Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Tagged: bedtimes, Schedule

This topic has 26 replies, 19 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 8 months ago by missceegee.

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August 11, 2009 at 2:59 am
missingtheshire
Member
My husband likes to go to bed at 10pm as he is up at 5am; I like to stay up late 11 or 12 midnight and get up about 7pm. Our 17 year olds go to bed anywhere from 10pm to midnight, one is up at 6:30 am and the other I have to drag out of bed, so we are all a bit different. I also have trouble with getting to sleep, mind way too active, and I think it stems from way back when the twins were born and premature – I was up every 2 hours to feed 1 oz of food, that took about 45 minutes to an hour, so then I would have an hour to doze before I had to do it all over again – that went on for nearly 3 months food increasing a little each month – 2 of those months my husband was away and I had the duty all to myself – I think after that the sleep pattern was shot!! I was already adjusting to the time difference from the UK and then when the girls came, that made it all worse. Since then, I sleep none too well. My husband sleeps like a brick as do the girls thankfully. I do love it when I do sleep though.
August 11, 2009 at 11:31 am
Crystal Wagner
Participant
missingtheshire – have you tried an eye pillow with a few drops of lavendar essential oil? I had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep a few years back. I did the eye pillow with lavendar (and eucalyptus if I have a cold) and usually fell asleep within minutes and slept the whole night most of the time. The lavendar is supposed to help with sleep. I also found that the slight pressure from the eye pillow calmed my thoughts and didn’t let my mind race.
August 11, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Misty
Participant
Loving hearing all the different reasons and such for bedtimes. Families are all so unique that it’s great to here about that, this always interests me because one of my dear friends makes such fun of our family for being a early to bed family. She’s always saying “how do you do it?’, but then she laughs. My dh leaves by 430am to get to work so that he doesn’t deal with traffic and also he said that way he’s able to be home at night usually by 3 to be with the family.
And I have always been a early bird myself so if the kids want to wake at 7 that’s great we get so much done early and then have the afternoon to do what ever. The only problem with that is that so many places don’t open till 10am “What’s up with that?” They must all be night owls~~
Keep bringing it on I’m loving this little chat! Blessings to all your night sleeps, Misty
August 11, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Lesley Letson
Participant
I’m with you on places not opening until 10 – half my day is over by then 🙂 I must say however I do like doing my grocery Wal-Mart shopping in the early a.m. – it is just me and all the little ‘ol ladies 🙂 My husband also starts his day early (we have a tree farm, especially in the summer he prefers the cooler hours to work in) – we love having him in early!
August 11, 2009 at 12:45 pm
missingtheshire
Member
Thanks for the hint CJWagner, I have not tried the eye pillow, however I regularly use lavender and aromatherapy for many other things – it does not appear to help with the sleep for me, though I know it does for others. I will try the eye pillow though, so thanks for that. Blessings…Linda
August 11, 2009 at 12:55 pm
meagan
Participant
Oh man, I wish I was disciplined enough to give our sons (14, 10, and 9) a consistent bedtime. It just never seems to happen for us. Last night, all 3 had soccer practice, so we were at the fields from 6 to 8, got home, didn’t even finish dinner until about 9 (horrible, I know, I just can’t seem to give up eating together as a family), then the kids had showers and evening chores (basically just cleaning up their rooms). And, even on nights where we aren’t out of the house, we always get so busy, playing games together, swimming, reading books, doing our Bible study, etc. that it’s always so late by the time they go to bed. We love spending family time together, and figure we better take advantage of it before our kids decide they’re too cool to spend time with us Bed time can range anywhere from 9 pm (if the kids are really tired) to 11 pm (when we get into things)!! I long to have a regular bedtime, because I suffer from chronic fatigue (although doctors have told me nothing is wrong) and need my sleep. As we prepare for the school year, my prayer is that we can get into more of a routine. We are blessed in that my husband works at a job where he is usually able to be home in the early afternoons, between 2 and 4 (4 is a late day), so I want to have as much done for school as possible by then so we can all just be together. Plus, I think that I need the consistency for my first year homeschooling, probably more than the kids do!

