If you are not a morning person

[scootiepie]

I would love to hear how you get going every day. Could you give me an idea of how you schedule your day? How do you go about your mornings? What time to do you get started? A normal start time for us would be around 10:30 but I'm debating the merits of forcing us all to start earlier. The main reason is I want to be done earlier....but *I* am the one who has a hard time getting my act together in the morning.

[moonlight]

Both my boys have morning work that they can do independently. The 6 year old does his writing and Brainpop Jr. And Dreambox (when it's not acting up.) the 10 year old does most things independently and will come back to anything he needs help with when I wake up.

 

I have breakfast around 10 and they have a snack with me. They usually eat breakfast with DH before he goes to work. During that time, we go over what still needs to get done. I try to do a read aloud/poetry at that time. It is when the baby is most cooperative. I can keep giving him food and he is happy.

 

My kids know exactly what they have to do everyday so if they start early, then they can be done early! It's a great motivator...we also have lots of afternoon activities and they know their work needs to be done by then...

[mom2boys030507]

I am not a morning person, but my job is to educate my children. They are all up about 7. I have made it my job to be up by 8 to get them started on breakfast. I usually then get ready for the day and eat later. Once breakfast is eaten, they start school. If I am ready to sit down they can start with me or they start something that is independent. This takes determination on my part to be out of bed and ready for the day. It has taken work on my part but I am so thankful for doing this. Our day goes much smoother when we start school about 8:30 because then we can be done or take a break for lunch at 11:30. My boys need to know what time they will be able to take a break.

[Farrar]

I'm not not a morning person, but I also am not up and at it at the crack of dawn like my kids with their little internal alarm clocks. This year, I've started putting out "morning work" so that they get their cereal and juice and then have something to sit down to, whether I'm up or not. This has been sort of "extras" work - I've put out a lot of math drills, math puzzles, proofreading practice sheets, logic pages, etc. Most of what I put out is meant to be a little fun, but set the tone that the school day is going to start. It has worked well for us.

[Giraffe]

Caffeine. Lots and lots of caffeine.

[LaraH]

I feel your pain, but I also felt that school was going on too late when we started after 10:00. So I set my alarm for 7:30, and get going slowly. My son likes to play, watch TV and generally do his thing in the morning, so I get to read the paper, check email, etc which helps to get me going. We start latest 9:30, sometimes earlier if I can manage it. Works for us, but you have to know yourself and go with what works for your family!

[elegantlion]

I am not a morning person, ds is not a morning person. He was in private school for prek and K. It was horrid, horrid, horrid to get him up and into the car by 7:25 each morning. I consider it a perk of homeschooling to not have to start early. I'm usually up by 7:30, but no one should talk to me before 9. Ds gets up by 9:30 or 10. We start by 10:30 or 11. I still consider it a perk to start when we want.

[sewingmama]

I have such trouble with this. Mainly because my kids are not early birds either. It's not uncommon for all of us to sleep till 10am. I just woke right now and it's 8am....the kids are all sound asleep still lol.

 

Honestly I just start when we start and go late. DH doesn't get home till 6 or later so it doesn't really matter. We only school 3-4 hours a day so are usually finished by 3-4. We live in the country and have nowhere to be or go anyway. Its also winter here and pouring rain as usual so we'll be inside anyway.

 

It's hard for me to start in the morning...I take medication that makes me permanently drowsy and I don't drink coffee. I take a really long hot shower to get going lol.

[birchbark]

Night owl here! This is the schedule we used this past year, and it worked very well. My DS did his math (first subject of the day) independently.

 

One idea I read which I liked was to begin the day snuggling on the couch with hot drinks and doing read-alouds. You can get a lot of content covered right away.

[Mommy22alyns]

I am not a morning person either, but we had to institute an earlier start time this year with Rebecca's increased gymnastics schedule. The girls wake up at 8 and eat breakfast, and I wake up at 9, get coffee, and start school. We may or may not need to start even earlier in the fall.

