Are you there BLOG? It's me ...

the writer who has been quite busy lately.

*This might be a mishmash of a blog post ... a little like the thoughts running through my head.

School, Homeschool, and swim practice are all back in session. After nearly 2 weeks, I almost feel like a routine is going ... ALMOST ;)

Because it seems like I switch things up every year between Catholic school, homeschool, public school, private school. I could easily claim insanity. Seriously, it isn't that bad ...

My oldest did public school (in another state) for 5 years, Catholic school for 3 years, and now this is her second year in private school.

Daughter #2 did 3 years of public, 2 years of Catholic, homeschool, private, homeschool (NOW).

Daughter #3 did 2 years of Catholic, 1 year of homeschool, and now year 2 of public.

Daughter #4 did 1 year of Catholic and now public (2nd year).

*None of this includes the preschool years.

Homeschooling is going OKAY. I won't say GREAT yet because I feel like there are some things to be tweaked. Yesterday was a really good day ... I SO NEEDED THAT. I homeschooled {k} for '07-'08, but she did go back to traditional school last year. With that in mind, I just knew that things could be a shaky. One challenge for me with her, is that she needs to be more independent with her work and put forth A LOT more effort with some of her subjects. She wants to be "babied", but I won't have that anymore ... she's a 6th grader. Needless to say, we've already had our fair share of discussions.

Swimming is going FINE. I've got 4 girl swimmers (3 on the same schedule) and one DADDY who is doing the masters swim team. WAIT! What about me? Thought I was swimming? Well, I was. I STILL would love to, but the practice time is from 6-7pm. It actually overlaps with the girl's swim practice (they don't end until 6:30pm) and I completely forgot who would watch the 4 year old. I also realized that I would need to be even more efficient and have dinner prepared way earlier in the day. Homework would also need to be worked on. Getting the family home by 7:30pm and THEN feeding them dinner before EVEN starting homework (mostly the 2nd and 4th grader) just did not seem feasible. So for now, just the husband is doing the masters. I do hope I can figure out some magical time solution and get back to it myself. For now, I just squeeze in some running.

Other side thoughts going on in my head ...

*Having children both in school and at home can be a little challenging. For more reasons than I can say, it seems like it could be easier to have an all or nothing approach. I do not do the easy thing. Nope! I guess challenging situations are way more appealing to me (LOL).

*I'm really trying NOT to get on my computer as much. Honestly, I haven't meant to neglect this blog, but with so much on my mind, I feel like I can't think or write in any clear manner. It's for that reason that I'm going to do my best to AVOID the computer before lunch and on SUNDAYS in it's entirety. Most of the time I'm way to busy to even get on the computer from 3-9pm. If I do squeeze in a minute or 30 ... I really shouldn't. Way to much is happening or should be happening. The same goes for the morning hours. I feel much more productive and available to my homeschoolers IF I completely stay clear of the computer. These thoughts as well as my TECH FREE SUNDAY idea will be talked about in a future post ;)

*Dogs are work. Puppies are even more work. Having both a dog and a puppy can add up to EVEN MORE WORK than I ever thought. Damages, shedding, clean-up, walking, bathing, dog fights ... ugh, IT IS EXHAUSTING. I shouldn't complain because I was the one to give into my sad faced children begging to add the adorable looking (soon to be found out) DEAF puppy. ((((SIGH))))) ... it'll get better. RIGHT?

*I could go on and on with other thoughts ... Church, Sunday School, family, books, etc. I'll leave that for later.

HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!!!!