Ever notice that your household’s response to the early morning wake up flavors the rest of the day? Most families do their best to start off on the right foot each sunrise. Sometimes though things don’t always go as planned!
Wondering myself, I asked other homeschool moms how they made the first moments of the new day a success. Taking the most helpful responses, here’s what they said.
“We are slow to get up too. So we don’t get up at the break of dawn. We usually get up around 7:30-8:00 and then we have a good breakfast and start around 9:00-9:30 for school. I am not big on chores until after our school is done. Then the boys will do a load of laundry, I clean kitchen, they clear the living room and their rooms. I sometimes play hymnal music or some of my favorite CDs that usually get them and me in a good mood to start the day. Sunshine helps too!!”
“The best secret I know to getting everyone up and feeling ready to go is to have them in bed at a decent time the night before. You can’t let the kids stay up until 10:30 and expect them to roll out of bed all cheerful at 7:00. Children need more sleep than that. So does mom if she can get it. Other than that, have a good, simple routine that everyone knows without having to be told every morning. If there is someplace to be, have clothes laid out the night before.”
“Our kids go to bed at 8:00 pm, and we have our day scheduled. I have them get up at 7:30, and we start school at 9:00. That gives them time to wake up, eat, that sort of thing. Not all of mine are “morning people”, so it gives them opportunity to wake all the way up. We always start with Bible, and we do something fun with it, like getting a treat for saying the verse correctly. It makes them giggle, which makes for a great start for the day and generally sets the tone for the rest of the day!”
“Vitamins and a good breakfast.”
“We usually do school later in the day. No one in my family is a morning person. If we have to be somewhere early we prepare the night before with talking about it right before bed. I ask the kids to help me by getting up good and getting ready right away.”
“We’re afternoon schoolers too. Mornings are our relaxing time, midday is school time and afternoons are for various fun. Any day that has to be early the kids are prepared for in advance. But thankfully that doesn’t happen often around here.”
“We do school in the morning. If we wait till afternoon, my daughter just has no motivation. I have come to realize that my daughter needs about 20 minutes to actually get out of bed once she wakes up. So I wake her up with that in mind, things go much better.”
“We do school in the mornings, but I let them get up at their own pace. The first hour of the morning is waking up, getting breakfast, individual quiet times, and if they have any independent work on their list, they take care of it. Then I can also work with individuals at that time.”
“We use the HIGH 5 concept. One hand, five fingers, five things to accomplish before we start the school day. 1.Make Bed 2.Get Dressed 3.Eat Breakfast 4.Morning Chore 5.Brush Teeth. My older kids like that they’re not the only ones doing chores and that it’s fast and easily accomplished so they can “sleep in” till 8:00 and still be ready to start school by 8:30. My little kids like it because we do HIGH 5’s in between. It’s simple and easy for them to remember. There’s no charts to check off or anything. They just move on to the next finger on their hand.”
“We have a set routine posted on the wall, which has times for getting dressed, brushing teeth and fixing hair, eating breakfast, straightening up rooms, and morning quiet time.”
“I let the kids sleep in until they get up. By the time they’re up, I’ve worked out, eaten breakfast and cleaned a bit. Then they eat breakfast and we get going.”
“My kids work best first thing in the morning. The more time school is delayed, the less productive they are. The less they focus and the longer it takes to get it done. I let them sleep as long as they like (they are always up by 7:30). They have breakfast, brush their teeth, get clothes on, have Bible story and we start. We have a schedule of the order of the school work day and chores come last. But before computer learning games. We start the day with Bible and end with Bible. This is for the sanity of everyone involved!”
There’s always strength in numbers. Hopefully you’ve been strengthen and encouraged by reading a variety of responses to making your mornings wonderful!
