Thursday, September 9, 2010

Back into the Groove

Well, the summer vacation has ended, and the boys are back into the swing of their daily schedule.

Each weekday starts at 6am (ideally) 6:15 (most days) or 6:30 (on those really sluggish days). Breakfast in a rush, then a last minute run-around for all the bits and pieces needed for school. It doesn't matter how much we prepare the night before, it seems we've always got a frantic morning. Out the door at 6:50 (again, ideally) or at the latest 7:00 (followed by Mom's voice yelling "RUN"!).

School starts at 8. These days they arrive after their 3km walk, a sweaty mess. Taiga sometimes has to change into his gym strip for the day, and hangs his clothes out to dry. Yuck! The end of the school day depends on the grade and the day of the week. Very annoying to have to look at the schedule every day to know what time the kids will be coming home! Taiga is usually done at 3, but Kai's grade goes until 4 most days.

Then the real fun begins. Keeping track of the days of the week is essential for us!

Mondays: twice a month advanced English lessons for bilingual kids from 7-8:30, 30 minute drive away
Tuesdays: shorinji kempo from 6-8, 40 minute drive away
Wednesdays: kendo from 7-8:30, 5 minutes drive away
Thursdays: swimming lessons, 4-5 for Taiga, 5-6 for kai, 10 minutes drive away; then aikido from 7-9 (last hour is just me), 20 minutes drive away
Fridays: English lesson for Kai and friend, 4:30-5:30; shorinji kempo (same as Tuesday)
Saturdays: English classes all day for me (Taiga joins 1st grade class 3:45-4:45); calligraphy class 5-6 (5 minute drive away); kendo from 6:30-8:30, 5 minutes away
Sundays: 9:30-10:45 gymnastics class, 60 minutes drive away; aikido class 4:00-6:00 (again last hour just me)

....

Whew!

We do miss a lot of Aikido classes, but otherwise pretty much follow the schedule. Too much? I'm sure many think so. The boys don't, so I guess that's what matters. There are never any battles about going. They love all of them, and would have a hard time deciding if I asked them to choose one to quit. Luckily for me, they both enjoy all the same activities. I'd be in trouble if they decided that they they wanted to do different activities from each other!! Do I mind all the taxiing? Not really. I LOVE my little car, and I sure get a lot of good use out of it. I'd feel differently if they were into sports that I have no interest in, but I enjoy watching all of their activities.

Even as I type, I'm sitting in the pool lobby, watching Kai. He's learning the butterfly. I've never learned it, and never could figure out the movement of it. He's like a fish, that kid. He swims well enough to stop taking lessons, as far as I'm concerned, but he love them. Taiga is just getting started on the crawl. We'll see how far he goes with it.

Somewhere in there, I'll be going back to work soon too. I love the university schedule, that gives me an extra 2 weeks at the end of summer to enjoy some time off without the kids home. My Fall schedule is busier than the Spring - 4 days a week at my main school, one afternoon a week at the Agricultural College, and 2 mornings a month at the preschool. Then the Saturday classes all day at my 'home' school...

Such are our days.

1 comment:

Mike said...

I've never really known in detail what a mom's schedule is like with school-age kids...but I'll never EVER again complain about being "busy" after reading this post. How you mom's do it is beyond me! And the kids -- I guess if mom is doing all the organizing and transport and food prep, they just gotta learn and have fun. But the energy they need. Wow. Anyway, I'm enjoying your blog!