Actually, it’s my crazy schedule by default of my daughter’s crazy schedule. This year Kellie’s a senior in high school, and she’s switching things up on me in a way that has me seemingly constantly on the go as her chauffer. I know, I know, she should have her driver’s license by now, but up until this point, her school schedule has been pretty straight forward and it’s been no big deal for me to drive her to and from school. This year, she had a gap in her school schedule, and her counselor told her she could either fill it with an elective type class, or she could take a class at the community college and start earning college credits, while also fulfilling her high school credits. After thinking things over, Kellie decided that taking the next course up in math at the college would be a great way to start filling general ed requirements. Honestly, I thought this was a great idea, especially since it will put her ahead of the game next year in as that she’ll have a few of her core classes completed before she starts college next fall.
However, this decision has led to a shifting schedule that had me immediately enrolling Kellie into driver’s ed, as well, to start the process of her getting her driver’s license. Since she currently doesn’t have a driver’s license, I’m responsible for getting her every where she needs to go, and on time. This is Kellie’s crazy schedule:
Monday: 8:30 am to 2:30 am High School
Tuesday: 8:30 am to 11:40 am High School
12:00 pm to 2:20 pm College Class
Wednesday: 10 am to 1:20 pm High School
Thursday: 8:30 am to 11:40 am High School
12:00 pm to 2:20 pm College Class
Friday: 10 am to 1:20 pm High School
Overall, it’s not a horrible schedule — it just breaks up MY day and MY schedule. For the first time ever, I had to make myself a daily schedule around Kellie’s schedule to make sure I slotted in time for my writing, errands, appointments, and when I have to drop her off and pick her up. It’s just not something I’m used to! Luckily, she’s not into sports or any extra activities, or I’d never get anything done!
How about you? If you have kids, do you feel like you’re constantly driving them around and your day is shot as a result?
Janelle Denison finds it hard to believe that it’s been nearly 25 years since she first started writing romance novels. At first, it was a way to pass idle time while her husband worked swing shift, but before long it became an obsession to get published. Luckily, she kept at it (it took her over 5 years to get that first book published!) and is now a Waldenbooks, Barnes & Noble, and USA Today Bestselling author! Now, after selling over 45 plus novels, she finds that her Plotmonkey pals help to keep her stories fresh and unique, and she can’t imagine writing a story without their input. Janelle lives in Oregon with her husband, Don, along with two teenage daughters that keep life interesting.
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My kids are 9 and 4 my husband’s job requires him to travel a lot. This school year my son started Pre K which starts at 8:30 my daughter ‘s bus comes at 8:22 which is fine if my husband is home otherwise I take Braxton to school and then have to take and drop Makailey off at school she needs to be there by 8:45. I pick Braxton up at 11:30. Then Mon,Tue,Wed,and Fri I pick Makailey at the bus 4:12 bring her home to start homework,eat and is usually headed to softball Practice or game for one of the two teams she is on, be at the fields at 5:30 Thursdays Makailey has Science Club till 5:30 (she wanted to join that because she wants to be a scientist) we head straight to the fields after that. Saturdays Makailey has Softball and Braxton T ball at diffrent fields of course. This past Saturday Makailey had a Travel ball tournament so we got up went to Tampa watched her first game left came back home to go to Braxton’s T ball game headed back to Tampa for softball then headed back on Sunday for more softball.
I can’t wait to see what the future holds lol
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I have a senior and a sophomore in high school. My senior has his drivers license and it makes life so much easier for me. Especially since he’s more than willing to drive his younger brother everywhere he needs to be, to and from guitar lesson, to and from soccer practice. Here in Maine we have a graduated license, and he’s still in the restricted phase so is not able to ferry friends around, only family. That will change in Nov., and he’ll be able to drive with his girlfriend. Just shoot me now! LOL Oh well, hopefully we raised him right.
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Oh, I’ve got this marked on my calendar. November is going to be fun for us!!!
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No kids for me yet, so I haven’t had to chauffer anyone around since I was in high school.
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Boy do I ever feel your pain. For medical reasons, hubby couldn’t drive for 16 months. Between driving him back and forth to work (lunch, home for dinner, back to work in the evenings) and driving our teenager around (especially when he had baseball practice and his practice ended at the same time I had to pick hubby up from work) there were days I wanted to pull my hair out.
It wasn’t unusual for me to spend as much as 3 hours a day driving. Hubby kept commenting on the fact that I was driving faster and faster all the time. Well, yeah! If I didn’t I wouldn’t get any of my stuff done.
