Help! My calendar's grown wings!

Is this happening to anyone else?  The time's moving so quickly that it is as though we're speeding away through the year.

See, I thought that if we homeschooled our children, I'd be able to enjoy a slower pace.  I thought we'd have numerous days where we'd be up early and outside to work in the garden for a bit.  Later, we'd come in and do some book learning together, stopping for lunch with some conversation about what we've just done.  Then we'd move into the afternoon with a read-aloud, and some activity learning with science experiments, art or music.

I envisioned a gentle flow through the day, with few interruptions, and certainly no rushing about to all sorts of outings several times a week.  Truthfully, we did have many days like this in years past.

Well ... it's certain that I've got it all wrong this year.  True, last year was building up to this, but this year is taking the cake!  Please don't get me all wrong, though.  I'm glad that each child has found activities they are enjoying, and they are learning an awful lot.  It just seems that some days are so FULL now, and there's hardly a week that hasn't got something happening.

To top it all off, the parents of the competition dance students (ie: that involves Maestro) were called in for a meeting tonight.  We were given some definite dates for the dance competitions coming up as of June ... AND through to January 2013!   I'm not ready to look at 2013 yet!  We're only 1/4 of the way through 2012.

Is this what it's really like with teens?  We're trying to open doors for learning opportunities, helping them develop their talents, and it's just non-stop activity?  Do I need to be ruthless and block out a few weeks at a time where we deliberately don't go out anywhere during the day, which means the only focus is on the dance lessons in the evenings? ( .. Actually, I really wonder how those teens who are at school cope with all these extra activities, so maybe I shouldn't be complaining!)

So, now that I've shared those frustrations with you, I think I'll again sit down with my diary and look at this scheduling that's supposed to be working so well.  I don't have a calendar for 2013 yet, but I'm going to have to at least figure out the month of January and block in intensive dance practice leading up to national competitions.  Then ... when I'm calm and amiable again ... I'll be asking my children if this is really what they want to do and can they please, again, share their goals so I know there's a bigger picture to all this frantic activity.

If you've read this far, thank you for sharing in my thoughts tonight.