How much is physical fitness worth to you?
Would you put any price on physical fitness? Like $200 *per kid* for a few short weeks of recreational soccer? How about $1500 for the esteemed “travel soccer”? What about $150 for one month (read: 4 classes) of gymnastics for your 5 year old? Or $75 for the “kiddie soccer” (read: let em run around for an hour however they want, no coaching required) team?
It is July 1 which, of course, means it is time to start planning for the fall “recreation” that we homeschoolers call physical fitness and socialization! haha. Actually it appears I’m a day late (at least) and dollar short (at least). Yesterday was the registration deadline for many activities, now we get to pay the late fee, too. Then there are the REST of the activities whose calendars and schedules have not yet been released making it impossible to know if we should rush out and sign up for the now-late activities or hold out for something better (read: cheaper) yet to come.
I am totally sticker shocked at these prices. By the sticker, you’d think the cost of living here would be WAY more than elsewhere in the country but that is far from true. Crazy! My kids have done all kinds of extracurricular activities for years but this is the first we’ve delved into the Wonderful World of Texan Sports. Holy SMOKES! Back in Michigan, we did city soccer were there was a family CAP at $75! An individual child was only like $35! Travel soccer didn’t exceed $500 and that was after equipment and travel costs, personal trainer fees, etc.
Suddenly private swimming lessons don’t seem too ridiculously expensive. Yet another thing I had hoped to do soon.
On another note, I am seriously considering enrolling Miss Addison in gymnastics just for the cute leotard 
And the sibling discount. She might even have some fun! She is big into copying and doing fun things like fingerplays. Her favorite is pattycake which she can do like a pro (as long as there are no cameras around) but she likes Itsy-Bitsy Spider, too. If gymnastics doesn’t work out then I think she’d really love Kindermusik. Yes she is only 14 months old but she is outgoing and loves this stuff whereas my boys absolutely detested anything with a schedule or set routine. Even circle time at the library was out for all of them when they were under 5! They just could not handle all that contrived cutesy follow-the-leader crap. Addy is a different beast entirely! So kill me for getting a little excited, ok?! Her wish is my command.
So if you see something green bleeding out my nose, it will not be a virus but all the hard earned cash that will go toward “socialization” and “physical fitness”. And you can just imagine me on the sidelines screaming “You’d better be having $200 worth of fun! Woohoo! Live it up! There will be no Christmas this year!”. Ha.
July 1st, 2007 at 8:46 pm
They do say everything is bigger in Texas, guess that goes for soccer fees.
We are so luck that our local Y has a homeschool gym class once a week for one hour for $2 per session per child (and you get a 25% discount for each additional child.) Last year we did soccer, baseball, gymnastics, basketball, swimming, multi-sport (kickball, scooters, dodgeball, etc.), and volleyball. For both girls it was $140 for the entire year and I get mommy social hour with other homeschool moms. Like I said, I really do feel lucky on this one!
July 2nd, 2007 at 10:17 am
Wow,
I like Jenn’s deal! McH and the kids do martial arts (2 classes per week) and I think we used to pay like $150 a month for all of them to go. Now, since he teaches the little kid classes, everything is free, plus he make a few extra dollars on the side. So I guess that’s a good deal too — he just teaches the little kids’ classes while the bigger kids take their class, then he has his class afterwards, so it’s no extra time commitment. Thank goodness!
July 2nd, 2007 at 1:57 pm
That is a lot of money. Suddenly I’m thankful for our soccer league. For me the time commitment of just getting kids to practice/games can be overwhleming - if the price tag were that high I think my kids wouldn’t even do sports (okay, unless they were like really really into a particular sport).
July 2nd, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Nicki,
You crack me up. That last qoute is hysterical.
It is crazy how kids sports have gotten so out of hand.
July 2nd, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Conor coached a travel soccer team, girls under 10 and they paid him well over 5k a season of which there were 3 a year…that was in CT…so if that tells you anything.
My girls are all signed up for kindermusik in the fall and it will cost me about 300 large. And then everyone says, LITTLE GYM. SO I have to look into that. It is outrageous. And I am hoping the grandparents pitch in and help pay for these girls extras!
July 2nd, 2007 at 6:26 pm
$200 worth of fun…you crack me up.
Sorry about the sticker shock!
July 2nd, 2007 at 9:58 pm
$200 worth of fun?!! so true! But man your prices down there are CRAZY! You must put Addison in gymnastics. It is so much fun. My girl is all into it. She just loves it. We haven’t done it for a few months and just started back and she says it is her favorite thing. I started her at 18 mo. she pulled her elbow out of socket (nurses elbow) and had to wait till she got a bit older. Since then she’s pulled it out 3 more times! (not at gymnastics) But the bars might not be her thing.
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:08 am
Holy Moley! That’s quite a price tag for kiddie athletics! Ouch. I am not looking forward to the years when I have multiple kids in multiple sports/activities.
Your last sentence had me rolling. Too funny.