katemary63 Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 (edited) We start at 8:00 am. My Dd9 must be up by 7:30 to get her own breakfast and get ready for school. She can get up earlier than that if she wishes and watch a little TV or play on the computer. She usually doesn't because her dad always lets her stay up later then her bed time. (He's such a softie!) I used to get up at 6:00 with my DH but I have had a long term injury and now don't get up till just before 8:00. I get up out of bed and move right to the computer to start school with DD9. When I used to get up earlier, (and if I were well, I still would be doing so) I would make my DH lunch and then get some house chores done. I AM NOT a naturally early riser. But I have decided that it is my JOB to school DD and I treat it just like I am going to work. It's not a choice. I know some people like to start later and I'm sure it works for them. But DD9 and I just can't seem to get a whole day's worth of school done if we don't start early. Maybe having a farm and lots of evening chores has something to do with it! :D (she's the one with the chores, I am injured and have been off duty for months now.) Edited February 1, 2011 by katemary63 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sun Posted February 1, 2011 Author Share Posted February 1, 2011 So many great responses! Thank you! We start at 8am. We used to be on the 10am track, until I got sick of it - we would barely get started before people wanted lunch, and barely get back to work before it was time for afterschool acitvities! ... This is exactly what's bothering me about 10. In a lot of ways I like 10, but it just doesn't work well with other schedules--activities, demands for lunch, and so on. My ideas: Go to bed earlier. I have to set my alarm for 7:40 or I WILL sleep til 8:30. Also, train your oldest to make coffee for you in the morning -- it's a great encouragement to get out of bed when the coffee is waiting :D make sure the house, particularly the kitchen, is shipshape before bed so you don't feel the need to clean it in the morning (I'm working on this one!) Put out your first subject the night before and put it on the kitchen table, or wherever it is you work. That way, it's easier to get started-oh, and don't forget paper, erasers and many sharpened pencils! Get up at least 1.5 hours before you intend to start school. I get up at 7:40 and we don't start school til 9:00 am. I would like to start earlier, but I love reading my morning paper and I'm not giving that up. okay, I did give it up as I now read my morning kindle LOL, but you get my drift. have kids clothes laid out the night before, assuming you don't do PJ school (we do PJ school here, so it's not an issue!) Halcyon, I'm putting all this to use tomorrow morning (and setting up tonight. Our kitchen and house in general are pretty shipshape at night, but I get off track when the dishwasher runs at night, leaving me with a washer full of clean dishes and nowhere to easily stick the breakfast dishes. I've decided I need to run it earlier in the evening or else after breakfast! DS used to make coffee for me; I think I'll reinstitute this! I would say you need to be waking up earlier if you want to start school earlier. It takes time to wake up, eat, get ready and all the rest, so you need to start the process early. If you're having trouble waking up, try putting your clock across the room. Then, once you're up, get your coffee and head outside for 5 min. Being outside in the cool air and natural light wakes up your body very effectively (go figure). A quick morning workout (even 10 or 15 min) might help you get going too. As for school, have some "starting" activities to fall back on if you not quite ready. Some ideas: Journal time Memory CD's and coloring time Personal devotion time-for the kid(s) 2 -5 worksheets to finish before regular lessons start Any of these things will buy you a little time to finish up any morning stuff and still get school started on time. Good luck! You're definitely right. Tomorrow I'm determined to be up by 7, so we can start by 8:30. Insomnia is a perennial problem, but I feel more productive when I get up anyway. I'm definitely going to set out some independent work. I think the fact that we've always started with mom-dependent work has made it harder for me to start earlier. If I can sip coffee and read a minute of the paper while DS starts, I'll be happier! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sun Posted February 1, 2011 Author Share Posted February 1, 2011 What exactly do you NOT like about starting at the crack of 10:00? Just wondering. (We love it :hurray: and it means I can pretty much stay up as late as I want to, cleaning for a little, planning for a little, then WHATEVER I WANT!!). :) I love 10, but too many other things happen to interrupt our day if we don't get started earlier. For a while at least I need to start earlier to get stuff done. Plus the lunch requests 45 minutes after we start drive me nuts! ... If I work on household tasks, they lose some focus and go off to do their own things. Sometimes I have some time after I finish eating and reading until they're done, so I can at least load the dishwasher and then do a quick wipe of the table while they do their teeth. Your schedule was VERY helpful for me. Thank you! The above part is a big issue for us, I think, and it's one thing that I'm hoping an earlier start will help us with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sun Posted February 1, 2011 Author Share Posted February 1, 2011 Here's my plan for tomorrow: 7:00 - get up (me -- DS is a natural earlybird) 7:05 - shower 7:30 - give DS breakfast and walk around the block while he eats- Thank you for this idea, Akquickgirl. I think it will help! 7:45 - make coffee, read paper, send DS to bathroom (this takes a while) 8:15 - make beds, brush teeth, put away pjs, etc. 8:30 - Start school! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom in High Heels Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I was going to ask how old JB is, thinking you were talking about one of your kids. Then I saw in your siggy that it's your dh! My advice... when he gets out of bed to hit the snooze, sprawl yourself across the bed so there's no room for him to climb back in. :D LOL! We have a king size bed, so no matter how far I spread, I could never sprawl enough to cover the bed. Even if I could though, he'd just push me out of the way. Once the baby comes though, he will be in our room for a while, so I told JB that he CANNOT hit the snooze over and over. He has to get up when it goes off. Period. We'll see how that works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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