Rise and Shine?

During our Christmas break, David (age 14) and I were discussing our imminent return to a more structured schedule. He complained about the time I wanted him to be out of bed, telling me it was too early.

"None of my homeschooled friends have to get up THAT early, Mom!"

The time in question is 8:00 AM. My goal is for the kids to get ready between 8 and 9 and then have some scheduled quiet devotional time between 9-9:30. (Not necessarily 30 minutes of it, but sometime in there.) It also gives us a little cushion of extra time. We start our lessons at 9:30.

I posted on my facebook account, asking for other homeschoolers to let me know what times their teens arise from their deep slumbers.

What I hoped for was some reassurance that there are other homeschoolers out there who like to stick to some semblence of a schedule.

What I got was a number of traditionally-schooled kids (or their parents) reporting what ungodly hours those kids have to get up to be ready before their school buses arrive. An oft-quoted time was 5:00 AM. FIVE O'CLOCK AM? That's really not a time I like to think about being awake. If David went to the local junior high school, he'd be tardy at 7:15. So, yes, if you have a long bus ride and if you have an intensive grooming routine, you might need to get up at 5:00.

Most of the homeschoolers that responded were not helpful to my position. They were saying things like, "it wouldn't help for me to tell you our routine" or "We live on a farm, but we definitely don't follow a farm schedule." I assume this means they don't make their teens get up early, or perhaps they don't have a schedule at all. That make work for those families, but I am not satisfied with that approach in our home.

So, I brought it up last weekend when I was scrapbooking. Most (all?) of the other ladies are homeschoolers and many of them have teens. I didn't get a lot of support there either. Studies were quoted. "Teens need their sleep." "Teens need to stay up late." "Teens grow best when they can sleep all they want."

OK, but what about the family? How do we have any routine at all when one member of the family sleeps in until 10 or 10:30 (or later) EVERY DAY? How do the other kids go to bed when one kid stays up until 1:00 AM? And this kid shares a bedroom with a sibling? How do we accomplish family Scripture and prayer time to start our day when one of our family members isn't yet awake?

My position is that it's better to teach them to go to bed at a decent hour and arise at a time that allows them enough sleep, but still keeps the family on a productive routine. Someday when my children have to be to work on time, I am hoping this training will show its fruit. I was encouraged in this approach by a couple good friends.

My goal for my teen? Bedtime is 10pm. He can listen to audio until 11pm. Then it's supposed to be time for sleep. That gives him 9 hours until the appointed time for rising and shining. I think that's a workable schedule, allowing for staying up later than younger siblings, for enough time asleep, and for a family routine that works like, well, clockwork!

So, what about your family? What frustrations do you face with bedtimes and waking up? What approach works best for you? Have you tried anything else?

EDITED TO ADD - I aim to get up at 7:30 to do my own devotions and work out. I don't always make it, but that's the goal. I am trying a year-long plan to reset my body clock and turn myself into a morning person. It's gotta be possible, right? I figure it's at least worth a try. (That's another post in itself, really - my reasons, motivations, and thought process.) So, anyway it isn't like I am asking my kids to do something I'm not doing either.

Also, read the comments for some other comments and my responses.

Weekly Review - Week 19

We had five days of lessons this week, but we started late every day, so we didn't do things in the order I would have preferred. Bible time suffered the most. Recovering from a weekend spent scrapbooking with friends was more difficult than I imagined it would have been.

Bible

• We read 2 Timothy 3-4 and 2 Kings 3-4.
  
• We finished Chapter 3 of Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends
• We sang our January songs Mon-Thurs. Change My Heart Oh God and A New Name in Glory.
• We had family prayer time Mon-Thurs.
• I hoped to finish up the Friday lesson sometime on Saturday, but since it's after 4pm, it doesn't look likely to happen.

Math

• David worked on Lesson 4 (Distributive Property) in Algebra 1.
  
