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How to Make Yourself a Morning Person When Homeschooling (Do You Really Need to Wait until the Afternoon to Homeschool?)

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How to Make Yourself a Morning Person When Homeschooling (Do You Really Need to Wait until the Afternoon to Homeschool) Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Homeschool families have varying circumstances and waiting to the afternoon to homeschool works for some families.

However, instead of adding one more thing to your added responsibilities by telling you that mornings are best, I want to show you how to seize your day by being sure you are getting the best start.

How to Avoid the Stress of Running and Rushing

So today, I want to share how to make yourself a morning person when homeschooling.

I hope too that just because I do my best work at 5:00 a.m. that you won’t hold that against me because my perfect homeschool morning routine bombed when Mr. Awesome 2015, my night owl was added to my day.

So if you’re like me and absolutely love the mornings, but have children who do not share your same “radiance” in the morning, then maybe a tip or two will help them too.

Forget the Complete Breakfast.

Though I am ready to rumble and that means a pretty hardy breakfast right when I get up, my run from the morning son is almost sick to his stomach when he wakes up.

Did I mention that is not the time for explanations about low blood sugar or needing to be refueled?

I learned that while he was hungry, a big breakfast early only seemed to slow him down.

Instead, a light meal like a yogurt, banana and blueberry smoothie (his favorite) was just enough to help him get past the morning sickness.

Because he didn’t want me asking him questions in the morning, I suggested that he dump the ingredients in the blender the night before.

All he had to do was push a button in the morning and he had it ready. No conversation with me was needed.

10:00 or 10:30 a.m. is STILL Morning Time.

Another thing I had to accept was that it was okay for him to start later after I did with the other boys.

Some days we are ready to start by 8:00 a.m., but Mr. Awesome 2015 did not do his best work at that time.

Instead of fighting his natural design to a slower start to the day (wouldn’t want it done to me), I realized that starting even at 10:00 to 10:30 a.m. is still a great start to the day.



So if you have several children that require more time in the morning and your household runs better by a later start, 10:30 a.m. is still a morning routine.

If your child is real young and needs you to start his day, but you know that he is absolutely not a morning person, then plan for a read aloud.

As he grows older, he will appreciate the fact that you allowed learning at his peak time.

Subject Matters.

Another thing I learned about helping homeschoolers who fought to focus in the mornings was to start with lighter homeschooling subjects.

Normally, I suggest tackling the hardest subjects first in the morning when you’re fresh and motivated.

That same advice does not work for night owls.

Even meaningful conversations with your children while you sip your brew, which morning people normally do after school or in the evenings can fill your morning and it still counts as homeschooling.

Too, instead of assigning harder subjects first, which most morning people tackle first, assign subjects that your children can do independently.

This gives you more time to wake up and for the morning time to pass peaceably while your children start their day slowly.

If your child is not a morning person, support them by helping them to organize their subjects by getting a slower start too.

Save the hard subjects to tackle when they come alive like later in the afternoon.

Do You Homeschool When the Sun Rises Sets?

If you do have children that are morning people and can work independently of you, let them start their day. Morning people need their time to start when it’s best for them too.

However, just make a simple rule for you, which is that all questions will have to wait until after lunch or later in the morning.

Find the Sweet Spot – Compromise.

Just be sure to answer the questions of your child that is a early riser right away, like early afternoon. Don’t wait to the evening to help a child who thrives with the morning time because that is akin to you feeling absolutely sick in the morning and not wanting a person to say a peep to you.

Early afternoon to mid-afternoon is the perfect compromise time for both morning and night owl folks to meet half-way.

Homeschoolers homeschool for all sorts of reasons from health related problems, gifted learners, secular homeschoolers to faith based homeschooling. And sometimes that means starting later in the day.

It’s hard to set up hard and fast rules for all circumstances, but you do want to set up a measuring standard for what your family is accomplishing for the day.

How Do You Measure Success?

For example, I encourage you to homeschool as early as you can and make it first in your day, whatever that time is for your family.

Interruptions can happen the longer the day goes on and by starting as soon as you can, distractions can be minimized and time learning maximized.

Many homeschoolers struggle with getting in the basics for the day because they didn’t gauge how much time they actually need in the morning.

