I mean. September is always insane for my budget and for my brain. Where we live (Dubai, UAE) you can get significant discounts for paying for a year of after school activities ahead of time but it’s a massive budget drain every September. Plus sometimes I have to guesstimate my kids’ interest. Cue the temper tantrum over school choir. Apparently not the “it” after school activity for 5th grade like it was in 4th grade…plus add in work trips for me and my husband three weeks back to back to back so each of us is solo parenting for long stretches, it’s nuts. At least our meal schedule (world’s most boring): pasta bar, leftovers, hot food of some type, taco night, pizza night, is set and still enjoyed by the children.
I find it so hard to predict/gauge what the kids will be able to handle and want to do when signing up for things in advance! My 10yo wanted to sign up for so many fall activities and I reminded her that last fall she got overwhelmed and she was like "Oh that won't happen this year!" Ohhhhkay.....
Honestly this fall doesn't feel super different than the summer for us since my 5yo daughter was in camps most of the time. The main difference right now is that I don't have to drive her anymore since we walk to our neighborhood school. The biggest change in our overall routine is that we can't go to the pool in the evenings anymore, so we'll be getting back into other activities like more biking, playing more games together, etc.
So devastating to hear about the school shooting in GA. We haven't really talked with my daughter about this type of situation yet, but should probably do that. Thank you for sharing the resources!
Oh, it's bad. My kids are 7th and 4th grade. Activities keep getting scheduled on different days than they were last year (or in one instance, a new activity emerged that my 4th grader REALLY wants to do and it's on the same day and time as an existing activity that he has committed to). Let's see. We've got climbing team 5:30-7:30, across town on Monday for kid 1. We've got robotics 4-5:30 (instead of existing swim team from 4:45-6) for kid 2 on Tuesday and horn lessons for kid 1 from 5:45-6:30, same day different locations that are almost exactly 15 minutes apart. Wednesday is the real kicker, as we have to pick kid 1 from climbing (starts at 6:30) at 6:50 to take her to scouts at 7, that goes until 8:30. Thursday is swim team for kid 2, from 4:45-6, same on Friday. Both kids also have competitions (kid 2 for both robotics and swim, kid 1 for climbing). We live in a big, low population state so competitions are several hours away and usually require overnight stays. Plus I'm a PhD student and teach a college level class, and I'm a part-time healthcare provider who cares for her mom with dementia. Anyway, obviously thriving over here.
Yes, wow, omg!!!! Do you have any help with the driving? Carpools, etc? I am starting to lean on other parents more for help and it's been SO helpful. But hard in rural areas, I know, because friends could live pretty far away!
Melinda, that is a lot of driving! At least you got to eat some pasta at some point.
Also, Winder is about 30 miles from where I grew up. I'm from Conyers. What about you? I had no idea you were from GA. I am originally from NY, so we've got two of the same states in common. I don't suggest moving to TN for a tic-tac-toe. It's beautiful here, but the politics are infuriating.
Wow, small world!! I grew up in Atlanta. I definitely don't identify as (or probably present as) a Southerner, so that's probably why you had no idea, lol. I only lived there until I was about 13.
School started two weeks ago for us, and right on time, now my kindergartner has a cold and I feel like I'm coming down with it, too. Sigh.
We're also struggling with developing a morning routine that (A) gets us out of the house on time, (B) doesn't involve me yelling PUT YOUR SHOES ON NOW after gently asking and then reminding five thousand times, (C) doesn't require me to wake up more than 2.5 hours before we need to leave the house.
I feel all these comments. Fall started like a fire hose with half day orientations for both kids and an afterschool chess club that just got canceled. And so. Many. Forms.
Absolutely bonkers. Soccer two nights a week, plus a game Saturday. Swimming 1-2 nights, plus meets on some Saturdays. Gymnastics on Tuesday. I am buying a slow cooker.
My son started 3k and was supposed to go to extended care at the parochial school we enrolled him at... but the director was difficult to work with when it came to him having some accidents, so now he's back at his daycare for this month, and I am driving him to and from pre-k MWF in the middle of the day. Yesterday was our first day of this new schedule and I am hoping it was the worst. He's an observant and sensitive kid who is having a reasonably hard time with the change. I'm glad we can give him this flexibility but it's really hard on my husband and I to be doing all this running around in the middle of the work day.
My almost 1 year old has a cold and has not been sleeping well. We're barely surviving this week and I'm hoping our weekend camping trip will help to reset things.
Our school starts 10 minutes earlier this year, so adjusting all of our mental schedule in the morning for the exact minute he needs to start getting dressed and heading to brush his teeth has been a chore this week.