• Emily finished Lesson 26 in Gamma (Finding Factors, 25¢ = 1 Quarter) and did the test for that lesson.
  
• She is continuing to review the multiple-digit multiplication that is so challenging for her.
  
• James finished Lesson 14 (Multiply by 6) in Gamma and took the test. He began Lesson 15 (Skip Count by 4, 4 Quarts = 1 Gallon) and did 3 pages.
  
• Suzy finished Lesson 15 (Addition, Making 10) in Alpha, took the test, and started Lesson 16 (Addition, Making 9).

Language Arts - Literature and Reading

• David read Chapters 5-9 in Traitor: The Case of Benedict Arnold by Jean Fritz and answered comprehension questions for each chapter.
  
• Emily read Chapters 5-14 Number the Stars and answered comprehension questions online.
  
• James did 2 Read and Think Skill Sheets (A Beka).He is getting better at this!
  
• James read pp22-47 from Animals Do the Strangest Things and wrote each day in his literature journal about it.
  
• Suzy read 4 Bob Books and wrote in her literature journal. She has moved into the 3rd set of Bob Books now. These books are harder and I decided to go back and do some easier short-vowel readers, which are free printables from starfall.com.
  
• James and Suzy each did 8 pages in their Explode the Code books.
  
• Everyone did some silent reading throughout the week.
  

Language Arts - Writing

• David and Emily finished Lesson 8 and began Lesson 9 in IEW: SWI-B (Institute for Excellence in Writing: Student Writing Intensive, Junior High Level).
• Everyone wrote in their Communication Journals.
• Everyone wrote a letter.

Language Arts - Other

• David and Emily both did several pages in Easy Grammar about helping verbs.
  
• David, Emily, and James each did 4 lessons in Spelling Power.
• David, Emily, and James played a game of Rummy Roots.
• James and Suzy did 3 pages of penmanship.

Science

• David worked on Apologia Physical Science Module 5 which was on water. He did two experiments. He will finish this module next week.
  
• Emily, James, and Suzy had the week off Science.
  

History

• David read Chapters 16-26 in History of US: The New Nation 1789-1850 (Book 4 by Joy Hakim) and answered comprehension questions, some orally, some written.
• Emily, James, and Suzy did a preview of the information in the second quarter of Mystery of History 2.
• They studied the lessons on the Dark Ages and King Arthur.
• We all watched a documentary: The Dark Ages (The History Channel ) (90 minutes)
  

Other activities

• Most of the kids worked on the computer for art and typing.
• Pioneer Club and Chess Club were cancelled due to weather.
  
• James went to soccer training clinic on Tuesday night.

I wonder what I can add to these Weekly Review posts to make them more interesting to you. I post them mainly because they help me to see that we are indeed progressing, but I would like them to be useful to my readers as well. Pictures? links? videos? audio? Comments are welcome!

Friday Fill-in #107

And...here we go!



1. Enough with the wind chill already.

2. Sleeping late causes me to be conflicted.

3. I've been craving Word Twist games.

4. Reading Janet Evanovich makes me laugh. (I just read Plum Spooky (A Between-the-Numbers Novel)
- FUNNY!)

5. I wish I could go to a movie in the theater next week. Anyone? Anyone?

6. Writing has been on my mind lately. My story is going swimmingly!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching a DVD and reading, tomorrow my plans include writing and really nothing special (although I could be persuaded!) and Sunday, I want to do more of the same!

Simple Woman Daybook - January 12

For Today... January 12, 2009
(How can it already be January TWELFTH!?)

Outside my Window... I don't know. I'm not looking out. Can't make me. It's 10 degrees according to weather.com.

I am thinking... about Hugh Jackman. Oh wait, did I say that out loud?

From the learning rooms... Nothing new. 5 days of learning coming up this week.

I am thankful for... my friend Maryann who hosted a group of us this past weekend for scrapbooking!

From the kitchen... COFFEE, thankfully!

