What time should kids start school every day?

[proud2BlibKansan]

The Tulsa School Board will reconsider its controversial decision to switch school start times at a special meeting Thursday.

The board voted two weeks ago to start elementary schools at 8 AM and middle and high schools at 8:45 AM. The schedule swap outraged some Tulsa parents and hundreds signed a petition to get the schedules changed back.Tulsa Public Schools says one of the major reasons for the switch is new research that they say proves teenagers need to come to school later.

A Tulsa sleep expert says teenagers biological clocks are set later. So they go to sleep later and get up later. Dr Kevin Lewis with the Sleep Center of Tulsa: "having the elementary kids being the earlier time and having the middle and high school students being the later time is sound biologically and medically." Doctor Lewis says schools in both Minneapolis and Michigan have seen a boost in test scores, since switching school start times.

http://www.kotv.com/main/home/stories.asp?whichpage=1&id=87849

[quisp]

1. I 'm down with that... n/t

[rainy]

2. I agree with 8:00 or 8:30 for kids, it is too early for kids to be

at school by 7:20 which is what time my high schooler has to be there. They have to get up so early to get there by then in the trafic. I've seen the studies that indicate that they do better in class after a good night's sleep.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. You know the reason they say high school has to start so early

is because of extra curriculars after school.

But I am with you. I have seen the studies too. Teens need more sleep and no way are they going to bed at 10:00.

[Ms. Toad]

28. Put the extracurriculars before school.

Most places don't bus for extracurriculars, so it wouldn't mess up the overlapping bus schedules.

That way it is possible to get a reasonable amount of sleep - and those who want to participate in extracurriculars could work on getting to bed by 10:00 - or not and they wouldn't be any worse off than they are now - but it would at least give the bulk of the kids the ability to get a decent night's sleep.

[proud2BlibKansan]

36. That's a great idea. n/t

[Ksec]

3. I think 9 would be good during august and september

because its hard for them to get switched around after the break.

After that 830

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Maybe not switch till after

daylight savings time changes. It is so dark in the morning.

[NorCalDem]

4. I always wished school started at 10 or so

8AM is way too early

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. If it started at 10

the kids would be there till 5:00. No time for football practice.

[NorCalDem]

5. Also,

has anyone given any thought to the fact that adults may have an earlier "biological clock" because it has been socialy constructed? By that I mean, what if adults naturally go to bed and wake up earlier because a lifetime of 8AM work hours has trained their body to do so.

Now that we as a species (at least in Western civilization) live indoors, and have an abundance of light due to electricity, perhaps our bodies are now evolving to compensate for that.

Farmers 200 years ago would wake up at the crack of dawn, because they heard the crow and the sun came up. They needed the daylight to feed themselves and survive. Perhaps our bodies sense that this is no longer necessary, but the machinations of modern living still force us to abide by the old standard. We all, have to go to work...

Someone should do a study on sleep patterns of western cultures and compare their findings to those of "primitive" (read as: different) cultures in undeveloped regions of the world. It might be interesting.

Peace!

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. Very interesting

I think you may have a point.

[Carni]

11. I would be all for the schedule that Argentina used to have

Do they still? I have no idea.

You wake up late, work for a couple hours -- eat, rest, go back to work and then get off work and dine at about 10 PM.

To me that would be the perfect schedule.

Like eating small meals at short intervals doesn't that seem healthier and more normal?

I don't know but the way babies conduct themselves-couple hours of sleep then get up and motivate then crash out later seems way more normal to me.

Or then again maybe I am just watching my cats too closely LOL

People have their whole lives to get up and deal with bullshit at ungodly hours when they cannot be productive -- I say leave the teenagers alone!

[NorCalDem]

19. They still have that..

I have a friend from Argentina, and she talks about that all the time.

