Two kids, staggering start time?

[zarabellesmom]

Has anyone tried this?

 

We started first of August and now it's almost the end of September and we still haven't found our rhythm or gotten into a routine or whatever. DD 11's circadian rhythms are shifting and she's having trouble falling asleep at night and waking in the morning. Our routine had previously been to start bedtime at 8:30 with teeth and jammies and then read alouds wrapping up around 9:30 (there's a lot of dawdling in there, especially for the oldest who is ADHD and gets sidetracked really easily). After that, my youngest went straight to sleep and my oldest was allowed to stay up till 10 reading to herself. Well now, even at ten, she's still very much awake and asking to read later and later and then of course getting up is hard.

 

Our other problem is that neither of my children work independently. DD11, because of the whole ADHD thing, needs someone to stay on top of her for almost any task or she ends up staring out the window. DD8 because is still reading to me (this skill is slowly improving but she can't just be sent off for silent reading) and most of her work just isn't independent yet. I think we will get there with her, but she's a young third grader (only 8 as of August 25th) and she needs me there. So what happens is that I switch between them and we all try to sit at the table and they interrupt each other and I get frustrated and they get frustrated and everything takes twice as long as I think it should take.

 

So I had a thought today... What if I get the youngest up at 7 like normal and give her breakfast and then get all of her work done that we don't all do together. The older can sleep in and then when she comes down we will do the work that we all do together. We break for lunch and then my oldest and I work on her work while DD8 occupies herself with all the things she likes to do when her day isn't bogged down by constantly waiting for me to work with her on her next bit of school work.

 

Has anyone tried this and been successful?

 

 

Edited September 19, 2016 by ZaraBellesMom

[regentrude]

How will DD8 feel about having to get up early with big sister gets to sleep in? You might want to make sure that she does not develop resentment. She should feel like she gets something out of the deal as well. 

[zarabellesmom]

I asked her and she thought it was a great idea. She really is a get up, get things done and get on with your life kind of girl. Her feelings might change, but we could reevaluate as we go.

[Amateur Actress]

I think that sounds very workable! I have an 11yo boy and his sleep rhythms started changing in the last year, while he was still in a Christian school...one factor of us homeschooling again was the sleep issue...we have 2 teens we are also homeschooling and all 3 need more sleep than what they were getting while in school.

[City Mouse]

Sounds like a great idea to me.

Not exactly the same situation, but my DS14 has decided that he prefers to stay up very late (to me) and do his independent work. I let him sleep until about noon, and We do any work that I need to help,with in the early evenings.

[Rebel Yell]

We have always done this, even with three homeschooling. Anything they all did together, usually History and Abu or,mess done at a time set by me. Individual work needing my assistance was scheduled according to the day's events and outside classes, and the child's wake time. No one complained if someone got up earlier or slept later as each child did what worked for her.

[sbgrace]

I've always staggered most subjects with my twins. My faster/earlier worker (non-ADHD) likes getting the bulk of his work done first. The only things we do together are read alouds, history and science.

[frogger]

I have to stagger since two of my children need one on one and one in particular can't focus if I'm talking to the other about how to do something. Also, my older ones since about 12ish chose when it was best to do their work. The oldest gets up at 5:50 and starts at 6. The other one can be found still doing school work at 10 at night but also doesn't get up until close to 10. Well, so can the older one I guess but they are busy teens.

 

I do try to finish all my younger ones work before noon and meet with the older ones for certain subjects on the afternoons we are home. I would love to be able to do school with all of them during regular school hours but there would have to be more than one of me.

 

I don't think there is any jealousy because no matter what they all have to do their allotted work. My early birds like to get things done and over with. My night owl prefers to sleep in. We all have choices and accept the consequences of those choices.

[Arcadia]

DS10 is my early riser and starts at 8am. He wakes up by 7am without alarms. DS11 is my night owl and starts at noon unless he has an online class in the morning. DS10 don't mind as he gets the whole work table to himself and he finish in time to swim in the afternoon. DS11 reads by the condo pool so he reads while DS10 swims.

 

ETA:

DS11 eats brunch if he wakes up near noontime.

Edited September 20, 2016 by Arcadia

[happypamama]

My second child, 6th grade, likes to get up early, like 6:30, after DH leaves for work but before I'm downstairs. He likes those quiet morning hours so he can plow through a bunch of independent work. He can often do five subjects before 9 am, including a couple of his bigger ones. I actually don't put my little guys to bed super early at night, so they tend to sleep a little later in the morning (sometime between 8 and 9:30), and that works quite well because they aren't running around and distracting the 6th grader.

 

If I am moving before the little guys come down, I might do a subject or two with my sixth grader, or he might take a break. Dressing, chores, and breakfast happen in there sometime. But between 8 and 11 (and it doesn't always happen this way), I like to work with the 6th grader, the 2nd grader (not independent for much), and the Ker (not really independent at all). Which one first depends on who is up and ready.

 

At 11:00 (and again, doesn't always happen), I do poetry, geography, and memory work with the 6th, 2nd, and Ker while they have snack. Then I excuse the 6th grader, and I continue to read science/art/history/whatever with the 2nd and Ker.

