Long before I ever had Caroline, I read a book called Homeschooling: A Patchwork of Days: Share a Day With 30 Homeschooling Families
So I carried that expectation with me after I had Caroline. We would get busy on our school work and then have the rest of the day free. With only one child it was very conceivable that we could finish all of our formal schoolwork in just a few hours in the morning. And it fit so well with Charlotte Mason’s ideas which I also found appealing.
Except Caroline isn’t ready to do school in the morning.
She’s my spirited little dreamer child.
And her mind is way too full of imaginative things to even consider settling down to any kind of formal work in the morning.
I tried. I truly did. But it got later and later in the morning before she was “ready” to start school. And she honestly wasn’t trying to give me a rough time. I finally realized that if she didn’t get all of her imaginative creativity out of her head and body, she simply could not focus on school work. It wasn’t that she wouldn’t focus. She truly could not.
Homeschooling in the Afternoon
I finally decided to just give up my ideal of schooling in the morning. Now we have play time in the morning, lunch, and THEN we sit down to do learning things together. We’re still done by mid-afternoon and life is good. She’s gotten the busy wiggles out and has had time to act on all the creative ideas that start running through her head literally as soon as her eyes pop open in the morning. The vast majority of the time she’s very cooperative and ready to start after lunch. We have definitely ended up relaxed homeschoolers.
I also found this recent article interesting since Caroline is also a bit of a night owl: Night Owls Smarter: A New Study Suggests That Late-to-Bed-Late-To-Rise Leads to Greater Workplace Success. One of the things David and I had to come to grips with after becoming parents was our early to bed and early to rise routine was no longer going to work. Caroline is a late to bed and late to rise person. It was either fight it and all be miserable or adapt. We chose to adapt and found that we can work just as well this way. I actually like staying up late and working after she goes to bed. My problem is I still fight the mindset I’ve always had that the day is won or lost by 10:00 a.m. I simply cannot think that way any longer because at that time we’ve barely started our day most days.
So we homeschool in the afternoon and it works for us.
Learn more about how we homeschool: Relaxed Homeschooling: What It Is & How It Works
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The Gift of Creativity and Beauty in Our Homeschool
With the exception of Bible time, we do all of our schooling in the afternoon – from about 1-5PM. My oldest daughter has a health issue that requires a good chunk of the morning to take care of each day, so we do it out of necessity – but I’ve found that it’s really best for all of us that way. I could have decided to try to cram some school in every morning before I take care of E, but we would all be miserable.
Over at my blog I shared both our morning and afternoon routines, and they ended up being two of my most popular posts. I don’t know many other moms who school in the afternoon, and I get the sense that some would benefit so much from the freedom of knowing it’s an option for the kids who need it!
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I thought the same things and read the same things. Mornings are best your day is lost without the morning. Mornings suck the life out of us! I thought this would work with my girl being an early riser but she just doesn’t want to do stuff early one and well as a night owl neither do I. Give me late morning or afternoon and we are all happier for it.
My husband worked 2pm-midnight or 2am for 11 years in the military so we have been a late to bed/late to rise family for the whole 10 years we have been married. When I first started homeschooling my son we did our schooling after our supper. Day time was daddy time and we didn’t mess with that. Then my husband became a supervisor and moved to days..talk about a shock to the system..lol. My husband is naturally a night owl as are both of my boys. I am naturally a morning person, but I’ve learned to adapt and we now do most of our schooling in the afternoon while the baby naps and before daddy comes home from work. Mornings are play/chores/errand time. It’s nice to see there are other families like us 🙂
What if it’s the mother who can’t begin first thing in the morning? {blush} I sound much like your daughter. I cannot seem to function well until about 2 hours after I wake up.
My mind is simply not ready to engage in school and thinking of that magnitude yet. I have our schedule set to begin at 9am, but we really don’t start until about 10am. I think I am going to give myself permission to change the school schedule to begin closer to 10am and use the morning hours for Bible reading/journaling and maybe allowing the older children to begin something independent. Thanks for this!