I am wearing... jeans, a long sleeved black shirt, an apple green flannel shirt, white socks, red fleece slippers. My hair is wet and I am not wearing makeup. I need another sweatshirt. It's CHILLY and I am getting a draft. At least my hands are warm.

I am reading... still The Falcon and the Sparrow by M.L.Tyndall (a Christian regency romance), listening in earnest now to The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon. Reading Proverbs in The Message. Browsing through Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass.

I am hoping... to write 2000 words every day this week, including Saturday. (Yes, that was my goal last week too. No, I didn't make it last week, but this week is not as busy!)

I am creating... an addition to the novel I wrote in 2007. Excited about the possibilities.

I am hearing... Suzy humming tunelessly, the clock ticking, someone moving around upstairs.

Around the house... A LOT of DVD's to watch! Shall I list them for you? Horatio Hornblower series, Waitress, Kingdom of Heaven, X-men, X2, X3. Coming from Netflix - Robin Hood (BBC) - Disc 3 of Season 1. Coming from the library: Kate and Leopold and something else I can't remember right now.

One of my favorite things... X-men! (Wolverine in particular! lol)

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... library visits and grocery shopping sometime this week, Chess Club Tuesday for the boys, Tuesday night James has soccer training, Wednesday is Pioneer Club and the last session of Financial Peace University. Lots of writing time! No weekend plans that I can remember either.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

Weekly Review - Week 18

First week back to a full schedule. Week 18 is halfway point through a normal 36 week school year! Not that we follow a normal school year. lol

Bible

• We read Titus 1-3 and 2 Timothy 1-2.
  
• We read Chapter 3 of Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends
• We learned our new songs for January and sang them Mon-Thurs. Change My Heart Oh God and A New Name in Glory.
  

Math

• David finished Lesson 3 (Solving for an Unknown with One Variable) and started Lesson 4 (Distributive Property) in Algebra 1.
  
• Emily moved on to Lesson 26 in Gamma (Finding Factors, 25¢ = 1 Quarter) and did 2 pages in that lesson, while continuing to review the multiple-digit multiplication that is so challenging for her.
  
• James worked on Lesson 14 (Multiply by 6) in Gamma.
  
• Suzy worked on Lesson 15 (Addition, Making 10) in Alpha.

Language Arts - Literature and Reading

• David began reading Traitor: The Case of Benedict Arnold by Jean Fritz, completing Chapters 1-4 and answering comprehension questions for each chapter. He also looked up some places on a map.
• Emily began reading Number the Stars, finishing chapters 1-4, and answered comprehension questions online.
  
• James did 1 Read and Think Skill Sheet (A Beka).
• James read pp1-21 from Animals Do the Strangest Things and wrote in his literature journal about it.
  
• Suzy read 4 Bob Books and wrote in her literature journal. She has moved into the 3rd set of Bob Books now.
  
• James and Suzy each did 8 pages in their Explode the Code books.
  
• Everyone did some silent reading throughout the week.
  

Language Arts - Writing

• David and Emily began Lesson 8 in IEW: SWI-B (Institute for Excellence in Writing: Student Writing Intensive, Junior High Level).
• Everyone wrote in their Communication Journals.
  

Language Arts - Other

• David and Emily both did several pages in Easy Grammar about direct objects.
• David and Emily each did 4 lessons in Spelling Power.
• James started Spelling Power this week, taking 2 placement tests and then doing 2 lessons.
• David, Emily, and James played a game of Rummy Roots.
• James and Suzy did 2 pages of penmanship.
• James and Suzy each wrote a letter.
  

Science

• David worked on Apologia Physical Science Module 5 which was on water. He did one experiment.
• Emily, James, and Suzy studied feathers this week in Apologia Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day.
  

History

• David read Chapters 8-15 in History of Us: Book 4 (by Joy Hakim) and answered comprehension questions, some orally, some written.
• Emily, James, and Suzy went through an oral review of the lessons we've covered so far in Mystery of History 2.
  

Other activities

• Most of the kids worked on the computer for art and typing.
• David, Emily, and James had art class on Wednesday afternoon.
• The kids had PJ Day at Pioneer Club.
• James started a soccer training clinic on Tuesday nights. It will be 10 weeks long.
  
• We had homeschool co-op on Friday.

Friday Fill-in #106

1. It's January; a time for new beginnings.

2. SUGAR is what I crave most right now. (I am on a weight loss plan.)

3. Cork and wine go together like batteries and electronic devices.

4. Reading is so nourishing.

5. Let us dare to count calories. (Sparkpeople.com makes it easy - and free!)

6. Paint my home. (I dare you! It needs a second coat in the spring.)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to leaving for scrapbooking, tomorrow my plans include scrapbooking and Sunday, I want to scrapbook! (Notice a theme? I'm going away for the weekend - scrapbooking!)

Frightening CPSIA legislation - ACT NOW

PLEASE READ THIS! I am appalled at what this law will mean to the structure of our economic system.

In August 2008, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) (PL 110-787) was passed by Congress to strengthen product safety laws to ensure only safe and compliant products are sold to our nation's children. While well-intentioned, this legislation imposes several new and burdensome requirements that increase costs at a time of economic upheaval but that do not offer any improvement in the safety of children's clothing or footwear.

Urge your members of Congress today to work with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to develop a pragmatic approach to the implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Strengthening our product safety system is an important goal, but this can only be achieved if there are predictable and commonsense regulations that address safety risks.

Click this link to send an email protesting this law and asking for solutions to the problems it will cause when it goes into effect on February 10.

http://capwiz.com/americanapparel/issues/alert/?alertid=12274476

Here is an excerpt I received today in a homeschool newsletter from Heather Idoni of familyclassroom.net:

=======================
Notes from Heather
=======================

The Sale of Children's Books to be Banned
---
Oh, how I wish this were a joke! But it is a grim and looming, almost Orwellian, reality.

Effective February 10th, in the United States, the sale of all children's books (books intended for children ages 12 and under) is to be PROHIBITED. Every single book printed prior to the ruling is affected, whether new or used. New books in production are required to include a "lead-free" certification and will be the only books that are legal to offer for sale.

What does this mean to the homeschooling family?

Well, for one, curriculum fairs across the country will be cancelled as book vendors scramble to figure out how to comply with the new ruling. Complete book inventories will have to be destroyed -- the ruling even prohibits giving away the books!

Local thrift stores will be hard hit -- most will likely have to close their doors -- yes, even Goodwill and Salvation Army.

Clothing, toys and books -- even CDs and DVDs are included in the ruling. Thrift stores will no longer be able to accept or process anything (including clothing) that would be intended for a child.

No more library sales. Libraries will not be permitted to give away or sell book donations. It is unsure yet, however, how the libraries' shelves themselves will be impacted (the ruling doesn't explicitly mention "loaning" books, just selling or giving them away). The key word, however, is "distribution" -- libraries may well be required to destroy books from their shelves.

(The ruling that originally passed was about toys, but the EPA has since made a statement that clothing, books and media are included in "children's toys".)

Just how serious is this new law?

Amazon.com has already notified all vendors of their need to comply. No book can be sold at the Amazon site that was printed prior to compliance. And the "compliance" must be coordinated at the manufacturing stage. At the time of this article there is no clause to be able to grandfather-in older books or even rare out-of-print
books. It can cost between $500 and $1500 to test a book for lead.

I happen to own a children's bookstore specializing in living books from the 1950s and '60s. My punishment for selling a book after February 10th? Up to $100,000 and 5 years in jail. And yes, it is a felony charge. For selling a SINGLE book.

(Although I don't think the S.W.A.T. team scenario would become a reality overnight, at the same time I would be leery of blatantly violating Federal law.)

So what can you do to help save your local used bookstore that sells children’s books? Or that homeschool curriculum business? Or your EBay business selling children's items?

