Yesterday a note came home from school regarding Senior Kindergarten. We had to indicate whether we preferred to put our Junior Kindergarten kid in mornings or afternoons. Little Miss Sunshine is already in mornings so I checked off “mornings,” and then there was space where you could plead your case. This is because 99% of families want mornings, probably for very good reasons.
I didn’t have a very good reason, so I panicked. With the older two kids, I wanted mornings because I had a baby/toddler who napped in the afternoon, and it fit our schedule better. Apparently this is a good reason, because we always got mornings, and now I’m just used to it, I like mornings, it fits my lifestyle nicely, GIVE ME MY MORNINGS.
So I thought I better make up a reason, but I really couldn’t think of one, and I couldn’t really bring myself to lie. I mean, I could say the Little Miss still naps in the afternoon, because there was that one time back in September when she was sick and she went for a lie-down for half an hour after school. That has a truthiness, doesn’t it? Maybe we should just have another baby so I have a good excuse. Kidding! I kid! Mostly.
(Man, I hope the principal at her school doesn’t read this. We are getting shunted to afternoons fo’ shizzle.)
The real reason that mornings work best for me is that I’m a super morning person, and getting more morningish all the time. If there is something on my to do list for the day that does not get done by 3 p.m. that’s it, it’s getting pushed off to tomorrow. After 3, I’m into making dinner, cleaning up dinner, homework, putting kids to bed, then curling up in a ball on the couch while whimpering softly with exhaustion.
My sister works, and do you know what she does? She comes home from work and serves dinner, then cleans up dinner, then puts her kids to bed, then MAKES DINNER FOR THE NEXT DAY. Like, she gets the kids down and it’s 8 p.m. and instead of flaking out, she gets into the kitchen and cranks up more pots and pans and cutting boards. If I had to do this, I’d have checked into a loony bin a long, long time ago. Don’t even MENTION the idea of making lunches the night before. Or making an evening run to the gym, DON’T MAKE ME LAUGH, I’m drinking hot tea and tea through the nose is not a good thing.
I prefer to get up in the morning (crankily, I’m not Superwoman, geez), then tidy the kitchen, make lunches, and hustle everyone out the door. Then comes my two-hours of power activity time, where I run from errand to errand, or write write write, or work on websites, and generally Get Stuff Done. All this even though my kids have an Early Start school, which means my power time is from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., and many very annoying shops don’t open until 9:30 or even 10. What up, shops? Even my BANK opens at 8 a.m., which is actually kind of freaky given that other banks are barely open between 10 and 4, like what is that, banker’s hours? Oh…right.
Don’t take away my Power Hours, school! Dare me to write that on the SK form.
TurtleHead 
I am a super, super, absolute morning person. I could never be like your sister. I’m pretty much brain dead after 7 pm. It’s a miracle I can even read stories and get the kids in bed.
I had the same issue this year with Kindergarten. Last June we got a form where we could put in a “hardship” request for a specific Kindergarten time (morning or afternoon), but we were told that transportation issues, daycare issues and job issues did not count. I mean, those are the three issues that DEFINE my life.
Anyway, so we left it up to chance and got afternoon (which works fine). We were then told that all the people who requested morning Kindergarten got their request. ALL OF THEM!? I really, really, really want to know what “hardships” these people had other than just wanting to choose their own schedule.
Given that you’re already going to school in the morning to take in your other kids, doesn’t it make sense that you should be able to request mornings? If I’m doing morning school drop-off for Mason when Evan gets to Kinder, I am definitely putting in a request. Not a hardship one, but more of a just-makes-sense one. Duh.
I dare you!
I want your hours of power. It never ceases to drive me nuts that i am at the office during my most productive hours (except for pay day, those days I don’t mind). I am like your sister in that I rush around after the kids are in bed. Or I get up 15 minutes early and rush around in the morning. I love weekends.
I am most productive in the morning too…but no way am I making the school lunches then. I need to get that done before supper the night before. I don’t think I would sleep well knowing that task was waiting for me first thing in the morning.
