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Mary G
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| Posted: March 15 2007 at 8:22am | IP Logged
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... your school day?
KatherynF posted about her being a night owl and wanting to start her day backwards. MaryM and I have talked about this a bit too.
And it kind of goes along with the I love Spring but topic I posted earlier.
Bottom-line -- what are your "school hours" -- do you start days in the morning and finish by lunch or do you work mostly in the afternoon? Do you school in bits and pieces? Do you make your kids get up by a certain time? I've heard of some families that don't school until Dad gets home in the evenings -- does that work?
For some reason, I'm locked into thinking that my kids have to be up by 8, breakfasted and ready to start by 8:30. WHY? If there sleep patterns are such that they like to sleep in, why should I get them up early?
What's the consensus folks? What do y'all do?
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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Cay Gibson
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| Posted: March 15 2007 at 8:34am | IP Logged
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I just read Kathryn's post. I'm a night owl as well and it can be doubly hard if the child have opposite patterns...which is surely likely.
In my household we have:
Dh---morning
Me---Night
Corey---morning
Kayleigh---both (extremely flexible, I don't know how she does it)
Garrett---night
Chelsea and Annie --- night (they are still at the age that they are a reflection of me)
When oldest ds has a weekday off, he drives me absolutely batty. He comes in so cheerful and ready to pick, pick, pick on his sisters who are still in MY bed!  He's not satisfied until we are all up and at 'em. 
This year I have found that we start around 9 A.M., but mornings are slow and expectations are kept low. I still prefer our afternoons to remain free so I like seatwork to be done from 10-12 noon but sometimes, for those slow-risers, it's done from 12 noon-2 PM.
Of course, that's all on my ideal clock which is only in my head, devoid of interruptions, potty breaks, and sporadic rabbit trails. But, on average, that's how it is.
Generally, I'm "up and at 'em" no later than 7:30 A.M. I expect all the children up by 8 A.M. and doing something constructive by 9 A.M. But that's just part of the self-discipline I'm trying to instill in my children. It might sound relaxed to some, harsh to others.
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Cay Gibson
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momwats8
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For us we try to start by 9:00am so we are done at a decent time. When we have things like baseball that go late at night then I let them sleep and start later. I try to go by their schedules.
Yesterday I was tired and they let me sleep until 9:00 so we started later.
i have to say that though I am not a morning person per se I like to get the work over with so they can play and swim. 
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Paula in MN
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| Posted: March 15 2007 at 8:57am | IP Logged
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We start by 8 and finish by 11. Then we have the rest of the day for outside things!
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 Paula
A Catholic Harvest
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Mare
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| Posted: March 15 2007 at 9:45am | IP Logged
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We start at 8 am and officially finish by 2:30 pm. That, however, includes lots of free play time between subjects so I can get my housework started in the morning.
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extremeknitter
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| Posted: March 15 2007 at 9:56am | IP Logged
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we used to start at 8. the kids were required to be up at 7. now we start after 9 am, but wake up time is the same. we needed to do some chores before learning because we just didn't manage well in that area. Only one of my girls is a morning person. She easily gets up by 7 and would get up earlier if I let her.
i am a major morning person (unless i'm pregnant or have a young baby). Up by 5 is my motto. It's a lovely time to pray, read and knit. I find the quiet between 5 and 7 to be so helpful to me. It really sets the tone for my day if I can have peace, quiet and prayer before things get rolling.
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KellyinPA
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Umm, it's 10:53am and we haven't started yet  To redeem myself, we are only doing K this year and it only takes 60 to 90 minutes to accomplish this. Plus it's dark and raining, there will be no outside time today so I'm letting them play now, then we'll do lessons, have lunch and a Magic School bus DVD before naptime, there I feel better
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MichelleW
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| Posted: March 15 2007 at 10:12am | IP Logged
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We start at 9:30 and finish at 2:30, unless we don't.