[SoCalDem]

43. Sign ME up !

That's my fave too.. although, now that I do not work, I sleep whenever I want (or can), and eat whenever I am hungry (or not)

[Massacure]

56. Nearly all Spanish speaking countries are like that.

[ovidsen]

13. It's not a 9 to 5 world.

If adult Americans did have a biological clock, it's being destroyed in many of them by willy-nilly work hours. I believe while a majority of working adults still punch in at 9 or thereabouts, punching out at 5, a growing number work early mornings, afternoons, evenings, overnights, split shifts... whatever is dictated by the schedules of commerce and a world where time zones are increasingly artificial and/or merely suggestions.

But I don't know this for a fact. Has a history of "bankers hours" convinced the bodies of those in Western civilization to schedule waking and sleeping hours accordingly? Beats the hell out of me. I agree this would be worth a study or two.

In any case maybe schools could try to engineer some kind of flex time for students and teachers to accomodate their peak waking hours, as well as the hours of the parents and guardians who are sending all those budding DUers :) to their classes.

Back just before the 2nd Ice Age, when I was in school, and the first class was at 7:45AM, I liked it. My brother couldn't stand it.

[Ms. Toad]

27. Some of us have biological clocks that refuse to change

Been fighting mine for decades, now.

No matter when I go to bed, if I wake up before 10:00 am I'm groggy all day long - and since I normally need to leave the house at 7:45 that means I'm continually groggy. As a teacher for years I did test different sleep patterns in the summer to see if it was my imagination, and I've tried going to bed so I get 8 hours of sleep (even up to 10) preceding the early morning wake-up time. Doesn't make a difference - if wake-up is before 10:00 I'm groggy.

For one year I'd like to see the world run on my time - open at say 12:00 pm and close at 8:00 for most commercial stores. Closed up tight for non-24 hours stores until 10:00 am at the earliest, but open until 3 AM. I'd love to see all those early birds try to cope - and then we'll see who's lazy (a fairly common taunt I get when I am awakened by a phone call at 9:30 on a Saturday morning).

I don't have strong feelings about this at all. Nope.

[ovidsen]

31. Funny!

I'll go along with biological clocks set in concrete.

I'm up at 6am, even if I hit the sack at 3.

Mrs. Ovidsen has always been, for the 16 years I've known her, the kind of person who thinks "up at the crack of noon" is normal.

Needless to say we compromise and accomodate!

[Prism]

52. Ayep

I can't sleep during the night. Completely, utterly, totally unable to. I have to leave for work between 7-8 AM most mornings and usually don't saunter in til 6-7 at night. And then I'm up until anywhere from 2-4 AM.

Yet, whenever I have time off, I'll fall asleep at 7 AM and be up by 1PM like clockwork.

I've tried everything, but this sleep schedule's been set since early adolescence. Even if I only get five or six hours of sleep on the weekends, the people around me are always like "OMG, you're so lazy, you sleep the whole day away!"

This coming from people who go on 10-12 hour sleep binges.

It's very daylightist of them.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

70. You should go teach in a commercial English conversation school in

Japan.

That's the schedule they follow: the work day starts at 11AM and runs till 9PM with breaks for meals.

[alarimer]

39. I am not good at getting up to be at work by 8

I am so not a morning person. I usually need a nap after work. When my time is my own, I stay up late and get up late.

[LWolf]

45. Being an "early bird,"

I can tell you that it is not a social construct. I am awake before the sun no matter what time of year it is, or what clock we are on. If for some reason the sun gets up before I do, I'm grumpy and out of sorts for the rest of the day.

My school has started at 9:15 for several years. My clock has never changed to accomodate the later start. I'm still there by 7am; I'd be there earlier if they'd let me turn off the alarm system myself. I still get impatient and feel like the day is half gone before we actually get started on anything. Of course, my day ends earlier, too. Please don't need my time or attention after dinner.

I love daylight savings time. I have a really hard time with the fall shift back to standard time. If I could pick, I'd leave us on daylight savings time year-round.

I'm on vacation, with no schedule to keep. I got up at 4:45 this morning, because I was awake and ready to, with no clock, no schedule, nothing demanding my immediate attention.

