Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Slowing Down a Bit

The last few months have been pretty busy around here for some reason. We’ve been running here, there, and everywhere to participate in all sorts of activities and events. Many of the activities have been homeschool related…park day, art class, PE, Lego club, Roots & Shoots, co-op, fieldtrips, etc. Each and every activity is loved by one or more members of the family, making them all seem like “needed” activities.

I am finding, though, that the more time we are spending out and about, the more tired and irritable each of us is becoming (not to mention the house is also suffering in our absence). I am truly coming to realize just what a homebody I really am. Because of this new revelation, I have decided that it is time for my family to slow down a bit (and trust me, Justin agrees).

After speaking with my co-op friends, we’ve decided to combine some of our activities to coincide with co-op, and to switch our meeting day to Thursdays (Fridays are our “pizza and a movie” night, and I just wasn’t getting home early enough from co-op of Fridays to get our pizza ready). We should be able to create a diversified offering of activities throughout the month that will be enjoyable for all of the kids (i.e. Lego building, arts/crafts, nature study/community service, fieldtrip), and cover most of the outside activities we’ve been participating in.

As of right now, the summer weekly plan is as follows:

Monday – Park day (rotate park location each week around town)
Tuesday –
Wednesday –
Thursday – Co-op (rotate location and activity each week)
Friday –
Weekend – Family activities (farmers market, beach/park, yard work, church, etc.)

Do you see those blank spaces? They bring a smile to my face. Actually, they probably won’t be blank for long. I need to fill in baking, grocery shopping/errands, canning (when the veggies are in season), etc. It would be great if I could pair grocery shopping/errands with our Monday and Thursday events. Because they each rotate around town, I should be able to get quite a bit of my shopping done before or after those outings, saving time and gas.

This has been our first week trying out our slower paced schedule, and I think it is working well. We are all getting back into our regular routines (i.e. exercising, chores, etc.); the house doesn’t look like it’s falling apart anymore, the kids are getting to bed on time (except Jensen because he just doesn’t go to sleep on anyone’s schedule but his own), and I’m not nearly as stressed as I’ve been.

I think spending some much needed time at home will be good for all of us…especially me.

2 comments:

Shez said...

We are doing far too much and everyone is also suffering. It's helped us to bring a lot of the activities into our home. The piano teacher, art teacher, chess coach and lego coach all come to our home.

Me said...

That's a great idea, Shez. Jolie is considering violin lessons next year, and I might see if I can hire someone to come to the house...unless I'm feeling brave enough to teach her myself:) Hope the twins are doing well. I think of them (and you) often.