| Author | |
Barbara C.
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 11 2007
Location: Illinois
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 882
|
| Posted: Jan 08 2009 at 8:44pm | IP Logged
|
 |
|
I am just curious if we are the only family that does night school. My oldest is 6 and we do her formal work after dinner at night. We work two to three nights a week for 30 to 60 minutes: math and reading. Otherwise we unschool.
My oldest has always been a late sleeper. She's the sort that from an early age would skip a nap but then sleep for 12 hours at night. Most days I make her get up at 10 am (sometimes 11 depending on how late her daddy got her to bed the night before). I used to try to work with her in the early afternoon, but she was prone to meltdowns. By late afternoon, I was.  She just focuses better after dinner.
My 3-year-old enjoys doing her "math" work any time of day, but she usually does it after dinner while her sister works.
Anyone else doing night school?
__________________
Barbara
Mom to "spirited" dd(9), "spunky" dd (6), "sincere" dd (3), "sweet" dd (2), and baby girl #5 born 8/1/12!!
Box of Chocolates
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
CatholicMommy
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 07 2007
Location: Indiana
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1254
|
| Posted: Jan 08 2009 at 9:04pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I don't know about anyone else here, but lately we too have been owling it. I hear there can be something about the time of day you were born as to when your highpoint will be - it seems to work with both my son and myself - we were both born in the evening.
(and I work outside of the home too as DRE for two parishes, so work during the day, but it works well for us anyway)
Mornings are for physical labor - then getting out the door - we have lunch together and will do something light together then, like reading or reviewing something, but not new stuff.
Afternoons (after we get home from work) are for just relaxing - playing. Then after dinner, we go into our learning HARD! We both just concentrate so well at this time (we're not finished even now - he's still reading to me from a new book).
When I had family daycare in my home, I tried for a morning work time, but it just never worked for us. Some of the kids had work time during the littler ones' nap times, but the prime school hours were still in the evening (I had childcare/tutoring/more, and was open whenever families needed childcare or tutoring for their children).
Isn't homeschooling nice? That we can make it work for our own families and actually have school FIT with our personal routines?
:)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
SuzanneG
Forum Moderator
Joined: June 17 2006
Location: Idaho
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5465
|
| Posted: Jan 08 2009 at 10:21pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I/We work with our two oldest who are 6.5 and almost 8.
From about 8-9 pm, after the 5yo, 3yo, and baby are in bed.
Doing various things......reading out loud, math, narrations, notebooks, etc. It started last year, working on First Communion Notebook, and it was fun and very productive, so we kept doing it. During the day we do group stuff, outside and projects, etc. We keep the one-on-one stuff for the evening.
It usually means I'm up a bit later, but for now that's ok.
__________________
Suzanne in ID
Wife to Pete
Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
monique
Forum Pro
Joined: Sept 11 2007
Location: Wyoming
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 345
|
| Posted: Jan 09 2009 at 8:32am | IP Logged
|
|
|
We've used it quite a bit with one child. He seems better able to focus in the evening. I'm the one who is usually tired though and then I'm not patient when he is messing around (not doing his work) keeping me up. So we don't do it all the time. This past fall his block was from 8:30 to 10:00. He did all of his work then. After the holidays we decided he needed to do some things during the day and he only finishes up what he has left in the evenings.
__________________
Monique
mom to 5
Raising Saints
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Willa
Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 28 2005
Location: California
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3881
|
| Posted: Jan 09 2009 at 9:42am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I moved the topic over here to Real Learning since it seemed to be more about "how to" than "why".
Great question!
I find that my 9 year old revs up after dinner and loves to work with his Montessori type activities. And then he goes to sleep, and my 6 year old wants to listen to read alouds. So the majority of my work with these two (my 9 year old is special needs and functioning as a 6 year old) is during the evening hours before bedtime.
Now that I see that, maybe I can plan better. I already do plan for a rest time for Mom during the mid-afternoon, so I have energy for evening parenting. But I have been trying to shoehorn their academics into the morning when they aren't usually in the mood and I'm trying to get other things done. Maybe just planning for afternoon and evening would help.
