We are NOT Hermits!

We have nothing on the calendar today because a field trip was canceled. Here's a conversation I had with my 14yo son.
James: We have nothing today?
Me: Well, we have lessons.
James: But we're not going out of the house today?
Me: No.
James: Oh my gosh, we're hermits!

As this post will tell you, we are quite a long way from being hermits. Now that our school year is under way, our routine is becoming second nature. Here's a glimpse at how our days (should) go.

I work 20 hours a week from home on the computer.
This is divided into 4 hours each day Monday through Friday, but I have the freedom to work whenever I want during each day. So, when you look at the below routine, you can imagine me shoving my 4 work hours into the "free" times. For example, while the kids are at karate, I bring my laptop and work from the karate school.

Our mornings usually follow a schedule like this:
6:00 AM - Mom gets up. Get ready for the day and work before the kids get up.
6:30 AM - Dad gets up
7:00 AM - Alarms go off for the kids. Get up, do chores, get ready.
7:30 AM - Dad leaves for work
9:00 AM - Lessons begin. The bulk of their work is done in the AM.
12:00 PM - Lunch and clean up kitchen.

I will note that the kids NEVER get up when their alarms go off. I am working on how to make that happen. Ideas welcomed. Keep in mind that I rarely go upstairs where their bedrooms are.

On Mondays and Tuesdays, we are generally home in the afternoons so the kids keep working on lessons or have free time. I am a paid supervising teacher at a homeschool partnership on Wednesday afternoons; the kids have stayed home on Wednesdays and done much the same as on Mondays and Tuesdays. James and Emily have just gotten a seasonal job that will probably keep them busy on  Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons for a few weeks. Suzy went with me to work this week Wednesday and she will do that if the older kids are at work.

On Thursdays, I teach two writing classes and my kids are each in one of the classes. We leave at 10 AM and don't return home until dinnertime. One Thursday a month, I have scheduled as an off-day and we do not have writing class on those days. During the class they are not in, my kids work independently on assignments. After writing, they attend two karate classes - their own level and a lower level for review. We often stop at the store on Thursdays after karate.

Every other Friday is homeschool co-op, so on those days we are out of the house from 9 AM to 3 PM. On the off-Fridays, we often have a field trip or park day to choose from. Lessons for the week must be done, or they don't get to attend anything special on Friday (or the weekend, for that matter).

In the evenings, we have some commitments as well.
Monday night - karate class at 5:30 and sometimes a lower level class at 6:15
Wednesday night - James goes to Royal Rangers at 5:30 and youth group at 7:00. Emily goes to youth group at a different church at 6:15. (She has to be on track with her work in order to go.)
Friday evenings are usually work time for me, but often the kids have a friend over or make plans to go somewhere.
James and Emily have been learning to referee soccer games and those are usually on Tuesday and Thursday nights and Saturday mornings. They only can ref if we have no other commitments.

Emily goes to Teens for Christ two Saturdays a month and is gone from about noon to midnight.

I am trying to protect Tuesdays as our Stay Home Day and make no regular commitments on those days.

So, there you have it! The basics of our full lives!

We're still not starting school....

Most of Michigan's public schools begin the new school year tomorrow, Tuesday, September 2nd. Many of my homeschool friends are following suit.

We, on the other hand, won't start our 2014-15 lessons until next Monday, the 8th.

A friend asked me why and I gave her a couple of reasons, but as I thought about it, I realized I'd only given her part of the story.

Quite a few reasons figured into my decision to wait another week before hitting the books this fall.
1 - I hate starting on a  Tuesday. Mondays are my best "get school done" days.
2 - I have a work commitment this Wednesday and therefore will be out of the house most of that day. Great second day of school THAT would be.
3 - I have NO planning done yet. I mean that. None. So, I need this week to plan.
4 - We were originally thinking about going out of town this week - until I realized that A) I have to work on Wednesday and B) We had to buy a new alternator instead of a vacation.
5 - My summer hasn't been long enough! And now we have some nice weather! I don't WANNA sit inside.
6 - And last, the public schoolers are starting, but that's no reason for us to copy their schedule. I don't copy their snow days, government holidays, or end of school schedule, so I don't need to worry about when the first day of public school is either.

So, this week will involve lots of lesson plans. I hope to post some of that!

And best wishes to all those starting their lessons on September 2nd. I'll think of you! :-)

No Fall Sports (this year anyway)

David at about age 8 in 2003

For the first time in thirteen years, no one in this house is playing soccer this fall.

