Well, it finally happened. It only took me seven years, but I finally unlocked the secret to having a successful and stress-free school day.
The answer?
Getting up early.
I'm not a morning person, so just typing out those words make me sleepy. Let me repeat, I'm NOT a morning person. I didn't think my kids were, either. We are all really grouchy first thing, so for years, I've let us sleep in. This year, it seems like we are so much busier than before. Our afternoons are filling up and we're not able to still be doing school on into the evening. Which, ironically, is the part about homeschooling that appealed to me the most.
Anyway, we've been getting up early, having breakfast, and getting started by 8 most mornings, whether we have something to do that afternoon or not.
And the difference is phenomenal.
It does take a little while to get the boys out of bed, but they perk up over breakfast and then they'll work straight through until lunch. And we're done. The funny thing is, if we have an early morning appointment and have to put off schoolwork until we get home, the day is horrible. All I hear all day is, "What? It's after 12:00. We're supposed to be done!". Whine, whine, whine. Even if we don't get started until 11:00. I guess we really are morning people, after all.
Who knew?
