We have friends whose dad doesn't get home until 8 or 9 pm every night. He leaves at 10:30 or so in the morning. So they stay up late to be with daddy, get up late, see daddy off to work, and do chores and stuff. Then they do school in the afternoon and into the evening. It works well for them because that's the schedule that fits with spending quality family time! As Patty said, that's the beauty of homeschooling---you CAN work with a schedule that fits you, and IT'S OK!!! In fact it's way better than rushing and stressing about getting to the bus stop or to the school on time in the morning. Forgetting homework, so running home to get that. Realizing they didn't bring their piano lesson books either, so running home and back for those........Yeah, do what's best for you and your family. You're all more relaxed, in the groove, and get much more accomplished that way!
Yes, I have a friend who doesn't get up until around noon, spend time with their dad (who works 2nd shift), and then starts school when he leaves for work. They do school in the late afternoons/evenings, sometimes not finishing until close to midnight. Definately NOT for MY family, but it works for them! Twilight, you don't have to be in sync with "us"! As long as your family is in sync with each other, and it's working for you!
I agree that's the beauty of hsing whatever works for famiy. Only u know what is good for your family.
See I've always been really strict about tv, computer, vsmile. But seems the past week -2 weeks she is so much easier to live with if I let her watch cartoons for a few before we start our day. Otherwise it's like pulling teeth to get her to do anything. I timed her one day. She was up at 8, we fought about eating breakfast, then it was making bed and getting dressed, then it was brushing teeth and hair, and FINALLY we were sitting down to start school around 10 and there was NO tv in there. That was all her being stubborn and me having to stay on her. She is definetly daddy's girl lol- only difference is she doesn't have a morning cup of coffee. Hubby gets up, makes coffee and turns on the tv first thing lol. As soon as he leaves for work I turn the noisey thing off and turn some music on.
We start oru day.. well I get up at 5, pray- do house stuff an start p computers, wake ds15 for school out, then at 730 wake dd and ds who home school. School starts here at 8 am, regardless of if they have eaten or not. If they are hungery enough to eat they either get to eat at break, or while they work at kitchen table, depends on what they are working on. This keeps them getting up, ds usualy wakes at around 630 but lately has been waking right before school so we dont start right on teh right foot I mean? Keeping schedule of sleep works best for ds9, and I am a morning person so I work best early.
It really seems like each day is somewhat different for us. What works best is not what always happens, unfortunately. Somedays my kids never get out of their pj's....other days they are up and at 'em. I let them kind of go with the flow....sometimes it works, sometimes it drives me crazy. When I really get organized and keep a set schedule, it seems to be the best...but I am really bad at keeping up with that. Jackie is right, though Twilight, you don't have to be in sync with "us"! As long as your family is in sync with each other, and it's working for you!
Oh my Leslie, that sounds just like me and my kids! Wow, when I read that I thought I wrote it, but then I remembered I didn't! :lol: (Hey, how tall are you, btw? I'm looking for a "long lost sister like Kris and Ava Rose found! )
I'm a total night owl, but need that quiet time and coffee in the morning by myself too in order to feel human enough to handle the day well. DH gets up around 4:45 and leaves about an hour later, and I just can't get with THAT program! *LOL* I'm usually up by 7:30/8 and dd8 is usually up by 9. And WE do the SAME thing w/ some PBS in the morning! Not that I like it that way, but it gives her time to wake up and eat breakfast. She usually watches DragonTales for a half hour, and when the show ends, she often takes the initiative to turn the tv off herself and actually asks to "start homeschool"! We generally work w/o much of a break from 9:30 to 12p, when "Between the Lions" comes on. By that time we both appreciate a break AND it is a consistent reminder for me to fix lunch! That show lasts a half hour as well, then we usually pick up wherever we left off or do an afternoon project (or lately, yardwork). A couple of days a week, I often work from home, teaching from 2p-4p on the computer in my office and that's the time she gets to just play to her heart's content with toys (My Little Ponys, Breyer Horses, painting, drawing, Wii Sports, etc) After 4p, we usually go out to check the mail, and piddle around in the front yard, refilling bird feeders, picking up sticks/trash, picking those dadburned cheery yellow dandelion blooms, etc. Then at 5p, "Cyberchase" comes on PBS (EXCELLENT show w/ a math focus), then "Arthur", for which Daddy comes home and hangs on couch w/ her for the last half while I'm working on dinner. I certainly didn't set this schedule, but have tried to adapt to it since it IS structure of some sort. I'm GREAT at planning schedules...I just NEVER use or stick with it! I'm so glad to see the variety in schedules that work for others. Thanks for starting this thread!!!