Finding the time for your family and sticking to it is key to having a fuller day.

What time do you start your homeschool day?

Hugs and love ya,

Should You Switch to a 4 Day Homeschool Schedule?
How to Create a Homeschool Schedule that You Can Stick To
The Sticking Power of a Homeschool Schedule

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Why the Hectic Pace in Homeschool? What’s the Rush Girl?

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Why the Hectic Pace in Homeschooling @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

What’s the rush? Why the hectic pace in homeschool?

Homeschool curriculum options have literally exploded in the market.  Instead of simplifying homeschool it seems like the huge amount of curriculum choices have complicated homeschooling.

We are constantly bombarded with more deadlines, stress and a growing list of of homeschool subjects.

Pressure to perform has mounted. Constantly expecting too much from our children and ourselves is not good.

We can’t slow down the hectic pace of this world when it comes to educating our children, but we can make changes in our everyday journey.

Is Your Homeschool Teaching a Trickle or Torrential flood?

One thing we have control over is the pace we set each day for our school.

The pace we set in teaching our children made me think about a point we learned in science.

When there is a quick down pour, rain runs off  the ground because it’s too fast and the ground doesn’t have time to soak it up.  Digging down the surface a bit, you can see that the ground is still dry.

However, when there is a soft, gentle, rain that trickles slowly throughout the day, the ground soaks up the water and nourishes the plants.  The slow trickle saturates the ground.

Do you tend to flood your children with lots of information and busy work or is your day of teaching more like a soft gentle trickle so that your children can soak up what you are teaching?

Realistic Tips that Work

Besides understanding that a constant hurried pace is not good for you physically, here are some doable tips that will help to reduce the stress in your day.

Routine is vital.

Routine is a habit and instead of stressing each day about how to start the day, there is no pausing for thought, we just do it.

Progress and routine are inextricably linked.

Progress reduces stress and helps to slow pace down but it only comes if a routine is formed.  Routine can be  anything but hum drum if we allow a gentle unfolding of our day that suits our family.

Organization (the realistic kind) is a must.

I have said it many times throughout the years and that is as homeschoolers the way we organize has to be different.

We can’t follow the organizational tips given by many well-meaning books and blogs of stay at home moms who do not wear the teacher hat or who don’t share learning and living spaces.  Those kinds of tips makes  the already overwhelmed unorganized homeschooler run the other way from organizational tips that will breathe calm into her day.

Organization takes on a different meaning as homeschoolers.

When time is wasted fumbling for lesson plans, kids don’t have a place to put away their papers or books or when kids don’t understand their morning routine, this starts our day off at a hurried pace.  We seem to spend the whole  day trying to catch up.

Equally important to choosing curriculum is choosing a plan of action.  Take as much time writing down how you want your day to flow and where to put away your homeschool things as you do mulling over curriculum choices.

Homeschooling and life blend together the longer you homeschool.

When you have a plan for cooking and laundry as much as you do for chemistry and language arts, then you have balance in your day.  Tension starts to subside.

Breaks should be meaningful.

I love walking and physical exercise has always been a time for me to rejuvenate and be re-energized for the day.

Stepping away from the chaos and doing something physical always has helped me to put things back in the right priority.

If I am stressing that I am not doing enough, then I ask myself why? Is it because life happened like a sickness in our family that went through all five of us or was it because I was helping one of the boys deal with a lot of hormones?  Then we need to bless and release it because that is part of school.

If I am stressing because I planned too lightly then learn from that lesson and move on.

Dwelling on things that we can’t control brings stress.  Stress breeds chaos and an inability to cope.  It’s a vicious cycle and will consume our time if we don’t break it.

Constant reminders are needed about why we are homeschooling and how an unhurried pace year after year infuses our children with a massive amount of knowledge that has time to saturate not only their minds, but their hearts.

Too, plan for the unexpected by preparing your mind for things that will come up and cause stress.

There is a cost for trying to do too much.

Take a look at your pace. Does it need to change before you hit burnout?

Also, look at these helpful tips:

Hugs and love ya,

Should You Switch to a 4-Day Homeschool Schedule?