We've been a soccer family since my oldest child David was about six years old. (He's almost 20 now.)

Some years we'd have four soccer games on a Saturday morning, often in different locations. We've sat through hot sunny games, cold rainy games, even games that we huddled under blankets in our winter coats.

Emily after a muddy game in 2011
at age 14

We've picked up colorful new uniforms and passed down old soccer cleats. We've looked for sales on Capri Sun and made last minute runs to the grocery store on game day when we forgot it was our turn for snacks. We've juggled practice schedules and decided if Mom or Dad would go to the games.

We've kept camp chairs and blankets and spare shinguards in the car. We've stocked up on water bottles. We've figured out which long sleeved shirts work best under this season's jerseys.

But not this fall.

This fall we are taking a break from soccer so that the kids can concentrate on training for their black belt in Tang Soo Do karate.

Suzy in 2007 at age 5

The three kids still at home (ages 12, 14, and 17) are planning to test for black belt in February. They need to attend more karate classes at their PKSA school. I need to make sure they practice regularly at home.

James in 2010 at age 10

So we made the tough decision to say "no" to soccer or any other fall sports. That choice was especially hard on Suzy, the youngest, because she adores soccer and also because she has had fewer years of play than the others. She also is considering how to fit volleyball into her life and that's also a fall sport. So, there was no volleyball this year and her best friend is playing volleyball.

But it's just one season. By next spring, they will hopefully have reached their martial arts goal and will be free once again to play soccer.

And once again I'll be shivering on chilly fall mornings. I'll make sure to pack my blanket.

A Day in the Life: In Which I Explain Our Hectic Schedule

Since reading a friend's recent “Day in the Life” post, I've wanted to write an updated one. I reposted our “Day in the Life” from 2006 a few weeks ago, but I've been waiting for a “normal” day around here for weeks! Blizzards, sickness, and a crazy schedule have interfered until now, but this Monday will be as normal as it gets around here, even if it is Saint Patrick's Day!

Warning! Extremely long post ahead!

Monday, March 17, 2014

Early Morning: In Which The Day Gets Underway

The night hasn't been very restful, as I awakened at 3 AM or so and then again at 5 AM or so for no good reason. But I woke up before the alarm, at 6:15. I did some stretching in bed, then laid back down until after my husband got up at 6:30. I finally roll out of bed at 6:50. The house feels toasty warm by now, but the temperature shows only about 6 degrees outside.

Between 7:00 and 8:00 AM, I spend some quiet time snuggled into my cozy robe in the recliner, my favorite coffee mug in one hand and my phone in the other, getting caught up on Facebook. I pray with Bob before he leaves for work and then sort the laundry from Saturday for the kids to fold when they get up. Next I power up the Kindle to do my devotional reading and also read a chapter of a book on e-book marketing.

Our fourteen-year-old son James gets up earlier than normal, probably around 7:15. Bob calls Emily down several times since she needs to catch up on her missed schoolwork from last week, but the seventeen-year-old does not emerge. Suzy, age 11, turns up MUCH earlier than normal, around 7:45. Finally Emily patters down the stairs. The kids make some headway on their chores and get their own breakfast, usually just cereal. Sun streams in the windows which makes it easier to be productive.

Around 8:00, I throw in a load of laundry, then I change into workout clothes. I hop on the treadmill at 8:20 and walk while watching Raising Hope on Netflix. I have been seeking shows that are 22 minutes long since that's how long I want to walk. I am attempting to get back to running someday soon. A quick shower follows the workout.

Morning: In Which We Begin Formal Learning

We are supposed to start lessons at 9, but no one is going to be ready right on the hour. We are close today though! So, I pour another cup of coffee with French vanilla creamer and gobble a bowl of yogurt and Kashi. Time to corral the kids for the beginning of lessons.

Only ten minutes late! We start our Bible lesson by singing two hymns a capella: Stand up Stand Up for Jesus and Rescue the Perishing. I read a devotional and short prayer from Powerful Prayers for Your Family by David and Heather Kopp, and then we move into our prayer time, round robin style. Next is a lesson from Character Building for Families (volume 1 by Lee Ann Rubsam). The topic is cheerfulness illustrated with examples of Joseph and Samuel. To round out the Bible time, I read aloud a short chapter from Don't Check Your Brain at the Door by Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler which refutes myths many believe about Jesus and the Bible.