This is really fun to see other moms who homeschool outside the traditional morning time. I think there are plenty of us out there, but perhaps we aren’t so quick to admit it publicly since it seems like it goes against the standard grain of how “good” homeschoolers do it. That just goes to show you that every family is unique and has to find what works for them – both mom and children! 🙂
I just found your blog and have enjoyed reading a few posts today. Thanks for posting this! My children rise early and get going with all of their creative ideas. There’s no way I can rein them in to do formal lessons in the morning! And I’m not a morning person at all. I prefer to sleep until I wake up naturally, then enjoy breakfast and tea and reading time. I’ve finally come to terms with not being able to “school” in the mornings. We start around 11:00, break for lunch, and finish up in early afternoon. I’m glad to know there are others who do this, too!
Hi Jeni,
Isn’t it funny how the creative ones just hit the ground running and need to get it all out? LOL! I can see how our home life is so much better since we just let go of those expectations, but a tiny part of me still is tempted to feel like we shouldn’t be “playing” we should be “learning” in the morning! But playing IS learning for the little ones and they will be so much better off for the experience! 🙂
LOVE THIS! This is so very much me and my son!
Hi Renee,
That’s neat that not only do you have an only, you also “structure” your day in a similar structure. 🙂
We do too!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I homeschool my 8 year old dyslexic son in the afternoon. My middle two go to a Montessori preschool in the afternoons and my 20 month old naps. Perfect time for us. I do a little bit in the morning – read alouds and such but mostly in the afternoon. Love it!
How does this relate to the working world when they grow up????? I think it’s great to use the flexibility of home school, but eventually they’ll have to adapt to 9-5??? Or maybe not????
They adapt if and when necessary. My son is 19, a natural night owl, and adapted to going to work at 5:30am with no problem. In fact, he still is a night owl but naps when he gets home from work, so he basically splits his sleep into 2 halves.
Its possible but that’s not necessarily true for many jobs. So I think flexible schooling hours can help then become flexible with shifts their jobs may require as an adult. Our homeschool schedule structure may change over the years but I personally just take my planned activities and pull them out throughout the day as their attention complies. The only constant is Bible after breakfast. We’ve been doing it regularly that they expect it and just ask to “do school” randomly during the day. We also only”do school” M-Th so anything we don’t get too can be done on Friday or weekends if they ask.
Christina,
It sounds like you’ve found a good groove that works for your family!
I agree that our way of doing homeschooling has changed as my daughter has gotten older, gone through different phases, etc. One thing remains constant – she’s not a do-school-in-the-morning person. It’s just not her.
Thanks for your comment!
Sallie
We school in the afternoons as well. It started last summer when it was cooler to play outside in the morning and be inside for school during the hottest part of the day but they didn’t want to switch back during the fall. There are some days when we have to do things in the afternoon so we go ahead and school in the morning. I love the flexibility of homeschooling!
HI Elizabetta,
I would liken it to college students who refuse to take 8:00 or 9:10 classes. They know it doesn’t work for them so they don’t do it. Eventually they find a way to work in the real world when life demands it.
Not everyone works a 9 to 5 job either. Many doctors and nurses work shift work and my husband always worked shiftwork in the military. It’s a reminder that one size doesn’t fit all. 🙂
Love this reply. We need to stop trying to always fit into imaginary boxes that “masses of other people” have created as THE WAY. The reality is that not all of real life or real people fit into their imaginary box that has been cleverly disguised as THE STANDARD.
What a great post!! So thankful to know that we are not the only ones! My daughter gets up, gets a snack, and goes outside or just plays around the house. We definitely don’t start before 10. Most times after lunch. It works for us but it’s not an easy thing to discuss with others who do it the “right way”.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for this post! I have been feeling alone as a homeschoolers in that I have an only child, and we are also night owls. Every day I felt like a failure when we started late in the day. We get the same amount done as my early rising friends, it’s just in a different time slot. This post was a timely gift from God at a time when I was struggling.
Jimi and Ashley – I’m so glad you were both encouraged by this post!
The whole point of homeschooling our children is to do what works best for them and us! There certainly is no “rule” about the best time to do learning so we should all do whatever works best for us. 🙂
I just found your blog and love it!! It sounds like your daughter is just like my twin boys! They are 6 and we are homeschooling. They are night owls and they hate getting up early, though I have tried a bazillion times. They do better in the afternoon and are full of creativity!!