[Ecclecticmum]

I agree with caffeine. I need *time* to wake up as well (and that's usually when I'm writing here, all bleary eyed and pyjama tailed...hence why some of my posts don't make sense, rofl. ) If I am rushed after I get up, then I just tend to be like an idiotic robot. I bang my head into doorways, trip over my own foot, stand there on a stuck programming loop for ages trying to figure out if I already brushed my teeth or not....basically, I'm useless.

 

I've been thinking I could probably wake up earlier and be raring to go if I programmed a caffeine IV overnight....elsewise nothing but gulping back a cup in the morning works. Even showers just put me into automatic mode, I can respond, but have no idea what I am saying, and my responses/reactions are very delayed rofl.

 

The kids usually get to have their TV time, eat breakfast, and generally play and work with their current projects (project-based learning), check their science experiments & note down, get dressed, and generally they are usually ready for more structure & want school by the time I am ready to teach it. LOL. But I don't know how long the "loving school" will continue on for, so sometime in the future I may have to get up earlier, and figure out a way to actually *wake up* quickly! I was hoping by then they would be at the teenager stage (that I never seem to have left, although lately most of the time I seem to be getting up earlier than I used to) and will appreciate the morning lie-ins ;) rofl.

 

When you find out a way of getting up and waking up quickly, that won't give me a migraine for the rest of the day, let me know, and I'll buy the secret off you :p

[boscopup]

I am naturally a night owl. My DH goes in to work early, so he starred going to bed earlier - in bed watching tv at 8:30, asleep at 9:00. I gradually moved my bed time up to his, and now I easily wake up on my own around 5:30, get Mommy time, and am awake and ready for the kids to come down at 7:00.

 

So yeah, old fuddy duddy going to bed so early, but it works, and I can easily function in the morning.

 

Now if DH is out of town, there is no encouragement to go to bed, so I end up staying up until midnight or later, then paying for it majorly the next morning.

[Danielle1746]

I am naturally a night owl. My DH goes in to work early, so he starred going to bed earlier - in bed watching tv at 8:30, asleep at 9:00. I gradually moved my bed time up to his, and now I easily wake up on my own around 5:30, get Mommy time, and am awake and ready for the kids to come down at 7:00.

 

So yeah, old fuddy duddy going to bed so early, but it works, and I can easily function in the morning.

 

Now if DH is out of town, there is no encouragement to go to bed, so I end up staying up until midnight or later, then paying for it majorly the next morning.

 

You just described my husband and me perfectly, except I haven't been able to move my bedtime up. If he goes to bed too early (anything before 10:30, imo), I will just get up and get back on the computer or take a bath and read...for hours. Then the next morning, I am DRAGGING. So I tell myself I will go to bed early the next night...but I don't. Ugh.

[echoterry]

I am not a morning person either and my children are...ugh! I would be content to sleep until 9 every morning, but they wake up 7am everyday, alarm or no alarm. Thankfully, the two older girls (after we established the routine) will get up, get dressed and ready and make their own breakfast, do devotions, and start reading without help from me. The little one will crawl in bed with me once she hears her sisters up, so I can generally do nothing for a few more minutes. They all just wake up and are awake, I take a little longer. I can go until 7:45 but feel bad, so am aiming for 7:15, so I can join them for breakfast.

 

Routines are what get our mornings going.

[alpidarkomama]

I've stopped fighting my 10:00 start. I love our slow mornings. I love our leisurely snuggles. Love it. We can usually finish by 4. Sometimes they work on their own to get a bunch done after dinner so they can have a half day the next day. The only thing that terrifies me is when a school mom rings my door at 10:00 and we're still in our jammies. Yes, we're one of THOSE homeschooling families. Doo dee doo... :) At least one DD likes to arise at 7:30, get dressed, sweep the floor, unload the dishwaher, set out breakfast, and make me coffee. DD7 is a dynamo! I let her answer the door with me cowering behind. :)

 

Something else that helps - at night before our readaloud, we have one other storytime subject. It rotates among poetry, history, Jewish study, and the torah portion of the week. Takes some of the pressure off of the day.

[echoterry]

I also forgot to add that I have an alarm clock that resets itself, you have to turn off the alarm feature, so I can't "accidentally" forget to reset it the night before.