Then afterschool didn't start until the second day of school, and he doesn't have afterschool on Thursdays -- usually his grandmother will take him Thursdays (he'll have a swim class so they'll hang out for 45 minutes or so and then head there) but not today, so I have to pick him up at 2:45, which means really right this minute I should be transcribing an interview for a piece I'm working on because I only have like 2.5 hours of functional time left.
He'll have afterschool every day but Thursday. In general the theory is on Wednesdays his grandmother will pick him up a little early from afterschool and drop him at a parkour class and then we'll pick him up. It's actually not clear if the parkour class will keep going all fall -- it's not a thing where you sign up for a six-week session, it's a place where you get a monthly package and find classes that fit your schedule. Then Thursdays swimming. Hopefully he'll get a piano lesson through afterschool again -- it's such a blessing to have something that is integrated into what he's already doing so we don't have to take him an extra place. And on Saturday afternoons he is signed up for a math/logic/puzzles kind of thing that we still have to get buy-in for, but we're going to make him do it one way or another. That will be maybe a 30-minute walk from home.
I'm trying to get back to focusing on professional stuff now that the final two weeks of summer when he wasn't in camp are over. Hence the transcription I should be doing and the texts I should be sending about setting up interviews.
Our school gates open 10 minutes later this year, with the same start time, and it seems to be just as difficult an adjustment as the year the start time moved up by 10 minutes. That 10 minutes can be make or break!
Oh, I hope the school bus gets its business sorted out for you quickly! The bus route changed this year for my kid who can ride the bus--it picks them up 20 minutes earlier!--and when we came back from walking our younger kid to school on the first day, there were a handful of kids waiting for the bus at the wrong time. The good news is that riding the bus is fun this year for my kiddo, unlike last year, and both kids are out the door for the day by 7:15! It's such a game-changer not to have a long, drawn out drop-off/pickup to do twice a day at two schools.
Even though we have been in school over a month now, after school and other extracurricular activities have just started. So we will be learning new schedules for a little while longer still and juggling medical appointments for one child as we try to make sure he has all the support he needs as we prep for middle school. Both of my kids need a lot of free time to recover from being at school all day in order to feel their best, so we have a couple of days with no after school commitments for each of them and nothing other than semi-regular church on the weekends. As long as they do one thing, that's good enough. My oldest kid has a requirement of socializing with friends outside of school *in-person* every week, but it can be meeting at the park by his friend's house, going along to a playgroup event, or participating in the youth group at church.
I had a long talk with my oldest about the most recent shooting. My husband and I both grew up in Georgia, and it's somehow even more heartbreaking to know the place that's in the news.
Oh boy! The re-entry at the start of the school year is always really rocky for me. On the one hand, it is a relief to emerge from the summer childcare circus and get back to a bit more of a consistent schedule. But on the other hand, all the school events and extracurriculars coming back into play is really overwhelming. This month there is a school concert, back to school night, and a PTA meeting all on weeknight evenings that conflict with various kid extracurriculars. Right now my 5th grader is doing soccer (2 weeknight practices and a Saturday game) and my wife is coaching the team. My 2nd grader does taekwondo and has 2 classes/week. Next week the 5th grader starts back up with dance and after lots of begging and discussion she will be doing 2 classes this year (ballet and contemporary) vs. last year's one class. Past me thought I was doing scheduling magic by selecting dance classes that are back to back and then shifting the taekwondo schedule to overlap (the studios are a few blocks from each other), but as I look at my schedule next week when this all starts it looks like a LOT to coordinate in terms of getting everyone out the door in their correct outfits on the right timeline.
A couple things about the fall schedule that are extra sticky include "how does one manage dinner when activities are happening in the 6-8pm-ish window???" Also, I find that I often feel sort of squeezed and resentful of all the time spent milling around with other parents of kids in the same extracurriculars vs my own friends/doing my leisure time activities.
We have been back to school for a month at our extended year magnet so I am thankful our routine is starting to gel a bit. That said it is still hard and I feel like I’m running around a lot. I drop both my kids off at 7:30-7:40 and usually go to the gym before going back home to work for about 5 hours. They ride the bus home, the first few weeks they were the only school in session so they got home 40 min earlier. Monday/Tuesday nights are soccer practice (each kid has 1 day), Wednesday- piano but she comes to our house, Thursday little gym, Friday has no after school activity but that’s usually when my in-laws host family dinners. Last weekend we were at the beach Friday- Monday. My husband is in season for HS soccer and usually has practice twice a week and games twice a week- he gets home during dinner on practice nights, during bedtime routine on game nights. He has an away game today 40 min from home so I feel like he will be late. My 7 yo wanted to try out for Community theater play but I told him I don’t see how we could do that too and their performances are mostly when I’m going on my 10 year anniversary trip.
