What do homeschooled kids do on their spare time?

Question

What do homeschooled kids do on their spare time?

Answer 1

My daughter is ten. She likes to talk on the phone. She hangs out with the kids in the neighborhood. There are about 5 of them she sees pretty regularly. She rides her bike with friends or has them over to play and jump on her trampoline. She draws. She likes to bake and help out with dinner and shopping. She has great taste, so she often gets a say in what clothes her dad and I buy for ourselves. (More kids should help there parents that way!) She takes martial arts classes and hangs with her best friend at the library, where they play video games, check out books, games and videos.She loves all things 80's so we watch old music videos and movies. She likes to play computer games with her dad, play Brain Pop and watch some cartoon with ninjas in it. (I don't get it. I think its dull.) She plays with the dogs and helps keep them trained and cared for. She likes to go to lunch at a local coffee shop and have bubble tea and bagels and look at the art. We sometimes stop in art galleries or go to live concerts.

Basically, pretty normal stuff.

What do you do for fun?

Answer 2

PLAY preferable with the neighborhood kids outside

Answer 3

Im homeschooled i do things usual kids do....not all home schooled ppl r anti-social, if they join a team sport or go 2 church or even just go 2 the park alot they can still socialise...but yer just normal things...i go 2 the movies...chat to friends...hang out at the park...go 2 the pool....go bowling....anything i wanna as long as i've done my work...so im homeschooled and DEFINENTLY NOT ANTI-SOCIAL like some ppl

Answer 4

Our son was in public school until first part of 8th grade.  He does the same things now that he did then except he has more spare time and has more interests.  I guess part of the interests comes from being older.  

Here is the list, not in order of importance or time spent, just in the order that I think of them.

Phone

Internet

Meeting friends at their house or mall

Friends coming here

Paint ball games

Basketball (Community league and casual games)

Spectator sports-Baseball, basketball, football, soccer and racing.

Dogs (we have 6 outside dogs that love to play)

Church activities

Music

Television

Movies

Homeschool kids are just kids.  They do their studies at home with their education guided by their parents and/or themselves.  Their spare time activities are similar to public school students' activities.  

There are many homeschool groups in our area with  activities and opportunities.  Our family is unable to participate because we are a 2 income family with schedules that are great for homeschooling but not so great for participating with homeschool groups.  We are blessed that our son is creative and flexible in making arrangements with his friends.  It works for us.

His friends are both homeschooled and public schooled.  They mix together well.

Added thought: Someone previously mentioned that homeschool is not all done at home.  Actually, with our schedule, we have worked out a plan for our son to go to his step-dad's workplace several times a week,  to do his assignments.  They have set up a work area for him and he is there about 4 hours a day, doing his assignments.  It is a small company with relaxed atmosphere and he can work in peace and/or talk to people.  It gives him a break from being home alone while I work at public school.

Answer 5

My son is 9 and he:

* does a bunch of independent study - mostly astrophysics

* does CD-roms like Rollar Coaster Tycoon, Zoo Tycoon, Incredible Contraptions...or just makes Power Point presentations for fun

* reads online for either research or fun (comics)

* runs cross country, indoor track and outdoor track

* works on Cub Scout requirements

* practices for Bible Club and Math Club (Math Olympiad)

* reads, reads, reads, reads...did I mention reads?...books

* trains his animals (mice, geckos, hermit crabs)

* plays chess online via IM or email

* practices archery

* goes on a bike ride

* does volunteer work for missionaries

* helps teach his disabled younger sister

* watches PBS shows

* watches on-demand videos on Cosmeo.com

* builds contraptions with Hot Wheels tracks, wooden blocks, pulleys, string, tape -you name it!

* goes for a walk

* goes roller blading or ice skating

* goes bowling

* plays pool

* does statistical analysis on any number of items

* learns html and other programming

* - anything else he wants to do!  :-)

Answer 6

Whatever they want or whatever their PARENTS let them do!

Answer 7

My son is homeschooled.

The answerer who described the kid who does nothing and is isolated may be true for his "friend" but it is not the norm.  It is not typical.

My son:

- Participates in a lot of church activities

- Has participated in Talent Identification Weekends at college campuses.

- Is in 2 clubs

- Does website work in genealogy and just for fun stuff

- Runs his own small business for profit

- Helps with our family business

- Creates computer video games and animations

- Attends "teaching cooperative" classes

- We've done several college campus visits and do so every year

- Goes to dances

- Backpacks

- Works on a hobby farm

- Reads good books

- In the next few weeks / months we will be going to see Transiberian Orchestra, A Christmas Carol at a stage theater, later in the spring Manheim Steamroller

- Last year we took a train to Washington D.C., Gettysburg, Philadelphia and Hershey PA.

Other options in our area for hs kids include: Civil Air Patrol, a swim team, a cross country team, photography club, art club, drama club / camp... and bunches more.

