5 Individuals, or a Team?

The other night Noah and I were discussing life, future plans and priorities.

He asked me if I ever thought that I would have 5 kids.  I laughed.  When I was in Jr. High I was convinced I would have 13 children.  When we got married we thought 4 would be a good number.  I certainly never thought we would have 5 because HE has been so adamantly opposed to an odd number of children.  But life (and children!) can change plans.

I certainly never thought that I would be putting in 20+ hours at a job outside the home, but that is our reality.  I also never took into account the long hours that Noah would be gone everyday.  I had a mom that didn't work outside the home and a dad that was home by 5:00 every day.

Our biggest question is this:  Do we raise our kids in the chaotic environment of a semi-big family while also providing for them as many individual opportunities as a child in a smaller family may have?  Or do we sacrifice some of their individual opportunities in order to maintain some sort of sanity in our busy situation?  I know big families that let their kids pursue their dreams regardless of the strain on the family schedule.  I also know big families that strictly limit their kids' activities.

Somehow, we must strike a balance.

I am with the kids all day long.  We spend a lot of time together, just me and the kids, due to homeschooling.  Because of that, letting them be in activities not only gives them an outlet, but in a sense, it gives me a break.  On the flip side it also gives me more running around to do, which is hard for the other kids (and me!)  And I feel like since Noah is home so little, the kids being gone in the evening really limits their time with him.

Maybe the baseball 4+ nights a week is just getting to me :)  But I know that this discussion will continue this summer as we start to look at our fall homeschooling/activities schedule!