Sleep - Another Reason to Homeschool
This is going to b a bit of a rant. Feel free to go back to a sweeter post.
Yesterday I helped with my two nieces during the day. Their mother, a local teacher, called to say that her daycare provider called and was shut down for the day and her mother was out of town all day. Could I help? Sure!
Oh my goodness people, if I wasn’t convinced before hand I am now. I had to get up before the sun rose. BEFORE THE SUN! We’re a sleep til brunch kind of family, not morning people. So grumpy mommy is trying to dress two grumpy kids and drag them across town in freezing temperatures to get there before my sister-in-law had to be at her school.
I was exhausted! How do normal people do this? The getting up early, convincing kids to gt dressed and eat breakfast? Even my nieces, who are used to this, were grumpy and fighting.
“Oh they hate mornings,” their mother chirped. “If schools were built on kid’s schedules they wouldn’t start til 9 or 10.”
Yeah, no kidding. And make that 1 in the afternoon for teenagers. Or for any kids with parents like myself. If my kids were in public school they would be late every day. Seriously, late and rushed every single morning. I’ve been told that one positive aspect is that kids learn to work on someone else’s schedule. Maybe I’m a dreamer, but I have to ask why. I’m a big fan of self motivation, that if we want something badly enough we’ll strive for it. If my sons grow up and decide they want to be teachers then I hope to have helped them know how to motivate themselves into getting up before the sun each morning to get to their jobs. Not because they have to follow some one else’s schedule but because they are motivated enough to do what it takes to have the job that they want. And luckily not all jobs require getting up that early in the morning.
Then there was the driving back and forth. My oldest niece does a half day of public school in the morning then a half day at a local Christian school, and my youngest niece does the half day at the Christian school in the morning. So driving back and forth, sitting in the car for what felt like forever waiting to pick them up, and trying to gt them to their places on time was not fun. We ended up only eating half of our lunch because there wasn’t enough time. Not enough time for sandwiches and carrot sticks? What?
Though I must say the highlight of my day was being lectured by my oldest niece over lunch. I got quite the earful on how a certain grandparent feels about my child’s lack of education. Apparently one can “only learn in school, that’s why he has to go.” I heard in my head Christine’s voice saying “Well that’s so nice that you care about my child’s education.”
OK, thre’s my rant for the month and now I feel better.
sleep, homeschooling, tired, grumpy
November 29th, 2007 at 9:28 am
Ha! So glad you heard Christine’s voice and not mine! (It wouldn’t have been fit for the child’s ears.)
November 29th, 2007 at 10:32 am
My son hasn’t been a morning person since the day he was born. It never seemed right telling him, the instant he turned school age, that he had to start waking up 3 hours earlier than ever before.
I’m not a morning person, either, and between the yawning and the driving and the waiting it just seemed like we were torturing our lives in all sorts of ridiculous ways to fit into other peoples’ schedules.
I SO don’t miss those days. Now that we homeschool we live our lives our way. So here it is at 9:30 a.m. and my son is still snoozing away.
November 29th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
I had to comment on this post because I’ve just given up the dreadful school run and, honestly, our lives are all so much better for it, almost to the point where that alone would be reason enough to homeschool.
There was all the rushing and cajoling in the morning, nearly three hours a day spent on different school runs and waiting around for pick ups in the afternoon. We all hated it. Now mornings are so much more relaxed and it makes a difference to the whole day. Plus I get to have my cup of coffee and everyone round here feels the benefit when I get to have that!
November 29th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
My dh was just saying this morning how happy he is that we are a homeschooling family as he walked past the door to watch the little ones trudging to the bus stop at 7am with the tired, grumpy-looking parents in tow. We do school in our pajamas at least once a week just because we can!
November 29th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
As a former teacher and child of “run everywhere” type teachers, I agree %100. My baby brother is 16 and occasionally I get called on to take him to school. It is a great remionder of WHY WE HOMESCHOOL! I HATE being on other people’s crazy schedules.
November 29th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
I like to say that I have absolutely no problem with getting up early in the morning…so long as I can do it late in the day.
November 29th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
We love the freedom of schedules as well. I am an early riser, but that doesn’t mean I want to get showered, dressed, and running out in the cold first thing. Ugh! My teens can wake with the alarm just fine when they want to, but they also love sleeping in and just working a bit later. It is so wonderful to just be the rulers of our own schedules!
November 29th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
[...] Summer hits a good point with her latest. I always wondered, as a teacher, what could be learned at 8:00 am, when neither I nor my students were fully awake. [...]
November 30th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
I ever fully bought the “learning to go by someone else’s schedule” argument. The biggest problem most kids have in college is getting themselves up and off to a class no on cares if they attend because they are so used to running by someone else’s clock they don’t know what to do with themselves when no one is there to set it for them.
Maybe that is a bit harsh, but the homeschoolers I know who have gone to college or are in college do not have that problem. Not a scientific study, I know. But my anecdotes fit with my worldview so I’m happy with it for now.
November 30th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
I’ve told many people that the amount of yelling I’d have to do in the morning to get my kids to the bus in time would ruin my entire day. There is something to be said for controlling your own schedule and not having to rush-rush-rush in the morning.
December 1st, 2007 at 6:30 am
[...] think this ties in a little with my sleep post the other day. When we let some outside entity decide what time our children need to be up and [...]
December 1st, 2007 at 3:25 pm
LOVE your rant!! Could have been me talking! Sleeping late is definitely one of the reasons I homeschool…though I forgot to add it to my top 10 reasons post!!
One thing I love about children is you can always find out what their parents (or grandparents!) are saying about you!!
December 3rd, 2007 at 1:40 pm
I remember taking my kids to school in the morning. I don’t miss that at all. Now that we are homeschooling we work at our own pace. Learning takes place all day long and into the night with breaks when they feel right. It doesn’t start at 8:15am and end at 3:20pm. The entire family is less stressed and enjoys learning on another level than that of a scheduled education.