Well I wake up with dh at 4:30 and pack his lunch and make breakfast for everyone. The dc wake up between 6 and 6:30. They make their beds, clean their room and eat. They study while they are eating. When they are done they do any homework they didn't complete the night before. My ds usually does all his homework in the am and spends his afternoons with dad. They usually are starting their school then about 7:30. Theirs no tv or toys of any sort until school is done. We do take an exercise break about 10:30 and go jogging, climbing or walking (about 3 miles) . Then it's back to school until lunch (half hour). On a good day we are done by 2:00. But not everyday goes like this and some days go better. Now one of my best friends doesn't start until about 10am and gets done about 3:00 and that works great for her. It's all about what works for you and your family.
Apple- we used to do the PBS in the morning too and occastionally we will still stop and watch between teh Lions, they are so good to help with phonics! If there is an educational program on that goes with thier lessons sometimes we watch while we work, Right now we have slipped behind because of my year so far and so though we get up and follow the schedule to the most part we have our days when life gets in the way. Then we have to play catchup. Yesterday I removed a lesson on tripple addition that I knew Ds already knew so that should have helped , but he still had 3 math lessons assigned! I think My dates are wrong so I will go back and reset it again this weekend... I love Sos's changeable schedule with otu all the typing or writing! just a click and a click! At one point I had oopsed and had Feb as the end o the year that is why dd had finished her math so quickly and advanced to the next grade haha! I find if I stay on task and watch my schedule things go so much smoother.. but dd does not follow her schedule being older she works more independantly, and dd9 has his nine year old struggles here and there plus a very active imagination that gets in the way now and then hehehe, if I can get my kids to write their 'dramas' down hahah! Anyway, things dont go perfect as it sounded in my first post and I felt i neede to fix the view haha tgis!
Phillip watched "Between the Lions" when he was a pre-reader. But we're too busy now for it. As far as Cyberchase goes...when it first came out, there was "something" about that show that didn't sit well with me, don't ask me what! Though actually I had never seen it. So when we were on vacation, the couple whose daughter Rachael still writes to was telling me what a good show it was. When I went home, I checked it, and found it to be a great show. Probably one of my kids' favorites. And occasionally, I will bring something from the show up..."Do you remember how Matt did...on Cyberchase? Well, if you try this...."
Another late starting family here! I have Fibromyalgia, so the mornings are really hard on my body - I HAVE to have some time to warm up before we get started. DD has to sleep at least 12 hours (and has done so all her life!) So she gets up around 8. Also, dd (kinder) is a GRUMP in the morning so she, too watches 30 minutes (usually Curious George on PBS) and must eat before we start. Our day goes much smoother with less battling this way! We usually do school from 9ish to 12ish, and we find this is plenty for kindergarten. In the afternoon, I do chores and she plays vsmile or computer learning games. Sometimes we go run errands - and I always review things while in the car. I just tested her with a Kindergarten assessment (just something I got off the net) and she is doing great!!! I love the freedom and flexibility of homeschooling.
We start pretty late in the mornings also. What I mean by late, is 9-9:30am at the latest. Perhaps later we will revert to earlier times, but after getting up at 5:30-6am for the last 4 years to get the kids on the bus by 7:15, sleeping in until 7or 8 am is wonderful!
I haven't actually slept in for years - I don't need much sleep and I'm a night owl and a morning person lol. I think this is why I'm so schedule oriented and am having a hard time going with dd's schedule. Although it is nice to have her HAPPY and not grumpy in the morning so I'm not complaining. Usually in the morning she watches something on Discovery Kids or PBS depending on what's on. Now go figure, this morning she was up early, it's Saturday and no school. But she was up earlier than usual, didn't watch tv, did everything she was supposed on a normal school day and didn't have to ask her twice. Why? Because she had swimming lessons at 11 lol.
we have a pretty felxi schedule - I am definately not a morning person, and I hate working with grumpy kids. So I told them if you are tired I would rather that they sleep and wake up happy than wake up early and grumpy! Some days we all do school in our PJ's!! We have a set amount of work, rather than a time frame, so depending on how the kids apply themselves, sometimes we finish in 3 hours - sometimes it takes 8. Most days are somewhere in the middle though. I am amazed at how early lots of you get up! It's still dark then!! Does that really count as morning?! Hey Apple - I will assume that when you 'piddle' around your front yard, that it doesn't mean the same thing it means here (piddle = to pass urine!!) LOL! Can anyone tell me what is a vsmile?
a vsmile is a video game for younger kids. The games are all educational unlike a playstation or nintendo. We've had it for a few years but dd's never been that interested in it till recently. Here's a link http://www.vsmile.co.uk/