[ProfessorGAC]

66. You And I Are Alike

My wife and i are almost ALWAYS awake by 5am. A late morning for either of us is 5:30. I woke up this morning around 4;45, no clock, nothing. Just like you.

I didn't leave for work until 6:30. So, i had a leisurely 105 minutes to get ready. I like it that way.
The Professor

[SCDem]

53. My father was an early riser

I used to get up with him on the weekends to make breakfast for the family while they all slept - And still today sleeping is like 6:30am for me - I just can't help it. I think it was a learned behavior but why my brothers don't also wake early I have no idea.

[Lannes]

10. Ive seen kids around here at the bustop around 6am

I thought I had it bad leaving at 7:00

[CatholicEdHead]

12. At some farms it can be as early as 5:00-5:30

pickup at the bus stop with 1 1/2 to 2 hours each way every day on the bus. Quite often it is first on in the morning and last one off in the evening.

[MountainLaurel]

21. Common in a lot of areas

In WV last year there's been a lot of debate about school consolidation at the elementary levels (most of the smaller high schools have already been consolidated) to reduce overhead costs for maintaining small schools. The central issue in the "against" column is that in some of these communities, to get to a centralized school location, 5-year-olds will be getting on the bus by themselves at 6 am and not getting home until 5 pm, because of how long the bus route is to the school.

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. That's way too early

[fujiyama]

14. THat's a smart move

My high school started at 7:15 and it was hell.

I think starting at 8:30 is reasonable.

[jillan]

15. my teenagers go to school at 7:20 BUT it's actually worse

We have ZERO hour here. My one daughter has to be at school at 6:30! And since she's 15, that means that we have to drive her :boring:
Zero hour is offered to get ahead of prerequisites, or to take additional electives. Her additional elective is Safety Ed for driving.
But it's English that she has at 6:30 - what a way to start the day!

It's insane!

The reason they do it here is to save money.
High School starts at 7:20
Elementary at 8;10
Jr Hi at 8:35

That way they only have to have 1 bus for each area.

[cynatnite]

18. It's similar to here

They have to stagger the school times because of the lack of buses and drivers.

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. We have zero hour here too

6:30 is just way too early for anyone to be awake and learning.

[rainbow4321]

30. We have zero hour, also...

That can make for a long day but it helps kids who want to take extra classes. Our district had to change start/end times around due to budget restrictions with the busses.

For the Senior HS (11th and 12th) kids.. zero hour starts at 8:15 am..then the kids can either get out at 3:15 pm or if they want to take an additional class, at 4:15 pm (the official HS hours are 9:15 til 4:15pm).

Elementary schools 7:45 a.m. - 2:45 p.m

Middle schools (6,7,8) 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

High schools and Senior Highs 9:00 a.m. - 4:15 p.m.

[jillan]

32. now that's more like it!

High School should start at 9, not at 7:30!

[wellstone dem]

16. I've heard that many parents

don't like the later start for older kids, because they want the older kids to be there to get the younger ones off to school or to be home when the younger ones get back.

As the parent of a 17 year old, I sure prefer the later start.

[cynatnite]

17. My high school kid's school starts at 7:30

She has to catch the bus at 6:25.

I don't have a problem with 8am. It's the time school started when I went. Earlier than that...no way.

[LibDemAlways]

23. My daughter's school day begins at 8:23.

Those not in their seat at exactly 8:23 must report to the office to pick up a tardy slip. I'm a volunteer in the middle school office who distributes the tardy slips, and the school is absolutely tight-assed about making no exceptions for anything. Parent had car trouble? Too bad. Accident along the way caused a delay? Tough. Parent overslept? Not my problem.

The only excused tardies are for illness, so if a kid is on the verge of receiving a "referral" to the dean for a third tardy, I look them in the eye and say, "You were sick this morning, right?"

I hate the petty crap that exists in bureaucracies.

