Natural Rhythms

I am not a morning person.  I am ashamed to admit that although I was very interested in studying psychology, the one class I took in college was at 8 am and when I found that I could learn the material on my own and still get an A, I slept through a good many of the classes, even a few that I did attend (honestly though, the professor was not the most interesting guy, and he show a lot of movies - who can stay awake that early in a dark room?!?).  The majority of my papers were written at 1 or 2 in the morning, not because I was procrastinating, but because that is when I was "inspired" with the ideas for them.  I am most likely to be found cleaning my house after 10 pm, not because that is when it is most convenient, but because that is when I am ready to do it.  

My husband is also not a morning person.  He can often be found working well into the wee hours of the night, and often sleeps until 11 am or noon.  The lights in our house glow well beyond when all of the other houses on our block are dark.

I have found that our children are also not morning people.  Although our oldest, Madeline, seems to need very little sleep and so is awake both late into the night and early in the morning, the other two would definitely prefer to sleep in.  In fact, Isabella prefers to stay in her pajamas as long as possible, usually until I make her get dressed because we have to leave the house.  I have tried hard to get them all to bed at a "reasonable" hour many times.  I am successful for a few weeks, and then it seems that we fall back into a late night routine.  Now, this certainly could be because it is my preference, but my guess is that they have those late night genes.

Interestingly enough, now that we are more serious about homeschooling, I have found that it is not productive to try to get them all up and downstairs for learning first thing in the morning.  If I do, they tend to take much longer to get to work, are less likely to willingly learn, and spend a lot of time procrastinating.  Alternatively, if I wait for them to be ready, which sometimes is after dinner, we are incredibly productive.  I know that this goes against all of the research I learned about when I was working on my Master's.  Children as suppose to learn best in the morning.  Their brains are fresher.  I fight this thought every time Madeline says at 9 pm, "come on mom, time to go learn."  It just seems that my kids do not fit that mold.  

It has made me wonder about other children I have worked with over the years.  How many of them would have been more successful at learning if they had been given the opportunity to do it on their own time?  I suppose for now I can only focus on my own children and their needs.  While this is not the reason I choose to homeschool my children, it certainly is a benefit of it.