I started carrying a tape recorder and note pad with me at all times. That way, as I was driving or sitting and waiting for someone I could make notes and try to keep up with my writing. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that hubby is driving again and that I can actually be at home for more than 2 hours at a stretch.
Good luck to her with her classes and getting her license. And hugs to the chauffer!!
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Now that’s a crazy schedule!!!
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We have a pretty mellow schedule. Things are just busy in the morning (getting kids on the buses and taking youngest to preschool), then I have a little break.
Wednesdays are the worst, though. The two oldest always have early release and in the afternoons, oldest has his swim lesson and then typically he has cub scouts. Middle boy just has cub scouts (they haven’t decided on a day, yet).
It’s just hard working in playdates. They sort of fall by the wayside (the boys don’t get done with homework until 5ish and then it’s about time to start our nighttime routine…). Now, that’s a little frustrating.
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my poor 6 year old has to get up at 6:30 to catch a bus for school, which starts at 8:15
did I mention I’m not a morning person ? yeah, I’d sleep in ’till noon if I could. good thing is, I can crawl back into bed. if the 2 year old loves me, she sleeps in ’till 8, so I can get another hour of sleep.
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Lilly leaves at 7:00 for high school and gets home around 3:15. So I have most of the day to get done what I need to. Two days a week she has skating lessons. This week it’s Monday and Wednesday at 4:15. The only bad thing is that we have to drive there and back during rush hour. Rush hour in Denver starts at 3:30 to 4:00. But usually while she is skating I’m doing some extra work. After I get home the next rush hour starts with getting dinner on the table.
Cher
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The moment The Only was eligible for Drivers Ed, we signed her up. The moment she turned 16, she was at the examination office taking her test. We made a car available for her and I was THRILLED! That didn’t mean that I didn’t head to ball games and every other extracurricular activity she had.
I have to relate a funny about her driver’s test. We were waiting in the parking lot and a car pulled up. The teen driver was in tears and the examiner was red-faced and yelling for her parents. He proceeded to ream the girl’s parents a new one. He sent them on their way with a snarled admonition about actually teaching their child to drive and then walked up to us. The Only was shaking in her boots. We went inside to await the verdict. FOUR minutes later, they returned. We just knew she’d failed. She hadn’t. She’d passed with a score of 95. (She forgot to set the parking brake at the end of the test and turn off the car.)
Good luck, Janelle!
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Good for your daughter, LOL! With Kellie’s schedule this year, I’m wishing I started her on driving lessons LAST YEAR! (she’s 17) But I already have my other daughter on the road and really wasn’t in any rush to have Kellie drive. Until now, LOL!
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Wow, sometimes, like right this blessed minute, I am thankful I homeschool! If my kids went to school, their schedule would be, with my luck, football, soccor, ice skating, and cheerleading practice all at the same hour and on different sides of the town! :dogrun: I would be running like a dog trying to keep up.
But, I don’t so…….I am at hope with four kids ALL DAY and have two computers (each set shares – two girl, two boys) and two tv’s on all at the same time. They swear they can multi-task. And then I have my writing area set up in my room….quiet right? Wrong! I have my husband that constanly wants to know what I am doing, if he can help, and when do I think I’ll have a minute. You see, my husband works from home too.
And I swear, today I am making a ‘Disturb the Writer At Your Own Risk’ sign for my door today.
So which is harder: Homeschooling or public/private school? Or are they the same? My vote goes on the latter!
And in case you were wondering the ages go like this: diva princess-7, diva queen-9, quiet artist-10, stand-up comedian-11
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>> I have my husband that constanly wants to know what I am doing, if he can help, and when do I think I’ll have a minute. You see, my husband works from home too.>>
Yeah, that’s tough, too!!! It’s like having another kid at home, LOL!
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Ooh, boy, Janelle, do I feel for you! Child1 just took off for college, eliminating one set of car trips, but now Child2 is in HS, doing chamber orchestra at a different school 3 mornings per week (7:30 am). That works okay because I use the time to run in that neighborhood, but then she’s in Drama, taking ballroom dance, and generally active with friends. I do have blocks of time, but there’s still a lot of running around.
Have you considered writing in a study carrel at her community college while she’s in class? Or maybe a nearby coffee shop? I’ll be writing at the library later today while Child2 and a friend research monologues for Theater class.
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Yeah, I’ve definitely thought about doing that for the 2 1/2 hours she’s in her college class. It was save me driving back and forth!
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First off,
for taking the time out of your day to make sure your daughter can spend her school time wisely. It’s tough being busy, but I truly believe that kids will be better for it.