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Switching to a 4-day homeschool schedule for a majority of my journey is not only one of the best homeschooling tips I can share, but it saved my sanity when many things about home and school collided. Addressing some of your concerns first and then sharing the numerous reasons why the advantages of homeschooling a 4-day week outweighed a 5 day schedule, I hope these tidbits will help you too.

One of the greatest factors for those hesitant to switch to a 4-day homeschool schedule has to do with the amount of weeks or hours needed to meet state requirements.

4-Day Homeschool Schedule

While it’s true that you need 45 weeks instead of 36 weeks, you can still homeschool a 4-day schedule if you stretched out your homeschool year.

It doesn’t even mean you have to school year round, though I am here to tell you flat out that the advantages of homeschooling year round blew away an abrupt stop and start each year.

Should You Switch to a 4-Day Homeschool Schedule?

Schooling year round doesn’t mean all work and no play, but that is another topic. You can check out How to Plan for & Homeschool Year Round here.

Also, be sure you look at my YouTube video How to Create a Homeschool Schedule You Can Stick to

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The second concern I have seen is a mindset that unless we school 5 days we are not really schooling or that we could get behind.  Maybe this idea stems from the fact that we are pressured to conform to the schedule the workforce is keeping.

Clearing my mind of how I thought school was suppose to happen, I set out to do what was best for my family.I do want to mention too that the ages of your children makes a difference in shaping your viewpoint on adopting a homeschool schedule. Having homeschooled from the beginning when all of my kids were little and having no help with the housework gave me the power to move against the norm.

Balancing the weeks we needed to school with the needs of my family took priority.

Advantage of 4-day Homeschool Schedule

Look at some of the advantages of a 4-day homeschool schedule.

When I switched, I maintained more consistency.

Nothing sets back a homeschool year more or builds resistance quickly in a child then to constantly start and stop because you get behind on housework or are just worn out from the constant grind.

When we started a 4-day homeschool schedule, the days were more full and my weeks more consistent because I didn’t start my week depleted of physical energy.

The quality of my teaching went up.

If you are the kind of person that can proceed forward with the house somewhat messed up (I promise I tried hard to do this year after year), I am still learning to follow your relaxed manner.

This is something that can’t be ignored when you are homeschooling.

Either you are more relaxed about your surroundings not as tidy or you are not as forgiving about a messy atmosphere. There is no right or wrong on this because as moms we are wired differently. It is just what is right for your personality.

I realized right away that I could not function when I felt chaos existed in my home. The measuring point is if it hampers and paralyzes you from giving your children 100 percent for the day then it needs to be addressed.

When my mind was heavy with thinking about things I have to still do in the house, it did not make me the kind of teacher I wanted to be.

Instead of thinking it wasn’t important to have my mind relatively free of stress, I embraced my need to have things organized before I started my day.

I used Mondays for cleaning, to have a slower start to my week, to get some of my cooking done, and to look over my lesson plans for the week.

Your week ends or begins on a positive note each month and that triggers a sticking power to homeschooling.

Homeschooling Tuesday through Friday like I did for many, many years or homeschooling Monday through Thursday gave me more control over my time.

It propelled me through each year because I took time on the front end of the week to prepare for school. It ended up being a power booster to keep on homeschooling.

There was a plan for the unexpected.

Another surprising advantage was that I planned for the unexpected.

I find this ironic because I love to plan, but I never gave myself an option for the unexpected in my life.

If I was running a public school classroom this would make no difference, but I am not.

Being at home where life happens, I was more organized because I didn’t have every moment of my life planned.

Feelings of being behind and stressed out that we were not covering what we needed to started to fade.

The bottom line was I had wiggle room in my schedule each week.

Dad’s schedule and support is important.

Though a majority of the teaching was always done by me, it was important to me that when my husband’s scheduled changed that we could spend more time together.

For a good part of our homeschooling journey, he had a set work schedule.  But there were many times during the years that our business was slow and he took advantage of spending that time with us.

Having a 4-day week lesson plan always ready, it didn’t matter which day we took off.  We always had a day to spend with dad because our week did not have every day planned.

Dos and Don’ts of a 4-Day Homeschool Schedule

Look at some of these dos and don’ts when switching to a 4-day homeschool schedule.