A short aside here to note that, today, attitudes are bad. We have a card system for discipline and a couple children have already lost the bulk of their cards. I am determined to stick to it for the long haul, though, knowing the rewards will be worthwhile. (Note: both Tuesday and Wednesday's attitudes have been MUCH improved.)

While I have the kids all at the table, we cover the subjects that concern all of them. So, first we review some Korean karate terms and information for their written black belt test. Another subject we do all together is penmanship. This year we have focused on handwriting. Today's cursive page bothers them because, for the first time, there is no cursive model on the page for them to follow. They have to look at printed text, remember the cursive letters, and write them. This challenges them and there is some initial opposition. (Yes, I know that all my kids really should know cursive by now, but I recently realized that none of them know it well – too much typing, I guess! So this year's study is intended to rectify that.)

Next on the agenda is to check over last week's work to see if there are any incomplete assignments. Usually we do this on Thursday or Friday, but we neglected it last week. I don't like starting a week with last week's work, but sometimes it happens. Suzy knows what she needs to work on from last week. James has Logic lessons to finish and Emily has research and some reading journal entries to write.

Now is the time when Emily usually heads off for some independent work time. I review with her the manner in which she should be completing her reading journal and send her to the living room to finish it. While she is doing that, I read the next history lesson to James and Suzy from Mystery of History 3. The topic? John Knox and the Protestant Reformation in Scotland. While I do that, Suzy colors a page from her famous landmarks coloring book. She usually tries to find one with a corresponding location to our lesson, so today she colors the Highland mountains.

Doing independent work

After the history lesson, I tell Emily to stop journaling and get on with her research. She is writing a research paper on Michigan's role in the Underground Railroad, but she is clueless as to how to accomplish the research. This task requires a lot of abilities that she struggles with – time management, skimming and scanning, choosing information, higher level thinking skills. She is way behind on the research for this assignment, mostly because she really doesn't know how to manage it, or even how to know what information to locate. Something else she needs to learn is to ask for help when she doesn't understand. I can't help her right this minute though, so I tell her to find her thesis statement and review it.

James needs some help with his logic lesson from Introductory Logic from Mars Hill (Canon Press), so I sit with him and explain the concepts while he does his incomplete exercises. During this time, Suzy does her art lesson – watercolor on a wet outline design from The Usborne Book of Art Ideas.

After they are finished, I quiz first James then Suzy on their spelling words from Spelling Power. After the quiz, each one goes off to practice their words and write sentences.

Somewhere in there I ate a muffin with butter and raspberry jam and got the last half cup of coffee. Today might be a day where I wish I had more coffee.

Now I have a bit of time to work with Emily on her research question. We do a rough outline of her topics and I reiterate how she should take notes. Then I move her to the table with her materials and set her to taking notes.

While she is doing this, James is working on his German lesson. He is using the free service at Duolingo and he NEVER complains about doing it. He seems to be making satisfactory progress.

Suzy has disappeared upstairs. I wonder what she's doing up there. But I realize the kids might want clean uniforms for the karate promotion this afternoon so I move the wet load to the dryer and wash the doboks (Korean for uniform). I do my hair and makeup. Suzy comes back down and tells me my hair looks pretty. :-) Then she does 20 minutes of math on Khan Academy.

Afternoon: In Which We Work Independently

I get myself some leftovers for lunch and instruct the kids to feed themselves from Leftovers Only today. Usually they are allowed to make their own lunches, but the leftovers are taking over!

At 12:15 or so, I sit down to work on my paid work hours. We have to leave in a couple of hours, so I want to get as much done as I can before we leave. Suzy is doing the dishes. She knows it's her job and she whines about the amount of dishes (which truly is quite a lot) but she does them without any prompting.

After about half an hour, I think about the wet uniforms and go transfer them to the dryer, hoping it won't shut off unexpectedly as it has a tendency to do. When I sit back down, I have received an email about our possible roof loan, and so I look up some numbers to answer the email.

After a few minutes, I have to confiscate James' phone because he is playing a game instead of doing his schoolwork. He moves on to reading A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I set Emily another goal for her research note taking. Suzy is still doing dishes which seems like it's taking a long time though possibly she has done some other things in there too.

Suzy finishes the dishes at 1:13 and I hear her run upstairs. After a couple of minutes, I inquire as to her next activity and get her started on her Teaching Textbooks 6 math. I plug in headphones and attempt to do an hour of concentrated effort on my work. I am listening to Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

After about half an hour, James brings me his answers for the first chapter in A Study in Scarlet. We discuss them briefly and then I go over the instructions for the paragraph I want him to write as a response to the reading. He heads off but returns shortly, complaining loudly about the IEW requirements of the paragraph I have assigned. I am firm and send him off with many admonitions for silence.

