What about schooling in the afternoon

[...................]

Where I live there is a rainy season. Usually it's sunny in the morning, extremely hot in the early afternoon, and raining by 3:00.

 

This goes away in October when we have 6 months of literally perfect weather.

 

However I do plan to school July-September which is mostly still the rainy season. If I school in the morning my poor kids won't get any outdoors time. Playing in the rain is absolutely out of the question as every rainy afternoon is actually a thunderstorm, and lightning has stricken people before.

 

So this month as I shore up my plans for our new school year, should I consider schooling in the afternoon in July-Sept and then switching over to mornings later??

 

I think it might work also since my ds is very high energy kid, maybe he'll even do better??

[dirty ethel rackham]

Go with what works. That's the beauty of homeschooling. If you think they will work better in the afternoons, then go for it. I know that my family needs to do school in the morning because, if we don't, we don't get to it at all ;). I would hate to waste good weather, though.

[Amie]

I think its a great idea. We too live in an area that often sees those summer afternoon storms. Here it gets so hot in the summer that there is very little you want to do outside by mid-day anyway--so its a great time for a little schoolwork (so you don't get bored)--especially if you're going to be indoors already. Then you can take more time off in the spring and fall if you like. Sometimes kids start to get a little tired and grumpy later in the day though (especially if they have had a busy morning), so you will just have to try it out and see what you think. It is starting to feel more like summer here and we try to go out as early as possible and then find more indoor things to do in the afternoon. Good luck!

[TracyR]

We go with what works . Weather here where we live is totally unpredicatable . Wait 5 minutes and the weather will change. So I get my girls out to play mostly during the day and do school in the afternoon/evening . That changes though if I know it will be an all rainy day :>) Summer is only 4 months here then its done . So I get my daughters outside as much as possible when I can :>)

Go with what works .

[elegantlion]

We don't even start school until 11:30am. Ds pinpointed afternoon as the time he is better able to focus. The only thing I would suggest is that you have some down time between morning play and school, it allows them to re-group and focus. It's not bad for mom to re-group and focus either ;).

[kimmyandgracie]

I think it's a great idea. I work night shift, so we almost always do afternoon or evening school.

[Kelli in TN]

:iagree:

 

I have done this in the past with great success.

[St. Theophan Academy]

I schooled my oldest in the afternoons all year for K and 1st grade, because the toddler was napping then! I would do it however it works, as long as it gets done :) Around here the afternoons are so hot, that the kids rarely want to be out in the afternoon/peak heat, so in the summer, we will probably do work in the afternoons (again, works well also b/c the newest toddler and baby are napping).

[Heather in OK]

Go with what works. That's the beauty of homeschooling.

ITA!!

 

We did afternoon school for a while. My girls did MUCH better if they had time to play and get their wiggles out before starting. And I liked it because I got stuff done around the house in the mornings. It also meant we did school while my little one napped.

 

We've recently switched since their friend across the street is out of school for the summer. Now we get done around lunchtime or a little after and they have the rest of the afternoon to play.

[Book Crazy]

We have started doing lessons in the afternoon and playing out in the morning.

 

Here in Florida, it's just hot to go out in the afternoon and the thunderstorms make it dangerous. Even though the storms only last 20 mins, it soon warms right back to to the mid 90s.

 

Nothing like sitting inside, nice and cool watching an afternoon thunderstorm, sorry doing lessons. ;)

[nukeswife]

We've been schooling in the afternoon for a year now. We love it. My ds is not a morning person and it really takes him until after lunch to be ready for schoolwork. So we run errands and have outdoor fun in the mornings. I've also found this makes appointments easier as well since it doesn't feel like a day of school lost when we have Dr. or Dentist appts in the mornings. We just school after them. We love this schedule so much better. We start at 1pm and are usually done by 4pm giving me plenty of time to get dinner ready. I also like that while the kids are playing in the morning I can work on cleaning and laundry.

 

This all started when we lived in FL and it was just so hot come afternoon. You couldn't be out on our swingset from noon until 5pm because it would get so hot it could have burned the kids. We are in VA now and although it's not quite as hot we just seem to learn better in the afternoon so we'll stick with it.

[...................]

being out in the heat. In addition to my desire to avoid the afternoon thunderstorms, there is the heat factor.

 

Two weeks ago I took dc and a friend to the beach. While there my dd 4, fell asleep in the sand. It was 90 degrees, but I figured she was just tired. I knew I had hydrated all the kids extremely well and I had applied plenty of sunblock so I figured she would be fine/

 

When she awoke, (thank GOD she did) she cried and cried and kept crying and falling back asleep. She ate a little food and drank some water and kept going back to sleep, even when I held her in the cool ocean water.

 

At this point I got up and left as quickly as I could and got her into air conditioning, gave her ibuprofen and cool sponge bath. I didn't realize even then that she had heat stroke (DUH) but it was sort of in my thoughts, like a maybe. She slept for a while and ran a low grade fever for 24 hours.

 

It was scary. I am so thankful to God for keeping my baby safe. I took her to the doctor, but it was hours after. Perhaps I should have taken her to the ER straight from the beach. But you know I would have sat there for an hour and not been able to cool her or give her any medicine...

 

So now that's it. I will not have my kids out in the hot summer weather without shade, between 11:00 and 3:00 period. So that gives us the morning. Today I stayed out till 11:30 because the kids were in the shade but even then I moved them indoors when my dd looked warm.

 

:o)

 

This thread is SO encouraging to me!! I was sure there was no one else who did school in the afternoons. Now I feel much more confident to try it out!

[Quiver0f10]

We go with what works .