Don’t cram 5 days into 4 days. 

Avoiding stress is my goal and so cramming 5 days of lessons into 4 days of school is not a doable plan to keep you homeschooling for years.

This may be good for one or two years if you need it, but it is a recipe for exhaustion if you implement it for many years.

Schooling year round made my 4-day homeschool schedule doable.

Just relax and plod along and remember that schooling year round doesn’t mean you can’t have off weeks or months. They are just spread out during the year so that the time off fits your family.

Do decide how to use the day off.

Deciding to switch to a 4-day homeschool schedule only works if you value the reason you are switching.

For me, because all the children were little and I had very little help with the housework and in running our business, I knew I needed a day at the beginning of the work week to unwind when the Mr. was back at work.

I wanted a slower start to the week and doing that gave me momentum for during the week.

Though I say it was a day off, it ended up turning into a day of relaxed housework and savoring my lesson planning time.

As the kids grew and got older, I had them cleaning the house after school.  We still kept a 4-day schedule but started taking off Fridays.

We used that day for field trips, shopping, swimming or just enjoying the slow days of summer or beautiful weather in fall.

Again, I find it amusing how life and homeschool has turned out now as I look back.

Though I say I followed a 4-day homeschool schedule, my kids still did many educational activities, though unplanned by me on our day off.

They ended up watching educational movies, doing a project, or even if it was just playing outside and in the dirt, they were still investigating, exploring and learning.

A lot of weeks, I counted our day off as homeschooling because of some of the projects the kids would find to do.

Do write our your schedule and study it.

I am a huge advocate of writing it all out because seeing where your homeschool year starts and ends keeps your goals clear in mind.

Too, you are not bothered with the hype of homeschool schedules because you have set a pace that works for your family.

Don’t worry that your stress free schedule seems effortless. Do you really need complicated homeschooling?

Homeschooling is complicated enough. There is no need to constantly question ourselves because we don’t have all the struggles everybody else is having.

Finding your groove to homeschooling can be not only fulfilling, but painless.

Managing your time means to make your time more meaningful while maintaining spontaneity.

A 4-day homeschool schedule was key to not only maintaining my house suitable for us to live in, but advancing to more rigorous academics.

Sitting down to begin our week, we were armed with a full day of activities, rested, and ready to learn!

What about you? Are you still struggling with a schedule that works for your family?

Should You Switch to a 4-Day Homeschool Schedule?

You also love these other tips:

Hugs and love ya,

Should You Switch to a 4-day Homeschool Schedule @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Homeschooling Year Round – Chaos Or Calm?

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

When I first started homeschooling, I didn’t even think about following any other homeschool schedule like homeschooling year round.

Now, I wouldn’t have it any other way.Homeschooling Year Round @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool PlusWhen deciding if homeschooling year round is for you, look at these 3 questions to help you figure out if it will work for your family or not.

How much control do you have over your schedule?

Though I would love to follow my own schedule, the reality is my husband’s work schedule dictated our school schedule for many years.

Like our family, a lot of homeschoolers are self-employed and so that means we make our own schedules, but it also means that it usually doesn’t jive with a public school schedule.

For the most part, can you dictate your own schedule?

Assuming you can, the next thing to ask is:

How do your children learn best?

Is it by completely taking off months or just having a few weeks spread throughout the year?

You can’t really decide this if this is your first year of homeschooling because you and your kids are getting off the public school treadmill.

If you have been in public school for years, there may be a pull for your children to play with kids from public school and that means you think you may want the summer off.

But the longer you homeschool the more that desire to form an attachment with friends from public school wanes because you have made so many friends otherwise in field trips, co-ops and classes with other like-minded parents and children.

A lot of homeschoolers school lightly during summer because it allows them to catch up on things they have been wanting to do but didn’t get time to do during the regular school year.

Does the weather affect you getting out doors?

If you live in a place like Texas, where the summer is a scorcher, then choosing to school during hotter months and having off during cooler weather is a huge benefit to enjoying being outdoors more.

These 3 easy questions helped me to see that my homeschool schedule did not have to follow the public school schedule.

I did better as a teacher when I could take mini-breaks throughout the year.