At 2:00 Suzy reminds her brother and sister to get their uniforms on. I am still attempting to work.

Mid-Afternoon: In Which We Leave The House

At 2:25, we leave for our 3:00 karate class. We recently bought a “new” van with a CD player. After a more than a year without one in the car, we are appreciating having that convenience again. Sometimes we listen to educational CDs, but lately we have been listening to the soundtrack of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which everyone enjoys.

Red 2 Gold:
less than a year to Black Belt!

We arrive at karate a few minutes early and my oldest child is already there. YAY! I love to see him. David is 19 and in his first year of college about 45 minutes away. He lives on campus, so we mainly see him at karate class. Today all my kids are being promoted to Red 2 Gold level. I dropped out of karate 3 months ago, so this is the first promotion I have not participated in. I don't feel sad though.

While the kids are in class, I work for about 35 minutes. (Thankfully the karate studio, or dojang, has wi-fi.) David leaves a bit early, giving me a hug and a kiss before he goes. This is exam week for him – the last week of term 2 - so he will be home on Friday for a couple weeks of break.

After class, we run next door to the shoe store. Suzy is in need of some new athletic shoes since she has none that fit that are also suitable for volleyball. She finds some she likes very quickly which is a miracle, made even more miraculous by the fact that I can afford them.

We head out to meet my husband. He is off 1 hour early today to go to a 5:00 doctor appointment. The timing worked out well for him to take the older two kids home on his way. Otherwise they would have to stay in town with me because Suzy has her first volleyball practice tonight.

Evening: In Which One of Us Plays Volleyball

Sitting in McD

Suzy and I head back to town to sit at McDonald's to eat dinner and finish the last 90 minutes of my work hours. The internet is SO SLOW at McDonald's that it's driving me nuts and ruining my rate per hour. Some teenage girls giggle madly for a long time in the corner booth. V. distracting. (At home, James heats up some more leftovers for dinner.)

While I work, Suzy does a few of her assignments. She writes 6 sentences about the chapter she read in Stuart Little. She types them on my phone since she forgot to bring any paper. She also does 10 minutes on the DragonBox algebra app. Last she completes a speed reading exercise from an A Beka speed and comprehension book. (One of the few things I like from A Beka)

Suzy (pink shirt, NEW blue shoes)
with her gr 4-6 team

After my work hours are complete, we head over to the school where practice is being held. We are a few minutes early. Suzy has been here before, but I have not. This attractive middle school has a roomy pleasant gym with a glossy floor, currently occupied with lots of kids working on volleyball skills. Suzy's practice isn't until 7, so we go back out in the hall. She bounces the ball around while I play on my phone. After a while, Suzy's best friend and teammate arrives. Her mom is my good friend and she and I chat for a while before she heads out. I settle in to watch practice and to read on the Kindle app on my phone.

Practice ends at 8:00. A couple of my friends have arrived with their older girls for their 8:00 practice. I chat with them for a few minutes then head out with Suzy. On the drive home, with Joseph on the CD player, Suzy falls asleep. Long long day for her!

Volleyball drills

A quick stop at the post office is the last thing for us before we arrive home. We don't have mail delivery in our small village, so a stop at the post office is nearly a daily occurrence.

When we get home, I gently poke Suzy awake. Inside, Emily is working on her research and James is napping on my bed. They both have accomplished some of their lessons while they were home alone. The internet is out again, which is annoying. These outages have become more and more frequent over the last few days. I fiddle with the modem and after a while it comes on, but it is intermittent all evening. Hopefully when our new modem arrives, the problems will be resolved.

Nighttime: In Which We Begin to Fall Asleep

Suzy's bedtime is 9:30, so I send her off, then realize Emily is not accomplishing much in the way of research. I redirect her to do her free reading for 30 minutes and then journal writing for 5 minutes, so at least she can mark SOMETHING off her list.

Being Silly with James

At around 10:00, I tell Emily to shower and go to bed. James is supposed to go to bed too, but he bribes me by rubbing my neck, which has been bothering me all day. The internet has come back on so I watch Merlin on Netflix. The internet cuts out several times during the show. Annoying. After the show, I send James to bed and watch one more show by myself – Last Man Standing. By this time, it's 11:15 and I am exhausted, so I go to bed.

The Overview: In Which I Analyze the Day

Yes, this really is an average “good day” in our home education. We started fairly close to 'on time'. I spent the morning working with the kids and got my work hours done by early evening. We often have afternoon or evening activities, so that part is normal. The attitudes were a bit worse today than average. I know this can be solved with consistency.

One thing I really need to work on with these kids is QUIET WORK TIME. Each one feels perfectly entitled to talk aloud or make noise at any time of the day. James really has been loud since the day he was born. When he was a baby, I had to change my style of homeschooling because his noises were such an disruption. I could not read aloud. He continues to be a loud kid. Now that he's 14, I think we can reasonably expect him to know when it is okay to be loud and when it is unacceptable. I don't mean to single James out. All of us, including me, can work on this.

If you made it to the end of our very long day, I congratulate you! Any questions?

Margin: I'm working on it.

Margin.

Our pastor preached on this a few weeks ago. BIG impact on me. See, I have no margin. Or had none, anyway. I've been trying to create some.

What is this concept of margin anyway? 

To me, it's having downtime. The space to be me. The time needed to take care of urgent matters that come up. Having time to invest in the people who are important. Not having so much to do that there's never a free minute to pause and enjoy life.

As I said, I didn't have much. I'm quite good at scheduling every moment full of interesting and important activities. But when something comes up, like a roof replacement, not a single moment exists to try to handle the details.

I am in the midst of making some difficult decisions about what's essential and what's not. One of the things I let go was my study of karate. Was it good? Yes. Was it essential? No. Was it stressful? Yes. That helped me decide. I will be making more of those decisions and hopefully creating more margin in my life. (The kids are still studying karate, by the way.)

Chris Davis, former owner of the Elijah Company and noted homeschool author and speaker, recently spoke at a homeschool convention in my state. I didn't get to attend, but I've heard him speak before. He has been influential in many of my homeschool choices over the years. Because I needed a quick and easy blog entry, I browsed for a quote from his book, I Saw the Angel in the Marble, thinking I'd find something educationally inspiring to enlighten you all. 

Instead, I found this.

Our culture encourages us to live beyond our means financially, emotionally, physically and spiritually. Many of us are under-rested and overwhelmed, feeling constant stress and time pressure. What we need is margin, a term used by author Richard Swenson to describe the space that should exist between where we are and our limits. Margin is having time, energy, and money to spare. It is having physical, emotional and spiritual reserves. Margin is living within our limits.

Yeah. Limits. We all have them. We need to live inside our limits and not beyond our means.

I'm working on it.

When Will We Start?

When are you starting?

That's the question everyone's asking!

Some people have already started, even way up north here in Michigan. But not us! We're not hitting the books just yet.

A lot of my friends are beginning their lessons on the day after Labor Day - September 8th - but not us! I am going to a book sale on 9/8 and another on 9/9. Trying to make some money!

We will have our first "official" day on 9/10. Our first day is traditionally ice cream sundaes for lunch and a treasure hunt to find our new school supplies. 9/11 is our first day of our new co-op year.

So, it looks like we'll start in earnest on Monday 9/14.

The Rhythm of a Day

I have had conversations with several friends recently that brought home to me the fact that each family has its own unique rhythm to a day. I thought I'd give you an idea of what sort of basic events happen in what order in our home on a day when we have no outside commitments.

Sometime around 8 or 8:30 everyone gets up. If I am exercising, I try to get up a little earlier (alarm goes off at 7:30), but I don't always do very well with this. Everyone has to be dressed, fed, and groomed by 9:30.

Usually at 9:30, we start our Bible time, which includes singing, reading the Bible, and praying as a family. I usually try to follow this with any other subjects that need to be done as a group (History, Science).

I spend the rest of the morning overseeing lessons, giving one-on-one time to each student as needed. Most of their work is independent, given on their assignment sheets. I have to make sure to leave time to do Spelling with 3 kids, to do Phonics & Reading with Suzy, to go over David's comprehension questions with him, and anything else that needs my assistance. I also check their work as we go along. Bob handles the math lessons during this time and sometimes pitches in with other items. They usually have a snack around 11, but they don't get a break from lessons. (ie: No recess)

Around 12:30 I start thinking about lunch and we aim to have it on the table at 1:00. Yes, that's late, but I'd rather get more done during the AM because of my afternoon writing schedule. Usually the bulk of David and Emily's work is done before lunch and most days Suzy and James are all finished by then.

