Name: ICHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-06-05T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-06-07T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Bourbonnais, IL

Tagged: Sleep

This topic has 40 replies, 23 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 8 months ago by LindseyD.

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September 9, 2013 at 2:14 pm
amyjane
Participant
Just wondered if you guys have a hard start time in the mornings or do you let your kids wake up on their own time and start then? What are your thoughts on why you do what you do?
Thanks,
Amy
September 9, 2013 at 2:43 pm
cdm2kk
Participant
I do, kinda… let me explain. I let them wake up on their own most mornings because they are in better spirits when I do. The problem with this is that they can sleep late thus getting a late start to the day. I fix that problem, by having a set bed time.
Meaning, if I want kids up by 7:00 ish then I make sure they are in bed by 9:00pm my kids currently need 10 hours to be rested. This is different for every child and will change as they age. So I am forever adjusting but it works.
Now my kids are still young yet, so when I say it is bedtime they obey and they really do not look at the clock and question why I’m sending them 15 mintues early etc. Only time will tell how this will be when they get older and wiser and want to stay up later. Hope this helps you. OH! I lose track of time in the evenings, so I put an alarm on my phone for bath time, so then that start the whole getting ready for bed routine so we don’t get to bed late.
I have noticed my husband really likes having the set bedtime too because then kids aren’t staying up late and honing in our our time together at the end of the day. Win Win all around and I highly recommend. HTH

September 9, 2013 at 2:57 pm
LindseyD
Participant
Yes! Unless we have some place to be in the morning (which is VERY rare), I let them sleep til they wake on their own. Then they have time to read in bed before starting their day. We do this for several reasons:
1. I enjoy time for waking up in the morning, rather than having to jump out of bed and rush, rush, rush. All through my childhood, my mother was very good about how she woke us up for school. She kept the lights off, whispered and rubbed our backs as she gently coaxed us awake. My father, however, was the opposite. He often flipped on all the lights and came into our room singing, whistling, or just speaking loudly for us to wake up. Waking up that way always put me in a bad mood, and still does. I try to allow my children a quiet, gentle waking time, and since we aren’t getting up to catch the school bus, there’s no need for me to wake them at all usually.
2. I have purposely worked our schedule so that we have plenty of time to unload the dishwasher, eat breakfast, and have a family devotion at the breakfast table and still start school by 9:30. Our children have been waking at the same time (around 8:00-8:30) for so long, that our schedule has just naturally formed around it.
3. I (personally) think it’s a crime (LOL here!) to wake a sleeping child. We never woke our children as babies and still never do. I’m a firm believer that if a child is sleeping, their body needs that sleep, and I do everything in my power not to interrupt that precious time for their bodies. I purposefully don’t schedule things before noon so that they have time to sleep/eat and we have school.
4. I have only 2 children. I understand that others who have more may need to wake children so that the day can remain on a consistent schedule. I also recognize that for some families, it’s not practical to let children sleep as long as they like. In our home, this is not the case. Even if my children sleep til 10:00 (and they have done this before), I just try to roll with it and adjust our day accordingly. We may do some school before lunch and some after, or chores may not get done that day, or we may just do light school, or we may cancel whatever activity we had scheduled for the afternoon. I want to be flexible, as I know that my children won’t be young forever and this, to me, is part of “securing for them a quiet growing time” (in Charlotte’s words).
5. We do have set bedtimes. Kids must be in bed, ready to sleep by 8:30. This keeps them waking between 8:00-8:30 the next morning. So yes, I guess my children consistently need 12 hours of sleep per night. They are never grumpy, are able to make it through whatever we have going on the next day without being grouchy, are very helpful around the house, play well together, and overall we usually just have great days. I attribute much of this to the fact that they begin every day well rested.
Hope that helps!
Lindsey
September 9, 2013 at 3:00 pm
Karen
Participant
Ugh! I hate this topic!!! I hate bedtime! I hate putting children to bed! I hate waking children up in the morning!!
We definitely need habit-training in this area.
Currently, since my husband comes in from working (the barn) late, we eat supper late – my husband (and me, too) want us to eat all our meals as a family….so we do. Consequently, supper at 9 or 9:30 pm is a reality. Therefore, bedtime is late – 10 or 10:30 pm. And therefore waking up time is late, about 8:30 or 9 or 9:30 am.
We find that it takes our girls so long to wind down. They share rooms (2 in each room) and they laugh and giggle and sing and play. I just made the ruling this morning that one set of the girls are not alllowed to have paper, pens, pencils, crayons, etc. in their room because of hte mess that’s made at bedtime. ! ARGGGHHHH!!
So, my husband asked me to get up earlier (! I hate that too!!!) and get the girls up by 8 or 8:30 am. In hopes that by bedtime (10 or so) they’ll be more tired and go to sleep quicker.
This is one area that I’m defnitely a failure in!!! I’m looking forward to reading more responses and find out what others do. Hopefully someone will be in a similar boat and give me some more ideas!