For those of you who do have regular bedtimes for your kids, was it hard for you to come up with that time, and is hard for you to stick to it?
August 11, 2009 at 2:37 pm
mommix3
Member
We don’t have a “set” bedtime right at this moment. We have some wiring issues in the house and with hubby’s medical issues right now we don’t have the $$ to fix it so we have one window a/c unit in the livingroom. BTW we live in TEXAS so it’s super HOT and HUMID. We are all sleeping in there and our days are spent in there as well. It gets REALLY old sometimes and everyone gets a bit cranky. Soon we will be able to get the electrician to come and fix it. I can’t wait!! When that does happen, Bedtimes for my girls ages 5 and 9 will be 8:30 and the boys ages 12 and 13 will be 9:30. We have ALWAYS had to drag the boys out of bed. Right now it’s 9:30 and the girls are starting to stir but the boys are out like a light. I’ll be getting them up in a minute to get their things out of the livingroom and get dressed.
August 11, 2009 at 10:17 pm
LindseyD
Participant
My kids are 5 1/2 and 4, and eight times out of 10, they’re in bed between 8:30-9:00. They usually wake up between 7:30 and 8:30, and I too believe it is criminal to wake a sleeping child. I just joined Curves and have been waking up at 7:00 to go workout for 30 minutes. I’m home by 7:45-8:00 a.m., and the kids (and hubby) are usually still asleep. My DH works evenings and usually gets home around 11:00, so I stay up to wait for him, then we go to bed together sometimes before midnight. I’m ok with 7 hours of sleep, but any less than that is not good for me or the world. Both kids are still taking a nap in the afternoon from about 1:30-3:30 (sometimes 4:00) and still go to bed relatively easily. I always have them in bed by 9:00, but if they did take a longer nap, I don’t care if they lay awake and talk to each other for a few minutes. If they’re still talking at 10, they get scolded! On VERY rare occassions, we might not get home until after 9 or 10, so they get to bed really late. They just make up for it by sleeping later, sometimes until 9:00 or even later. I’ve always had great sleepers, so I feel very sorry for all of you who are still up with kiddos at night. Unless they wake up late, we always start school by 9:15.
That’s the beauty of homeschooling…you don’t have to follow anyone’s schedule but your own!
August 12, 2009 at 11:41 am
havefaithplease
Member
Interesting topic. My boys are 6.5 and 7.5. We start getting them ready for bed around 7pm and then in bed usually by 7:30. In the summer it can be a bit later sometimes. They are usually up by 7am. We’ve had them on an early bedtime for a few years now. Actually up until a year ago it was 6:30 get ready then 7 lights out. My husband and I have always valued our time together in the evenings so it has been important to us to get the boys in bed early. And I’m usually up by 5am, so we go to bed early ourselves. I also think that my boys tend to need at least 10-12 hrs per night of sleep to be well rested. Unfortunately for us when the boys are up later they don’t sleep in later in the am… I’m not sure why… but they still get up early!! So getting them to bed ontime is important. We moved a couple of weeks ago and have had many late nights to bed, it has showed in their behavior/attitudes. So I’m working hard at getting them to bed ontime now.
August 12, 2009 at 11:55 am
Misty
Participant
havefaith.. we also know that no matter what time we put our boys to bed they will be awake at 7 (at the latest) and roar ready to go. As someone said my boys don’t move slow and easy in the morning they are ready and roaring to move!! We also value about 1/2 hour of uninterupted time at night alone so that’s about all we get, otherwise my dh is falling asleep on me. He also needs his sleep and getting up at 430 is really for the kids and me, God bless him!
September 2, 2009 at 4:01 pm
HeidiS
Participant
Ahh sleep. i missed this post earlier(must have been sleeping!) so I am bumping it up for the new ones, it is so interesting. One thing I have observed now that I can look back with grown children, is that their sleep patterns are the same now as when they were small. My eldest is now almost 26, living on his own and he is still a night owl. He loves to sleep in the mornings and he stays up really late. Now this boy when he was small would sleep like a rock, anywhere, anytime:) He was hard to wake in the am no matter if he went to bed at 7, 8, 9,or 10. And this was from birth! My dd who is now married has always needed to sleep-early bedtime, usually early up. She is now exactly the same and finds being married to a shift worker a bit daunting, but she knows she needs to sleep or the world suffers,lol. My other three each have their own cycles. I tried SO many times as they were growing to get them on a regular sleep/wake cycle but it never worked. They were who they were. They would get up when asked, but the early birds were chipper, the night owls grumpy…Now I am a night owl, but my dh needs to be up and out at 6 and he is NOT a night owl. Our difficulty always has been that he is ready for bed by 10 at the latest, and he wants the house quiet and me ready for bed then too. Easier when the kids were small, not so easy now. He doesn’t get the stay up thing with teenage boys and doesn’t get why I feel I need to stay up to say goodnight to them. We go back and forth on this. THankfully our youngest at 9 is like her dad. She wakes early and so she goes to bed at 9 with a story and a chat. The 14yo, not so much.Now that summer is over and school starting I have told him he needs to be in his room, ready for sleep at 10, no later, and if he can’t sleep, he can read for half and hour. I am hoping it works, but this kid will stay up til midnight, then get up at 7 with no seeming ill effects…good thing, if he will be working his whole life:)
The oldest one now works for a ministry organization in the downtown east side of a large city and guess what his main job is? Night Desk clerk!! God is good – all the time:)
Heidi
September 3, 2009 at 2:22 am
missceegee
Participant
We’re definitely routine people here. Our 2 you dd and 5 yo ds are in bed by 8 PM and my 8 yo dd by 8:30 PM, this very rarely changes. The 8 yo is our early riser, usually up by 6:30 am or 7 at the latest. The other 2 wake at 7:30 AM, same as mom. They never sleep in, even on the rare occasion that they go to bed very late. The 2 yo still takes a 1.5 – 2 hour nap in the afternoons, too.
Hubby is usually in bed by 10:30 or 11 PM and I try hard to be, too. Hubby is up at 7 AM most days. By nature I am a night owl and would love to be up til 2 or 3 AM and sleep til 10 AM or so, but that isn’t really workable in our family, so I have adjusted.
We tend to stay away from activities that would mess up our evening routine on a regular basis. It just isn’t worth it for us, we’re all grumpy.