 

Thought I have to say I agree with alpidarkmomma, that getting an early start may just not work for your family. I know, with my family, there are a few days a week where we do have a deadline, and my girls work better if everyday is the same start time. Go with what works for your family.

[kiwik]

It would be one of the problems I would have if I honeschooled. At the moment ds6 wakes about 6 most days, I make him snuggle with me until about 6.45 by which time ds4 is usually awake. I then help them dress, get them breakfast and put a DVD on. Then i take my breakfast back to bed and check WTM since you are 16 hours behind us. After that i shower, dress, make lunches and try to get us out of the house at 8 so i can make 2 drop offs and get to work by nine. In both cases i have to find a park and walk the child to the classroom so i need 15 mins for each.

 

I think avoiding this would be the second most important aspect of honeschooling. Today ds4 had a cough and had lost a lot of sleep- an extra half hour to snuggle would have done him the world of good.

[scootiepie]

I love the idea of morning reading and setting out work for them to get started on. I just need something to help "set the tone" for the day. I definitely consider a relaxed morning schedule a perk of homeschooling! But I need to get off that slippery slope into wasting time and being unproductive.

[Mandy in TN]

We are a whole family of night owls. I just don't sleep much. I try to stay in bed from about 2 until about 8, but I am often in bed less than that. My oldest doesn't sleep either- never has. My middle ds needs more sleep, but he doesn't go to bed early and he tells me that at college he has learned to live on less sleep than he did at home. At home, he could easily sleep for more hours than he was awake. From midnight until noon or even longer, he could sleep. It was crazy. My youngest is 10yo and, if left alone, currently likes to sleep between 8-10 hrs. 1am until 9am would be nice. Yesterday he slept from 2am-11am and that was fine on a summer light schedule.

 

I take out the dog around 2, so anyone who is still awake at that time I request that they head to bed. My dh leaves for work about 8:30. I get up and make us both coffee before he leaves. I don't want to see or hear kids before 9. When I worked full-time office hours, I had to be at work at 8:30. My sleep schedule shifted only a little, but I had to deal with kids first thing in the mornings. bleh I much prefer to keep them up later and have a little alone time before they are up.

 

Do whatever schedule works for your family. Staying up late works for my family. My dh is never, ever home before 7 and we don't eat dinner until 8 or later. If the little man went to bed at 8:30, some nights he wouldn't see his dad at all. If my dh had a different schedule, I would adjust my schedule and the little man's schedule, because I like the schedule that allows us to all be on the same dinner schedule. :)

 

HTH-

Mandy

 

[Mandy in TN]

I love the idea of morning reading and setting out work for them to get started on. I just need something to help "set the tone" for the day. I definitely consider a relaxed morning schedule a perk of homeschooling! But I need to get off that slippery slope into wasting time and being unproductive.

Getting into a school day routine and establishing that routine as a habit is something that most families really have to work to achieve regardless of what time they go to bed or wake up. ;)

 

I try to have our day start with kisses and hugs, clean faces and teeth. This is where I like to start. From there our days all look different.

 

HTH-

Mandy

[mysticmomma]

We talk goals the night before, and they know if I'm still sleeping to keep the peace, stay inside and eat breakfast. They are

otherwise free. I struggle with insomnia and they know. Usually dd8 makes eggos. Some mornings I'm up and others I'm not. Their goal is to be finished by 330 when their friends get out of school. Otherwise they can't go out until they are done. They can start some work, or not... It doesn't matter. My kids are 1st and 3rd, so we finish quickly.

[SilverMoon]

Caffeine. Lots and lots of caffeine.

 

Absolutely. Coffee is my friend.

 

 

I've added exercise to my mornings, which helps me actually be awake by the time we ought to start. My almost 13yo DD goes with me. She is ready for a brisk walk or a jog as soon as she falls out of bed and gets her shoes on. That means I have to get up and get some coffee in my system before she gets up, or I'd never make it out the door.