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Michelle
Mom to 3 (dd 14, ds 15, and ds 16)
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marihalojen
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| Posted: March 15 2007 at 10:25am | IP Logged
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11am here and no school in sight yet. Marianna has been writing in her journal for the past thirty minutes though and I don't bug her when I see writing going on! We'll get an hour or so of schooly stuff (probably Math) done before lunch and then read while we eat, do more school this afternoon - Journey North stuff, Latin cards, Friendly letters, Invertebrate Scavenger Hunt, maybe some painting Wyland style if we have time.
I've come to the realization that this child is just not a morning person at all. I'd rather she be up and schooling by 9am then I'd feel like we could take the afternoons off but it rarely happens. And truthfully, the afternoons we'd take off we'd probably do something that could be tied in with school anyway - kayaking, library, handcrafts - so why not just do it anyway and then work school around it? You know, write about the experience, etc...
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lapazfarm
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Pretty much the same as Jennifer, here. We start when we get motivated to do so. Usually we can get an hour or more of more "schoolish" stuff done in the mornings (usually math). And then we might get around to a hands-on activity like baking bread or making a model, where ds only needs my help a little. Writing, and projects where ds needs my undivided attention are done in the afternoons when the littles are napping. Or evenings, or whenever... Ds reads aot in the evenings.
Littles are schooled in fits and bursts throughout the day. Usually mornings see the bulk of their schooling, but lately the weather has been so nice they have been playing outside in the mornings alot. With dd (5)I let her choose her Montessori activities as she sees fit, plus we will do some reading or math in 15-20 minute sessions many days, but not all. She is still pretty young for formal work and as the weather warms we won't do much at all unless it is a rainy day and the "I'm bored" syndrome sets in! I am getting things together for her Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, so we will be setting some time aside for that soon. Maybe around lunch.
As far as being a morning person, we are SO not!Except JBug, who is always up at the crack of dawn with a smile!
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: March 15 2007 at 10:52am | IP Logged
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Just wanted to add that my previous post made it sound like we do alot of school in the mornings. It really isn't that much. My mornings are pretty relaxed, actually. And so are my afternoons, come to think of it!LOL!
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LaPaz Home Learning
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julia s.
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marihalojen wrote:
And truthfully, the afternoons we'd take off we'd probably do something that could be tied in with school anyway - kayaking, library, handcrafts - so why not just do it anyway and then work school around it? You know, write about the experience, etc... |
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I agree. 
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hopalenik
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Hi,
I am the latest of all night owls and I am still struggling to get off my college schedule from 15 years ago...So we get up late. And rosary, prayers, and reading alouds are in the morning from 10 till 12. Lunch and then seat work in the afternoon...I have a second grader and twin K. So seat work shouldn't take so long but I have to rotate from one non independent child to another. Unfortunately, by the time this improves number 4 will be 4 and hopping ready for preschool....so my day seems to take forever...if only I got up earlier...
Holly
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KC in TX
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Well, I am not a morning person, but I do have us down to a routine. We are up by 7 (I try to get up by six, but fail 99% of the time). On Monday, Wednesday and Fridays we attend daily mass so we are out the door by 8:45 (luckily, church is only a 2 minute drive away). On Mondays and Wednesdays we have therapy from 10 to noon. That's exhausting in and of itself so we don't start our school day until around 2pm. It doesn't leave us much time for play.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I try to get us going by 7 but usually I need to sleep in a bit (until about 7:30). Then we get going and try to start school by 9. I had been shooting for 8:30 or even 8, but it was killing me and my children to do it. So, we just take the morning as it comes. Some days the kids need more play time to get settled down. My oldest really needs to play a bit more on certain days so I let him otherwise we would not have a productive day.
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wife to Ben (10/94),
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: March 15 2007 at 2:26pm | IP Logged
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We do things when we get around to them. 
BUT as far as a schedule.. I try and stick with something that will work well with dh's schedule. It does NOT work for me to have kids still up past 10pm when dh is wanting to be going to sleep about 11. So I work backwards.. if I want the kids in bed no later than 9:30.. then they have to be getting up early enough to make that bedtime work.
