Overlap overload

Hmm! Noticing that we are in mid May and only my third blog post for the year? Why is that? Some technical difficulties are part of it. I got this fantastic new camera for Christmas which has been, well not totally reliable.

But upon reflection, I realized that the biggest reason why these months have been more hectic than normal have to do with overlaps. One very small example is the two week period widely dreaded by Clintonville parents, known has the Soccer-Baseball Overlap. The last two weeks of soccer in our recreation program coincide with the first two weeks of baseball practice. Somehow it almost always coincides with Jeff being out town. As a mother of babies and toddlers I am sure I would have glibly said "Oh, you could just skip a few practices." But now these are my children. They are not just blocks on a schedule. They are my children who want to play their last soccer game on a certain team, who want to have a chance to make pitcher on their their baseball team, who need to learn how to hit the ball before they move up to the next baseball league. And because I value them and their goals and their dreams, I grit my teeth, try to ignore the mounting clutter of water bottles, cleats and uniforms that inevitably grow during these weeks, and throw myself into getting them where they need to be.

Then there is the end of the school year. I attended the Midwest Homeschool Convention this spring. It was an important time of professional develop for me. To reassess what is, or is not, working for us. To exchange ideas. To be encouraged in this job. So if you are interested in dialoging about Charlotte Mason vs. classical approach to language arts and reading, about preparing a high school transcript vs. making sure your child is actually ready for college work, or how to teach upper level sciences, these things have been occupying my thoughts much in the last few months. But April is not the ideal time for this kind of assessment and evaluation. It has made if very hard to stay focused on the work that still remained for this year. I have been trying to simultaneously finish the course I laid out last year and gather information about the next year's course. Here are a few scenes from our trip to Cincinnati for the homeschool convention. Our kids had a great time, they especially loved the skywalks connecting the buildings downtown.









Then there has been the Cub Scout/ Boy Scout overlap. As our oldest two have remained very involved in Boy Scouts and Bute1 has moved into some leadership roles there, Jeff has become more involved with the Boy Scouts. This has been fantastic both for Jeff to share inexperienced which he did note have in his own childhood, like repelling, water rafting, and shooting guns. It has also been a great time for relationship building with our older boys. But the fact of the matter is that Jeff and I are both still fulfilling a lot of responsibilities with the Cub Scouts, of which we have three. But this overlap involves adding a new time commitment without subtracting anything else.

All in all I am grateful for all the opportunities we have, but there is no doubt that these circumstances have conspired to make these months extra busy and serve at least as some explanation for the lack of blog posts recently








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