[cynatnite]

24. It's the same at my daughter's high school

Tardy slip no matter what. The big deal is whether or not it's an excused one. Too many unexcused and there will be problems. She had three last year in one semester that were unexcused and had to take an hour detention.

[LibDemAlways]

25. The parents at my daughter's school who are

clued in simply scrawl a note that inevitably reads, "Please excuse ________ for being tardy. She was sick this morning." Works like a charm. No unexcused tardies - ever.

[wli]

26. who cares? there's a lot more to be worried about wrt. learning

Specifically the fact the kids aren't being taught anything.

[proud2BlibKansan]

37. I guess you missed this last part:

"Doctor Lewis says schools in both Minneapolis and Michigan have seen a boost in test scores, since switching school start times."

Don't you know it's all about those test scores???

[put out]

29. Teen aged people need more sleep? Yes, ma'm.

It is not a mystery. Good grief, I am sure you remember wanting, needing to be up in the night. I would play solitaire, I walked our house, I could not be made to go to bed. I had flashlights to read by, when my parents insisted I sleep. When the flashlights were removed, I laid in my bed for a long long time before I found some sleep.

Then there was school work, and extra activities, and a social life, and keeping track of family and friends, and my job.

When uninterrupted, I could sleep 10 hours or so.

My child will need to rise at 0600, beginning his school year. I don't like it, but don't have any choice in it. He needs to SLEEP, and I realize he has activities after school, and that's how it is. I wish it was different. I want him to get 9 or 10 hours. Sleep deprivation hurts our students.

I don't like to see students falling asleep in class, nor coming to me to take a nap, because they had to go sleep and the teacher angry, nor showing up in tears because they had not had sleep and were rushed and hurried in the morning because they got up late.

Some folks think children are lazy. I think they are working hard. I admire them. They need more sound sleep.

[proud2BlibKansan]

38. Hey put

When do your kids go back to school?

[put out]

51. Argh! Why do you ask me these horrible things?

I have to report on 8/11 (but need to go in earlier than that). I provide in-service on the 12th and the 15th. The students report 8/16. And you have been teaching most of the summer.

So, how much longer do you get to slack? ;)

[proud2BlibKansan]

65. Officially,

I report back the 22nd and the kids start back the 29th. But I am doing new teacher inservice the week of the 15th. I also have a classroom to assemble and that always takes me forever. I feel guilty I didn't go over there this week and work.

Tomorrow I leave for a week's vacation. So once that is over, my summer is pretty much done. And Monday was the last day of summer school. So my summer time off amounts to about 10 days.

I am also teaching a class to new teachers this fall and I have to fill out a bunch of paperwork for the university, find my transcript and write up a resume by the end of the month. I am still finishing curriculum work I was hired to do in May.

And my friend and I have been asked to write a book! That is the easiest task I have in front of me, believe it or not. We are going to start it on our vacation. My hubby is going with us and we are going to have him drive while we play authors in the back seat. So even on vacation, a teacher's work is never done. :)

[sakabatou]

33. I say school should start at 9 AM

Here, the high school I go to starts at 7:55 AM

[tblue37]

34. I often write about our screwed up sleep schedules.

Here are some links, if you would like to read some of my commentary on the subject:

“America's Sleep Deficit”
http://www.salvoblue.homestead.com/sleep.html

“Why Am I Always So Tired?”
http://www.salvoblue.homestead.com/tired.htm

“Put Those Kids to Bed!”
http://www.childrensneeds.homestead.com/bedtime.html

“Slow Down--You're Moving Too Fast!”
http://www.salvoblue.homestead.com/sleep.html

"Note to Students: When Your Reading Assignments Put You to Sleep"
http://teacherblue.homestead.com/sleepystudents.html

[Tracyjo]

35. Big whoop

45 more minutes? That's nuts. Jr. and Sr. High should not even have to get up until 10ish. I haven't read this thread, but I know what's real and I remember being a teenager. Start school at 11:30pm.