Your sister is awesome. I always wondered how moms who work outside the home feed their families. I guess that’s how. I do understand wanting to prepare the meal the night before rather than right away when getting home from work. I know some women who cook up a storm on the weekend so they have meals all ready to go for the next week. Heros. All of them.
i’m pretty brain dead by 3 as well. and i am still at work until 4 or later! not my most productive hours i have to admit. but i get the work of 3 done by noon!
i say use the work from home option and that you get most of your business done in the morning with your clients. just make sure you make a few morning phone calls the day you write it down. 😉
so glad our school is going full days next year and i don’t have to worry about it!
We are used to mornings around here too. I find the kids are tired in the afternoon, even if they don’t nap. Good luck with the mornings! (Both kids are going full day next year. Girl to grade one and boy to full-day JK)
I think for the first time in our preschool and kindergarten history I’ll be asking for a JK afternoon slot for the monkey. With a new baby at home I’m hoping the mid day break gives me a chance to breathe a bit before the chaos of post school activities and dinner prep. Here’s hoping I’m right 😉
I’m better at mornings than I used to be, but I am by no means a morning person. I tend to be very groggy and slow in the morning, then I perk up around 9:00 or so. In the afternoon I have a bit of a slump, and then in the evening I get energetic again. I have a hard time convincing myself to go to sleep, even though I know I’ll be tired in the morning if I don’t. It’s a rare night that I’m asleep before midnight. I tend to prep all the stuff for the kids will need in the morning the night before. If I wait till the next day I feel completely frazzled in the morning.
The number of times I have “planned” to do something big (make freeze ahead casseroles, clean bathrooms, organize broom closet) in the evening and not followed through has finally – after many years – made me realize that I’m tired in the evenings. Now, once dinner dishes are washed and the kitchen tidied up, it’s R&R time around here. If I am working, it’s on my lap top, sitting in the living room, glass of red wine close at hand.
Much more productive to get stuff done early. On days when I work from home, my routine is to clean and organize as soon as the kids hit the school bus at 8, so that by 10 at the latest, my energy burst has paid off and I can get down to a productive day in my office feeling like I already conquered the world.
I’d be holding out for morning JK too, though I appreciate what Sara said. When I had 2 kids in kindergarten and a baby, we had to be on the bus by 7:25, and mornings were BRUTAL. Breathing is good.
I hate, loathe and despise mornings. Often they ACTUALLY make me throw up, and not just when I’m pregnant (I have major sleep issues). That said, Angus was in morning kindergarten both years, and when they gave Eve afternoons I flipped out because (I know I hide it well) I do NOT do well with change. It was actually fine. I would putter around the house in the morning, drop her off and get stuff done in the afternoon and then pick them both up. Angus would have been too dopey for afternoon k, but she was fine. Our school DOES allow requests, and not just hardship ones, and I think yours should too, but whichever way it turns out, you’ll adapt. (c’mon mornings!)
We didn’t have a choice – last year we struggled to get the Little Man up and on the bus for 7:40 am for his early start JK class. It was a nightmare of epic proportions from September until January, when he finally started to get into the groove.
As a family, it was brutal because while we live in the east end, both my husband and I were working in the west end. Which means we didn’t get home until after 6 pm most days and then Jakes had to hit the hay by 7:30 pm or we couldn’t get him up in the morning.
This year his SK class is in the afternoon and while having to eat lunch at 11 am so he could be at the bus for 11:45 am was weird, it’s been SO. MUCH. EASIER. Neither the Little Man nor I are morning people so this lets us relax in our PJ’s in the morning and ease into the day – something we both need.
Lord help us when he goes to Grade 1 next year and we’re back to the super early mornings. Maybe he’ll flunk SK and have to repeat it? 😉
We do full day kindergarten, but they do ask which day we’d prefer and they are typically pretty accommodating. Thankfully.
It certainly sounds like you’ve definitely got a groove! Hopefully full-day will fit in well with your schedule. Seems to me like it would be easier on parents, but then again I’m not one.
I’m the opposite.
I like to take my time in the morning- ease into the day.
Then again, Lulu was an afternoon kindergarten kid so that was our routine for two years.
At first I was disappointed that she was in the P.M. but in the end it worked out fine.
a friend of mine told the school she had her daughter signed up for enrichment classes in the pm so she had to be in the am class.
Success.
Just a thought…