 

After lunch, I do some literature discussion time with my 6th and 9th graders. 9th grader prefers not to get up early, and the younger kids are distracting to her, so she usually wanders down to do chores and eat something, and then she's usually upstairs until 1:00 when we do discussion time, and then I work with her for a while as she needs. The 6th grader might be done with everything by then, or he might have a bit to finish up. Kind of depends on things like how nice it is outside because that determines how long he makes his breaks. The Ker is done by that point, easily, and the 2nd grader is generally done, although he might have copywork or a few math problems to finish.

 

So yeah, staggering things works well for us because I'm not trying to multitask and can devote more attention to each child for a focused amount of time. The downside is that my day is long.

[J-rap]

I haven't tried that myself, but that's one of the joys of homeschooling, isn't it?  You get to try things that work for your particular family.  I'd give it a go!

 

 

[Bluegoat]

It sounds worth a try to me.  I've also had to exxperiment with this for my different kids.

 

Right now I am usually working with my youngest while my older student does her free reading.  But when my oldest was at home and middle dd was the youngest student, it worked better the other way round.

[rutheart]

My 7yo gets up around 8am and usually finishes schoolwork by lunchtime. My 11yo sleeps in until 10am, finishing her schoolwork around 5pm. The only subject with any overlap between the two girls is history, so that's usually the last subject for my 7yo. While it makes for a full day of work for me, each girl gets my undivided attention. My 11yo doesn't usually need much help, but I'm available to answer questions and discuss topics.

 

The biggest problem I've had with this schedule is lunchtime. My 11yo is eating breakfast an hour before I have lunch with my 7yo. Fortunately, the 11yo can make her own lunch, so I just have to remind her to eat something at 1pm. If I forget to remind her, she doesn't eat and then her blood sugar plummets and she gets really cranky/tearful. I had many days of one hour sobfests after spelling pretests (I missed 5 whole words! That's too much work for one week!) before I finally figured out the problem.

 

Ruth

[athomeontheprairie]

I have five. Three are little. Oldest starts school an hour and a half earlier than her sister wakes up.

It works well for us.

[OneStepAtATime]

Absolutely is what we do here.

 

DD is an early riser.  She also moves much more quickly through her material if she can stay focused and not get interrupted.  She gets up early and immediately gets started.  She prefers it that way.

 

DS does better with a late morning start or even early afternoon.  He has a hard time winding down for sleep at night no matter how early he gets up.  He also is very talkative and very active.  It is distracting to DD and demoralizing to him to constantly be told to be quiet.  Letting him sleep in gives DD the uninterrupted one on one time she needs with me plus the quiet she prefers.  DS can then get up and talk and discuss and bounce around for a bit while he gets into his stuff.  Any questions she has are usually easy and quickly dealt with while DS is getting a snack or taking a break outside.  

[zarabellesmom]

My 7yo gets up around 8am and usually finishes schoolwork by lunchtime. My 11yo sleeps in until 10am, finishing her schoolwork around 5pm. The only subject with any overlap between the two girls is history, so that's usually the last subject for my 7yo. While it makes for a full day of work for me, each girl gets my undivided attention. My 11yo doesn't usually need much help, but I'm available to answer questions and discuss topics.

 

The biggest problem I've had with this schedule is lunchtime. My 11yo is eating breakfast an hour before I have lunch with my 7yo. Fortunately, the 11yo can make her own lunch, so I just have to remind her to eat something at 1pm. If I forget to remind her, she doesn't eat and then her blood sugar plummets and she gets really cranky/tearful. I had many days of one hour sobfests after spelling pretests (I missed 5 whole words! That's too much work for one week!) before I finally figured out the problem.

 

Ruth

We know all about cranky low blood sugar. My oldest doesn't ever get hungry (which is no doubt why she keeps trying to fall off the growth chart. But not being hungry doesn't stop her from getting cranky when her blood sugar drops. She has to be told to eat or she doesn't even think about it. Also, she's not really motivated to do things for herself (don't get me started) and would rather go hungry then get up and herself something to eat. Is there a ripping your hair out emoji.

[zarabellesmom]

Well, we gave it a shot today and it was great. My youngest finished all of her work by lunch. My oldest got her work done and didn't complain about being tired the whole time. Thanks for all the feedback. I think this could really improve our days. All of the work got done. We finished at the same time as usual and everything went so much more smoothly.

[Arcadia]

We know all about cranky low blood sugar. My oldest doesn't ever get hungry (which is no doubt why she keeps trying to fall off the growth chart. But not being hungry doesn't stop her from getting cranky when her blood sugar drops. She has to be told to eat or she doesn't even think about

 

DS11 crash like me on low blood sugar.  Milkshakes and smoothies help when my kid is engrossed with his math or science or reading. I even stick in a straw to his Tervis tall tumbler so he does not have to tip his cup :p If we are out and about, I bring nut mix and granola bars in my handbag, partially for me too. I sent a can of Coke as his snack for ACT and SAT just so he does not have a sugar crash, at least it is not Red Bull.

[duckens]

We try to stagger, and we take turns.

We have two children, so one is the Even Day and one is the Odd Day.

On Even Day, Even Child gets to  choose if she would rather be first or second to do piano (or other work).  Because she is older and has more/longer work, I encourage her to work independently or get some breakfast.

 

On Odd Day, Odd Child chooses whether she would rather be first or second.

This is not a hard-and-fast rule.  Sometimes it just depends upon who is awake and who is sleeping late.

The one who wakes up and works hard gets bragging rights of being done first.

The one who sleeps late...well, they get to sleep late.

And remember: Fair is not always equal.