[Mandylubug]

We are all night owls, DH doesn't get home till midnight and prefers this shift for work, so it won't change. On a "structured" day we (me and kids)wake at 8, eat at 9. Girls start Math at 10 and boys do free reading. At 11 boys do math and girls are doing computer time. DH is up by now. We eat at 12 and enjoy DH before he leaves at 1 for work. We then proceed with our other studies. We finish around 4. We do our readaloud at 630ish after dinner. It is a very leisurely spent day. My kids go to bed year round at 10pm.

[MotherOfBoys]

My son has to start school by 9am, I've found, to be the most productive with the least amount of pushing. He wakes by at least 7am and does his routine of breakfast, tv, legos, and whatever else with his brother. He knows to hit the button on the coffee pot and mom and dad will be up when they heard it finishing. We do school for an hour and take a 1/2 hour break. Then work till lunch. 12:30? If there is left overs he does it after mandatory nap/alone time and before daddy comes home.

[MinivanMom]

I use my husband to get us going in the morning. He is a very happy morning person, so he is up at the crack of dawn. He runs with a friend, then showers, then gets all the kids up and dressed and downstairs for breakfast. I struggle out of bed once I hear the noise recede downstairs to the kitchen. Then I get up and shower. I join them right as breakfast is finishing, so dh can walk out the door. I hustle all the kids away from the table and they go upstairs to brush their teeth and play. I sit at the table and eat breakfast alone while I read the paper. By the time I'm done reading the entire paper, I'm awake enough to function. I'm usually up by 7:30 and downstairs by 8. We start homeschooling at around 9 am when I lay the baby down for his morning nap. This makes me sound lazy, but I'm really a very energetic, busy mom. I just don't wake up easily in the morning.

[violamama]

My kids are too little (or too immature) to do independent work yet. If they are up before me (we all roll out of bed between 8-8:30 most days) then they play legos and grab a piece of fruit if they're hungry.

 

What keeps me motivated is a binder with a schedule in it where I jot down what we do. I tend to do stuff in a similar order, so as we're eating breakfast I put the pile of books in a stack and we start working through them. If I get started late, we usually don't get to everything and I know I need to step up my game.

 

Looking forward to using that independent work/games idea when they get a little older!

[kristinannie]

Luckily none of my kids are morning people either. :hurray: When we are not on break, I have been forcing myself to get up earlier. I do my own quiet time/prayer time before the kids wake up. I have had to force myself to get up at 7:30. It is not easy, but then I am ready and happy by the time they wake up around 8:30. I try to get school started by 9 or 9:30 so we can mostly be done by lunchtime. I have found that it gets easier and easier. Although I am still thankful that I don't have to get up at 6am to get them ready for school! :coolgleamA:

[Arcadia]

My kids claim I need a (big dinner) bowl of caffeine to kickstart my day. I need to get up at 7am to cook lunch for hubby to bring to work. I'll wake my boys up at 8am and they will start on their leisure reading while I clean up the kitchen and get things ready. Then they do their work and they try to get it all done by lunch so they can have a longer free time. Routine helps a lot with my boys as older thrives on structure.

[*Lulu*]

Non-morning person who gave birth to an early bird, a late riser, and one int the middle. :p

 

We do a slow roll into our day. The kids wake starting at 6am. (Mom is not up before 6:30am unless there is a dire need. I did it for years out of necessity, but like life so much better this way.) They are allowed to watch tv until 7am, then we eat breakfast and do chores. The kids do music practice, play outside, work on thier own projects, or garden. Around 10am we do our content work then break. After lunch we do skill subjects and the kids are free until chore time once finished.

 

It took me a bit to adjust, but this has been by far the best schedule we have ever used. It may have something to do with the fact I can be on my second cup of coffee before we ever crack a book.

 

[duckens]

NOBODY in our home is a morning person. We could do better at this, but Loverboy and I are just. not. good. about bedtime for our kids. We're good at other things as parents, but we're just not good at getting our kids to bed before 10pm.

 

Loverboy wakes and leaves for work.

 

I try to wake before the girls. Even 20 minutes can give me time to shift laundry through the washer/dryer or empty the dish drainer.

 

8am: Wake dd6. We nurse and read for ~20minutes.

 

20 minutes of piano for dd6

 

Then dd6 usually watches one PBS Kids show for 30 minutes.

 

9am or later: Wake the dd2 with nursing. Often she falls back asleep.

