I'm a night owl. Late night is when I get to have "me" time.. It's nothing for me to be up at 1 or 2 am. BUT this is causing a huge issue with homeschooling because I tend to sleep until around 10 the next morning. My daughter does better when she can get up and start school by 8 after when the other kids have left for public school. Her attention span is much better first thing in the morning. Not to mention that it leaves the rest of the day for us to do other things like going to the library or spending the afternoon at the museum or even the park. When I don't get up until 10 it throws my day off because I am NOT a morning person and it takes me a bit to get going. By that time, she's been up and has starting playing and getting her to change her attention to school is like pulling teeth. It's do-able but it's not fun. By that time my 17 year old comes home from school and then hubby comes home for lunch. Both leave around 2 and it's impossible to get anything done when they are here. Hubby comes home and turns on the tv. GRRRR. IF I get up before my daughter, I get some "me" time first thing in the morning and I'm more likely to get dressed for the day rather than drudging around in my jammies because it's so late when we start. Getting dressed makes me feel better and also gets me out of the house later on a whim if there's something that I feel like doing later. I can't seem to get myself to bed at a decent time. I guess a few days of getting up early after staying up should do the trick of making me go to bed at a decent hour. Right?? Here lately I feel like all I do is cook, clean, and school my daughter. It's getting monotonous and I'm getting burned out BIG TIME! This is all because I'm staying up too late and not getting dressed. ((sigh)) anyone else get stuck in this? It's to the point that I don't even go to the grocery store, I send my teenaged son or my hubby. NOT good for the budget! How do you stay on a schedule/routine? Or do you even have one?
Hi, I too admit to loving those late morning sleep ins...and yes our school and schedule end up suffering. It boils down to discipline. I need more to make myself have the rest I require. It sounds like you and I both need to put ourselves to bed an hour or two earlier and wake earlier. I can manage three or four early mornings but then I get cranky and draggy...not good. Like you my kids will get themselves playing or whatever and then nothing gets done. On those days I do get myself up and shake of the cobwebs the days are so much more productive. Sigh...looking at the clock now I can see I should have an hour or so before bed lol. Best of luck it's an ongoing battle.
I'm like you, I love to stay up late after everyone has gone to bed. I am definitely NOT a morning person. Even if I go to bed early and get up early, I still can't get motivated to do school work so early. I was able to change our schedule and it has worked out for the best. We get up when we get up. We do our errands, outdoor animal chores and housecleaning in the AM. We have lunch (or breakfast lol) around 11am and then we start school work. There is only one day of the week where we have to be out of the house by 8:45 am, the rest of the week is very relaxed. Where we live it gets too hot to do much of anything outdoors, so that is one of the benefits of doing school work in the afternoon. We get plenty of outdoor time in the evening, when it cools down. My 8 yr old goes to bed at 9:30, I go to bed when I'm tired. She gets up around 8:30 and is allowed to watch cartoons, play with her toys and do what she likes until I get up around 9am.It works for us.
I should be gearing up for bed, but guess what I'm doing... I'm looking at History curriculum!! UGH!! I'm going to have to set a limit on being online. Maybe no more internet after 8:30?? For my daughter, I really need to get her going first thing in the morning. Getting off of here now, and resting.. I took an allergy pill and should be out soon. The wind has kicked up the dirt and I'm in misery! So, here's to an early morning rise tomorrow and an amazingly productive day!!! Night all!
I am not a morning person, but, thankfully, neither are my children. We tend to all stay up later than we should. I usually get up around 8:00 while my hubby is getting ready for work. The boys usually don't get up until 9:00 or 9:30. We eat a quick breakfast and usually start school around 10:00 or 10:30, but some days it is 11:00. We break for lunch around 1:00. Then finish up our day. Thankfully this is working for us. If it didn't work for my kids I guess I would have to change my routine so that we were up and started earlier. It would be hard, but worth it. Good luck as you figure out a schedule that works for both you and her.
I got up at 6:30 this morning and have been going ever since. We got most of our school in today. Hubby came home to discuss a job change with me and that threw off my rhythm, by that time we had almost everything done. Now I'm working on prepping my dining room wall for painting while dd is watching Monster Inc 2. Took a break to grab some lunch and recoup. I could REALLY use a nap, but I know as soon as I lay down that's the end of anything getting done today..
My dh and I are a night owls too and I am NOT a morning person, my dh can be though. He gets up for work, but enjoys sleeping in until 10ish on the weekends. In fact if I get up before 9:00 my kids tell me to go back to bed! HAHA! We get up and get going when we do. It is not always before lunch, but for the most part everything gets done that needs to be done. If we have "leftover" schoolwork it gets done over the weekend. I have really tried to get up earlier but I seriously have an attitude problem when I get up too early. I really do try to be nice though even when I am feeling tired/frustrated/upset/etc.
We are morning people around here. If we do not wake early, our day is off. :lol: This allows us to get in our walk, hit the stores when they open, and run errands before the streets get busy. We can have school done early, and then do what we want. It also allows us to complete chores early. I do not like wearing my pajamas during the day. If I am going out, I will dress for going out. If I am staying home, I dress cozy, but I still change my clothes. I find that if I stay in my pjs, I also want to sit around all day. Even though we go to bed early, I sometimes slip in a short nap after lunch. What is great about our "schedule" is that it works for our family as a whole. Perhaps you can find areas where you can have your daughter start certain subjects without your help, and while she is working, you can be waking a little earlier. Take baby steps. I always woke at 4:00 am when I was single. Once I married Handsome I stopped working and started to wake even earlier. This threw me for a loop because a half hour makes all the difference in the world.
What is Me Time? Seriously....I never heard of it. Here's how my morning began (I am NOT a morning person at.all.)...woke up at 6:20 to wake oldest dd up for tech school (yes, she's old enough to get herself up...but she often falls back asleep and sleeps through 3 alarms on her phone). Then I lay back down...but I can't fall back asleep in case dd doesn't get up. 10 minutes later I get back up to tell dd again to get up. I lay back down but again must just lay there until I hear that she's up. Once I hear the bathroom door slam then I know she's up. I try to sleep for 45 minutes before she is ready to leave. Of course, just as I am about to finally doze off into dreamland my alarm wakes me up. Up to make sure dd has everything and is off to school & work study. I go back to bed, but again it takes me a long time to fall asleep (why don't I just say up? Because I don't want to). Finally I fall back asleep but don't get back up until nearly 10:30! Thankfully this scenario is only twice a week...but it's exhausting all this up and down. I'm trying to will myself to stay up and do an exercise video...that hasn't happened yet. My dd and I tend to stay up late because that's when we do our fun read-aloud. Many times a promise of "only 1 chapter" turns into 2 or 3 because we both are into the book. We don't get lights out until 10:30 or 11 a lot of nights. I'd like to slowly get that changed, but I'm not sure if that will happen. I have to take an allergy pill every night just to sleep...otherwise my brain won't quit.....kinda like how I feel right now (feel like I'm rambling on and on and won't stop)... You kind of already answered your own question. Get up earlier...which will, hopefully, make you get to bed earlier. Sounds like you did it today. Don't take the nap and maybe you can be on a new schedule before you know it. I think I need to take my own advice.
Batman's wife, You just explained my mornings almost to a T.. I have 2 that have to leave the house by 7:20 And then one that leaves the house by 8:05. They are all old enough to get themselves up, but both the boys sleep through their alarms. My daughter is up usually before she has to be to do her hair. I get up to wake them, go lay down, get back up to make sure they are up again and AGAIN.. GRRRR.. I did stay up this morning even though I wanted to go back to sleep. I had to fight the urge like crazy!! I take allergy pills to knock me out too.. I need them anyway, but I would still take them even if I didn't.. It's only 1/2 of a benedryl.. No nap today, so we shall see how quickly I fall asleep tonight. I'm exhausted after painting the dining room and I'm still not done. Will hopefully finish it tomorrow. Don't like the color so I don't even want to finish it :/ I hate when that happens..
Weird. It's like we are in a parallel universe..... Do you also live in a cave and does some of your family wear masks with ears too!?? :lol: I know...I'm so lame.