 

:iagree: That's the best thing @ hoemschooling- Having the freedom to do what works for your family.

[NorCalMom]

:iagree: That's the best thing @ hoemschooling- Having the freedom to do what works for your family.

 

Yep...in agreement here also. We're planning on delaying school until 10:30-11:00 a.m. for the same reasons. The children can't be outside in the afternoon when it's 115 degrees or so.:tongue_smilie: We'll go to a morning routine around October also.

[mo2]

I would do that! Actually, I do do that. I work in the AM, so the kids play, then we eat lunch, THEN school. Then chores. Then dinner. It works for us.

[Melanie]

Our schedule depended on the weather last summer, and I imagine it will this year as well. On hot, sunny days the kids would go out to play first thing in the morning. They came inside around 11:00 to do some math and to eat lunch. After lunch they worked on grammar and reading, and we hit the pool at around 3:00. On rainy days we did school in the morning. It worked just fine. :)

[Malenki]

We're planning on it! Our best weather is also in the mornings and DS seems to do better after he's got some of his wiggles out.

 

If it works well, we'll just continue it through the winter. (Although we'll be snowed in then.)

[DB in NJ]

That's what we're doing this summer.

 

We were REALLY relaxed this year and didn't get finished with a number of subjects. We all like to stay up late in the summer and sleep in, so I'm enjoying getting up BEFORE my kids (instead of with them), having my own quiet time with my coffee, and having a nice, leisurely, slow morning. After we all are up and have something to eat, I usually make the bed, do some laundry, clean something, then have lunch and do school. The afternoons are either too hot or rainy, so it works for us! Even if we don't get started until 12 or 1, we're finished by 3 or 4.

 

So far, so good! I say do what works :-)

[CactusPair]

Sounds like a great idea! Do what works best for your particular fam. That's the beauty of home education.

 

I think outdoor play is really important. It's wonderful that you're making sure your dc get to enjoy it. Good for you!

 

We're after lunch schoolers. The kids play up a storm in the a.m., which is great with me since I'm sooo not-a-morning-kinda-gal. Ds especially needs to indulge in his fantasy/rambunctious play before settling down to work.

 

This has been our schedule since beginning and it fits us well. When I was little my mom put me in the afternoon kindy class, and here I am decades later, still there!

 

Happy summer

[brehon]

First, how is your baby girl? That is so scary!

 

Absolutely! I live in an area that gets very hot/humid after noon. I use the mornings to work in the garden, clean up the house, do some laundry, have one-on-one time with my younger kids, and let the kids have outdoor playtime. My older kids do their lessons in the afternoon when the babies are napping. My olders are 7 and 5; so, school doesn't last very long.

 

Have fun working the schedule to suit your needs! It's very freeing.

[Sandi_NC]

The kids play up a storm in the a.m., which is great with me since I'm sooo not-a-morning-kinda-gal. Ds especially needs to indulge in his fantasy/rambunctious play before settling down to work.

 

 

This is me too ~ I'm not a morning kinda gal ~ but the kids are up and ready to hit the floors running! I prefer to get school stuff done earlier, but for now we are enjoying play time in the mornings and school stuff in the early afternoons when it's really too hot to play outside comfortably.

 

That is one thing I love about homeschooling - we can do it whenever and wherever it works for us!

[SnowWhite]

I actually do a "split day". We school from 8-10 and then from 2-4. (Rigorously... there are other educational things done throughout the day of course.) I like to get our math and reading done while ds is "fresh" in the morning.

[rafiki]

,

[NewHomeSchoolMarm]

I would do what really works for you and your family--that's the beauty of homeschooling! Where do you live?

 

NHSM

[Melinda S in TX]

We live in Texas and have hot/super hot weather a lot. The temperature has been in the nineties for a month already. In the summer it gets so hot that noone wants to be out in the afternoons.

 

We have a hot routine and a cold routine. Right now, we are on our hot routine and will continue until October or so.

 

Hot routine we have outside time first thing in the morning. We get up early, eat breakfast, clean the kitchen, and head outside. We do animal chores, work in the garden, do nature study, our 30 minutes of vigerous physical activity, and then free time. At 11 I slip inside and bring out lunch. We eat at the picnic tables and then I send them in one at a time to get showers. After they get their shower, they go to quiet time. We are outside from 7am or so until 11:30am.

 

On our cold routine (December through end of March usually), we do school and inside work until lunch, eat, quiet time, and then we are outside until dinner time. Someone does go out in the morning and do the animal chores, but we save the gardening and our other outside things until the afternoon when it is warmer.

 

In between the hot and cold routines, we have a transitional time where we split up the inside/outside times. Like when it starts getting too cool to go out first thing in the morning, we may do an hour of work before we head outside.

 

We school year round and try to spend at least 4-5 hours a day outside. Not all of this is free time. We work hard in our garden and taking care of the critters. Sometimes I will bring a book outside to read aloud during our "shade" breaks. Things like nature study, gardening, pe can be counted as school too.

 

Melinda S in TX

[newbie]

We too are on a hot routine, we school in the early morning and late afternoon. The computers are upstairs.

 

Jeannette

[Brindee]

School should be on your own time, whatever time that is that works best for you!

 

A good example of that is a family we know. The dad works the night shift, so the mom and kids stay up and do school at night, run errands (with the kids) to all-night shopping centers (less traffic and people!), and when dad gets home they eat "breakfast" and all go to bed!

 

Interesting, but that's what is working for them! So if they can do THAT, then you should certainly be able to homeschool in the afternoon! :) I know people with all sorts of different start times--from 6am to late at night. With homeschooling the best schedule is the one that works best for you!