questions about times your teenagers go to bed..get up and when they start school..

[momof2boys]

I have two teenage boys ages 15 and soon to be 17(Oct. 31).

What time do your teenagers go to bed? what time do they get up?

What time do they start school? All of the people I know who have teenagers let them stay up to at least 11:00 at night and then they sleep until at least 9:00 every morning"(some longer). I am not sure exactly what time they start school or finish. My boys go to bed around10:00,but probably do not go to sleep until around 11:00. I usally get them up anywhere from 6:30-7:30. and we try to start school by 8:30-9:00 at the latest. I like for them to be finished by 3:00.

I was just curious what other peoples teenagers sleep/wake times are.

Thanks

[rhrice3]

Well, we might not be a good average example. My 15 yr old son is in bed asleep by 8:30, but he comes home straight from USA swimming and eats dinner and off to bed. He usually is up by 8:30 A.M., but he will begin swimming a few mornings a week in two weeks. UGH!

He seems to sleep alot but everyone I talk to says to let him sleep. His body is growing and going through a rigorous exercise program. We are hard pressed to get all the subjects in so he does alot of his literature reading on the weekends and sometimes other things like writing or a Spanish lesson or two.

I would love to hear from any other swimmers and how they do it!

ReneeR

[MicheleinMN]

Honestly, I have no idea when my teenagers go to bed. They are in their rooms by 9 pm, but between their school work and extra reading, I have no idea when they actually go to sleep. Breakfast is between 8:30 and 9 am, and school starts at 9 am. MY teens don't have a specific end time to their day, but scheduled work (math, chemistry, etc.) needs to be done by 3 pm. Reading and writing assignments are due weekly. (History and literature discussions usually take place on Saturday.)

 

HTH,

Michele

[Deidre in GA]

ds 15 started conventional HS last month. he goes to bed by 10pm. we rise at 6:15am. much to my surprise he is doing fine with this schedule. i thought he'd need more sleep than that. before conventional school, he slept 9 - 10 hours.

[In The Great White North]

Well, we might not be a good average example. My 15 yr old son is in bed asleep by 8:30, but he comes home straight from USA swimming and eats dinner and off to bed. He usually is up by 8:30 A.M., but he will begin swimming a few mornings a week in two weeks. UGH!

He seems to sleep alot but everyone I talk to says to let him sleep. His body is growing and going through a rigorous exercise program. We are hard pressed to get all the subjects in so he does alot of his literature reading on the weekends and sometimes other things like writing or a Spanish lesson or two.

I would love to hear from any other swimmers and how they do it!

ReneeR

 

Must be nice. On Mondays, he gets out at 8:45, by the time all 4 are dressed, home and have eaten dinner #2, It's 9:30 to 10. When high school swimming starts, it goes from 7:30 -9:00 (usually goes from USA swim practice to HS swim practice and still has trouble falling asleep!) Last year, i let him sleep til 8:30 or 9, but he's hard to get up, at whatever time we try it. And seems to think "school" should end when little sister's does. So, if I don't get him up with everyone else, he doesn't finish his work (finished in Aug this year). Which makes for a crabby boy.

 

BTW, he's almost 17.

 

I open to suggestions. :bigear:

[Grace is Sufficient]

And our times sound very similar to yours (the OP.)

[JFSinIL]

My kids got o public school for high school - the school for them starts at 7:10 for one, 7:40 for the other, and buses come at 6:35 and 6:45. So they HAVE to hit the sack between 9 - 9:30 or they simply can not function. I think it is stupid to have high school start so early - teens HATE going to bed so early! If we homeschooled high school as well as younger grades here, I would not expect a conscious teen to start work until 9am.

[Angela in GA]

I have a 14 year old son. He goes to sleep around 9:30 and gets up about 7. School starts at 8 for us. So far, this schedule is working well for us.

[Guest Katia]

My 16yo goes to bed between 10pm and 10:30 (usually closer to the later time) and her alarm goes off at 7am.