I'm a night owl myself.. BUT within that there is flexibility. Right now I'm attempting to get us all moved a bit earlier.. I'm thinking kids up no later than 8.. would allow for the 9:30 bedtime.. BUT I let anyone under 2 sleep later.. and I WANT my 2 yr old to sleep later.. that allows him to skip nap and go to sleep before 10... too much before 9 and he thinks he just had a nap and want to get up and play instead of staying in bed. Get him up too early and he'll nap and even if the nap is reasonably early.. then he's up late that night. 
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Becky Parker
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On a good day, everyone is up by 8 and we start our school day by 9. We always have morning prayer and what we call "morning meeting" so the actual academics don't get underway until around 9:30. We stop at noon for lunch and pick back up at 2 with story time for the littles and time for the big to finish what he still has to complete. For the most part we're done by 3.
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sailormom
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| Posted: March 15 2007 at 3:23pm | IP Logged
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We don't do schedules. We do routines.
So sometimes we're all up and ready to go at 8am, and other times (like this morning!), we don't start until 11am or later. My oldest usually gets herself going by 8:30am every morning. She's a morning person. My younger daughter sleeps in, and both my boys are early birds. It also really depends on how much I have to do. This morning, I had to clean the bird cage in addition to my regular morning routine, so that meant we started later.
When I first started homeschooling, I felt like I should start at 8am and have everything done by lunch, but it never worked out that way, especially with a little one or two underfoot.
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Angel
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All my kids seem to be night owls, but since I am definitely *not* a morning person, I guess that's ok. Still I do sometimes feel guilty when it's 9 AM and my oldest 2 -- who are the latest night owls -- are still in bed.
Here's the schedule we've sort of fallen into this year:
If I want a shower, I have to get up when dh does, around 6:30. That way he's available for twin duty, because the babies often wake up around then or 7 and want a bottle and then back to sleep for a (little) while. This seemed really early to me at first, but to be honest, I like having some quiet time before all the kids descend on me in the mornings. Sometimes dh has to get up at 6 and I have to grudgingly admit that I like getting up at 6 even better, because then I have even *more* time to myself and can read through my blogs and email and maybe even post, and then get the housework started before *all* the kids get up. (The little ones are usually up around 7:30 or 8, and I think they enjoy their relatively quiet wake-up times as well.)
I try to get the big kids up by 8:30, but sometimes I can't force myself away from the quiet! Usually we're started with our read-alouds by 9:30, but sometimes it's 10 AM. (We do read-alouds first because it seems to help everyone wake up, and because I consider them the core of our school.) So we do about an hour of read-alouds, some morning chores, and math before lunch.
After lunch, I work with the big kids in spelling and Latin, and they have a longish play period (hopefully outside), then back in to do any formal, seatwork in their rooms by themselves at quiet time while I get the babies down for a nap. They also read at this time... and at night before bed... and at various points during the day...
So I guess our day doesn't really end until around 3:30 or 4, but the kids have usually had quite a bit of free time in the form of some long breaks and not starting till later. And, of course, although they are supposed to technically be in bed between 9:30 and 10, I suspect that a lot of reading and drawing goes on at later hours some nights...
--Angela
Three Plus Two
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Nina Murphy
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| Posted: March 15 2007 at 7:01pm | IP Logged
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Oh dear. Hopefully before 10:00.
Every Fall I start the Official Daily Schedule and keep to it for about 2 1/2 months.....
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Mary G
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Nina Murphy wrote:
Oh dear. Hopefully before 10:00.
Every Fall I start the Official Daily Schedule and keep to it for about 2 1/2 months..... |
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WOW! 2-1/2 months ... I make it about 2-1/2 weeks !
I keep fighting the battle of trying NOT to "do school at home" -- I want them to feel like they're learning all day and that this is good....but I just feel like I have to get them going at some point, don't I?
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: What Time Do You Start ...