The problem is not finding social activities but choosing from among so many great options.

I think the term "homeschool" at least for us and I think most is a misnomer. Most of our learning activity is outside the home. Perhaps it should be called realityschool or community school or some such.

P.S. Right now my son is studying Spanish I using Rosetta Stone.  He is working ahead because he has an MLA style essay due on Tuesday - subject Homer's Iliad - and a Jr. Toastmasters meeting and speech on Monday evening. Wednesday is youth group. This coming Friday is a semi-formal dance.

Answer 8

I'm homeschooled and I...

watch movies

play video games

paint/draw/work on projects that mom wants to do

do my laundry

read

teach myself violin

learned to play the sax (alto)

read music

shop online (I like to shop and my parents don't like to take me cause I spend way too much time looking around)

Take care of three cats and 2 dogs

listen to music

I like to look at the stars at night with the other homeschoolers in my neighborhood.  

Go on walks.

ride bike

Work!!! Full - time!!!

And so much more!!!

I'm also 18.

It usually takes me about 1-2 hours to do school work.  So I can do all of the above!

Answer 9

My kids are homeschooled......in their free time (time they are NOT in school) they

Play with their siblings

Play with friends

Play video games

Participate in church activities

Civil Air Patrol

Dance class

Get online

Visit family

Volunteer

Read

Help mom around the house

in other words..basically the same things that any typical non-homschooled kids do-when they are not participating in school

Answer 10

I am sooooo thankful that people I am in contact with don't think my life consists soley of what they "see" me do. Can you imagine what it would be like if you are only validated by what people observe you doing.

Would that mean I never bathe? LOL

(in response to the poster that assumes that one homeschool kid he knows does nothing because he never sees him do anything)

Homeschool kids are just like "other" kids. When mine have free time, my third grader likes to heely, skateboard, play video games, ride bikes with friends, maintain his online webkins, and clean his room and read books. OK, the last two are what I like for him to do in his spare time!

My 10th grader likes to text, myspace, take pictures, hang out with friends, read magazines, go to the mall, and clean her room and read books, LOL

Just normal kids. only smarter, :)

Please understand that is their SPARE time, not school time, or field trip time, or extra studies time, or library time, or extra curricular activity time, or project time, or volunteer time, or chore time, or help mom and dad time.

Just plain ol' ordinary, disengage the brain and chill out time.

Answer 11

Whatever they want.  They're just kids, they do the things that kids do...however, truly homeschooled kids tend to do a wide variety of things, simply because they're not conditioned to think they have to be like everybody else.

Some kids may put their spare time into a project, into researching something that interests them, into playing with their friends, sports, Scouts, a club, playing on the computer, walking the dog, having a backyard picnic or campout, or whatever else they want.  They do whatever interests them.

Answer 12

I have a "homeschooled" friend who basically stays home all day and does nothing productive. He lives a free, unsupervised life in isolation and he's not "truly" homeschooled. He claims to do all "homeschooled" work online, but I've never seem him do anything more than play video games, eat, sleep, and sometimes go outside. His isolation from others and not being in an everyday, sociable environment has had detrimental effects on him. Now, I know ALL homeschooled kids aren't like this...but I do know that they do have so much more freedom and are likely to be less sociable than others.

Answer 13

I'm homeschooled and I do a lot of things in my spare time. Some days I go to the fencing club and practice a bit with my foil, or sometimes I'll spend an afternoon at the library at teen events or just gathering as many books on as many interesting topics as I can carry. Sometimes I'll have friends over, or go to a friends house, or if it's close to the weekend or if my friends don't have any tests or anything the next day (in public school) we'll go out to the movies or something. I start on a lot of projects in my spare time like mural painting or computer programming projects, and I have about six friends all into programming that I spend a lot of time working with and learning from. (A lot of them are in their 20's but that's the beauty of a homeschooler's social life. You learn how to interact with people of ALL ages. Not just those born the same year you were.) I devote a few hours every night to my boyfriend, and lots more time than that on the weekends, and we usually spend our time programming, playing our guitars and such (in a band), calling up friends (usually ones in college whom we can't actually see at the moment), making travel plans, discussing science, politics, philosopy, literature, psychology, ethics, music, school, humor, the news, family, people, college, our future, and whatever else we happen to have on our minds at the time. I may not be surrounded by a mob of unoriginal, immature, clueless kids all striving to be just like the people around them all day, but I like that. I know how to interact with the typical highschooler when I need to, and more importantly I know how to interact with a more mature croud who don't spend all their time talking about American Idol, ICP, teenage rumors, whose clothes are better, whose car is better, and all the other meaningless, irrelevent things that a lot of teenagers (in my area at least) actually think are important in the real world.

Answer 14

the same as any child, kid would do! just because we are homeschooled does not mean that we have our own secret actitivites and we are some type of outcasts to society, we do all kind of extracurricular activities like soccer, baseball, painting, watching movies etc, exactly what all kids do!