During lunch, I read a chapter aloud from our current book and then supervise the clean-up.

I try to be sitting at the computer writing by 2pm, but quite often it's more like 2:30-3:00 before I can actually buckle down to writing. I try to write until 5pm, taking a break for a snack around 3:30 and also making any necessary preparations for dinner. I take periodic motivational breaks, like playing a round of a word game every 500 words. I also check email throughout the afternoon. During my work time, Bob is in charge.

I stop writing around 5pm and finish dinner prep (along with 2 of the kids), aiming to have dinner on the table at 6pm. After dinner, the clean-up team (the other 2 kids) gets the kitchen and dining room in ship-shape, and we move on to whatever activities happen in the evening. That may include baths, church activities, meetings, library visits, soccer practices or games, or watching DVD's, among other things.

Bedtime for the little kids is at 8:30 and Emily (age 11) is at 9:00. David (age 14) is supposed to be in bed at 10, with no audio after 11. I am aiming for an 11:30 bedtime currently, but in practice it's more like 12:10 am. lol

What does the rhythm of YOUR day hold?

Sharing about Scheduling

Last night was our homeschool group's monthly parent support meeting. I love going to the meetings and make it a priority. If you have the opportunity to attend a support meeting, I highly recommend it. I put the dates on my calendar as soon as I know them; that way I don't forget about them.

Anyway, I was asked to post a summary of the meeting. (Thanks, Michele, for that idea!) The topic was scheduling and routines. We had about 10 parents (1 dad!) there. (and one very active toddler! lol) Since one mom there had just pulled her 7th grader out of the public schools, we took time to address her questions and concerns before moving on to our scheduled topic.

We discussed Managers of their Homes (MOTH) by Steve and Teri Maxwell, which describes a very structured approach to scheduling. Every half-hour segment of the day is scheduled and color-coded by child. I did a MOTH schedule a few years ago, but found that being that strictly structured was not something I could stick to easily. I also had a few issues with some of the themes in the book, the one I remember most clearly being scheduling breastfeeding times for your baby. (I firmly believe in breastfeeding on demand.) But, this was the beginning of my scheduling journey.

From there I have moved to a spreadsheet schedule, based on my MOTH-type schedule - still color coded, still mostly 30 minute blocks. However, I use it more for planning purposes (ensuring there is enough time in our day for what I want to accomplish) rather than a timeclock (I don't move on to the next thing at the chiming of the clock).

Sarah, the parent support coordinator, had asked me to share some of my scheduling & lesson planning methods, so I showed my spreadsheet schedule and my lesson planning sheets and described how I manage my time and lessons.

As I've mentioned, I have started doing a month's worth of lesson plans at a time. For David, I give him the whole month's assignments at the beginning of the month. I give the other kids a week's assignments at a time, divided into daily assignments. Any of them is free to work ahead, if they so choose. (They usually do not.)

I have described lesson planning on this blog before recently, so I won't reiterate all that here. But it's working well for us and I described that method at the meeting.

Sarah also discussed her loop scheduling method, which I find intriguing. At some point, when we need a change, I may implement this, especially with the younger two. If you are interested in loop scheduling, here is another blog post about it that I found on doing a web search.

All in all, a very rewarding and valuable meeting! Put the next one on your calendar!

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.

Wondering about schedules

Oh, I'd really like to be one of those homeschool moms who are up at 5:30 and have the house cleaned, a homemade breakfast cooked, devotions and exercising completed, and makeup and hair done before 8. But I'm not. And I probably never will be. In fact, I rarely do any of those things, except the makeup and hair. Sometimes. LOL I have been doing devotions this week more regularly.

However, I do often come to the end of the day and find that I still have things undone I wanted to accomplish. The kids sometimes wander during "school". Meals aren't always done when they should be. Some enrichment classes never get done, like nature study.

So, I guess I need a routine. Been thinking about it. Used to have a lovely one all typed out. But it wasn't realistic enough and it went by the wayside long ago. And I went the opposite direction. I don't want to be TIED to a schedule, but a routine would be nice. Some daily & weekly goals would help.

I've been thinking about making a "schedule" similar to the one I made with MOTH (Managers of Their Homes). It involves cutting apart colored papers for each activity and arranging and rearranging them until you get a workable schedule. I don't have MOTH anymore, but I can still try to make a schedule this way. Anyway, this is something I am thinking about because I do want to exercise and spend time with God and do nature study and have meals ready on time.

What works for you?