I’m currently counting down to the election and my trip which are a couple days apart, I am hoping to feel more settled by November! This shooting devastated me maybe because I had started to feel optimistic about settling into our new school year and the reenergized campaign to elect Harris/Walz and then felt blindsided yesterday afternoon. I couldn’t focus on work all day today and it’s already time for our major PTA fundraiser Fun Run tomorrow so I had already planned to be at school majority of the day.
Soccer only lasts through October but boys will have 2 games on Saturday as well. This is our first year with both kids playing. And this is Y rec league!
I’m not quite there yet (toddler) but this is eye opening to me. Clearly I’m going to need to get a certification in project management to balance everyone’s schedule and calendar 😬
Last year my 2nd grader wanted to try *all the things*, and then told us that she was too busy. This year she's in 3rd and our son started kindergarten and we have scaled way back. We said we would limit to 2 activities per week. I have yet to see whether we will stick to that!
One thing that frustrates me about this combination of ages is that we find it basically impossible to carpool. We've got one high-back booster and one regular booster, so no one can fit in the middle! Friends who would be the most obvious carpool partners (same dance class) have a littler kid so they still have a big infant seat...it's just logistically impossible. I am looking forward to more carpool options as the kids get bigger.
The car seat/booster problem is one that seems invisible to people who talk about transportation and carpooling. "People used to get by with a sedan for their family--not a minivan or an suv." Yeah, my mom only drove a sedan, too, because car seats and seatbelts weren't required! It's a lot easier to add kids/do favors when your car has no legal carrying capacity.
Oh my. I spent the week BEFORE school started with my sister in Maryland (kids 16, 14) and it was already ridiculous with sport practices (track and field hockey) that a) did not align with each other and b) were at different times every day. Also: the driving.
At least in Switzerland (where I live) kids can get everywhere on their own, walking/biking or public transport. However, the schools are awful. My 17-year-old is miles behind his cousins in every subject from literature to biology (and he attends the competitive “academic” track). And of course we never have to worry about school shootings. Very Big Plus, that.
I mean. September is always insane for my budget and for my brain. Where we live (Dubai, UAE) you can get significant discounts for paying for a year of after school activities ahead of time but it’s a massive budget drain every September. Plus sometimes I have to guesstimate my kids’ interest. Cue the temper tantrum over school choir. Apparently not the “it” after school activity for 5th grade like it was in 4th grade…plus add in work trips for me and my husband three weeks back to back to back so each of us is solo parenting for long stretches, it’s nuts. At least our meal schedule (world’s most boring): pasta bar, leftovers, hot food of some type, taco night, pizza night, is set and still enjoyed by the children.
I find it so hard to predict/gauge what the kids will be able to handle and want to do when signing up for things in advance! My 10yo wanted to sign up for so many fall activities and I reminded her that last fall she got overwhelmed and she was like "Oh that won't happen this year!" Ohhhhkay.....
Ha! The children are always so optimistic about how much they can handle.
Honestly this fall doesn't feel super different than the summer for us since my 5yo daughter was in camps most of the time. The main difference right now is that I don't have to drive her anymore since we walk to our neighborhood school. The biggest change in our overall routine is that we can't go to the pool in the evenings anymore, so we'll be getting back into other activities like more biking, playing more games together, etc.
So devastating to hear about the school shooting in GA. We haven't really talked with my daughter about this type of situation yet, but should probably do that. Thank you for sharing the resources!
Oh, it's bad. My kids are 7th and 4th grade. Activities keep getting scheduled on different days than they were last year (or in one instance, a new activity emerged that my 4th grader REALLY wants to do and it's on the same day and time as an existing activity that he has committed to). Let's see. We've got climbing team 5:30-7:30, across town on Monday for kid 1. We've got robotics 4-5:30 (instead of existing swim team from 4:45-6) for kid 2 on Tuesday and horn lessons for kid 1 from 5:45-6:30, same day different locations that are almost exactly 15 minutes apart. Wednesday is the real kicker, as we have to pick kid 1 from climbing (starts at 6:30) at 6:50 to take her to scouts at 7, that goes until 8:30. Thursday is swim team for kid 2, from 4:45-6, same on Friday. Both kids also have competitions (kid 2 for both robotics and swim, kid 1 for climbing). We live in a big, low population state so competitions are several hours away and usually require overnight stays. Plus I'm a PhD student and teach a college level class, and I'm a part-time healthcare provider who cares for her mom with dementia. Anyway, obviously thriving over here.
