Balancing Kid Activities with Downtime


I’m so tickled to be right here on the third day in a row simply sharing life. I have to and can get again to some extra curated content- recipes, Friday favorites, and so on, however gosh proper now it feels good to simply present up and chat with you. I’m so inspired by your responses that you simply miss this type of running a blog, too. It’s much less in your face, isn’t it? That’s how I really feel studying my favourite blogs. Like I can simply drop in when it really works in my schedule and verify in with a pal. I hope you’re feeling that method right here. 

Sufficient waxing poetic, let’s chat a couple of much less balanced day 🙂

Thursdays have been our tremendous full days and yesterday was no exception. I awakened (6:15- attempting to slowly transfer again to that 6:00 mark), had espresso, wrote my weblog publish, then realized I had skipped proper over my accessible window to stroll the canine. Sorry, Finley. She bought a fast up and down the driveway, then I headed to the kitchen to prep breakfast and pack lunch on the similar time.

Breakfast was Greek yogurt with chia seeds and no grain granola with two fried eggs and my typical cod liver oil and vitamin D. Whereas I ate that, I prepped some earl Gray tea to go, washed the produce, and threw lunch stuff into our large cooler. I bought dressed and the ladies and I had been out the door on the best way to co-op by 8:30 (ish… humorous how that will get later and later as we get nearer to the final co-op day).

Our co-op is tremendous candy and we’ve loved it a lot. We begin with morning time which consists of composer research, artist research, and bible research, then I help in science for the oldest children (we performed with circuits), then I helped with the toddlers, then music with the younger children, then lunch, nature research (my fav!), and ended with Shakespeare. We stayed afterwards to let the children play within the health club (basketball after which some fierce dodgeball) and the mothers chat. It’s my favourite time of the day!

We are going to miss seeing this candy group weekly once we change co-ops subsequent 12 months. We’ll be switching to an choice the place I don’t have to show so I can focus solely on my children’ curriculum and classes, which was a little bit of a battle for me this 12 months since I’d spend Wednesday prepping and Thursday instructing different children. It felt like we missed two homeschool days and on the ages my women are at, we have to modify.

We left the church simply shy of 4:00, which meant a fast flip round at dwelling. I threw in freezer meatballs in my trusty Dutch oven gradual cooker, ate a fast snack (cottage cheese and BBQ chips), grabbed and Spindrift, and Okay and I had been again out the door by 4:20 to move to theater rehearsal.

She had rehearsal till 8:00 and whereas she did that I returned telephone calls, swung by Goal to get a child birthday present and a mud pan, and bought gasoline at Costco. We bought dwelling round 9:00 (it’s fairly a drive for us to the theater) the place I inhaled some spaghetti and meatballs, poured myself a magnesium, and chatted with the household earlier than all of us headed to mattress shortly after. It’s bizarre when your bedtime turns into the identical as your children!

Theater runs via this weekend, with three extra performances. I’ve blended emotions on this system we’ve been a part of this spring, as they allowed everybody who auditioned into the present, leading to a ton of tiny elements (assume two minutes of stage time for a 80 minute manufacturing). Mix that with a demanding schedule and obligatory volunteer hours on high of the month-to-month charge, and it was… rather a lot. 

Nevertheless, they’re adjusting issues for the autumn musical theater arrange and now Okay (and perhaps even H!) wish to audition. It has me considering rather a lot about household priorities and learn how to match these up with child actions. I’m a giant believer in the advantage of free time. It’s one of many causes we homeschool- time to discover private pursuits, play exterior, be bored, and so on. I additionally see the advantages of activities- studying learn how to be a part of a workforce, sportsmanship, achieve expertise in performing/chatting with a crowd, and so on. 

I’ve stated all spring season lengthy, that we’d be signing up for much less within the fall. However determining precisely what that appears like is difficult. H is pretty simple; she needs to do piano and soccer. However now she’s inquisitive about musical theater as effectively. Okay needs to do musical theater, soccer, softball, TKD, and voice classes. Clearly we cannot (and don’t wish to) cart her round to all of these. Plus the ladies will do youth group on the church, which is one evening per week.

Add in appointments (chiropractor, dentist, hair cuts, and all the opposite little issues that pop up) and co-op and we’ll be setting ourselves up for an additional drive-happy fall. 

All mothers know we’ve got to start out figuring these items out by summer time as a result of that’s when all of the registration occurs, so I’m curious the way you deal with this. I’ve mates that do nothing exterior the house and their lives look idyllic- gradual evenings, unrushed mornings, time to make lovely dinners, and youngsters exploring exterior. My coronary heart principally craves that, however but I additionally love cheering on my children from the sidelines and watching them shine up on stage. Is there a stability to be struck or is it merely a season of life that will get a bit crazier and also you simply buckle up and benefit from the trip?

If you happen to’ve figured it out (or if you happen to haven’t), I’d be curious as to learn how to A) plan to deal with it when you’ve got little children B) are dealing with it if you happen to’re in the identical season or C) dealt with it when your children had been on this stage and if you happen to (in hindsight) would have modified something or have any recommendation.

And if you happen to’re simply silent studying out of your telephone in the present day, that’s OK, too. 😉 Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will have an exquisite weekend! Oh, and one final image from our busy day- proof of dinner and loopy children wrestling on the sofa.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *