Hello Nicholeen,
We are homeschooling ages 5.5, 4 and 2.5. I have noticed that we have gotten into a bad habit of getting the children into bed much later than we want around 9:30 p.m. they sleep a consistent 10 hours at night with the two youngest getting an 1.5 to 2 hour nap during the day. I am finding little time for personal development, conversations with the husband and having trouble getting enough sleep myself. I had an idea about getting them into bed earlier at 7:30 to create a little bit more margin for myself in the evenings. I had the idea of getting alarm clocks for the rooms and setting them to 6:00 a.m. . At that time my husband is getting ready for work and I would be at the gym. How realistic would it be to train them at these ages to get up once the alarm clock goes off, get dressed, make their beds, bush teeth/ hair and say their morning prayers with little to no help from the parents? Is this an idea for the future or is it something I can begin to initiate now? We are about to initiate a new chore chart and reward system that may help to motivate this but I want to have realistic expectations. Right now they are naturally getting up around 7:30am. Obviously, the two and a half year old would just drink his breakfast milk and hang out with his siblings. I have been teaching the skill of bed making for about 6 weeks & they can successfully dress themselves.I could check in on them and help by 7:00 a.m.What are your thoughts? Thank you!