I feel your pain about driving all the time – my hubby gets paid on what he produces at work, so the chauffeur service is generally up to me. Both my kids are in high school now and I’m loving it because it means no more “rec” sports and the “travel” sports coaches all understand that high school (both academics and sports teams) comes first. But it can get crazy-busy during tryouts before school starts – practices 2X/day make it difficult to get anything done and when you’ve got 2 kids with 2 different 2X/day practice schedules it’s a mess!
7:30A-drop off son
8:30A-drop off daughter
1030A-pick up son
11:30A-pick up daughter
1:30P-drop off son
2:30P-drop off daughter
4P-pick up daughter
5P-pick up son
Hopefully once your daughter gets her license, everything will settle down again…fingers crossed!
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wow, and I thought my schedule was tough, LOL!
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My girls are grown & long gone. We lived out of town when they were in school, not far but to far to walk. They rode the bus to school & home but there was driving to other activities & events. I didn’t mind it much except for those days when nothing when smooth!
Janelle, is there no bus/public transportation that could take your daughter from high school to the college on the days she has class? Good luck with her driving lessons and classes.
Yea, a new cast & Dancing With The Stars tonight! I am so ready!!
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Wow do I remember those days. I am so glad that I gave up the title of “Car Pool Mommy.”
My husband and I made the decision not to let our youngest daughter have her license until she turned 17 instead of 16. So that year, I really racked up the mileage. Along with dropping and picking her up at school, we also also had evening theather productions. And the the Friday night football games were really tough after a long week at work.
Now that both of the girls are driving and doing their own thing(s), I can actually look back and smile.
Because I got to spend some quality time with my girls. Just the two of us. 
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Gosh I miss those days!
Janelle, enjoy them while you can. They disappear so fast. I raised 5 beautiful kids, four girls and one boy, who unfortunately got stuck right in the middle of all those female hormones. Poor guy, he did suffer! 
There were 8 years from my first daughter to my last two, twin girls. I was soccer coach, track mom, weightlifting cheerleader, swim fan, viewer of 15 years of dance classes plus recitals and so on and so on… Not to mention all the academic events they all were in. I went through 5 mini vans from all the milage I put on them. It seemed to me at one time I had them at four different schools. I cringed and worried each time every one of them obtained their drivers license. When the twins got theirs it hit me hardest of all. I wasn’t losing my driving responsibilities for one child but two.
Now, they are 28, 26, 22 and the twins ( they hate being called that) will be 20 next monday. The first two are married, they last two are juniors in college and the middle one, the boy, is trying to find himself; a stage I think we all can related to from one time to another. I was blessed with my first grandchild a month ago, a girl. They seem to rule our household and I don’t think I would want it any other way.
You’ll have to were shades !!
So as I said before, enjoy your days with Kellie, they fade so fast. Yet, the future only looks brighter!
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What an awesome family, Lisa! And congrats on the first grandchild!
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When Heather was still in HS, then college, I ran her around like crazy until we finally got her a car a couple of years ago. Trying to do that and work part-time then was really insane. Getting her a car was not a luxury. I was so tired all the time it was horrible. At least when I was home and had nothing to do, she could take the car herself.
Just becareful with the bad weather- here with the snow, my parents made us and then I made Heather drive in a winter with her permit before she was allowed to drive in the snow by herself. My grandson didn’t. His first snow, he had an accident. She hasn’t had one. And now she is in LA, CA driving like a pro. Of course it could be the NY plates on the car- they see them coming and move.
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After reading everyone’s comments today, the one thing I realized is just how lucky I am to be a mom who is able to stay home and do this for my kids myself. I can’t even imagine how difficult it would be if I wasn’t home and had to figure out how to get my daughter everywhere she needs to go, at all the different times. That would be much, much harder!
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First of all, I do not drive. That’s a whole other story!!
Secondly, my kids were all in band, when they needed to be somewhere
the school transported them. Any evening events, Honey drove all of us,
the kids to the school, and the rest of us to the event. We attended all of
their concerts and competitions as parents and band chaperones.
Thirdly, our oldest son, after he got his license was more than happy to
drive his sibs to wherever they needed to be!
Pat Cochran
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Hey Janelle, sorry I missed chatting with you today…I feel your pain though. I don’t have kids, but I know what it is like to have your life scheduled around theirs. I am living it right now…boarding parent…I just put my 16 boys to bed, so now I get a little time to me before I head off to bed…How long does it take to get a permit and or license? You probably answered this question already…I will check the other responses. I am just glad I got the chance today to drop in and say hello.
Peace and love,
Paula R.