Are we really overscheduled?

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T ball, swimming, music,ice skating twice a week, ,and gymnastics. sometimes little random things come up that we participate in like winter classes which meet once a week.
sounds like a lot doesn't it? Sounds like maybe our homeschooled kids are overscheduled, something many felt like we should avoid. The thing is though when I (or you) break down the actual times of these classes and the amount of free playtime we still have I don't feel like my kids are over scheduled, I feel I am.
The kids enjoy getting out and interacting and learning different activities and the truth is they aren't in school for 6 hours a day so the dragging from here to there and getting dinner and homework isn't really an issue.


To me the over scheduling can be a direct result of kids being in school for so many hours. People don't say your kid should drop geography in order to have time to play little league. School kids days aren't cut shorter to make room for the fun, "Extra curricular" activities. they are doing the fun stuff in addition to being in school.



We don't fill our kids days with activities but they are exposed and the list makes it seem like, "Wow they do a lot"
Maybe they do but they have still have tons of free time to sit and play and learn. There is almost no homework (Music class gives homework)
In one week the total hours my kids spend in class is between 7 and 10 hours..A WEEK! Add in a special class and maybe the number goes up by 2 hours.
In between the scheduled classes they have friends over or play with each other.
So while our calender is chuck full of activities,play dates, and my work schedule if I had an hour by hour schedule most lines would be blank.
I don't think unless your kid is in class all day being told what to learn, how to learn, when to eat, then hurry hurry to the next activity where someone is telling them how to stand , how to dance, how to hit a ball, then hurry hurry to the tutor for homework practice then hurry for dinner then bed. Yes that is over scheduled b/c of the lack of down time.
In spite of the long list activities we still have tons of downtime.
So even though most of my homeschooling brethren are often lamenting, "Why do we call it homeschooling if we're never home" and most of us are calling to see who is free to play which day, I do not believe we over scheduled.