When does your first grader wake up and start school?

shabbatiscoming

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 12:38 am

My first grader has to wake up, the latest, by 6:30 and starts school by 7:30. Her bus stop is at 7:05.
This morning she said "Ema, I wish I didnt have to wake up so early" Sad

what in the world can I say to that? Nothing Sad

acccdac

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 12:43 am

From the time my kids were 3, school starts at 8:15 and they're picked up by 7:30. From age 3-6 I wake them by 7:00 and help them through the morning rush. Once they're 6/7 they have an alarm waking them at 6:45.

It's their way of life, don't know anything different. They are in bed by 7:00 (7:30 once they're 7, and 8:00 once they need to because of ending school later and having more homework. My oldest is 11 so I don't know what will happen come high school)

Rutabaga

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 1:00 am

DD's school starts at 8:15. She has to be at the bus stop by 7:35. She hates to be woken by us in the morning, so we set an alarm clock for 7 AM. So far that's been working out OK. We may have to set it a little earlier in the winter so she has more time to put on tights and bundle up.

We try to get her in bed by 7 PM, but sometimes bedtime ends up slightly later. We like to eat dinner as a family, but DH doesn't usually get home until around 6. By the time we finish eating and DD takes a bath it can get later than we would like. We've begun setting a timer for her bath, which has helped move the bedtime routine along.

6:30 seems very early. Is there anything you can do the night before so she can get a few more minutes of sleep? Does she pick out her clothes at night? Can she eat breakfast on the bus?

shabbatiscoming

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 1:05 am

Rutabaga wrote:

We leave to walk to the bus stop at 6:50. 6:30 is sometimes too late. She always takes cereal in a bag, never eats at home and the picking of clothing takes about 10 seconds on her part. Nothing we can do the night before Sad

this is just how it is.

amother

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 1:51 am

Ds1 (in first grade) starts 8:30, ds2 8:40, and then dd at 9:00. So we all get up 7:00, get dressed, eat, leave the house by 8:20 the latest. Drop off ds1, drive to the preschool and drop off ds2, drive around a little, go back to the preschool and then drop off dd.

catonmylap

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 2:46 am

Ds (2nd grade) starts school at 8am. It takes 7 minutes to walk there...so he leaves by 7:53am.. I hate how it's always last minute (dh is in charge). Lately he wakes up at 6:30am on his own...if he's not up, we wake him by 7/7:15pm. (The school is open from 7:30am).

What time does she finish if she starts at 7:30am? It's probably easier for parents to get to work with the earlier drop off time..

shabbatiscoming

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 2:52 am

catonmylap wrote:

She finishes at 1:50. She is in the mamad school in the area.
Its just very early for little kids. Last year in gan, gan started at 7:30 but first we lived five minute walk and second, she never got there on time. I would let her sleep until about 7:15 and would wake her late.
Its such a drastic change. She goes to sleep about about 6:15 so that she is not exhausted in the morning.

rainbow dash

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 3:17 am

Dd and Ds start school at 820 and they have to leave the house 0755 cause of traffic. I wake them up about 0700.

All my DC finish at 4

Last edited by rainbow dash on Sun, Sep 14 2014, 3:29 am; edited 1 time in total

Rutabaga

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 3:23 am

shabbatiscoming wrote:

Wow, 7:30-1:50 is a pretty short day. It's crazy that they start so early. What do working parents do in the afternoons?

DD ends school at 4, but doesn't get home until 4:30ish.

chani8

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 3:29 am

I struggled with the school schedule for years until my last foster child, who taught me that the answer is to go to bed at 5:30pm. I shifted the childrens' bedtime to 'that' early, and while it felt crazy at first, it worked. They were up bright eyed by 615am and there was no more struggle getting them out the door. We became a 'morning' family. And even though she left, we've kept the habit and it has been a good thing.

Tablepoetry

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 3:51 am

Well....my kids all went to sleep much later at those ages, more like 8 or 8:30 pm.
Usually they had to be up around 7 to get out of the house by 7:40am.

No, they weren't/aren't that happy about getting up, but with my last child I learned to just turn on cartoons in the morning, bring her over to the TV, and she's happy. It gets her gradually into the morning, she eats cereal while watching, and no major battle to get her out of bed.

m in Israel

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 5:31 am

Being out of the door before 7 seems really hard for that age. When my oldest was in 1st grade and we were still in the U.S. I had a similar situation but it wasn't because school started so early. There was issues with the busing (we lived in NY and had busing from the city), and even thought the school started at 8:00 and was only about 10 minutes away, the bus came at about 7:05 because they used the same bus to do 2 shifts. (It was extremely problematic because the kids were dropped off at school before the building was opened, but that is a whole different story. . .)

In any case, now here in Israel I am really lucky that we live about a 1 minutes walk from my kids school (it is on our block). My 2nd grader starts at 8:15 (which is the same time he started last year, in first grade). The teacher likes to really start davening at 8:15, so the kids are supposed to come between 8 and 8:10. My son can leave the house at 8:00 and he will still make it with plenty of time.

chanchy123

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 5:59 am

I don't happen to have a first grader this year, but the time is the same (and they were first graders in the past) - their bus leaves at 6:45. They must be at the bus stop by 6:40, it's pretty far so we take them by car most mornings (sometimes, my son rides his bike). Waaay too early.
OK, So I just read through the OP. My kids go to the same school as your DD (DD has just graduated to the 4-8 grade school). Our bus is at 6:45 but we were asked to have the kids get there at 6:40, officially wake up time is at 6:15. DS, third grade - will usually wake up at 6:00 DD 4th grade will wake up closer to 6:20.

I hate, they hate, DH hates it. We let them sleep in on Friday most weeks and drive them to school by ourselves. Also, if we (read: DH) have nothing special planned we may let them sleep in and drop them off at school a bit late. If DH has to go to the Merkaz in the morning he'll just drive them.

Raisin

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 6:33 am

My kids start school at 8:40am. We are very close by so they need to leave at about 8:25/8:30.

All the schools round here seem to start about that time or a little later at 9am.

8am or earlier seems really early. In my kids school working parents can drop off their kids from about 8 or 8:20, not sure since I've never done it, but there are no classes, just a teacher supervising them in the lunchroom.

shabbatiscoming

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 6:37 am

chanchy, and I thought my daughter's bus stop was early. wow, well you do have a longer ride to the school.
any ideas why they start so early AND end so darn early?