Again, with six, we have a hard time doing it all...or even more than one each. Right now, two are in soccer, and I have one of those who also would love to do dance and voice lessons (she is very good on her own..sings in school and church plays, etc. so this would be great for her). I also have a three year old who wants to be a ballerina...and take ballet lessons, and another who is active in honors choir, which travels and has a lot of expenses...and that is only four of the six! We just can't figure out how to PAY for it all!! How do YOU do it??

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Shaking in my boots (well, if I was wearing them in the middle of summer!), but glad to be back!

Through the school, extra curriculars are included. When they play baseball or basketball through the city leagues, we meet the maximum # of kids so we get a little break there. We just save when we know it's coming. I also watch for cleats, etc to go on clearance. Someone will eventually be whatever size I stumble on!

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I'm lucky so far that there are only 2 of my 4 that are old enough for activities. I do plan them in the budget though.

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I limit it to one extra per child and I only have 2 right now to worry about. But I also factor in gas and time spent in the car by the youngest 2. I am feeling pressure from our insurance case work to put our 3 yr old into dance or something but we just can't afford it. One thing you can ask about are scholarships, our two oldest did a musical this summer with an esstablished performance company and I asked about scholarships and both DD qualified. Also my 10 yr old does more of the fine arts things and sometimes we qualify for scholorships that pay the majority of the cost. Our oldest DD now knows that financially we can not pay for everything she wants to do and she has to make good choices.

I do feel your pain and I know things at our house are only going to get worse.

We can afford it because we only have 2. We're lucky that so far we haven't had to limit extracurriculars due to cost. But you're right. Those things are very expensive. THere's no way we could pay for 6 to do tons of things.

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I put money aside from my check for it weekly. My dad and in laws also help with extras.

My daughter does gymnastics, competitive cheerleading, cheerleading at school, basketball, soccer, gymnastics and beauty pageants (about 6 per year). She is in specialty choir at school and in choir at church. She is also starting piano lessons with our church's children's pastor.

My son plays football, basketball, soccer and guitar lessons. He is also in the church choir. He wants piano lessons for his birthday.

Most of their activities begin right after school so they go straight from school to practice. The gym my daughter trains for gymnastics and competitive cheerleading picks up from the school so it elevates after school care. In the end I pay almost as much for coaching as I would for after school care. It is the uniforms and extra things that go along with the activities that get expensive. My daughter gets leotards and cheer accessories for Christmas and birthdays.

Outside of school sponsored activities - We ask grandparents to contribute as a part of a birthday or other holiday gift. We limit it to two activities otherwise we would be running around every day and would not get to enjoy watching them participate.

With the real expensive ones that your kids travel with - don't they do fundraisers to help with the cost? They could also get sponsors.

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PLEASE go to http://mommysavers.com/boards/mommys...ncer-walk.html to learn about preventative measures for all women - cancer does not discriminate!

We do fund raisers for gymnastics and competitive cheerleading that covers team transportation and competition entrance fees. This also covers part of the coaches travel expenses.

We still have to provide our transpertation, hotel and food for competitions that are to far away to commute. We do have sponsors for the pageants that dd is involved with. She models at several bridal shows throught out the year and the shop she models for provides her dresses.

I work so my kids can participate in things. Basically that is what it boils down to.

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~Happiness is a large family~

I dont know if you have the same state allowances for children that we get here. But all children no matter what they economic environment are entitled to a monthly allowance given to the mothers by the State

That contributes to the extra classes my sons took. Sometimes the fees would be present s from the Grandparents or Godparents,

Others just came from what Iearned