Thursday, October 26, 2006

managing the chaos

I am feeling overwhelmed. Every summer, I vow to cut back, to simplify our schedule. I am a closet homebody. I would be content to stay home most of the time. In fact, I struggle with organization so much that staying home most of the time is essential to keeping up with housework/schoolwork/every-other-kind-of-work...when we have weeks like this one in which we are gone everyday, things quickly start to unravel. You know the scene...housework doesn't get done, laundry piles up, meals don't get planned, schoolwork doesn't get graded/filed efficiently and grows into a paper monster threatening to take over the entire upstairs....I am very visual and just being surrounded by the mess is depressing to me. I am longing to have several days home to take back control. How does this happen? We *did pare* back activities this year! We have our homeschool co-op every Monday, all day. That's one big time-sucking event. We enjoy participating, don't get me wrong, but it's a rough way to start the week. We leave the house at 8:30 and don't get home until after 4. I spend the morning grocery shopping and running errands while Maria takes her classes at the co-op. Then I come to the co-op to teach an afternoon class, leave to pick up Kain from school, then back to the co-op to pick up Maria after her last class. I am *wiped out* for the day, for the *week*, after that. Maria has choir practice at the church every other Wednesday. The kids have PSR on Sunday, and I teach the preschool PSR class. It's not bad...I actually co-teach the class, so I only have to actually plan a lesson every other week. We meet with our Catholic homeschool group for Little Flowers/playtime once a month. And we participate with another homeschool group for various social activities/field trips when we have the time/energy. It's not so bad, really...it seems like everyone else is involved in a lot more actually! But I still struggle. The days I enjoy the most are the days that we stay home all day, follow our routines, and the day unfolds smoothly. Those days are in short supply lately.

3 comments:

Jen said...

Boy, are we the same person? I was thinking the exact same thing today. Feeling overwhelmed, when I see more people with more on their plate. Do you think you could cut back on a few things to help? I know I haven't been to Little Flowers at all this year, just because I didn't want to be out of the house again. Maybe you could make sure that you have a few days a week that you just don't do anything, or at least until late afternoon. Perhaps that would help? I don't know, but I understand your frustration.

Entropy said...

I feel the same way! It's taken me this long to figure out that visual clutter clutters my brain! We cut down this year as well and I thought it'd be smooth sailing (you know, clean, happy, educated, kids; clean house; dinner on the table *on time* every night; no crankiness in sight)
hahahha hahaaahahahaha

It was a nice dream I had and cutting down on running around has definitely helped. It also helps to know other people have days like mine! Hang in there; we're there with you!

mel said...

LOL...must be this time of year. Knee deep in the school year, looking down the tunnel at the holiday season...I was telling John I wish we could just go on "vacation at home"...that he could take off of work for a week and we would just stay home and catch up on stuff, spend time together and with the kids...not really possible right now though.