next year to give her a bit more balance in her day so that she has time for other things. Some people do this, but not everyone... it's a personal choice and just depends on what works for your gymnast and family. In the summer, they do even more hours, so yes.. she does need to choose gymnastics over most other things, but she knows and understands that it's a big commitment and is willing to sacrifice to do it. If there is something important going on (like a school concert that she is in, etc.) she will occasionally miss practice. I always give her the choice. But she would never want to miss for a classmate's birthday party or something like that... just her choice. Most gym parents make it a priority to let their kids still be kids and do other things even if it means missing the occasional practice. It's tricky when they are really young and going so many hours because it's not "normal" as far as children's sports go.. so it's all about finding a "new normal" even if it looks crazy to some people. Some gyms are more understanding than others with girls missing for various reasons in the summer, so it just depends where you are. These are all definitely things to think about before going into team because once you're in, it's hard to get out - haha!

 

[MaryA]

The ones who continue in this sport become very good at time management. I am hoping that is a skill that my daughter will carry with her long after she leaves the gym. She is a twin and even though I would say her sister is the one who is most concerned with academics (at 12 is considering what Ivy League school she would like to attend... LOL!) my gymmie is the one who uses every spare moment in school to get her homework done. They are attend a charter school that doesn't believe in giving a ton of homework, thank goodness.

Looking forward to high school, with the growing prevalence of cyber charter schools in our state, I am thinking that, if she is still doing gym, we will likely try to do some combination of "regular" school and cyber charter... doing her "core" classes at the high school, but taking things like health, PE, etc. online in the summers and on weekends. Even if she doesn't actually go to school for fewer hours, at least that way she would have more study halls to get work done.

DD is at the gym from 4pm-8pm, 5 days a week. She is a level 8.

 

[seoulmama]

It just somehow works-not to say that it isn't always a bumpy road, but if they want to do this sport, they figure out how to make good use of their time, even when they are young. She gets her homework done when she can before she goes to the gym-it's actually easier now that she is on the middle school schedule because she is home earlier in the afternoon so she has time before she needs to be at the gym at 5 (she works out 5-9 or 5-8:30 depending on the day). The trade-off is she gets on the bus earlier so doesn't get to sleep in-I often drive her to give her an extra 15 mins of sleep. We keep a pretty strict schedule-I pick her up from the bus, she comes home, does homework, eats dinner at 4, gets ready for the gym -luckily, we live 5 minutes away. I don't know how this would all work if worked in the afternoons or if we had a longer commute-but there are many moms in the gym who figure it out!

 

[Ingwe]

Up until this year my Dd has done a good job of getting her work done. In in the past she wasn't getting a lot of HW but this year it has been grueling.
She leaves for practice right from school and doesn't get home until almost 10:00 pm. Then she generally has about 1.5 to 2 hours worth of HW. Most nights she isn't in bed until midnight. Last Thursday she wasn't in bed until 1:30 am. (She has to get up at 6:30 am)

I often wonder how long she can keep this pace up. I am trying to come up with some alternatives for next year. I hoping that she will be able to opt out of PE next year and use that time to go to the library to at least get some HW done.

I am sure she will get it all figured out, this amount of HW is new to her and she is still trying to find the best way to make it work. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving break so she can catch up on some sleep.

She is a Level 10.

 

[GymMom67]

My DD is in her last year of elementary school, so I have really been thinking about this aspect of this life as we move forward. I think middle school will actually be the trickiest. They don't get out of school until 4:00 and she'll have to be at the gym (about a 20 minute drive away) by 5:15, so not a lot of time to get homework done. She'll be getting out of practice at 9:00, so not a lot of time on that end either. Her brother will be in high school and will have to be up by about 6:00 am, so depending on how much homework she has, I may just wake her up when I wake him up and let her do most of it in the morning. In our school district, if they do at least 5 hours per week of a sport outside of school, they don't have to take PE. They get a school credit for it, but not a grade. She loves PE, so she wants to take it in middle school. But I was reading about high school, and if they do at least 15 hours/week at that age, it is considered "Olympic level" training, and if I'm reading it right, they can get out of school an hour early, plus get the PE credit. If that is indeed the case, I am going to strongly encourage her to do that. That would have her getting out of school by about 1:45, and still having to be at the gym at 5:15, so it should give her time to get her homework done. Our high school is a tough one and I have heard nightmare stories from friends whose kids are currently there who do their extra-curricular stuff, eat dinner, then start their homework and are up until 2 am doing it, so she may need every extra minute we can come up with. Many of the high school girls at her gym are honors students, though, so they figure it out somehow.

