Busy School Year

That title may seem a bit out of place considering our official start date was September 2nd. However, we did light school throughout the summer so we just hit day 30. A month into our 2013-2014 school year and it's not even the end of September. I'm actually amazed we've managed it, but so far so good.

Now that September is here, though, all of our school related activities have started back up which is making for a very busy schedule.

We are very blessed to live just 20 minutes away from a state college that has a wonderful fitness facility with a pool. They offer youth swim lessons each semester for an extremely affordable rate. In fact, beginning levels (pre-swim to Level 2) are paid for by a grant and are free to the families. We have been taking lessons since we first moved two years ago and my boys love them! 

This year we will have a challenging Tuesday though. My oldest son is now taking an outside class for the first time and needs to be in the same town as our swim lessons but his class starts over an hour before swim lessons. So I'll need to figure out if we'll find some place to hang out in town until swim or drive back and forth. I'm thinking it may be a good idea to start exploring the library in that town. 

My other issue is that my two sons in swim lessons are in different levels. For some reason, one level is scheduled all by itself from 9:15-10am. Then we have a half hour break while the younger students have their lesson when we have nothing to do. Then my son in the higher level has lessons from 10:30-11:15. That means two hours at the pool. I'm considering buying a day pass each time we go (cheaper than a monthly rate) so I can walk the track with the two year-old I babysit so that we don't get extremely bored sitting in the humid pool room. 

My boys also take art lessons. We have one that meets the first and third Monday of each month. These are general drawing/sketching classes taught by a very nice gentleman who also does our weekly music lessons. Art classes begin next week. 

In the past they have also participated in a different art class also held bi-monthly. I call these are "messy art" classes since they do a lot of hands on type things like making pottery, painting, and all kinds of unique things. However, this fall they are being held on the same day as our music lessons so we won't be able to participate. 

In addition to all of the above activities, we also are taking a bi-monthly Spanish class. This is just my boys and their cousin and we go to, once again, the college town to meet with a lovely young lady who tutors them. During the time in between classes they work on some free online activities. This year they are also going to work on memorizing scriptures in Spanish. They started this past week with John 3:16.

If that doesn't make our days look full and busy, my two younger boys (and my hubby), also participate in karate. A recent schedule change now means that I am there four days a week. One son has lessons on Monday & Wednesday nights and one son has them Tuesday & Thursday afternoons. 

My youngest hamming it up for the camera. 

He just received his orange stripe last Friday.

My middle kiddo and hubby. 

My middle son received his yellow belt and hubby received his orange stripe. 

Needless to say, we are busy. Some days it feels like too busy, but for now it's working. I am trying to carefully evaluate each activity we take on and make sure they are beneficial not only to my children's learning, but also for our family schedule. One nice benefit is it does force me to be very organized which is a good thing!