Heart of the Matter Meme: Extra Activities, Helping or Hindering?

The question asked this week at Heart of the Matter was if the extra activities our kids are involved in overload the family or not. What a great question since so many families are overloaded with multiple sports, lessons etc..that the car becomes their home. For us, we decided that just wasn't going to happen. Do we get busy? Yes! Are there times we feel like all we are doing is running? Yes! Especially right now when we are in a season of building a house. One thing I try to do is not let our girls feel overwhelmed or overloaded. They play one sport, soccer. Our oldest plays spring and fall soccer, our youngest only in the fall right now. And we coach or assistant coach both teams. So we are always at practices with them. And we coordinate their practice times so they are on the same days and overlap times. We would let them play one more sport if they wanted to, but they haven't had an interest and that is fine. They don't take extra lessons, though will start piano soon (with a friend from church). Other than soccer and church (which we are always at together) that is the extent of "extra" activities. I find that them being in soccer gives them an outlet to reach out to other kids since they are homeschooled. It's their ministry field and they love it. Our family activities usually consist of staying home and watching movies together or playing games. We do love to go on a bigger vacation once a year to our favorite resort community in Central Oregon where we just simply relax and do whatever we want. Bike riding has been something I've been doing with our youngest lately. With Joy UNquenchable,