 

[Deleted member 15064]

is anyone willing to share a state in the US where sports are given special accommodation in public schools?

of all the thing I have learned on CB since joining, this concept is the most fascinating to me thus far.

i've never heard of such a thing in our area, though i admit we haven't had sporty kids previous to our youngest, the gymnast. i am all but certain i would be laughed out of the office of any public school around here for asking about a modified schedule, different HW policies or any other special accommodations involving sports.

but then again, i haven't tried yet...

 

[gymmiemom]

My DD is a 2nd grader this year and is competing new L3. She practices 4 days a week from 3:30-6:30 so it is 7 by the time she gets home. If she moves up to L4 in January (she is trying so hard for that darn kip) or if she ends up competing L4 next year she will practice until 7:30 4 days a week. Right now it is pretty manageable because all she really has is spelling words and 30 minutes of reading each night with the occassional math worksheet. I am very thankful that she has an excellent memory...right now she studies her spelling words by herself on the 15 minute bus ride from school to the gym. She does her reading before school each morning.

We are really hoping that in middle school we can set up her day so that study hall and PE come at the end of her day so that she either can go to the gym early or come home early to do homework before gym. We are already in talks with the principal there since we are good friends with him But if we can't make that work, we will make it work somehow. Right now nobody at this point has attempted it, but our gym is a new program and our town is very small. We need to start opening minds now or else it will never happen.

We have no charter schools or private schools in my area. Its public school or homeschool. I would be open to homeschooling her if I need to in elementary school/middle school, but really want her to attend public high school if at all possible. Of course this is all speculation, she could turn 10, 12, 16 and decide she is done with gymnastics, but I am a planner and like to be prepared for what we could possibly be in for.

 

[GymMom67]

is anyone willing to share a state in the US where sports are given special accommodation in public schools?

of all the thing I have learned on CB since joining, this concept is the most fascinating to me thus far.

i've never heard of such a thing in our area, though i admit we haven't had sporty kids previous to our youngest, the gymnast. i am all but certain i would be laughed out of the office of any public school around here for asking about a modified schedule, different HW policies or any other special accommodations involving sports.

but then again, i haven't tried yet...

We're in Texas.

 

[Bajanswife]

DD is 10 years old and has a big national exam to write in May that will determine where she goes to secondary school (middle & high school). To get into one of the 2 schools she likes she will need an average of over 90% in the maths and English exams and an A on the essay. Her homework load is very heavy and she can't goof around on it because she really needs the practice to get her scores up. Right now she's getting 70s and the occasional 80 in the practice exams, so she has to add over 10% to get where she wants to be - that's going to be hard work. She does some of her homework whenever she can find a few minutes during the day. If she still has a lot of homework to do that night I take her home from gym at 6 p.m. instead of 6.30 - this means we get home by 6.30 instead of 7. I have her coach's permission to do this - she understands the importance of this exam. Luckily only 2 practices are on weeknights (Monday and Wednesday), and she still gets her full practice on Friday and Saturday. DD is only 10 and has to get up at 6 a.m., so I cannot have her up until nearly 10 p.m. doing homework at that age - her brain isn't even functioning well by then. If she were a teen it would be OK - she would be able to handle it better then.

 

[Flossyduck]

My dd is year four and it's very hard. She has one evening off in the week and that is homework night. She also has to do some at the weekend. I feel bad, as I would prefer her to use this time to chill or have friends round, but I have to manage her tiredness and worry levels too and I know that trying to squish her homework in before school or leaving it last minute would freak her out.

Luckily our school has a pattern - homework is given out on a wednesday and due back on tuesday, for both literacy and maths. She does them on thursday night. She also has a rolling timetable of topic work for the term and she does that at the weekend sometime.