I got tired just reading that. Whew, mama, that's a lot!
Yes, wow, omg!!!! Do you have any help with the driving? Carpools, etc? I am starting to lean on other parents more for help and it's been SO helpful. But hard in rural areas, I know, because friends could live pretty far away!
Melinda, that is a lot of driving! At least you got to eat some pasta at some point.
Also, Winder is about 30 miles from where I grew up. I'm from Conyers. What about you? I had no idea you were from GA. I am originally from NY, so we've got two of the same states in common. I don't suggest moving to TN for a tic-tac-toe. It's beautiful here, but the politics are infuriating.
Wow, small world!! I grew up in Atlanta. I definitely don't identify as (or probably present as) a Southerner, so that's probably why you had no idea, lol. I only lived there until I was about 13.
School started two weeks ago for us, and right on time, now my kindergartner has a cold and I feel like I'm coming down with it, too. Sigh.
We're also struggling with developing a morning routine that (A) gets us out of the house on time, (B) doesn't involve me yelling PUT YOUR SHOES ON NOW after gently asking and then reminding five thousand times, (C) doesn't require me to wake up more than 2.5 hours before we need to leave the house.
I feel all these comments. Fall started like a fire hose with half day orientations for both kids and an afterschool chess club that just got canceled. And so. Many. Forms.
Absolutely bonkers. Soccer two nights a week, plus a game Saturday. Swimming 1-2 nights, plus meets on some Saturdays. Gymnastics on Tuesday. I am buying a slow cooker.
My son started 3k and was supposed to go to extended care at the parochial school we enrolled him at... but the director was difficult to work with when it came to him having some accidents, so now he's back at his daycare for this month, and I am driving him to and from pre-k MWF in the middle of the day. Yesterday was our first day of this new schedule and I am hoping it was the worst. He's an observant and sensitive kid who is having a reasonably hard time with the change. I'm glad we can give him this flexibility but it's really hard on my husband and I to be doing all this running around in the middle of the work day.
My almost 1 year old has a cold and has not been sleeping well. We're barely surviving this week and I'm hoping our weekend camping trip will help to reset things.
Our school starts 10 minutes earlier this year, so adjusting all of our mental schedule in the morning for the exact minute he needs to start getting dressed and heading to brush his teeth has been a chore this week.
Then afterschool didn't start until the second day of school, and he doesn't have afterschool on Thursdays -- usually his grandmother will take him Thursdays (he'll have a swim class so they'll hang out for 45 minutes or so and then head there) but not today, so I have to pick him up at 2:45, which means really right this minute I should be transcribing an interview for a piece I'm working on because I only have like 2.5 hours of functional time left.
He'll have afterschool every day but Thursday. In general the theory is on Wednesdays his grandmother will pick him up a little early from afterschool and drop him at a parkour class and then we'll pick him up. It's actually not clear if the parkour class will keep going all fall -- it's not a thing where you sign up for a six-week session, it's a place where you get a monthly package and find classes that fit your schedule. Then Thursdays swimming. Hopefully he'll get a piano lesson through afterschool again -- it's such a blessing to have something that is integrated into what he's already doing so we don't have to take him an extra place. And on Saturday afternoons he is signed up for a math/logic/puzzles kind of thing that we still have to get buy-in for, but we're going to make him do it one way or another. That will be maybe a 30-minute walk from home.
I'm trying to get back to focusing on professional stuff now that the final two weeks of summer when he wasn't in camp are over. Hence the transcription I should be doing and the texts I should be sending about setting up interviews.
Our school gates open 10 minutes later this year, with the same start time, and it seems to be just as difficult an adjustment as the year the start time moved up by 10 minutes. That 10 minutes can be make or break!
Oh, I hope the school bus gets its business sorted out for you quickly! The bus route changed this year for my kid who can ride the bus--it picks them up 20 minutes earlier!--and when we came back from walking our younger kid to school on the first day, there were a handful of kids waiting for the bus at the wrong time. The good news is that riding the bus is fun this year for my kiddo, unlike last year, and both kids are out the door for the day by 7:15! It's such a game-changer not to have a long, drawn out drop-off/pickup to do twice a day at two schools.
Even though we have been in school over a month now, after school and other extracurricular activities have just started. So we will be learning new schedules for a little while longer still and juggling medical appointments for one child as we try to make sure he has all the support he needs as we prep for middle school. Both of my kids need a lot of free time to recover from being at school all day in order to feel their best, so we have a couple of days with no after school commitments for each of them and nothing other than semi-regular church on the weekends. As long as they do one thing, that's good enough. My oldest kid has a requirement of socializing with friends outside of school *in-person* every week, but it can be meeting at the park by his friend's house, going along to a playgroup event, or participating in the youth group at church.
