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
I was just talking to a friend about the routine that has kind of found our homeschooling family. We, too, begin right after lunch. I was feeling guilty. Thinking this might not be “right.” Absolutely everything I had read about homeschooling routines insisted that schooling happen in the morning. *I* am not a morning person. My daughter sounds very much like yours, except maybe she’s less imaginative and more ACTIVE. VERY. ACTIVE. She, too, was a very needy baby. But at almost 5 years old, I can say it feels like we’ve finally found our groove. Schooling in the early afternoon gives her a chance to burn off energy in the morning with play. Late afternoon nearly always finds her outside, which also melds nicely with CM philosophy.
I’m glad that I found your blog (on Pinterest),
Jessica
We’ve just start up our new “school” year this week. We have always done school in the morning and played in the afternoon. However, as it is July and really HOT out in the afternoons, we are reversing our schedule for at least this first term.
It’s going REALLY well. I know, it’s only three days, but it’s great. We’ll see how this goes. It may be the start of something new for the whole year.
I like it because the kids are ready to work and I’ve been able to do a lot of my work as well.
Love the post about teachers as indicator species. Yup. And in my HS mom group, about half of us are former classroom teachers. Our biggest challenge? De-schooling ourselves!!!
My kids don’t really get up till 9, and I am slower getting going in the morning too. I like my coffee, Bible, and journaling! I’ve been feeling guilty for not doing school the “normal?” way, but we’re usually lucky to get 1 lesson done before lunch, and then usually end at 3ish. We have some breaks in there for nursing the baby or other things though. I feel like I’d have more time for nature study though if we started a little earlier. So glad to have found this post. It is so encouraging to read everyone’s comments!
I also tried homeschooling earlier in the day, but couldn’t make it work. My daughter just isn’t ready, and my blood sugar level isn’t stable enough until later in the day! She has a few assignments that she does independently during the day (sometimes morning – on her schedule, but her computer privileges depend on getting them done!) then we read together usually at about 8pm, when we cover Bible, poetry, science and history, and sometimes math, writing or Spanish. So most of our structured homeschooling happens after sundown!
I ended up here just by chance. I was feeling that I wasn’t living up to those same expectations I had that we “should” be doing school in the morning even though we just aren’t ready by then and it’s going well doing it in the afternoons. Thank you for helping me feel so much better and helping me see it from a different perspective ?
I thought I was doing something wrong. We’ve been homeschooling almost a year now and we just couldn’t get our act together, or so I thought! I noticed how after playing all morning both instinctively sat down to work about an hour after lunch. Initiating their own learning experience. And they sit for hours moving from one topic to the next or diving deep.
I needed a little reassurance, thank you!
I am currently homeschooling my youngest three boys two of whom are type 1 diabetics. So much of our mornings can be taken up with just making sure that their blood sugars are stable and that they are completely taken care of health-wise that homeschooling in the afternoon was a natural for us.
Thank you so much for this! It is so helpful to see and hear actual day in the life schedules. We are struggling in the mornings and are trying to find our rhythm. Thank you for this!
I know this post is so old, but it showed up on my Pinterest. I so needed to read this. I “failed” homeschooling this past year because my kindergartener just wants to play! I was starting to worry about how grade 1 would go. He does often ask in the afternoon to “do school”. I didn’t know I needed permission to think outside that morning time and homeschool in the afternoon! Genius! We love our mornings slow, and I’m honestly not a happy morning person. Thank you for the permission!
HI Sara,
I’m so glad the post showed up in your Pinterest feed! This post is old, but it’s still one of my most popular posts every single week.
It sounds like you are on your way to finding what works for you and your son. That’s a great blessing for both of you!
Sallie
Hi there
I’m from Australia I’ve only been homeschooling a couple of years. I have 3 daughters one with ASD and I struggle with cfs. My husband switches from day to night shift with his job naturally he’s a night owl. while my asd girl and I are also not really functional until lunchtime and she has to do most of her work independently due to auditorry processing. My two younger ones seem more receptive at around 9am…but I’m not up for the task at that time. We also struggle in the winter it’s freezing we hate getting up in the morning and then just as spring has sprung and we feel as though we are functional earlier…daylight savings ruins it! Then we struggle to make use of summer mornings outdoors to have inside afternoons out of the heat it’s then 9pm before we can enjoy the cool evenings and look at the stars….
we have activities between 4pm and 6pm so how do I get a balance and draw them to the table? it seems afternoons and evenings are our rhythm but if I burn out too early in the day I can’t manage that either any advice for a muddled mum….