Answer 15

My children love to play outside with the children that live across the street. They also enjoy playing with the many horses that live all around us. We go to church on Wednesday evenings, to the grocery store weekly, they are responsible for taking care of a cat and a dog. My daughter loves to read mystery books and reads about 3-5 a week because she loves it, she also loves to play with paper dolls and make her own dolls and clothes and such. They enjoy a movie on the wekeend and some shows during the week. We have picnics outside and go on field trips during the week. They do things that most kids do and they play like most kids do!

Answer 16

A lot of people are answering this with their opinions and what there friends or children did/do.

I was a home schooled kid, and now I'm going to tell you how I would spend my days:

I would wake up between eight and nine A.M. (because as a home schooler you can get away with that if you do  some of your work for the day the night before. )

Depending on which curriculum/curriculums you use (you can mix and match if you don't like some part of one more then the other) it can take between three to the full eight hours to finish you work.

The school work for home schoolers (according to what my cousin who went to public school said) Is more thorough and personal then public school, its taught on a more personal level (Parent/Child vs. Teacher/Large Group of Students) and can be completed and comprehended faster.

After school, depending on when I finished, I would either eat dinner like any public school child, or in the event that I did in fact finish early,  I would either be put to work cleaning the house that I messed up last time I was done early, or play with my sister and mess up the house for next time!  =)

Then when I turned sixteen and could drive, I would do my work the night before, finish really fast the next day, and go to my job (might I add I got all the hours that could not be taken by the public school-high schoolers, and  made A LOT of money!)

(Oh, and I tested out of hight school early and started taking collage classes between what would have been my Sophomore and Junior years.)

So it basically the same, as far as I can tell. except you don't have to sit at a desk for hours without a brake. You can go run around out side if you want to.

And go to the movies on weekdays! With no one else there!!!! That was the BEST!

please note: In that extra spare time I have also:

-taken three years of piano lessons

-five years of voice and opera lessons

-at least five years of gymnastics

-three years of soccer (when I was younger)

-riding lessons

-care of miniature horses (no I didn't ride them)

-knitting lessons (don't laugh!)

-and wrote half a book, thank you very much

Answer 17

My kids do a lot of activities, especially with the youth group. They go on all sorts of retreats, get-togethers, and church activities.

Answer 18

Depends on the kid and the family. The following list is not what one single homeschooler would do, but a collection of things homeschooled kids I know do:

-read

-write

-crafts/needlework: general crafts, jewelry, knit, etc.

-art: classes, drawing, painting, other

-spend time outside

-get together with friends

-take up sports or lessons

-play

-sew

-bake, cook

-volunteer

-chat online, video games, listen to music, watch tv or videos (this includes educational stuff), etc. (like any typical kid, but usually less time with electronics than public schooled kids)

-book clubs and other clubs

-help out, clean

-go out for lunch or to movies

-think about the future

-learn something that interests them

-play an instrument (this includes those who take lessons as well as though who do it just for fun)

-dance to music

-go shopping

Answer 19

Hi! I'm a homeschooled highschool senior. As far as what I do in my free time (what free time I have, that is):

- I love both reading and writing;

- I work on learning HTML;

- I practice piano or organ for about three hours a day on average;

- Go hiking;

- Go running and/or cycling;

- I have my own dog that I walk, feed, and play with,

- When I can, I like to get out and hang out with friends;

- I'm a church choir director;

- and I'm also the oldest of five children, so I do stuff with my younger siblings a lot, too.

The things I don't do in my spare time:

- Play video games. (I think they're a waste of my time and energy - I have better things to do!)

- Watch TV shows

- Do nothing (the only time I'm doing 'nothing' is when I'm sleeping, pretty much).

Homeschooling is really fantastic - I get to work at my own pace (if I understand something after only two minutes of studying, I can skip on to the next concept instead of waiting for the rest of the class to catch up) and enjoy the flexibility of a homeschooler's schedule.

Answer 20

Here is a list of some of what my homeschooled kids do in their spare time:

My 15 year old goes to the movies with his friends on the weekends, hangs out with them at a youth center on weekdays after school, plays X-Box Live every night, composes music on the piano, reads, draws, goes skateboarding, surfs the Net, watches G4, the Science Channel and watches movies, plus takes Tae Kwon Do twice a week.

My 8 year old goes to the youth center on weekdays after school, likes to cook, reads, draws, plays Lord of the Rings Online and X-Box Live with his dad, watches G4, the Science Channel, Animal Planet, and watches movies, plus takes Tae Kwon Do twice a week.

Together as a family we like to keep it simple.  We go for walks or play board games together.  I am not a fan of constant activity.

We also have a motto:  "the family that plays together stays together".  We are a gaming family, mainly online games, and we see a lot of benefits to gaming (eye-hand coordination, learning cooperation and team work, problem solving etc.) so we encourage rather than discourage lots of gaming :p