3 Ways Team Sports Help Your Homeschooler Grow by Elsa Barnhill

3 Ways Team Sports Help Your Homeschooler Grow

As soon as all three of my little girls were walking steadily enough, I signed them up for fun activities to fill our weekdays. My husband and I watched them try tumbling tricks at gymnastics, follow sassy routines at dance, slip while ice skating and tossed them into not-warm-enough water at swimming classes. As soon as we left traditional classrooms and began homeschooling, these sports became even more important to our family as they offered social interactions and a reason to get out of the house on most days. Little did I know, the real jaw-dropping benefits for our family would come once our daughters started playing team sports. In our family’s case, the sport is girls’ softball and we are hooked!

Learning a sport is beneficial for all kids, homeschooled or not, but team sports added a few other learning components that we were missing out on as the girls kept working at their personal bests and increasing skills on their own; I am glad that I was encouraged by a family member to give them a try. If your family is still only using individual extra-curricular activities as a part of your homeschooling plan, there are many surprising growth opportunities available for them on a team. Here are three ways my children have benefitted from their involvement in team sports these last few years: 

They learn from shared misery

Most of us know how much complaining comes with our kids enduring discomfort. My energetic kindergartner suddenly becomes weak and feeble the moment our walk becomes a little too long or the sun too bright. It’s not different when she is out in the outfield with her teammates; they are definitely all hot, tired, and bored. After all, standing still and waiting for a ball for up to 15 minutes is a lot of work for 6-year-olds! In this case though, being tired is a group activity. Everyone wants to go back and sit in the dugout. The hot, bright sun on their face is definitely bothering all of them but the positive peer pressure to work through this discomfort has done wonders for my children. It has made them put their complaints into perspective and helped them endure a little longer. Having their teammates looking on has stopped them from giving up and helped them push themselves just a little bit more than they would have otherwise. This has made them more resilient than me lecturing them from the sidelines and as their homeschool teacher, they sure get a lot of my lectures!

They gain a sense of belonging

We are a really close family and my daughters say that all three of them are best friends. We are certainly blessed with a home that feels like a safe haven after our adventures out in the world. Even so, our kids need places in the world that accept them and make them feel that they belong with others when they are not with their family members. They need to learn what it means to be a part of their community. This is especially beneficial when we tend to stick to home a little too much in our homeschooling journey. It’s true that it can be hard to find a team full of players that will avoid mean-kid behavior and treat others with kindness but I promise they exist. We were lucky to find teams with girls that cheer for them when they do well and comfort them when they make mistakes. Together they experienced wins and losses and formed important opinions about fairness and hard work. They did all of this with their team as I looked on, knowing that I could not have taught this to them on my own. 

They learn social skills in a unique system

Some of our kids are naturally more social than others. For some homeschooled kids, social interactions can sometimes be very difficult. This was the case with one of our daughters when she first joined a team full of new, unfamiliar people. Over time, this changed and not simply because of the familiarity that comes with time. On a sports team, a player that does well is quickly noticed by their teammates. Their homeruns, goals, and rallies are celebrated and shared by their team. My daughters learned to admire these gifted players and seek them out for helpful tips. Later on, as my daughters learned the game and started making impressive gains of their own, their teammates celebrated them right back. These sorts of social interactions have made my girls more confident and deepened their relationships with other players. My girls loved when my husband and I cheered for them at some of their other sport but I can tell they love when their teammates cheer them on them even more. 

  For our family, spring softball season is over and we will have an entire summer to rest and catch up on our homeschool work. We will likely also go back to some individual sports and learning activities during the summer to fill our time with learning but without a doubt, I will be signing them up again for the next fall season. I can’t wait to watch them learn skills, make friends, and have memorable wins and losses in an environment that I truly feel cannot be matched. I wholeheartedly encourage homeschool families to give these sports a try!

By Elsa Barnhill