how do you NOT morning people get your day/family started?

[Mom to 3+1]

i am not a morning person and 3 of my 4 are also not morning people. i find that everyday gets stared slow and late and then I get stressed trying to get everything to fit it. How do you moms start your day? how you changed your natural tendency or have you just adjusted your day? of course my dh is a total morning person and is gone before we even get up! so he is no help at all :) Laura

[Whisperlily]

I have to have a hard and fast reason to get up and get going in a timely manner. Recently, this TOTALLY NON-Morning BEAR, learned that early mornings can be beautiful. We're getting up at 5:30 each day to take DH to the Army Post since we only have one car. There's NO arguing when he has to be there at a certain time. After the hour it takes to drive him there, drop him off and return home, we're all awake. (Caffeine helps, and I love the "Morning Spark" packets to add to your water bottles that I mentioned here before. ;) ) Once I'm FULLY awake, I can enjoy the day.

 

I still don't know how to get out of bed (easily)and wake up without outside encouragement. Now that I've gotten in the habit of getting up earlier, it's MUCH easier to get up on "regular days."

 

Unfortunately I don't know if this will help you much. Because without the absolute need, my best intentions of getting up early always seem to fail.

[Mekanamom]

For me, it works best if morning person DH wakes me up. The plan is to work out together on the home gym equipment before he goes to work. We forgot to factor in age related issues! We jumped right back into our old routine and I injured my shoulder. :glare: Never had that happen before.

 

So... we're starting over tomorrow.

 

If DH can wake me up, and I get a good workout, the extra boost of energy makes the whole day a lot easier! Thank heavens DH is a morning person, because I could not drag myself out of bed to work out on my own. LOL.

 

Once I get going, I can wake the kids up. Time limits seem to work the best with them. "We are starting school at exactly XX:XX o'clock. That gives you exactly 45 minutes to get up, make your bed, eat breakfast, get dressed, brush your hair and teeth, and be ready for school. I suggest you get going right now if you want to eat." So far none of them have missed breakfast.

 

Disclaimer: I think at least one of the children might actually be a closet morning person. She has been spotted skipping and dancing and even singing about doing math in the morning. This does not strike me as non-morning person behavior. I am a wee bit suspicious about that one.

[Nestof3]

I am the same way. I have NEVER been a morning person. My husband is out the door at 7:30 am every day. I practically NEVER see him in the morning. I use the late hours to get things done that I prefer to do when it's quiet, or to get some "me" time.

 

For the most part, we manage fine. My young ones go to bed at 9:00 or 9:30, and they are pretty much my alarm clock in that when I hear them, I get up. They aren't early risers either.

 

I have been trying to get an earlier start so that I can exercise each morning before breakfast and my shower. As long as I am still getting everything done in a day that needs to get done, I don't see that it matters much what time we get up. With the added exercise, though, I am finding I have to restructure things a bit.

 

I also have to watch it, because if I stay up too, too late, I just have no energy the next day. So, I am in the same boat -- trying to figure out how to get this night owl self to get it all done.

[Ellie]

We mosied out of bed around 8 or 8:30, mosied through breakfast, and still managed to be ready to gently move into Official School Stuff by around 9 or 9:30. On days when we had to be out the house early, though, I got up and got them going. This would include hugging them out of bed :-) Once they were up they were pretty much able to get themselves together. Of course, I did not tell them to get ready and walk away; there was lots of mom interaction going on.

 

I take my shower at night so I can get dressed right away in the morning, as soon as I get out of bed, and I wash my hair in the kitchen as soon as I eat breakfast. I don't think I'm a morning person, but I am task oriented, so maybe that makes up for not wanting to get up at the crack of dawn, lol.

[cin]

We mosied out of bed around 8 or 8:30, mosied through breakfast, and still managed to be ready to gently move into Official School Stuff by around 9 or 9:30. On days when we had to be out the house early, though, I got up and got them going. This would include hugging them out of bed :-) Once they were up they were pretty much able to get themselves together. Of course, I did not tell them to get ready and walk away; there was lots of mom interaction going on.

 

I take my shower at night so I can get dressed right away in the morning, as soon as I get out of bed, and I wash my hair in the kitchen as soon as I eat breakfast. I don't think I'm a morning person, but I am task oriented, so maybe that makes up for not wanting to get up at the crack of dawn, lol.

