Over the years the children have had the opportunity to engage in many activities. Some were compatible with their ability, interest, and natural talent. I find it is often useful to take a look back and see what worked, what didn't, and what they're doing now.
Haley has done most sports and after much 'exploration' as new parents, she has settled on: Music [piano, harp, choir], debate, and fencing. Upcoming is math. Jack and Jill continues.
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Haley through age 11 (above)
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Haley from age 11 - 12
Hana has the benefit of more experience parents who are better able to recognize and hone in on targeted activities that coalesce with her natural talents. After attempting piano (and briefly harp) we realized that it was too much information coming at her at once, and at 5 and 6 years old the return on investment was too low and time would be better spent focusing on something more time-sensitive - like gymnastics. Of course gymnastics became all-consuming, and since it wasn't a perfect fit, the sacrifice to her (her family time, risk of injury, stress on her body), and the opportunity lost cost was just too high to reasonably justify continuation:
Hana has settled on: Music [viola and upcoming choir] and Jack and Jill. Basketball is only a introduction recreation, much like the afterschool PE she takes which explores all the sports. We may continue that, depending on time, and how music practice goes. If there is no time to "get together" with people, the children can always play in the backyard and go to the park. It is our intention to have her ready to audition for the Junior String Orchestra in 1.5 years.
Hana age through 6
Ian has been quite content taking his sweet time before jumping in and becoming actively involved in extextracurriculars. Jack and Jill has been great for various "cool" activities. He tried flag-football and HATED it. He actually made it quite clear that he didn't want to play sports, period. So we had to find a sport sans all the testosterone: swimming and water polo. He didn't like piano at all, and violin was moving VERY slowly - so we opted to try something different. He enjoyed horseback riding, so we did that for awhile, but ultimately he grew disinterested in taking care of the entire horse, and being that its expensive and time-intensive, if he wasn't really appreciating the sport, it was time to move on.
We attended a few junior 4H meetings, had various pets and animals, planted gardens, and he took trips to local vets to see what they do. He lost interest in animals as his interest grew in computers and video games.
Ultimately Ian has settled on: Swimming & water polo, Music [upright bass, guitar, choir], and Jack and Jill continues. We are planning to rev up his math curriculum. We hope he is ready to audition for the Junior String Orchestra in the Spring.
Ian through age 9
May 2010 - Flag Footbal with i9
Observations and thoughts: The youngest has the benefit of parents who are better able to select personality (and natural talent) activities for the child, and able to identify and discontinue activities that aren't "working" for one reason or another, timely. This means wasting less time and money, and focusing *earlier* on high-yield options thereby allowing the child to excel sooner (i.e at an earlier age) and find more success in a particular activity.
Appears that HALEY began her experiences at age 3 with itty-bitty sports (basketball, T-ball, and soccer at the local YMCA). She started ballet at age 4 and continued until age 7 (3 years). After a few false-starts with volleyball, gymnastics, and drama, basketball was more long-lasting. She started basketball at age 9 and played for a year and a half before realizing that she wasn't having a good time. Also at age 9 Haley started piano, which continues until today. In the 3 years she's been playing piano, Haley has risen and demonstrated that music is indeed one of her natural talents.
At age 10, harp was added to the repertoire, and at age 12 Haley made the Philharmonic Orchestra for harp (1.5 years later). The kids all intermittently experienced horseback riding (more for fun), arts/crafts, and Jack and Jill events.*
In the last year and a half (ages 11 and 12) Haley tried tennis (didn't like it) and ultimately picked up speech/debate, choir, and fencing.
IAN was a little slower to get started with organized extracurricular. Although we participated in Kindergym (more in order to acclimate to our new community, meet people, and make friends) Ian was not interested in socializing. Jack and Jill helped (at age 4) but Ian's first organized team was the i9 flag football league he joined (and Daddy coached) when he was 5 years old. He was no fan of football and really didn't play.
A year later, at age 6, he was introduced to the piano, swimming, horseback riding (which he did intermittently for 2 years), and violin. He enjoyed horseback riding, but what 'stuck' was swimming.
Another year later, at age 7, Ian moved more towards arts/crafts and animals (junior 4H). Ian also started kung-fu at age 7, and transitioned to more karate later in the year (in total, martial arts training lasted about 9 months, then his hip pain put impact sports on pause. After a pause, he decided he didn't really like the fighting anyway, so we stopped).
At age 8, after a false-start with the harmonica, he began his musical instruction with guitar and a year later (age 9) added upright bass and choir. Few technology camps at age 8 were positive, and swimming was revved up (together with spalshball) - which is what he does now at age 9.
HANA has had a precocious experience, being exposed to much more than the other two at the same age due to their experiences. Hana had access to Jack and Jill at age 2. Her first exposure to music (the piano) was at age 3. She was also 3 when she started gymnastics (a sport she would continue until age 6) - for 3 years. At age 6 she also experienced basketball, started the viola, and joined the choir.
Summary:
At 6 Haley was doing ballet only (music study wasn't initiated until age 9). At age 4 Haley performed in recital: ballet.
At age 6 Ian had played i9, and was introduced to swimming, but had not yet started *studying* music (but had a few exposures to various instruments). At age 9, Ian has his first performance: choir.
By 6 Hana has done gymnastics, played basketball, and is studying music (choir and piano). At age 6 Hana has her first performance: gymnastics.
So it seems that we are "on track" with the children and their respective on-going activities:
Haley - Music [piano, harp/orchestra, choir], debate, fencing, and adding MATH [college prep]
Hana - Music [viola, choir] - going to diminish sports outside of recreational/PE. Consider introducing LANGUAGES [?natural talent].
Ian - Music [bass, guitar, choir], swimming/polo. Consider trying to find more technology training [natural interest].
*The family joined Jack and Jill in April of 2010 (Haley was 7, Ian was 4, and Hana was 2)