 

Nearly 10am: After dd6's TV show ends, we begin math and phonics. Daily, I repeat the mantra: the best time to do schoolwork is while the baby is sleeping.

 

When dd2 awakens, I give instructions to dd6 to finish what she is working on; then she can play. I go re-nurse the baby.

 

Once dd2 is up, we do a little more schoolwork.

 

11:00ish: One hour after the dd2 awakens, we have sit-down brunch. (If I try to feed dd2 too soon after nursing, she will not eat. Snacks are available for dd6 all morning, or I may make her toast earlier if she asks for it.)

 

We continue with schoolwork on and off all afternoon dependent upon the needs of dd2 (nursing, playing, napping, creating, reading, potty training, etc).

 

~3pm, we get ready for afternoon activities.

 

Occasionally, dd6 has schoolwork to do after supper. Usually this depends upon how hard she has worked during the day (attitude, refusal to work).

 

I anticipate that our schedule will change greatly within the next two years. Dd2 is growing out of her nap, which means that she will lay down for bed earlier. It is a joy when we can all lay down for bedtime together (rather than someone staying up with baby until 1am)! The year after, we plan to put her into the coop preschool, so ready or not, we will all be up and dressed and out the door by 9am on some days.

[quark]

DH is a morning guy but DS and I are not. Luckily, DH lets us sleep in on weekends :D!

 

The more I tried to fight the whole "must start earlier in the morning thing", the more crabby and stressed our homeschool days became.

 

We really like being relaxed. We discarded a lot of busywork and fluff just so we could start at a time that works for us (10am), do focused study, and finish at a time that seems like a natural time to end (usually 3pm-ish). He has lots of time free in the evenings and usually picks something academic to do during the free time anyway.

 

Mine is an only child so it might be easier for me I guess. Early bedtimes just don't work because he only sees his dad for a few hours a day and if he slept at 8pm or 9pm, he'd only see his dad during the weekends (DH travels some weekends too so I have to consider that as well). So, kiddo sleeps at around 11pm, wakes up at about 8.45am. He likes long showers and taking his time with breakfast (he watches something educational while having it). Then we start at 10am.

 

We get a LOT done this way and he's generally, very advanced. So I'm sticking to what works while we can. :)

 

He has no trouble waking up earlier if there's something he really wants to do. Last summer, he had three 8am online classes and he woke up at 7.15am each day without fuss. If he's motivated, he'll get it done. My job is to help keep that motivation fresh. And have lots of good books and healthy snacks available (I've been known to offer the occasional ice cream and a well-written graphic novel/ comic book as a bribe lol) to keep him interested.

[Sahamamama]

In a way, I am a morning person -- I like to be awake in the morning, just not active. ;) I like the stillness and the silence. I like watching the sunrise, seeing the fog roll off the mountains, and thinking about all those other people who have to be up and out the door by 7:23 am. On the other hand, I'm not an Up and At 'Em kind of morning person. I need an hour or two of being restfully awake -- and at least one cup of coffee -- before I can charge into the day, KWIM?

 

For me, it all boils down to what we want to accomplish. One of our goals is to have fairly relaxed mornings, most mornings. For us, this is one of the benefits of homeschooling. While others may be frantically rushing to bus stops and drop-offs, we are peacefully at home. The girls read, listen to music, play, craft, write, create, talk to grandparents on the phone, begin chores, and eat First Breakfast. The Little Hobbits, they get two breakfasts.

 

This upcoming school year, for my 3rd grader, I plan to implement some form of work boxes, maybe 1 or 2 of these. I thought we might set up some of the work that she could handle on her own in the morning, like instrument practice, math drill, Latin vocabulary review, copywork, French CDs, Bible & devotions, Sudoku, logic puzzles, and so on. She likes the idea, so we'll see how we work it out.

[PachiSusan]

Neither one of us wants to get up early. Our goal is to start school by 11:30, noon at the latest. We don't have any problem working until 4 or so if we have to.

[Spryte]

Neither one of us wants to get up early. Our goal is to start school by 11:30, noon at the latest. We don't have any problem working until 4 or so if we have to.