I can't plan for the unknown so we're taking it one step at a time.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

My gymmie is only in 4th grade and has Tuesdays off from gymnastics... So she does all her homework then while we're sitting at dancing dds studio. Gymmie trains 15hrs/wk, but like I said, Tuesdays completely off. Works for now.
My dancing dd is on a pre-pro track and dances every day, including Saturdays if there are rehearsals. We have about an hour every evening after we get home from dance/gym to eat dinner, do homework, do chores and get showered. She is in 6th grade and in the gifted program, which means she has a challenging academic track in addition to her dance. She has homework almost every night, and it's sometimes a struggle to get everything done (in which case her chores suffer, not her homework). So far she is doing well with it, I know most dancers become really good at time management. Her "downtime" is doing homework while we all watch whatever show we like, right there with her sister and me so were all together.
It's manageable, not like the girls in national TOPs who are required to homeschool and practice twice/day..!

 

[seoulmama]

We have several girls at our gym who are in a pre-elite program and have worked with their schools to leave early 3 days a week and skip gym for full credit-3 are in high school and 3 are in middle school. They do homework at the gym during times when the coaches are doing rec classes before the rest of the team comes in. There are different schools in different towns involved, so it seems to be something that can be worked out on a case-by-case basis. I don't think any school that I know of would modify homework, but it does sound like skipping gym is a pretty common option, as is modifying the school day. I had never heard of it either, until our gym started this program.

 

[seoulmama]

I do worry about what will happen as she gets older-as Ingwe has pointed out, it all depends on the amount of hw they are getting. I try not to think too far into the future, instead focusing on getting a good system/routine going. Last year, our system stunk-dd went from 3 nights/Saturday to 4 nights/Saturday and it was hard to make that adjustment so this year feels better already!

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

My dd attends a specialized school program for high performance athletes. She goes to school for 3 hours per day and then trains 5 hours. It is a full curriculum except for music and art which they spend one less period on per week. But language, math, science, social studies and French are full curriculum. Phys Ed is graded by her coach. There are 9 kids in her class, who do a variety of sports, gym, figure skating, swimming, etc.

She has thrived in this program. Without 20 other kids, library time, down time, recess, and all the other fluff in a regular school's day, she has increased her marks tremendously.

When she was in regular public school she would get distracted and lose focus, but here she is able to focus without the distractions. It helps that everyone in the program is like-minded and goal oriented, so they are all striving to succeed in school as well as their sports.

 

[gymboymom]

I am actually less worried if ds continues into middle school. Here in middle school I have seen kids leave after only taking their 4 core classes. It's the next 3 years that worry me. Right now he has 1 weekday night off and we do all studying that night and projects on the weekend. Minimal homework on gym days, luckily it works.

 

[MaryA]

Would LOVE to have a program like that available, CGM. One more for my list of "reasons to move to Canada."

 

[gymmom14]

I agree with the comment that it all works out, but I will add, one way or another

My dd is 16 yo level 9. She goes to a very academically aggressive school. She is taking AP classes. She has a lot of work and I worried how will she keep up? She uses every free minute of her day to work on homework. She trains 5-9 M-Tu-Th-Fr She gets home about 930 and showers (can't stand the chalk) then hits the books (and texts her boyfriend). She goes to sleep by 1130 most nights. It definitely can be done.

 

[rjb123]

My DD is in second grade and is in her second year of competing. Last year she trained 12 hours and competed old four, this year she does 15 ish and is doing new 4. Last year (until the season was over in Dec anyway) she left for the bus at 8 and the I picked her up in the car pool line (I got there an hour early to be in the first ten cars!) at 3:50. She changed into her leo in the car on the way to gym and then was done around 7:30 (started at around 4 ish). In Jan of last year she was moved to a training group that started at 2:30. I was laughed at by her current school when I asked about flexible scheduling so we ended up pulling her out and putting her in a small private Christian school. It is very close to her gym and it gets out at 2:30. Honestly, it was the best thing we could have EVER done for her- she is painfully shy and the smaller environment has allowed her to blossom academically and socially. We loved the school so much that we ended up pulling our son out of public and moving him there too!! (OT I know!)
Anyway, the rest of that year I would get in the car line there around 20 minutes early and she would change in the car on the way, but she was done with gym by 5:30. this year is pretty much the same, and it works well. Homework is done the second we get in the door, and it is usually not a problem. If she stays in gym, I am hopeful that her school will work with us regarding schedules. I have not asked for anything schedule wise thus far, and won't until I really need to. If that doesn't work out, there are other options (home school, university model schools etc) that we can try. I am just taking this one step at a time.

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

Would LOVE to have a program like that available, CGM. One more for my list of "reasons to move to Canada."

And it is public school. And you are welcome here any time!