I am going to LOSE MY MIND on my kids! Every morning it’s a constant battle to get my kids (6, 9, 11) up and going. They go to bed at 8:30 and wake up at 8:00. I know my girls stay up reading. But even in public school it was a battle. They just have no motivation in the morning. All they have to do is get up, get dressed and come eat breakfast which I generally make. But they just take forever to do EVERYTHING! I’m tired of yelling at them. It’s a horrible start to our day. But if I don’t constantly prod them they would just sit there and do nothing! Help!
We are fine once we get everyone ready. The actual school day is not a problem! 
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Bless your heart, I could have written this myself!
Mine are 6 and 8 and I have to give the older a time deadline, i.e. you need to be done with morning chores by insert time. With my younger I found these 4 small sand timers at Mardel that are in different increments. I give him a timer for each task; 3 minutes to get dressed, 2 minutes for brushing teeth, etc. I still have to periodically check in while I do my own morning things, but they are getting better.
Another change I made just this year is to do breakfast first. I fix it and get them up and they come straight to the table. I feel as though they benefit from “waking up” more while they fill their stomachs. This might not work for all kids, but mine are always starving in the morning.
Hope it gets better! God Bless
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Hi there! Our morning routine has evolved over time and only recently has it come resemble something other than total chaos. I have four boys, ages 2-9. They aren’t usually still for very often and it frustrated me for the longest time that nobody seemed excited when I wanted to cuddle on the couch with them and read aloud. I finally came up with a plan that seems to be working well. I now wake them up before they otherwise normally used to get up (6:30am) and they are to come sit next to me on the couch and we read aloud for about 30 minutes. Since they are still tired and not hyper to start their days yet, this has worked well. Then they have a checklist of things to do (make bed, brush teeth, get dressed, use restroom) before they get a little bit of free time until breakfast is ready (usually about 8am). Since they are always willing to come to the table for food, I have no problem getting them to come for breakfast. After breakfast we immediately start on our “table work”. I work with both of my oldest boys’ on their individual table work for about an hour each and then they practice their piano and they are done for the day. Only after they complete all of their school work and chores are they allowed to use electronics of any kind. Their currency is food and electronics, but the motivating factors for your kids might be different. Hope that helps.
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I appreciate the ideas! My middle would literally come sit at the table and stare at her food for a good 20-30 minutes if we are first thing. She is in SLOW motion! I guess mainly I need some consequences to their slow going. My little guy can get ready fairly fast when I need him to. It’s the girls, 9 and 11 that the worst. They mess around with the dog, they piddle in the bathroom, they take forever to get dressed. They are not motivated by food, LOL! They are motivated by electronics but I try to limit them, especially during the school day.
On the flip side I am very grateful that when we actually get around the table (post yelling) 
that they are good about doing their work, staying engaged and they LOVE read aloud time which we usually do right after breakfast. I could try and bribe them with extra read aloud time but I know what would most likely happen is 2 would kick into high gear and my middle would drag as always and then everyone gets punished. Sigh!!!
That sounds like my family! 
And my kids are almost those ages (7, 10, 11). I need to follow this thread!
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Would they benefit from having responsibility in the morning, ie: setting the table, helping make breakfast, etc?
When I homeschooled this past year, I had the same motivation issue. I realized, though, that when we had a morning appointment to get to, they moved and got things done. I decided to do that more often. We’re going outside to play or going for a walk, weather permitting, etc. I set a timer (which helped me too). It wasn’t a perfect system, but it worked more than it didn’t. They also had a responsibility at the table. A visual of their morning contribution to breakfast gave them motivation to get moving (not hurried, just moving). Again, not fail-proof, but it worked more than not.
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Our whole family is not early morning folk. I have been able to work a household schedule that can respect that fact - thus, not a lot of yelling to motivate. Boys don’t get up any earlier than 0900 hours unless we are traveling for appointments which they know about and we discuss for a couple of days prior to the date of travel. I do not wake the boys up, they sleep as long as they need to sleep on days when we are not traveling; sometimes 1030 or 1100.
Play outside, and then breakfast is the usual routine after they are up and dressed. This seems to wake them, motivate them and make them hungry all at the same time. Then after we are fed and somewhat ready to sit a spell, we do school.
The benefit for Mom - time in the morning after I am awake to get household things done, do some planning, pay bills, make the appointments that have to be made, without interruption. It is a quiet start to my morning, which helps me too, as I am not one to be functional without coffee and the clock saying 0800.
Maybe you can tweak your household schedule to work around or through the EARLIES as I did.
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This may seem a little on the crazy side but my mother would give us a gentle wake up and say “5 minutes” then… she would crank up hits from the 60’s like the beach boys, swing open the door, start singing, open the curtains, nicely pull off the covers and dance around. To be honest you can’t get mad at that and it was a great start to the day. I do it with my kids and they love it. They ask me “mommy be crazy”
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I use a reward chart with my older kids (9 and 7) that they earn screen time with. There are multiple opportunities for them to earn minutes of screen time, and a couple include “Started school with a good attitude by 8am” and “Participated during morning worship”…now, the chart goes on throughout the day with other things including whether they finish certain subjects by a certain time of the morning, and if they could answer Qs about our read alouds, etc, but you might could do something of a rewards system for when they are up and at 'em in the morning ready to start by whenever you want them to start by. Does that make sense? We struggle mostly with my son (7) and him keeping on track, so I did the chart mainly for him. I just sat down and listed everything I ever argue with him about (haha) as far as school days go, and I made it a challenge to him to do in order to earn his screen time each day! Good luck!
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This is a great idea! Thanks!
try to engage them in healthy activities, i own an electrical company electricien a quebec so i often share fun facts about electriciens, electricity and electronics with my kids and often try to keep them busy with small electrical projects, like building a circuit board etc.