 

On M and W she has an afternoon cc class, so she usually hits the snooze once or twice on those days, but on T and Th she has a 9am cc class so gets right up and tries to get at least one of her homeschool subjects done before she has to leave.

 

Fridays are our variable: today it is almost 10am and she is still asleep, but next week she will be playing the piano at the nursing home in the am so will get up the regular 7am. Today is the exception as she has finished almost all her school work for the week; there is only two science experiments with lab reports to do today, so she has *earned* the privilege of sleeping-in.

 

I make out a weekly schedule of school work for her to follow and as long as it's all done by the end of the week, I don't really care when she does it. I'm hoping that between her cc classes, her job and her school work, that she is learning how to schedule her time for herself and thus be more prepared for the college life.

[theodwyn]

My 14 yo ds gets up between 5:30 and 6 am, eats breakfast, has personal devotional time and starts school. He gets in bed to read between 9 and 9:30 usually, lights out around 9:30 or 10am.

My 12 yo dd gets up between 6 and 6:30 and the rest is about the same for her.

[Pamela H in Texas]

What time do your teenagers go to bed?

Usually about 10...it's up to them

 

what time do they get up?

 

My son gets up between 5:30 and 6. My daughter between 7 and 8.

 

What time do they start school?

 

My son starts school within minutes of waking up. My daughter does it whenever she feels like it. It usually takes her a little time to even think about it though I think she got to it in about 30 min this morning.

[JennW in SoCal]

I have always figured that one of the benefits of homeschooling is being able to follow your internal clock. I like the fact that my kids sleep later as I have a few hours by myself in the morning!

 

My 16yo is up until midnight most nights, gets up about 9:30 and he does his school work in the middle of the day.

 

My 13yo goes to bed by 11 and is also up before 9:30, starts his schoolwork at 10:30.

[She]

I have a 14 year old son. He goes to sleep around 9:30 and gets up about 7. School starts at 8 for us. So far, this schedule is working well for us.

 

That would be what my 14 yo does. We start school at 8 also.

[gardenschooler]

My dd14 wakes up at 7:30 or 8, and we start school at 8:30. She's usually asleep by 11.

 

My dd16 wakes up at around 6, and has to leave for school at 7. She takes a nap in the afternoon before dinner, and is also asleep by 11.

 

I really don't like the late bedtime, but oh, well. I have other battles to fight, and as long as they get up for school, it's fine. I think dd14 is getting enough sleep, but I don't think dd16 is getting enough at one stretch. She has always needed way more sleep than the average person, so I don't think this wacky schedule is doing her a lot of good.

 

I would much prefer it if everyone was snoring by 9, but those days seem to be a thing of the past.

[Alyce]

My 17 year old and my 15 year old start going to bed at 11:00 which means they actually get to their bedrooms at 11:30. I've told them they can read quietly but need to go to sleep by 12:30. My dd has admitted to me that she has sometimes stayed up until 2:00 if she was reading a good book. We get up about 9:00 and start school at 9:30. With lunch break figured in they get done with school about 4:00-4:30. This is our preferred schedule. I'm a late owl often not going to bed until 1:00 and my kids are night owls as well. They prefer to sleep in and if that means doing their school work late into the day and sometimes at night they are willing to do it. My dd will sometimes set her alarm clock for an earlier hour if there is something specific she wants to do and can get up on her own but overall we're a stay up late family.

[mooooom]

and is usually off to bed by 10. The boys are up later (I'm usually asleep before them). I work mornings, so I really don't care when they get up as long as their morning work is done before I get home - 1PM. Then we usually do school together until 5 (if they cooperate). They all have evening activities, fencing usually doesn't get them home before 10PM or later, so our schedule is flexible to fit what THEY want to do. That's the beauty of homeschooling. Teenagers aren't meant to be up at 6AM - I've seen that many places

[djkapp]

With three teenage girls (14, 15, almost 17) who share the same bedroom, bedtimes and wake up times can be a bit of a problem. My oldest typically is in bed by 9-9:30 and is up by 6 AM so that she had time to have devotion time and get some school work in before breakfast. The other two go to bed about the same time, but, by choice, they would sleep until 7 - 7:30. I typically let them stay in bed until 6:45 or so. My two boys (11, 12) go to bed by 8:45 and get up at 6:30.