 

I thought we were the only ones. :)

 

Kids wake up early here, I am the slow one. DH gets the up, breakfasted and started on their day (meds, clothes, teeth brushed, etc, not school stuff). I meander to the coffee pot at 8:30, and spend some quality time with the bean. DS does projects, or items from an allowed list of edutainment type stuff. DIY.org, brainpop, audiobooks, reading, etc. Most of them time, he has an in depth project going on. No TV. Once I'm sufficiently caffeined and my morning meds have kicked in, I do tot school with the little one. School for the big guy starts between 11 - 12, generally, but there is no hard and fast schedule here. We are usually finished between 3 - 4.

[SilverMoon]

I slept late and started school late when my kids were little. If it's working for you I see no reason why you shouldn't savor it.

 

Our lessons were pushed earlier in the day as they grew. Now those little kids who did afternoon schooling in pajamas or pirate costumes are rising 8th and 9th graders, and they have three younger siblings that need their lessons too. There aren't enough hours left in the day to get our schooling done if we started that late now. (But my current little ones randomly have days like that.... especially when those days they're pretending they're in far off lands having adventures and getting along fabulously. It seems wrong to interrupt that.)

[PachiSusan]

 

I thought we were the only ones. :)

 

Kids wake up early here, I am the slow one. DH gets the up, breakfasted and started on their day (meds, clothes, teeth brushed, etc, not school stuff). I meander to the coffee pot at 8:30, and spend some quality time with the bean. DS does projects, or items from an allowed list of edutainment type stuff. DIY.org, brainpop, audiobooks, reading, etc. Most of them time, he has an in depth project going on. No TV. Once I'm sufficiently caffeined and my morning meds have kicked in, I do tot school with the little one. School for the big guy starts between 11 - 12, generally, but there is no hard and fast schedule here. We are usually finished between 3 - 4.

 

 

I figure that if we're not falling into line for public school days on/off, why follow their schedule? Melissa's and my rhythm both starts really well in the mid afternoon. Mornings are NEVER good for either of us.

[Peaceful Isle]

My son came to my bedroom the other morning and started chit chatting away to me.., he then looked down at my coffee cup, which was still quite full, and look up at my blank expression. He proceeded to stop talking and tell me "nevermind, your brain is only one fourth there. "

Yes, coffee, my little white pill, and about 30 min of quiet is what I need before I can get up.

I used to fight it,..try to be different, but alas, it is what it is. We usually start school at 10, and finish some time in the afternoon. We are very relaxed. My kiddos are awesome, and play really well together in the morning. That, or they read.

[Stayseeliz]

I've come to the conclusion this year that I'm just going to have to get up earlier. My goal is to be up by 6:30 and ready to wake the kids by 8:00. I plan to exercise and do my devotion when I get up. My kids want to do afternoon activities and there is just no way I can educate the kids and keep a toddler in check unless we get after it this year!

[happypamama]

Honestly, I suffer. And I take an afternoon nap many days. (It's particularly bad right now because I'm very pregnant and suffering from insomnia; it's 5:25 am, and I don't have to get up for another two hours, but I'm awake now. Sigh.) I would totally sleep until 10 every morning, and so would my daughter, but we have to get up and moving before that because otherwise our schedule doesn't mesh at all well with DH's with regards to meals and all; he gets up before 5 to get ready for work every day. I try to limit the caffeine but am not always successful.

 

I basically have the kids dress and do their morning chores while I make breakfast, and then we have breakfast with morning readings (poetry, hymn study, Bible, science or memory review -- not all of that every day, just a few things), and then I have the kids start something independent (usually reading) while I get small ones ready and clean up the kitchen and switch laundry. So by 10 am, I've done quite a bit and am ready to sit down with the kids to do some work with them. Sometimes. Some days I'm pretty useless, LOL.

[mama27]

Why would you have to be up early? If you are late sleepers, you are late sleepers. Multiplication will still be multiplication at 11:00 am or 8:00 am. Not everyone has a  9 to 5 job. My dh doesnt get home from work till 2 am so my kids stay up till midnight or later. They wake up between 10 and 11 am.That's one of the benefits of homeschooling is being able to schedule school around your life, not the other way around.

