ORGANIZATION KEY FOR PARENTAL TAXI

The calendar's always full on Libby Roeger's refrigerator.

She and her family are constantly on the go.

An English teacher and debate coach at Shawnee Community College in Illinois, Roeger spends her free time chauffeuring her three sons -- Benjamin, 13, Edward, 11, and Tyler, 8 -- to everything from swimming to play practice.

Edward's in a bowling league. "So every Saturday we have to find a way to get him to the bowling alley," said Roeger.

Benjamin and Tyler are on the Cape Gators Swim Team.

"Edward and Benjamin will also play tennis this summer, and Benjamin and Tyler have drama going on as well through the city recreation department" said Roeger. "And then, when you throw in Bible school and church camp, then it gets a little bit complicated."

But Roeger still finds time to get her swimming in. She's a competitive swimmer with Cape Girardeau's Master Swim Team. "There's a whole group of adults that compete."

Her husband Bob finds time to coach youth soccer and baseball teams. "Bob runs Tyler's soccer team and Bob is also his baseball coach," Libby Roeger said.

Her husband's vice president of the Cape Area Youth Soccer Association. "We handle all the equipment. We're the ones with all the balls in our basement," she noted.

The Cape Girardeau mother and president of the local PTA Council said that with her busy schedule, she often relies on friends to pick up her children from school or transport them to various activities.

In turn, she chauffeurs friends' kids whenever possible. "What we really try to do is do as much as we can for other children when we have the time, so we can call in favors when our schedule gets really crowded."

Roeger said she had to depend on friends last fall to pick up her children from school -- Benjamin from L.J. Schultz, and Edward and Tyler from Alma Schrader.

The flood of '93 made for a longer drive, both to and from work.

"It took two hours to get to work and two hours to get back," she recalled. "I wasn't getting home until close to 6 p.m."

Said Roeger, "If we hadn't had good friends, we would really have been in trouble."

Roeger said the keys to dealing with a busy schedule are organization, flexibility and "a good support system" of friends.

Sunday nights are spent mapping out the schedule for the week, and marking everything down on the refrigerator calendar.

"We slot off everybody's name for each day and then I put down who has to be picked up from where," said Roeger.

Some changes, however, are made at the last minute. "Now that Benjamin is in seventh grade he is going through a forgetful stage," said Roeger.

"Usually, I try to plan dinner in the morning before I go to work, and my middle son is a very good cook, and he helps a lot."

Roeger said that with the family's busy schedule, she often has just one thing to say to her kids: "Come on, we're going to be late."