 

Breakfast at 7:15 is a family time with Bible reading and discussion , and school starts at 8:00.

 

Basically whatever works for your family is a viable option.

 

Yvonne

[In The Great White North]

I have always figured that one of the benefits of homeschooling is being able to follow your internal clock. I like the fact that my kids sleep later as I have a few hours by myself in the morning!

 

Me too! I was really bummed when it finally dawned on me that it just wasn't working.

 

Dd(11) could manage it but ds (16) simply has too much to do, to start at 10 or 11 and end at 2 or 3.

 

And he is much more of a night owl than anyone else in the family.

[Nan in Mass]

It only sort of works for us... Sigh.

 

We get the 18yo up at 6:30 and the 14yo up at 6:55 and start school at 7:00. The older one eats breakfast and dresses. The younger one drinks cocoa and sleeps in his clothes (high strung and this is one battle I've chosen not to fight) and so is usually able to sit down to Latin 5 minutes after we've shaken him awake. He's hard to wake up. We take a break at 10 (if we haven't driven off for CC classes before that) at which time people brush their hair and the younger one makes himself eggs or pancakes for breakfast. At 12, we eat lunch. At 2 or 2:30 we stop doing school. They have a bit of a break, and I try to get them to go outside, and then do some "homework". At about 4:30, I put them in the car (if they don't have piano or something) with supper on their laps and we drive to gymnastics. If they didn't eat supper before gym, they'd never make it through. They get home from gymnastics a little after 9, having done some homework in the car, eat big bowls of icecream and perhaps a scrambled egg or some toast, if they are really hungry, and the older one does more homework. I try to shivvy the younger one into bed at about 9:30 but he seldom is asleep before 10. It takes that long to unwind. The older one has never needed much sleep and goes to sleep at about 11. They both sleep until 9 or 10 on the weekends. I think they both are a bit sleep-deprived, but they seem to manage. I would love them, even the older one, to go to sleep at about 9:30, because in the summer, left to their own devices, they sleep from about 9:30 to until about 9, but I can't figure out how to make that happen. I think eating dinner in the car is a very important time-saver for us, and eating before gym helps them to get into bed afterwards, and starting school early and finishing early enough to have a proper break in the afternoon is important, but it isn't really what I would call a good schedule and I'd love suggestions, too.

-Nan

[MaryM]

I agree with the theory taht teenagers need more sleep or at least are not very functional very early in the morning. Ours is in his room by 10 but probably asleep by 11. Then up around 8:30 with slow start at 9AM. That way I get his clearest head!

 

Mary

[Quiver0f10]

My teens go between 10 and 11 and I wake them up at 6:45.

[Laurie in CA]

My daughter, 14, has started going to bed much earlier than we did last year. We get up at 6 am because we have to be at orchestra at 7:30:auto: about 20 minutes away from us. So I try to get her in her room at 9:30 and she can read but lights out at 10. I can barely stay awake past 9:30 with this new schedule so I'm usually in bed before her. We usually get home before 9 am and school starts shortly thereafter. I make her watch Mr. Mosely while she eats breakfast sometimes. After 3 weeks we are finally feeling awake so early in the morning and I can honestly say it is the best time of the day.

[RoughCollie]

Two of my kids go to PS and two are homeschooled. Last year, we had 2 different daily schedules and it was hard to deal with that.

 

This year, everyone is on the same schedule. The PS kids get up at 6 and the HS kids get up at 6:30. Everyone starts school at 7:30, gets 1/2 hour for lunch, and ends school at 1:45 p.m. The boys are in 9th grade and they have 3 additional hours of homework/study time per school day, while DD in 8th grade has 2 additional hours.