September 9, 2013 at 3:06 pm
HiddenJewel
Participant
Elementary age – no. Older – yes. Our youngers ones have a lights out time but I let them sleep until they wake up. Our older girls have a time they need to be up and they get to regulate what time they need to be in bed to be up in time.
September 9, 2013 at 3:15 pm
Phobo
Participant
I let them sleep. I agree weigh Lindsey in the thought that their bodies need that sleep. Also, I’m up every night with the baby still, so I’m not getting up any earlier than I have to, lol! We have set bedtimes (between 7:00 and 8:00 depending on the season). My boys tend to get up earlier, around 7:30, and my daughter sleeps until closer to 9:00. The trick is letting her sleep though, since they share a room.
Rachel
September 9, 2013 at 3:31 pm
amyjane
Participant
Thanks!!! Lindsey, I agree with you as well. We have a 5 week old and I am trying to get us into a new routine to accomadate him and i just needed to “flesh” this out because I know this is best it just is going to push our day a little later because of feeding baby. But we have no commitments outside of the house until evenings and I purposefully did that this season. So we will just go with it. Thanks ladies
Amy
September 9, 2013 at 3:42 pm
JenniferM
Participant
I agree with Lindsey about not waking up kids. At our house, the rule applies to not waking up parents, too! 🙂
Like others have mentioned, we are pretty consistent with bedtime, so they are consistent with when they awaken. Take into consideration your personality and your children’s personalities. I don’t like to jump right into my day and my youngest is like that too. My daughter on the other hand always woke up raring to go. She’s a reader now so reading in the bed in the mornings occupies her.
I love that we don’t have to rush around in the mornings. I know families that have to wake up at 5:30 to get ready for school, and I think “I couldn’t do that every day!”
September 9, 2013 at 3:50 pm
LindseyD
Participant
Jennifer, absolutely on not waking up the parents! My kids are old enough now (glory, glory, Hallelujah!) that we can realistically enforce that rule. Fridays and Saturdays are my husband’s days off, so the rule on those days is to lay in bed and read or play quietly, but don’t come downstairs to our room unless you have an emergency. They are allowed to get their own breakfast if they want…as both of my kids can use the toaster, fry or scramble eggs, cut fruit, and flavor their own yogurt. It’s a glorious season!
There is NO way I could wake up at 5:30 every morning…even if I didn’t have to be anywhere. I don’t get up before 7:00 EVER. Not to work out, not to read my Bible, not to make breakfast…for no reason! I’m just a girl who LOVES her sleep and loves everyone else in the family to love their sleep too.
September 9, 2013 at 4:15 pm
Shannon
Participant
Lindsey, I feel jealous! I want to be able to describe my children as you did!
‘They are never grumpy, are able to make it through whatever we have going on the next day without being grouchy, are very helpful around the house, play well together, and overall we usually just have great days.’
How old are you children again? Ironically things are very easy with my teenagers (16 and 13) but not at all with my 7yos!
September 9, 2013 at 4:35 pm
HollyS
Participant
I wake them up if I’ve made breakfast that needs to be eaten before it gets cold. If we have a hot breakfast, I serve it between 8 and 9, so I’m sure they’ve gotten a good amount of sleep by that point! They go to bed at 9. My older two girls and I are usually up by 7.
September 9, 2013 at 5:21 pm
TailorMade
Participant
Only if I want to sleep until I wake up. 🙂
September 9, 2013 at 5:40 pm
Kayla
Participant
I do not wake my kids up. But our bedtime is 7-8 depending on the season/night of the week. My daughter is awake ready to go between 6 and 6:30, my son (if the daughter doesn’t wake him) will sleep until 7:30 or 8 most days.
September 9, 2013 at 6:07 pm
2flowerboys
Participant
Agree w/ Lindsey!
September 9, 2013 at 6:14 pm
LindseyD
Participant
Shannon, my kids are 9.5 and 8. Please don’t think our home is some sort of utopia; it isn’t! My kids are so close in age that they’re the best of friends and usually play very well together. Of course, we do have sibling rivalry and bickering, but not often. They are VERY helpful around the house and are capable of doing many tasks without help now, but there are still many things they do not know. I’ve purposed since they were babies to give them adequate time to sleep and rest, often leaving a gathering or event early to make sure they had a nap or got to bed on time, investing in room-darkening curtains, and keeping loud fans going in their rooms for white noise so they’re never disturbed. Sleep has always been a big deal to us, and it makes sense to me that well rested children might be more pleasant than tired ones.
As for them being able to make their own breakfast, it didn’t take much effort for me to teach them that! A week or two at the frying pan was all it took for both of them to learn to safely cook their own eggs. Thank you for your sweet compliment of my children. I do feel very blessed to be their momma!