 

This is so like us! DH brings me a cup of tea up when he kisses me goodbye in the mornings, and I slowly wake up from there. Usually fully conscious around 8:30, and then get the kids up. I also wash my hair in the kitchen sink, while the littles eat breakfast. We hit the classroom around 9:30. I have to figure out what I'm going to do next year though, as dd's school days are getting longer, and more crowded.

[Closeacademy]

We take our time.

 

I let everyone wake up and once they start asking for breakfast we go through the morning checklist.

 

Before school, we try to have a good breakfast (protein for my oldest), get dressed, brush hair and teeth and do a few other chores.

 

Once we are done with the list we start schoolwork. We do short intense lessons and I don't schedule outside activities until after 1:00 on a school day so that I know we will be done with everything, have it all cleaned up and have eaten lunch.

 

Right now it is not so bad because we have a short school day.:)

[Karen in CO]

Here is my day -

My youngest climbs in bed with me around 7:30 or 8. I turn on the tv and let her watch a show (or two). When she finally convinces me to get out of bed, dh is at the office or in his home office and coffee is made. I pour myself a cup of coffee and and read a story to the youngest. Then after the first cup, I start oatmeal for breakfast and wake up the middle child. I read to both while we eat and I drink more coffee.

 

If the oldest isn't up yet, I wake him up and send the girls to get dressed while I pull out school stuff. We do math and copywork while oldest eats breakfast then we practice our poetry. Next, I work with oldest while the girls play. If we are watching the IEW dvd that day, I make the girls come sit in the room while we watch - it is amazing what they can absorb.

 

We make lunch and do a quick clean up then oldest usually leaves for his classes at the cc. Middle reads to me or to her sister while I do laundry then we do a "content" subject like science, history or geography. It works out well for us right now. We have co-op on Tuesday and have to be out of the house by 9 - it is hard on those days.

 

 

I have never been a morning person, and I have long ago given up the guilt. I am also an insomniac, and I work 3 days a week until midnight or later. I just relax and slowing get things accomplished in the morning. I refuse to stress about it. If it bothered me, I would change it.

[Alyce]

I'm perfectly comfortable with my life now. When I was younger I worked on day shift which meant being at work by 7:30. I can do it if I have to but I don't. Thankfully both my kids are night people too. We get up around 9:00. We have breakfast and get dressed. I start school with bible to give the kids a chance to wake up since we do it family style. Once they're awake I make them do Math and Science first. Those are their hardest subjects and I found that doing them first works better for them. We have a leisurely morning and break for lunch at 12:00. We take a long lunch (partly at their own request) and we start back at 2:00. When they were younger we were done with school by 3:00. Now that they are in high school they don't get done till 5:00 or 5:30. We have dinner at 6:00 and their bedtime is 11:00. By taking a leisurely approach they don't get tired as easily. It can be hard sometimes because my husband is such a day person. He's up around 6:00 and goes to bed around 10:30. We do manage to get some time together but it's mostly on the weekends but it's always been that way in our marriage. We both know how we are and we work around it. It took me a little while to find the right schedule for my kids but we've been doing it this way for about 6 years now and it works out great.

[Danestress]

i am not a morning person and 3 of my 4 are also not morning people. i find that everyday gets stared slow and late and then I get stressed trying to get everything to fit it. How do you moms start your day? how you changed your natural tendency or have you just adjusted your day? of course my dh is a total morning person and is gone before we even get up! so he is no help at all :) Laura

 

I'm just like you - not a morning person married to a morning person and I consider it a great blessing. He's gone before I get up most days, and that's exactly the help I need. Don't talk to me:)

 

I usually start my day with a cup of tea and or coffee and I always know what the first obligation of the day will be - for my boys and for me. So what we do that first hour is sort of rote. Get your beds made, get dressed, teeth brushed. Do daily grams. Nothing I have to really think about.

[momo4]

this is what has worked for us. I like to stay up late and sleep in, but it is too stressful to do homeschool like that so I save it for the weekend if I am not too tired.:)

 

You have to have a few miserable days of forcing yourself to get up early, then your body naturally adjusts. It helps to have something to get up to. I wake myself up by walking to the computer like a zombie and going through my email. After that I am a wake. It feels so good to be done with school at an early hour, besides we get lots more done this way and we are encouraged by our progress.

[LizzyBee]

You have to have a few miserable days of forcing yourself to get up early, then your body naturally adjusts.

 

Not me. I've tried, I can't adjust. I get constant, severe headaches when I have to get up early for an extended period of time. Well, I get them on day 2, but they don't go away with time.