 

The kids spend 1/2 hour after their regular school day in their rooms to decompress and then resume their regularly scheduled activities. During quiet time, they can read or take a brief nap, but they cannot talk to one another.

 

Bedtime is 9 p.m. This is so the kids get enough sleep. Sometimes one of them goes to bed at 10 p.m. at the very latest.

 

RC

[AngieW in Texas]

My 15yo goes to bed some time between midnight and 1am. She usually gets up between 8am and 9am these days. Last year I woke her up around 10am every day, but she's been getting up early for several months now.

 

My middle dd will be 13yo in 3 weeks. She goes to bed some time between midnight and 1am. She usually gets up between 7:30am and 8:30 am.

 

I usually go to bed between 1am and 1:30am. When my youngest went to ps (for just two weeks, last day was today), I had to get up at 7am. Now I plan to get up at 8am.

 

We start school at 9am.

[TravelingChris]

The two whom I homeschool are normally in their rooms by 10 pm and 11pm respectively. The older one gets medication at 7 am and is up usually around 8or 8:30. She starts almost right away and she has CC class she has to be driven to twice a week at slightly before nine. The younger one is grumpy. If she had her way, she would sleep to eleven but I normally force her up by 9am. Next week, she has to start getting up earlier because co-op classes start and we will have to leave the house by 8:15 this week and normally 8:25.

[lllll]

What time do your teenagers go to bed? what time do they get up?

What time do they start school?

 

They each make up their own schedules and follow them independently, except for group things. Currently, we all do Greek at 7am, so I know we're all up by then. Each person fixes his own breakfast whenever he gets hungry - usually some form of oatmeal or supper leftovers.

 

17yod gets up between 4am and 5am. She reads her Bible and listens to J. Vernon McGee on the radio at 5:30am. Then, I think she does some school until time for Greek.

 

15yod gets up around 6:15am every day. She goes out to the camper and does stretches while she listens to her Bible-on-tape in German. (She's claimed one of the rooms in the camper as her own for hobbies, privacy, etc.)

 

These two dd's, along with 20yod, all have a group thing they do in their room from around 8:30pm to about 9:40pm. Then they go to sleep. 15yod informs me that the group thing lasts even later on Friday nights, but not on the other nights. And at some point during that time, one of them runs out to lock up the chickens after they've gone to roost. I think they do 'paper-rock-scissors' to determine who gets this priviledge.

 

After Greek, dd's run out to let chickens loose (the chickens roam the yard all day) and then they're back in to begin school again. They go until around 5pm, according to 15yod (she's sitting beside me here at the library), with various ones taking breaks here and there to go running or walking or listen to J. Vernon McGee on the radio or whatever they have scheduled.

 

I've never had to 'wake up' any of our dc. I've never looked at it from quite that angle. To me, it's more like 'These are the subjects/books you have to master and these are the group things you have to plan around. Make up a schedule to get it done, let me see it when you get it made up, and then get to work doing it'. At least, that's what the whole process has evolved into now that they're all older. When they were younger, of course, *I* had to make up a lot of the schedules. But at some point it just became more efficient (and less nerve-wracking for me) for them to do this for themselves. I see it more as learning to be good stewards of this present time that the Lord has given them to do these particular things; and that's how I've explained it to them, also.

 

Also, when they were younger, even though it was never a matter of getting them up, it *was* a matter of wrangling them all together and making them sit down to actually *do* school. But somewhere in the mid-teens that changes. And in hindsight, I think it could change a lot earlier than I had thought it could, since our now 15yod has been making her own schedules since she was 13yo.

 

I've also come to realize after all this time hs'ing that schedules were made to be broken. For instance, they're all mostly outside after school until close to dark in the summer; but in the winter, when dark happens sometime around 5pm, they're inside more. Thus, they spend more time with the books in winter. Currently, 23yos up and decided to paint one of the 'shops' which he uses for his hobbies/privacy. This has spread to painting the entire house, so the tentative plan is to do school in the early mornings and on the bad weather days and paint on the clear days until the job is done. We'll see.