__________________
AMDG
Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Kristie 4
Forum All-Star
Joined: June 20 2006
Location: Canada
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1508
|
| Posted: Jan 09 2009 at 3:01pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I also have been trying to shoehorn the morning for a number of years now (maybe always  ). I find if I just plan for the afternoon than everyone just sort of slugs through chores etc. in the morning and before we know it it is lunch and the 'free time', meaning all that great life they live when not doing lessons, is sort of eaten up in the morning slog. However, if I get people moving then they appreciate their afternoons so much. Oh my, I sound like such a see saw. Lately I have wanted someone to come along and just say- do it this way etc. I have such a hard time bringing together all of my different ideas and all of my children's different personalities!
That probably didn't make much sense I realise in retrospect. What I should say is that I have found at times that being more flexible can work very well...
__________________
Kristie in Canada
Mom to 3 boys and one spunky princess!!
A Walk in the Woods
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
mom2mpr
Forum All-Star
Joined: May 16 2006
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1550
|
| Posted: Jan 09 2009 at 3:30pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Kristie,
I understand what you mean. We also putz away our mornings and it drives me crazy. I would love to get up and at-em and have the afternoon freedoms. But, my kids seem a little happier with this than me barking at them all morning, so.....
Anne
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Leonie
Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 28 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2831
|
| Posted: Jan 09 2009 at 4:51pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I used to alwasy say that we do all our homeschooling either at night or in the car! 
Night time read alouds became discussions and looking up things. Night time movies lead into reserarch and heated debates. We just seem to have more time at night!
__________________
Leonie in Sydney
Living Without School
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Connections
Forum Pro
Joined: June 24 2008
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 268
|
| Posted: Jan 09 2009 at 5:53pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
You know, I have not considered what we do to be schooling in the evenings, but I think I should think about it that way.
I do think it will take some pressure off of the mornings that always seem to get away from us if I focus more on what we can accomplish in the evening.
Thanks.
_______________
Blessings,
Tracey
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Barbara C.
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 11 2007
Location: Illinois
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 882
|
| Posted: Jan 09 2009 at 6:39pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
That is funny about the time of day you were born. She was my only one born at night. The other two were born in the early afternoon. So is night-time the best time for her because that was when she was born, or was she born at night-time because that was the best time for her?
Yeah, I used to drive myself crazy making all these detailed schedules (like Super Nanny) with us starting out at like nine or ten in the morning, but it never worked out. Then I would get discouraged.
Even though I am a late morning person (I hit my stride around ten in the morning) the night schooling works for me, too, because then I focus my energies on doing dishes, laundry, and other chores first thing in the morning. The morning is also usually the time when the baby is most self-entertaining. I am less impatient during school time since my work for the day is done.
We usually eat dinner at five, and the kids don't go to bed until nine or ten (or eleven). That usually gave us a minimum of three hours of dead time, where I was just too physically tired to do housework. So schoolwork and/or playing games (also very educational) keeps us from going to the television as much to get over the last hump of the day.
As CatholicMommy noted, this is one of the many perks of homeschooling. I have often wondered how much my daughter would suffer, physically and academically, if she was forced to live by the traditional school schedule.
__________________
Barbara
Mom to "spirited" dd(9), "spunky" dd (6), "sincere" dd (3), "sweet" dd (2), and baby girl #5 born 8/1/12!!
Box of Chocolates
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
allegiance_mom
Forum Pro
Joined: June 26 2007
Location: New York
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 163
|
| Posted: Jan 16 2009 at 7:30pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I have a friend who night schools. For many years she worked a midnight - eight shift. She would sleep during the day then wake up in the afternoon.
Even though she no longer works outside the home, they have stuck with that pattern. They are late sleepers, but night owls.
It works for them!
__________________
Allegiance Mom in NY
Wife 17 years
Mom to two boys, 14 and 8, and one pre-born babe in Heaven (Jan 2010)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Night schooling?