My children stayed in a relaxed routine too when we kept the same schedule year round.

This doesn’t mean you have to keep the same pace each month and you really wouldn’t want to.

Staying productive year round has been a good fit for us.

Do you like schooling year round?

What homeschool schedule do you follow?

Hugs and love ya
2015 Tina Signature co

Check out these other tips on homeschooling year round.
What Is Year Round Homeschooling Part 1.
What is Year Round Homeschooling Part 2.

Linking up @ these awesome places:

Mom’s Library|The Mommy Club|A Little Bird Told Me|A Little R&R|

Homeschool Day: 3 Smart Strategies to Fitting It All In

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I can’t drive and talk on the phone at the same time and have any kind of quality conversation much less pay attention to my driving. Add in a homeschool day and In this day and age it’s called multitasking.

I really don’t like that term in my homeschooling day because it makes me think that I am not giving 100% to the task on hand.

Not only do I not feel productive while driving and talking, but in a lot of places it is illegal because of the dangers.

Simply put, we can get side-tracked.

Homeschool Day: 3 Smart Strategies to Fitting It All In

1. Homeschool Prioritizing = Important Things First

Prioritizing is a term I prefer to use because that is really what a homeschool day is about.

Did you know that prioritizing is the secret in not surviving homeschool, but treasuring each day?

Homeschooling is a long trek and stacking all the things we want to do in our day by multitasking can leave us sidetracked with very little ability to do what is needed.

Prioritizing your tasks in order of importance is the key to a stress free day.

I am not really even talking about getting an early start in the day even though this proves very successful for most homeschoolers.

What you need to remember is that what ever time is first in your day, that time needs to be your school zone.

Your teaching needs to be given priority so that before anything else comes up, you have accomplished some of your goals.

2. Do Opposite Planning

Another mistake I was making for many years is setting my homeschool schedule to the beat of my oldest son.

If your household is filled with lots of little ones, your rhythm needs to beat to the youngest and not to the oldest child.

Many years ago, I heard David Hazell of my Father’s World give the best piece of advice.

He said the oldest child needs to be dethroned.So true! In other words, quit setting the schedule to suit them.

We worry so much about our oldest child that he may view his time as absolute to the other children’s time.

It is okay to worry about doing school with them, we need to be conscientious.

However, the lessons we teach our oldest child about patience, forgiveness and an independent attitude to pursue some learning on their own is what homeschooling really is about.

How does this fit in with getting it all in the day? We are moms first and it always take priority.

Caring for our family’s needs, whether it means cradling the toddler, hugging the preschoolers or wiping the tears of a hormonal middle schooler, our homeschool schedule needs to work around our family.

3. You Have to Plan

Sample Homeschool Schedules

Another tip for maintaining a calm flow to your day is to plan it or schedule it.  Don’t let a schedule stranglehold you.

A homeschool schedule is a like a vacation plan.  You use it to be sure you don’t miss any of the important things along the way.

It is a guide to your day but should never be viewed as another stress inducer.  It points your direction so that you keep going along.

Look at two of my homeschool schedules I followed for quite a few years.

Older Household

Mon. off.

Tue –  Fri. School

9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

2:00 – 4:00 reading time, chore time and quiet time.

Younger Household.

Mon. off

Tues – Friday School

10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

1:00 p..m. – 3:00 p.m. school (school, hopefully while the toddler and preschooler napped)

3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. chore time and quiet time.

I even did school on Saturday one year when I had a toddler and a newborn.  The Mr. was home and I could get so much accomplished with my oldest son.

If you love white chalkboards like I do, then you’ll love this whiteboard for organizing.

Instead of panting through the day and giving homeschooling, cooking or caring for the little ones with meager energy, prioritize your day.

Seasons of time pass by quickly. Don’t spend precious homeschool days that won’t last forever by pushing your limits to the max.

And if you need more help, you’ll love my book, Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers: When You Don’t Know Where to Begin Paperback.

You’ll like these other posts and helps:

Homeschool Day: 3 Smart Strategies to Fitting It All In
Homeschool Day. 3 Smart Strategies to Fitting it ALL In @ Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

What does your homeschool schedule look like now?