everyone here suggests supplementing afterschool...
but when does my son get to just play and be a little boy?
Yeah. sigh. At school, I guess... although there's a difference between structured social time and plain old down time, where he can do as he pleases.
The trick for me is to keep the after school stuff short, like 30-45 minutes, tops. I find it's an "ok" balance.
Would they be further ahead if I got them for the entire 6 hours? Probably, but that's the nature of one-on-one and a child tailored curriculum. Plus they'd be missing out on the social stuff... forming a sense of community with the kids in their neighborhood.
Anyway, I have stuff ready for DS8 when he gets home. We start at 4:00 or 4:30 and go until 5ish. He has from 3:00-4:00 and then from 5/5:30 - bedtime to just hang out and be a kid. I should add that I've stopped scheduling activities after school - we do all our sports on the weekends only, and we're taking a break from piano (our teacher is studying abroad for a year). Plus I limit play dates to two days per week, otherwise I'm overrun with kids, lol.
Anyway, cc6 I know it's frustrating... but maybe make your after school enrichment sessions short. At least it's better than nothing, better than letting your DS's cognition stagnate.
