HollyDay Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 It is time to pay for 2009-2010 activities. I will be schooling 2 dc: 8th and 5th. If we do what we are looking at, my week will go something like this: Mon- ballet Tues - gymnastics Thurs - ballet Friday - violin Am I nuts for considering this? Or is this pretty much an average schedule? How do I get everything done and not be stressed, exhausted, and have a messy house? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2GirlsTX Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 I couldn't do that schedule, it would send me over the edge. However, that is just me, you are probably younger and have more energy than I do :D I end up feeling stressed when we have more than 3 activities outside the house a week. It does seem though that every year we get more activities, so adjustments are needed. We now do a PE class once a week versus 3 times a week, we do one instrument, versus multiple music lessons, and since I have two kids, I try and schedule each ones private music lesson one after the other. My goal is not more than two major outings a week...but I imagine that will end up changing to more. If you have the energy/resources/stamina then I say go for it :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibraryLover Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 How would it go if you had more children, with individual interests? LaurieNE, mother of 4 ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SheWillFly Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 That would be too much for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patchfire Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 This year we had M: Master's Academy (12:15 - 4:30) T: Swimming, plus LLL meetings once a month, plus park day the other weeks W: Ds's 45 minute tumbling class (in the mornings), plus planning meeting for GS (me, evenings, but it still interrupted things) R: Swimming, Girl Scouts For a lot of reasons, things are switched around. GS is once a month on a Sunday afternoon and once a month planning on Monday afternoons. However, we're probably going to do a little more in the early afternoons in exchange for less "afterschool"-time things. Is there any way to do two things in one day and have one day "off"? Personally I find that easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 I won't even post my schedule because it stresses me out just to think about! My house will be messy, I will make quick meals, laundry will be taken straight out of the dryer, but I have three kids who have different interests and quite frankly they get so much out of their extra stuff that it makes them more interesting and happy, so it is worth it. They will grow up and be gone and then I will have a clean house and loads of time to do what I want to do. But seriously, grab some good books to read and watch your children blossom. Just to give you a hint: boy scouts girl scouts fencing (3 times a week) dance (1 a week) Dance company (3 times a week) book club piano (at my house) art class Spanish (going to be done at my home) yoga (just at my neighbors) cooking class (at my neighbor's grandmother's house - she will do the driving) and my daughter just asked for gymnastics - I did say NO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Well, I don't know about the house, LOL, but you do have children old enough to help you with the house. We have things outside the house most days of the week. We start early and work with a will until time to leave for outside activities and then we take our work with us in the car and they work going to/from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaT Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 My schedule is insane, but I never intended it to be that way. We limited each child to one activity each, but I never dreamed they would go as far as they have in their selected activity so it goes something like this: M: Dance 4:00-6:30 Gymastics 5:00-8:30 Usually baseball game or practice Junior Olympics track 6:15-8:00 T: Dance 4:15-7:15 Gymnasatics 5:00-8:30 Usually baseball game or practice W: Baseball practice Junior Olympics track 6:15-8:00 Th: Dance 4:15-6:45 Gymnastics 5:00-8:00 Usually baseball game or practice F: Gymnastics 4:00-7:00 Junior Olympics track 6:15-8:00 Sat. Gymnastics 9:00-12:00 We also have track/gym meets and extra dance rehearsals/baseball games on the weekends sometimes. At this level, this is year-round - no summers off, and my 10yo plays fall baseball as well as spring. What has saved my sanity is being super organized. We have a certain time for laundry, house cleaning, etc. I make my dinner right after lunch and slow cook it in the oven. People eat dinner whenever they happen to come in. My husband/oldest son trade off picking people up at night. BTW, I am not as young as I used to be (I'm 45) and feel it.