It's hard for me to talk about routines, because ours seems somewhat fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants compared to most. I spent most of each of my kids early years in homeschooling gearing them up for being independent learners. So they are independent…and do schooling very much their own way! I make a schedule for each child (and yes, even the 3rd grader is very independent. I DO help her, and I am available for ALL of my children)…I am more flexible with my oldest as she;s the most diligent! She is the one that gets up at 6 and is finished schooling by 10 so that she can do what she feels like for the rest of the day. That and she has classes on Mondays at a co-op, Fridays at another co-op and bi-weekly at co-op we attend as a family. i use all of that to make up her curricula, but she handles the scheduling of the homework for those things on her own. My oldest is the early bird. My middle gets up fairly early, but not AS early as my oldest. My youngest would sleep till noon if I let her. I don't. I don't let her go past 10 most days. She's the one who seems to work on school ALLLLLL day! LOL She's funny, though….and she loves going to my MIL's little apartment in our house and do her schoolwork there.
I just took up jogging. Just so I could get me time. I am bribing my Dh to be okay with me taking off for an hour in the evening, by reminding him that a sane wife is a happy home, and a fit wife is a sexy wife.... Our kids have us up by 6am, oh joy, I look forward to the day when sleeping in is an option.
I have been avoiding this thread!!! We never had much of a routine and with hubby switching to 3rd shift I figured we would be able to fall into one since I need to keep the kids somewhat occupied and quiet so he can sleep (but he can sleep through anything... must be nice). That has yet to happen. I get up at 10 of 6 to make sure Garrett is up and getting around, then he leaves at 6:45, hubby gets home about that time and my plan was to go downstairs to the treadmill for an hour when he gets home... haha, we sit and watch TV till about 9 then he goes to bed. I have tried all week to get school started by 9:30 or 10, we are breaking for lunch at noon and back at school by 12:30 and working till 2. Or that is my plan. Mostly I just want to quit skipping 99.9% of our subjects! I decided today that I'm going to start getting up at 5, doing a Walk Away the Pounds video before Garrett is up, then moving along with the day. I've found if I exercise in the AM I have much more energy. (but I hate to exercise ) Going to bed is a big problem for me, esp since huby switched shifts. I sleep for crap, I find myself watching tv or floating around online until 1 or 2 most nights now. Maybe getting up early will make me tired enough to go to sleep at night.
Well, my plans of getting to bed early so I could get up have gone out the window so far this week.. 2 days in a row, I slept until 11 :/ Lyndsey did some school yesterday, but nothing today.. We are in for a major lifestyle change with hubby's new job so I'll HAVE to get up and get things going. My days are going to be very full of "homemaking". I'm sorta looking forward to it though..
I'm the same way! Ideally, my bedtime would be between 2-3 AM. But, that doesn't do much for our day getting done. Here's the things I find that help-and mind you I MUST stay on top of them or I will VERY quickly fall back into staying up until 2-3 am and sleeping until 10 am. Make To-do Lists. After the kids go to bed each night I make my to-do lists for the next day. Anything that didn't get done today get's put on tomorrow's to-do list. I know it seems silly, but it puts my mind at ease and allows me to rest to see the undone things become tomorrow's goals-if that makes sense...It frees my mind to actually relax before bed. (personally I use the Cozi and FlyHelper apps for most of my to-dos- FlyHelper is my cleaning lists, just for me. Cozi calendar and lists are family lists-so hubby and I can both update the calendar, each other's to-do lists and the grocery list. It can be updated from our phones or the computer and the other immediately has access to the updates. Bedtime Routine-whatever works for you but make it a ritual. It will signal your body to go wind down it's time for bed. It works for babies and toddlers but adults too! Maybe a bath then a cup of tea and turn out all lights before bed. Maybe check email, remove make up, & a devotional with hubby. You might journal/write, brush your teeth then read a chapter of the Bible. What ever works-but have at least 3 steps to it and do it every night. moving the schedule back - if I get off schedule I slowly move it back-you can't go to bed at 2 am and get up 10 am today and expect to go to bed at 8 pm and get up at 4 am tomorrow. Move your bedtime back slowly, and use natural sleep enhancers if need be. (A glass of red wine before bed, a cup of chamomile tea, some melatonin, etc) {I'm