I do have add that my 18 yo has started cosmetology school and I get up early since she has to leave at 8 am and I am NOT happy about it. lol

[MomOfOneFunOne]

I would love to hear how you get going every day. Could you give me an idea of how you schedule your day? How do you go about your mornings? What time to do you get started? A normal start time for us would be around 10:30 but I'm debating the merits of forcing us all to start earlier. The main reason is I want to be done earlier....but *I* am the one who has a hard time getting my act together in the morning.

AMDG

 

Yep, that's me all over!  I love mornings with the sunrises and singing birds and fresh air but I hate getting up early to catch them.  I tried and tried to no avail.  Finally, having decided that getting up earlier was something we needed, we made 7 AM commitments.  It started with Wednesday and it turned out that that day was our most productive day.  It didnt' really seem that we worked longer or anything, just got more done in the time we did work.  Then we added Friday and suddenly had two really productive days.  Later we added T/R together and loved that our week, Monday excepted, was up-and-at-'em early and productive.  As much as my daughter wasn't crazy about getting up earlier, she likes the way our days go now.  In fact, she was the one to request the Friday and then when I tossed out Tuesday and Thursday she was on board.  The only problem day for a long time was Monday.  We didn't have a commitment and our day always started out late and behind and set our week out wrongly from the git-go.  We finally added a Monday commitment but it will only last 4 more weeks.  We're both agreed that we need to find another commitment.

 

It has to be a commitment, too.  We can't just decide to get up.  Or, we can just decide to get up all we want but when that alarm goes off, we hit snooze and when we roll out of bed at 10.30, never even remember that the alarm had gone off at 7.

 

If you're not Catholic, I can't imagine what kind of commitment you could make at 7 am.  There probably is something but I don't know what.  You could start a walking club, maybe.  Or, not really a club b/c then if you don't get up and go, you know other club members will be there and you don't really have to go.  You need a walking partner.  That way if you don't show, she's just left standing there feeling stood up.

 

We signed up for 7 AM at our perpetual adoration chapel for Wednesdays and Fridays.  If we don't show up, someone will be late to work.  We NEVER no-show.  We did that for a long time and then went to Father and told him that we want to go to daily mass at 7 but that, sadly, the flesh was just too weak and couldn't get up.  We asked him for a responsibility and the very day before we asked, the person who had been doing it had to stop b/c her husband got too ill to go to mass.  That's Tuesday through Friday.  We finally moved our sewing lesson to 7 AM on Mondays but we're losing our dear teacher in 4 weeks.  Alas, Alas!  We'll be out a sewing teacher AND a commitment.  We don't know what we'll do.

 

AAAAaaalll that to just say this:  if you really want to get up, make an external commitment.

[Allearia]

We are struggling. How do those who start late go to social events or park days in the afternoon? I would like to hear when you stop with say a 3rd and 6th grader. We are starting to have more friends who are in ps so play dates on the weekend are becoming more common. During the school year we have two evenings of hacker scouts and math circle at 6:30, so perhaps that along with weekend play dates covers most of it. It just seems that after 3:00 it is too late to get together with most people. Or say when we have piano at 1:30 so we really need to wrap up before that because coming home and finishing up, even to do something fun or a science experiment, is difficult.

 

Though I get up at 7:30 and consider that late but have a very hard time getting going until Dh leaves around 9:30. So that is considered early for many of you! It is more me, personally, who really needs to get up a bit earlier but I have such a hard time getting out of bed. I usually go to bed around 11:00-11:30 so I can get up when I do. But even when I go to bed ridiculously early getting up at 6:30 is very hard.

[mama27]

We are struggling. How do those who start late go to social events or park days in the afternoon? I would like to hear when you stop with say a 3rd and 6th grader. We are starting to have more friends who are in ps so play dates on the weekend are becoming more common. During the school year we have two evenings of hacker scouts and math circle at 6:30, so perhaps that along with weekend play dates covers most of it. It just seems that after 3:00 it is too late to get together with most people. Or say when we have piano at 1:30 so we really need to wrap up before that because coming home and finishing up, even to do something fun or a science experiment, is difficult.

