Dance Decisions

It's almost that time of year again. Time to sign up for extra curricular activities. Those fun things that not only eat into our budget, but also our time. Brownies (and this year, maybe Daisies), dance, music, sports, and various other potential classes that I'd love to over schedule my kids with.

My big decision right now is dance. The girls have been in dance through our Rec Center for two years now. If they make it to five years, they get a nice little trophy. We love the teacher, and the cost is very good: $160 per kid for September through June. Our other choice is through the local homeschool group: $75 per kid for September through November. The Rec Center is cheaper per hour, but the HS group doesn't have the associated costs: t-shirts, costumes, recital tickets, pictures, video. It easily comes to another $150 - $200. I think the HS group does some little demo of their dance at the end of the class, but no big recital.

Don't get me wrong, I like the recital. It's cute as all get out, and seeing what the other classes have done is fun. I like getting t-shirts for the girls as mementos, and the costumes are reasonably priced. But it does all add up.

Also, the Rec Center doesn't offer Irish Step dancing, which I think the girls would really like. The HS group does, and the class is ages 4 - 10, so both girls would be in the same class. One class means one day of driving instead of two. It's a considerably farther drive, though--at least half an hour, compared to less than ten minutes for the Rec Center.

I'd like to stay at the Rec Center, but feel like the HS group is the smarter choice. I think I went through this whole thing last year as well, now that I think of it. :/