 

As a disclaimer, here, I should say that I've never had deadlines for anything. I'm more interested in their learning the material backwards and forwards and I've never been able to put a 'time limit' on that process. This decision was probably a result of watching my oldest ds go through the ps system where everything and everyone is constantly on a deadline. It was a catastrophe for him. But whatever the cause it's worked well for our particular family.

[philda62]

16yo and 14yo. They are in bed between 9 and 10pm. They are up by 7am. The 9 or 10 pm time is determined by how easily they get up the next morning!

[jamnkats]

I have two teenage boys ages 15 and soon to be 17(Oct. 31).

What time do your teenagers go to bed? what time do they get up?

What time do they start school? All of the people I know who have teenagers let them stay up to at least 11:00 at night and then they sleep until at least 9:00 every morning"(some longer). I am not sure exactly what time they start school or finish. My boys go to bed around10:00,but probably do not go to sleep until around 11:00. I usally get them up anywhere from 6:30-7:30. and we try to start school by 8:30-9:00 at the latest. I like for them to be finished by 3:00.

I was just curious what other peoples teenagers sleep/wake times are.

Thanks

 

I'll sway the bell curve WAY out of the park. :)

 

My 14yo and 12yo go to bed whenever they want to - generally around 3am or so. They have asked me to wake them at 3pm if they're not already up by then. They do math and copywork at their leisure and then I read and we do history and discussion from around 10pm to midnight. Or 8pm to 10pmish.

[Storm Bay]

My 13 yo goes to bed at 10 and has to be up by 8. We don't start school until 9:30 or 10 because we're not morning people (well, ds is, but he'd skip school if I let him). She's also a swimmer, but since our US Swim Team here costs $4000 a year (apparently they're not all that expensive, but the one around us is) we don't do such a serious team. She does sleep more when swimming than when not, and always when growing.

[Peela]

Dd14 goes to her room about 8pm. I am not sure what time she really goes to sleep, but my official lights out time for her is 9pm. I get her up at 6.45 and she really likes her sleep. The only day she can sleep in is Saturday mornings when she sleeps till 10am sometimes.

She really needs 9 hours sleep at least.

She is not a morning person, but since she has so many afternoon activities she doesn't have the luxury of starting her schoolwork in her own time- it wouldn't get done.

She loves late nights and partying and sleepovers and camps....but she seems to have the common sense to catch up on sleep when she can.

[Jann in TX]

DD 18 (homeschooled Sr): Up by 8:30 for coffee--working on school work by 9am. Bed around midnight.

 

DD 15 (PS 10th grade): Up at 6am--Neighbors take her to school (band) at 6:30am. Home from school by 4pm. Bed by 10pm (sometimes later if she has a test the next day).

 

DD 6 (PS 1st grade)==> not a teen but I thought I'd list hers as well... Up by 6:45. I take her to school at 7:20am and pick her up at 2:50. Bed by 9pm

 

I'm up by 6am and HOPEFULLY get to bed by 11pm...NOT enough sleep most nights...

 

When I was homeschooling both of my older dds we were up by 9 and started school by 10am. Bed between 9 and 10. DH did not get home from work until closer to 8 and he wanted to spend time with them each night.

[Moni]

He seems to sleep alot but everyone I talk to says to let him sleep

 

 

We are early to bed and early to rise.

But the sleep needed varies from week to week and even from day to day during the week.

 

I adjust and enforce the "in bed lights out" time so that the student "awakens naturally" at the desired time.

 

But with teen boys . . .this can be hit or miss a bit.

[Moni]

The only day she can sleep in is Saturday mornings when she sleeps till 10am sometimes.

 

Oh, and our Sleep-in-and-Awaken-Naturally day is Friday.

 

Saturday is often a schoolday ( well, morning at least )for us so we are back up and at 'em on Saturday morning. . . and well rested after the Sleep-in just the day before

 

:)