in this stage right now-during Christmas break we all sat up later and slept later, so this past week I've went from getting up at 10 am to 8 am-slowly working my way back to getting up at 4:30am with hubby} Work your (hubby's) schedule-Does hubby work? What time does he get up? Can you get on schedule with him? My hubby is up at 4:30am-if I get up with him & we're all on schedule then I have a good 1-2 hours before the kids get up in the morning-I get dressed, fix hair/makeup, drink coffee and do Bible Study. Then I usually still have some free time to surf the web, check email, read a book, do a craft, etc. If this will work for you too, then make it a rule to go to bed when hubby does. This is my rule-it was marriage advice I heard once-that couples that go to bed at the same time have happier, stronger marriages...We agree upon some 'alone time together' some nights where we both sit on opposite ends of our huge sectional-each doing our own thing quietly, other night we'll watch an episode of a TV show we both enjoy. Then it's off to bed. Quiet time-daily. EVERY day. 30 minutes. Everyone goes to their bedroom for 30 minutes. I set a timer on my phone and I nap or read my Bible or listen to praise & worship songs-something to recharge me! I also drink 32 ounces of water during this time. Yes, it's a lot, but it helps with energy. If I'm going to nap I'll drink half the water before I nap and the other half when I wake up. This helps me through the day-knowing I'll have naptime later helps me get up int he mornings! It also signals our shift int eh day from high energy mornings to slow down and enjoy evenings. Plan a simple evening - I know this isn't ALWAYS possible, but hubby usually is home around 5-6pm so my plan for after hubby gets home is to have only daily routine things to do--finish up dinner if it's not ready when he gets home, clean up the kitchen, pack his lunch for the next day (which is usually leftovers). We moved kids baths to the morning time to lighten up this time of day-it reduces everyone's stress and allow a calmer evening. I bathe at night sometimes but it's not a chore but a relaxing thing-if I bathe at night I usually take a bath with epsom salt and essential oils and a book or magazine Then, set an alarm one 30 min before bed-then again at bedtime! Little things matter- follow some of the rules, you know-no caffeine 6 hours before bed, no exercise 4-6 hours before bed, no computer/tv for 2 hours before bed, no large meals before bed, use bedroom for sleep and sex only (no tv, bill paying, etc). You don't have to follow them all-but start trying out some of them and see if they help you go to bed sooner and sleep better. I had the attitude that I was adult and these were silly rules...but ya know what...they aren't. Some help me, some don't. But I can at least say I've tried them now. Prayer & Encouragement - Ask God to help you in this area! Have hubby pray for you too! Have hubby encourage you to go to bed with him instead of sitting up late. Have a friend encourage you, work together-call or text each other in the mornings at a designated time. For a while I used a Twitter group for encouragement-I could lay in bed and tweet with the ladies during a set time each morning until I was 'awake' enough to face the day out of the comfort of my bed. Two weird tips: 1. One thing I do to encourage myself to wake earlier is drink a ton of water at bedtime. I usually sleep through the night but it will cause me to wake earlier and once I'm up, I'm up. 2. I can't see a clock from my bed. Removing the clock from my nightstand was so helpful! Now I can't clock-watch when I can't sleep. I plug my phone up on my nightstand so if I NEED to check the time, I can, but it takes the effort of rolling over, picking up the phone and turning it on, plus it lights up the whole room when I do this, disturbing hubby if he's not sound asleep...so I check it rarely.
JosieB, Thanks for those tips.. I will probably be getting up early starting tomorrow. Hubby has spoiled me by taking the older 3 kids to school allowing me to stay in bed Tomorrow, he starts a new job and has to be to work by 7am!! That means he is going to be leaving around 6:30 which is when I start my daily "get up NOW" routine with them.. So I will HAVE to get up and get dressed and may as well stay up and get the day going.. This means that Lyndsey has to get up and get dressed too. No laying around in jammies all day.. This could be a GOOD thing.
Good luck! That will be a hard transition, but I bet it will help you get on a schedule and your days may actually flow smoother.
One of the smaller reasons I "invented" my little school was so that I HAVE to get up and get moving most mornings. Otherwise, I would have succumbed to inertia long ago and ceased to exist.
LOL!! That's too funny.. I've never heard of it put that way. I may have to steal that phrase since it Sounds much better than calling myself lazy..