ACT NOW before the quickly approaching deadlines:

1) Email or call the CPSIA - the office of the CPSC ombudsman at
888-531-9070. http://www.cpsc.gov/cgibin/newleg.aspx

Comments on Component Parts Testing accepted through January 30,
2009. Or email: Sec102ComponentPartsTesting@cpsc.gov

2) Contact your local representatives. For their contact informa-
tion, just enter your zip code.
http://capwiz.com/americanapparel/dbq/officials/

3) Make your voice heard by voting on this issue! The top 3 in
each category will be presented to President-elect Obama.
http://change.org/ideas/view/save_handmade_toys_from_the_cpsia

4) Sign the petition.
http://ipetitions.com/petition/economicimpactsofCPSIA/index.html

5) Spread the word! Forward this article. Send an email. Write
about this on your blog. Tell others about this issue and
encourage them to do the same.

Simple Woman Daybook - January 5

For Today... January 5, 2009

Outside my Window... SUNSHINE and snow.1

I am thinking... attitude adjustments are in order for several people living here.

From the learning rooms... Lessons are prepared and waiting. We start at 9:30. (Note, I wrote this at 9:20, but didn't finish the post until later on.)

I am thankful for... being home with my kids, unpleasant attitudes or no....

From the kitchen... trying to find new low-calorie ideas for food. What do skinny people EAT?

I am wearing... the "new" jeans I got at the thrift store, a long sleeved red t-shirt, black socks, white house shoes, and a grey hoodie because I am freezing. And I put on makeup! And blow-dried and curled my hair!

I am reading... The Falcon and the Sparrow by M.L.Tyndall (a Christian regency romance), listening in earnest now to The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon. Reading Psalms in The Message. Browsing through Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass.

I am hoping... to write 2000 words every day this week. (Yes, including Saturday, unless I can get ahead.)

I am creating... a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days. Well, I actually already created it.

I am hearing... Genesis. The kids are listening to it. The book of the Bible, not the band.

Around the house... Christmas is packed up and put away, so things are back to normal. Neater than normal, actually. lol

One of my favorite things... www.sparkpeople.com (At SparkPeople, our mission is to SPARK millions of PEOPLE to reach their goals and lead healthier lives. We offer nutrition, health, and fitness tools, support, and resources that are 100% free, while other sites like Weight Watchers and eDiets.com charge their members for similar services.)

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... homeschool meeting tonight, grocery shopping sometime this week and a library visit, Tuesday night James has soccer training, Wednesday is art class, Pioneer Club and Financial Peace University, Thursday - NO PLANS, Friday is co-op, and Then I am going scrapbooking for the weekend! Busy week!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...
David got a CARS game for the PSP and allowed Emily to watch him play it, since she adores the CARS movie. He did let her actually play it, but she isn't very interested in video games and found it too difficult.

Weekly Review - sort of

I'm not going to take the time to post a Weekly Review. Some of the kids finished everything I asked them to do for December, and some did not. This past week, we only did lessons on Monday and Tuesday, if I remember aright. I'm not going to count this week, as between last week and this one, we did about one week's worth - and I counted last week. (Not that the counting matters to anyone except me. lol)

Monday starts our learning afresh!

Friday Fill-in #105

1. The world is changing. I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth...
(Sorry, a little Lord of the Rings flashback going on there....)

2. "Don't talk to her!" was the last thing I said.

3. I wonder why I thought I wouldn't like the X-Men movies.

4. I'm glad you're with me, Samwise Gamgee, here at the end of all things.
(Oh man, there it goes again!!! I guess I need to watch LOTR this weekend. It's been FAR too long!)

5. There's something to be said for peppermint.

6. Heaven is where I want to be - someday.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to just being here with no plans (and maybe my LOTR DVD's!), tomorrow my plans include going to my book club and Sunday, I want to undecorate my house and then RELAX finally!