I had a long talk with my oldest about the most recent shooting. My husband and I both grew up in Georgia, and it's somehow even more heartbreaking to know the place that's in the news.
Oh boy! The re-entry at the start of the school year is always really rocky for me. On the one hand, it is a relief to emerge from the summer childcare circus and get back to a bit more of a consistent schedule. But on the other hand, all the school events and extracurriculars coming back into play is really overwhelming. This month there is a school concert, back to school night, and a PTA meeting all on weeknight evenings that conflict with various kid extracurriculars. Right now my 5th grader is doing soccer (2 weeknight practices and a Saturday game) and my wife is coaching the team. My 2nd grader does taekwondo and has 2 classes/week. Next week the 5th grader starts back up with dance and after lots of begging and discussion she will be doing 2 classes this year (ballet and contemporary) vs. last year's one class. Past me thought I was doing scheduling magic by selecting dance classes that are back to back and then shifting the taekwondo schedule to overlap (the studios are a few blocks from each other), but as I look at my schedule next week when this all starts it looks like a LOT to coordinate in terms of getting everyone out the door in their correct outfits on the right timeline.
A couple things about the fall schedule that are extra sticky include "how does one manage dinner when activities are happening in the 6-8pm-ish window???" Also, I find that I often feel sort of squeezed and resentful of all the time spent milling around with other parents of kids in the same extracurriculars vs my own friends/doing my leisure time activities.
We have been back to school for a month at our extended year magnet so I am thankful our routine is starting to gel a bit. That said it is still hard and I feel like I’m running around a lot. I drop both my kids off at 7:30-7:40 and usually go to the gym before going back home to work for about 5 hours. They ride the bus home, the first few weeks they were the only school in session so they got home 40 min earlier. Monday/Tuesday nights are soccer practice (each kid has 1 day), Wednesday- piano but she comes to our house, Thursday little gym, Friday has no after school activity but that’s usually when my in-laws host family dinners. Last weekend we were at the beach Friday- Monday. My husband is in season for HS soccer and usually has practice twice a week and games twice a week- he gets home during dinner on practice nights, during bedtime routine on game nights. He has an away game today 40 min from home so I feel like he will be late. My 7 yo wanted to try out for Community theater play but I told him I don’t see how we could do that too and their performances are mostly when I’m going on my 10 year anniversary trip.
I’m currently counting down to the election and my trip which are a couple days apart, I am hoping to feel more settled by November! This shooting devastated me maybe because I had started to feel optimistic about settling into our new school year and the reenergized campaign to elect Harris/Walz and then felt blindsided yesterday afternoon. I couldn’t focus on work all day today and it’s already time for our major PTA fundraiser Fun Run tomorrow so I had already planned to be at school majority of the day.
Soccer only lasts through October but boys will have 2 games on Saturday as well. This is our first year with both kids playing. And this is Y rec league!
I’m not quite there yet (toddler) but this is eye opening to me. Clearly I’m going to need to get a certification in project management to balance everyone’s schedule and calendar 😬
Last year my 2nd grader wanted to try *all the things*, and then told us that she was too busy. This year she's in 3rd and our son started kindergarten and we have scaled way back. We said we would limit to 2 activities per week. I have yet to see whether we will stick to that!
One thing that frustrates me about this combination of ages is that we find it basically impossible to carpool. We've got one high-back booster and one regular booster, so no one can fit in the middle! Friends who would be the most obvious carpool partners (same dance class) have a littler kid so they still have a big infant seat...it's just logistically impossible. I am looking forward to more carpool options as the kids get bigger.
Oh and thank you for the links about talking to kids about school shootings. I was actually about to search your previous issues for that topic.
The car seat/booster problem is one that seems invisible to people who talk about transportation and carpooling. "People used to get by with a sedan for their family--not a minivan or an suv." Yeah, my mom only drove a sedan, too, because car seats and seatbelts weren't required! It's a lot easier to add kids/do favors when your car has no legal carrying capacity.
Oh my. I spent the week BEFORE school started with my sister in Maryland (kids 16, 14) and it was already ridiculous with sport practices (track and field hockey) that a) did not align with each other and b) were at different times every day. Also: the driving.
At least in Switzerland (where I live) kids can get everywhere on their own, walking/biking or public transport. However, the schools are awful. My 17-year-old is miles behind his cousins in every subject from literature to biology (and he attends the competitive “academic” track). And of course we never have to worry about school shootings. Very Big Plus, that.