 

Though I get up at 7:30 and consider that late but have a very hard time getting going until Dh leaves around 9:30. So that is considered early for many of you! It is more me, personally, who really needs to get up a bit earlier but I have such a hard time getting out of bed. I usually go to bed around 11:00-11:30 so I can get up when I do. But even when I go to bed ridiculously early getting up at 6:30 is very hard.

 

 

On days when we have things to do we just do them. We get done what we can, usually math and writing and leave the rest.

[Julie Smith]

Usually my boys wake me up and tell me to get up. 

 

That is who the morning starts.  :glare:

 

This morning started way to early because Eldest woke me up WAY earlier than usual. Last night my boys (Dh included) were looking at a cool new baord game. Dh told Eldest that he could earn money to buy it. I told Eldest since it was past his bed time he would have to wait till morning. He was so excited he couldn't get to sleep. So I told him, "I promise to get up whenever you wake me in the mornign and start giving you chores".

 

Right now the boys are outside weeding. 

[Stayseeliz]

We are struggling. How do those who start late go to social events or park days in the afternoon? I would like to hear when you stop with say a 3rd and 6th grader. We are starting to have more friends who are in ps so play dates on the weekend are becoming more common. During the school year we have two evenings of hacker scouts and math circle at 6:30, so perhaps that along with weekend play dates covers most of it. It just seems that after 3:00 it is too late to get together with most people. Or say when we have piano at 1:30 so we really need to wrap up before that because coming home and finishing up, even to do something fun or a science experiment, is difficult.

 

Though I get up at 7:30 and consider that late but have a very hard time getting going until Dh leaves around 9:30. So that is considered early for many of you! It is more me, personally, who really needs to get up a bit earlier but I have such a hard time getting out of bed. I usually go to bed around 11:00-11:30 so I can get up when I do. But even when I go to bed ridiculously early getting up at 6:30 is very hard.

 This is where I'm struggling too. I do NOT want to get up early but my kids will have swim 3 days a week at 3:30 or 4. We have to get up and get after that if they want to do that this year. We can't just do an hour or two of school those days.

[MomOfOneFunOne]

On days when we have things to do we just do them. We get done what we can, usually math and writing and leave the rest.

 

AMDG

 

I think this is what finally drove us to start getting up earlier.  As my daughter got older and older and her work got more and more time consuming, we had to start making choices.  Getting up late meant choosing between finishing school or having fun.  We want both.

[Critterfixer]

Not a morning person, but trained myself to be one. My typical time to get up is 5:15. Sometimes 5:00. There are just that many chores to be done before I get breakfast. The boys are up by 6:30, and school starts at 8:00. 

Bedtime is no later than 9 for them and no later than 10 for me. That means no caffeine after one pm. Unless I'm just wore out.

 

But if I didn't get up early, I'd never get all the things done in a day that I have to get done, so there you are. It's doable.

[wingedradical]

<<I am not a morning person, but my job is to educate my children>>

 

"Not being a morning person" is not usually a moral issue that you can decide to change if you are just committed enough to your job.

 

Some people just have hormonal or metabolic issues that mean they are not attuned to the light/darkness schedule. I had problems with energy levels upon rising even at school. When I worked, I solved the problem by working evenings. I worked just as hard for my patients as the people on the day shift.

 

Then I got married, I had difficulty becoming pregnant and started taking my basal temperature every morning. It was usually about 94. Ended up I had Hashimoto's thyroiditis but the point is, physical issues, not a lack of commitment to work, is often behind the fact that some people have trouble rising in the morning. You probably wouldn't be a morning person if your temperature was 94 either.

 

Of course, homeschooling in the evening not the answer for the OP who want's to have more free time later in the day. I only posted the above because I think it is a common misconception that people who aren't morning people are lazy and less committed to their work. 

 

Of course, it depends upon the age of your children. I didn't put mine to bed early and I bought darkening shades for their room, which helped. I also gave  them and my dfd morning work, as others have mentioned. Since she is older, I give reading assignments, questions from the day before, or any subject that she does on her own, including her exercise program and voice practice.