Kristen,
Welcome! It’s always great to meet another mom with children who thrive a little later in the day. I hope you will stop by often! 🙂
Finally!
First of all, I finally found another Mom who only homeschools one child that’s a girl.
Secondly, I finally found another Mom who came to the same conclusion as I did with my daughter.
I realized I had to do the same thing with my daughter. I really love this blog post, because I thought I was the only one who started later in the day. Thank you and I will be totally subscribing.
My daughter is so similar. I public school her though. I love the links and plan to follow up and read more on these later. Thanks for sharing.
I’m so glad I’m not alone! I have two close friends that homeschool and they both start their school day at 8 am! This is my first year homeschooling, so naturally, I thought we had to start early, too. And it was awful! My boys don’t even wake up until closer to nine. We still do our Bible time right after breakfast, but everything else waits until after lunch. My two year old is napping then so it’s really the best time for us to get a lot of work done with minimal interruptions. This post has really encouraged me to continue doing what works for us! Thank you!
Yes I have two boys 6 & 8 who get put to bed most nights by 9-10 but still get in the bed and have their talk time which last for another hour sometimes more. On most mornings they woke before 9 and are a ball of energy let’s not forget Hammer the lab/shepherd mix which sums up playful is ready to play. For the last week I have been allowing them to wake on their and just go which leads to the house sounding like a train is running and the football team just walked in Lol. They are running up and down the hallway throwing the dogs toy the dog running up and down the hallway barking chasing the boys. They may go in their room with lots of banging laughing barking going on, this last til about 11:00. Then I’ll say Let’s get a few lessons in and they sit right now and get started as Hammer lays and nap of the couch Lol. Just say my mornings are not made for starting school in the mornings tried that and it leads to unhappy little boys and a unhappy Hammer who is going to take pencils bite at the boys feet bite at their toes all because he wants to play. All for afternoon school days!!
Thank You-this is the first time I have come across this concept with another Homeschooler. My son is 10 years old, and I find that we need 2-3 days a week with no outside the home (driving somewhere) scheduled activity, so that our mornings flow gently into early afternoon lessons time.
Exactly! We stay home. And enjoy a long, lazy day of learning which starts late. The days we have to step out, it’s pretty stressful just knowing that we have to follow deadlines and a time bound schedule…. if we are home, it’s a natural rhythm with no rush or urgency.
We start late too, it just works better for us. I have seven children so mornings are crazy. my kids do their own breakfast as they all like different things. I always cook lunch and we sit down and eat together. I get that cleared away and THEN we start school. So about 1:00-5:00 for us.
THANK YOU.
His is the first time I’ve ever been compelled to comment on any blog post, but I appreciate hearing this so much. My 12 year old son is the baby of our family of 4, and we just started homeschooling in January. After months of forcing mornings, I realized we can get through twice as much if we start around 2 or 3. He is a night owl and miserable in the mornings, so we wound up spending more time fighting to focus than we did on school.
We are in Texas but my work-from-home husband works on Pacific time. We have all just shifted to the different time zone, I get my things done in the morning, and we work until later in the day. Some days we are still going strong at 7 because he is so interested in the lesson. That definitely never happened when we started early. It’s great to hear that I’m not the only one not following the “rules” that I learned from public school.
Bridget,
Thank you so much for leaving a comment! Your comment encouraged me and will encourage lots of other parents who read it. This post gets a lot of traffic! LOL!
I love how your son wants to keep going because he’s so engaged even though it is later in the day. The important thing is he is learning, enjoying it, and your relationship is better because of it. Woo hoo!
Last night we did school on the kitchen floor around 6:00. I was doing the dishes, Caroline was totally engaged with what she was doing, and happy doing it. Some kids just do better later in the day. David reads to her at bedtime for quite a while and lately they’ve been reading living history books about Ben Franklin, George Washington, etc. She loves it. She’s asked him to read some of the books over and over again. History from 8:30-9:00 p.m. Who cares? She’s totally engaged with the books and learning history!
Best wishes to you!