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNC Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 (edited) Next year I will have: Monday: Special Olympics teams sports 6-7pm (boys go w/Dad) Ballet 6-7:30pm (w/me) Tuesday: Team sports 6-7 pm(boys go w/Dad) Wednesday: piano at lunchtime Ballet 6-7:30pm Friday: Worship dance - lunchtime Ballet and prepointe- 5-7pm Saturday: games in morning and afternoon This is for the school year. My boys play soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter and baseball in the spring. Two teams - one son in Special Olympics/& adaptive league and one son in a church league. I would love for my daughter to also be in a choir, but can't imagine adding something else right now. We don't do coops or classes, so we are at home all day. My husband's office is at home. Even though he is out meeting with people most of the day, he can eat dinner with us at 5 or so and take the boys when I have ballet. The crock-pot comes in very handy also during our school year! I'm thankful to be able to provide our children the opportunity to develop strength and skill in physical activities they enjoy so much! Edited May 20, 2009 by LNC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicmommy Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 I think it's doable if that's really all it is. For me though, I teach private lessons to 22 students a week so that eats a lot of my time. The kids each take piano from me and then it all depends on the sports season. How much can your dh help? I'm fortunate that mine can work from home at times and has a flexible schedule so could that be a possibility some of the time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keptwoman Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 That sounds OK to me. My schedule is usually like the other crazy folks up there with multiple things on every day. For this winter though we have restricted the DC to one thing each so we can save for our big holiday. I must say, I am enjoying the break very much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisN in NY Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 It is time to pay for 2009-2010 activities. I will be schooling 2 dc: 8th and 5th. If we do what we are looking at, my week will go something like this: Mon- ballet Tues - gymnastics Thurs - ballet Friday - violin Am I nuts for considering this? Or is this pretty much an average schedule? How do I get everything done and not be stressed, exhausted, and have a messy house? Each family is unique. It's not nuts for me. When I was homeschooling six kids, and one of them had a part-time job, it wasn't unusual for me to leave my driveway at least four times a day, sometimes more. It was crazy. Makes my current life seem sane! :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLH in ND Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 It is time to pay for 2009-2010 activities. I will be schooling 2 dc: 8th and 5th. If we do what we are looking at, my week will go something like this: Mon- ballet Tues - gymnastics Thurs - ballet Friday - violin Am I nuts for considering this? Or is this pretty much an average schedule? How do I get everything done and not be stressed, exhausted, and have a messy house? It would be a bit much for me, too. Although, I've been there. Even with allowing only one type of music lesson (piano for all 3 dd) and one physical activity lesson (tennis for all 3), since they were all in different levels of tennis, we ended up spending 6 out of 7 days at the racket club. It was to the point that the guys at the front desk would tell us they put cots out for us since we practically lived there! Piano was a little better because dd #2 & #3 did their 1/2 hour lessons back to back once a week. Dd#1 did hers on a different day. This school year we didn't do tennis at all. It was SO nice to only have one day of piano lessons! My belief is that we sometimes think more is better for our kids. I learned that it wasn't the case with my own, so I made some changes. Only you will know what is manageable for your family at any given point in time. Could you try cutting back in the upcoming school year just to see if it makes a difference? Sheri :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosy Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 If it were me, I'd be trying to see if it was possible to move things around so I was out 2 days instead of 4. We haven't really gotten into the world of activities yet, though, so I might be eating my words soon! Next year we're planning: Co-op (all day Friday) for all of us Cub Scouts (some weekends) for DS7 Piano & Art classes for DD8 Elderly visits (monthly) Ballet or Gymnastics for DD5 & DD4 (in the same class) and possibly Tae Kwon Do for DD8 & DD7 (same day/time as ballet) And we do grocery shopping after co-op and we'll do other errands with other activities, so hopefully we'll still have 2 days a week of not having to leave the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Rat Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Well, our schedule is similar during peak seasons but my boys are a bit younger. Mon-both boys soccer Tue-both TKD (seperate classes though) Wed-both TKD Thurs-oldest soccer Sat-both soccer games I also clean my parents' house every other Wednesday and we have an archery class every other Tuesday. I run a tight ship and enlist my boys' help with chores. We all clean together and it works well (on Thursdays BTW). The key to my success is keeping to a schedule and going to bed early. My dh is also good about helping out on the weekends and giving me a break when I need it. I also make sure I exercise nearly every morning so I start the day right. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 It is time to pay for 2009-2010 activities. I will be schooling 2 dc: 8th and 5th. If we do what we are looking at, my week will go something like this: Mon- ballet Tues - gymnastics Thurs - ballet Friday - violin Am I nuts for considering this? Or is this pretty much an average schedule? How do I get everything done and not be stressed, exhausted, and have a messy house? At their ages, nope, I don't think you are nuts. Just so it works for all of you. Avoid stress by accepting that this is part of life and I would explain to my kids that if their lessons drop off due to outside commitments then the outside activities will be the first to go. If housework is a huge issue, perhaps you could get them to help, everyone gets up a bit early to help get things done so the house is in order and lessons will be done on time so that you can hit the streets for your activities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 We have often had a similar schedule. I only have 2 also. Tuesdays- Piano (ds13) Wednesday- Piano (dd14), Gymnastics (both) Thursday- Art (dd) Friday- Science class (both), debating (dd), recorder (ds) Friday/Saturday/all weekend- Scouts (both, separate classes) However, I am happy that Mondays and Thursdays I don't have to leave the house- nothing on Mondays, and dd can get to her own art class down the road on Thursdays. Fridays is our main out of the house social day, as the kids' science classes are at separate times and they socialise while the other is having their class. We mums sit in the park and chat. Scouts is our big time sucker, but its also one of their main social outlets, and it is inepxensive for what they get out of it. It works ok for me because it is fairly balanced, and this year we get in a full 4 and a half days work. Most people I know IRL do a similar amount of activities. Probably because they are the peopel I see at those acitivities :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhonda in TX Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 I need at least 2 days a week (weekdays) that we can stay completely at home. This year, we had orchestra on Mondays, DS's lesson on Wed., and DD's lesson on Thurs. That was the limit for me. Oh, DD had Girl Scouts every other Thursday, but that was at night, so that was okay. It depends on your personality type. Do you like to go and do, or are you a homebody? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom0012 Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 I did a schedule like that, only worse, the year before this last one. It really put a lot of stress on me every day to get everything done before we had to fly out the door and it made it difficult for me to find time for my kids to have friends over. I do think a lot depends on the times of the activities though. Starting this year, I decided I would not do any activities before 2:00. If the classes were 4:00 or later, that works even better for me. Then it doesn't interfere with schoolwork or playdates. My daughter actually takes piano at 6:00 p.m. and that works out great. That being said, this next year my daughter will be doing ballet M/W from 4 - 5 and my son may be swimming T/TH 2:00 - 3:00. I won't love it, but because of the times, I think I can manage it without things being too stressful. Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adams101 Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 My kids are still in PS, but we will start HS probably sometime this summer. Anyway, I have always limited them to one activity, each child (I have 2 that are 2 years apart), at a time. I am looking at adding more since they won't have to be at school all day, then come home and do homework, then eat and run to activities. Our schedule this year was football for ds in the fall, they both played basketball in winter, and are now playing baseball/softball. With the flexability of HS, I think we can add a couple of more things. I do have to be careful about scheduling since we moved away from Grandma about a year ago. My husband tends to be called into work, or to get stuck sometimes, so I have to make sure I can cover both kids if needed. One might have to be a few minutes early/late, but I make do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Ha! I have 2 children and there were plenty of days that we had MORE than one activity outside the house. Right now things have calmed down a ton, but when basketball and soccer, geography club, and co-op start back up, we will be right back at it. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 WHat you have planned is completely doable. This past year we took a break from so many activities, but the year before we had a schedule like yours only more. With 4 kids we had activities 7 days a week, sometimes 2-3 activities in one day. That led to major burn out. Next year will be fairly busy with all 4 in activities again but I am combining them in locations. My burnout was more from the travel to and from everything not the classes themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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