[orleans]

40. my two cents: high school in a perfect world would start at 9:45 or

10 am

my daughter doesn't play football so why should she have to start at 8 am?

her middle school started at 9, her grade school started at 8:30; why the hell does her h.s. start at 8 when teens need more sleep?

(besides these early hours have been killing me for years!)

[tblue37]

41. Oops! I screwed up some of my links,

but I didn't realize it until after the editing period had already expired. Here is the list with the corrected links:

“America's Sleep Deficit”
http://www.salvoblue.homestead.com/sleep.html

“Why Am I Always So Tired?”
http://www.salvoblue.homestead.com/tired.html

“Put Those Kids to Bed!”
http://www.childrensneeds.homestead.com/bedtime.html

“Slow Down--You're Moving Too Fast!”
http://www.salvoblue.homestead.com/slowdown.html

"Note to Students: When Your Reading Assignments Put You to Sleep"
http://teacherblue.homestead.com/sleepystudents.html

[Davis_X_Machina]

42. The first scheduled bus stop for high and middle schoolers...

...in the district where I work is 6:16 A.M.

School starts at 7:30.

Some of the poor bastards have been boondocking around -- too dark to read, half the year, and too bumpy -- on secondary roads, not all of which are paved, for an hour before they hit the building. God help the carsick.

And there's a move afoot to consolidate more towns and school districts into larger-still districts, meaning longer rides...

Here's what I tell my students:

When there are billions of dollars at stake, and small errors could spell catastrophe -- the NYSE -- they start at 9:30.
You-all start at 7:30.
Guess how important the world thinks you are?

[tblue37]

44. Excellent! (eom)

[bleedingheart]

46. I know of one valid reason why this might be a problem

working parents of both older and younger children like to see the older kids come home first so that the little ones have someone to watch over them.

Up the street from me their is a 17 year old gal who watches her 7 year old sister after school...she even meets her at the bus stop to walk her home...

[tomg]

49. That is a great reason, but the reverse

(in terms of time) is often true. For working parents who have to leave just before their kids to get to work on time ( my wife has to leave earlier than I do and my schedule is more flexible), it is better that the younger ones go out at the same time. The neighborhood works together on this ( we kind of all watch out for each other's kids), but it is tough.

As far as I'm concerned, it really shows how family unfriendly most work situations are.

Another quick point, my wife is teaching by 8:10 and in the past I taught 8:00 in the morning (I teach college). Has anyone here ever tried to teach kids at 8:00 in the morning? You might as well hit your head on the chalk board for an hour or so. At least they will find it amusing.

on edit: that, incidentally, is not a knock on teachers or kids. It's just the time. < now I just edited for a typo>

[LWolf]

47. Okay.

I acknowledge biological clocks; I have to. See post #45! If I can be an early bird no matter the outside influence, others can be night owls.

I've always been a little skeptical of this particular theory, though. I've always thought that the teen-age "biological clock" was set later because they all want to stay up late, so they can be up after the supervising adult goes to bed. I always thought it was their way of obtaining unsupervised time.

That's how it worked for me, anyway, lol. I've always been an early riser, and was a naturally early riser straight through adolescence into adulthood. The only time I felt the need to stay in bed late was when I'd been out too late the night before. My own sons, at 25 and 27, have yet to forgive me for setting their highschool curfew by my own bedtime; the rule was, they had to be home for the night before my bedtime. I graciously stayed up an extra hour until 10pm on weekends for them.

Still, I never had any trouble getting them to "zero period" at 7am for marching band practice.

[Prism]

48. The later the better

When I was in high school, my first class was at 7:10 in the morning. I'd be up every morning by 5. Given extracirricular activities, homework, etc, I'd never get to bed before midnight or one. It was insanity. How I made it through without going on a four year meth bender is beyond me.

[NuttyFluffers]

61. OMG, that was my high school schedule!

wake up at 5, get to class around 7:10am. class ends around 3, wait an hour in detention for being tardy (dad would wake up around 5, but still leave late, and arrive late due to traffic), and do mandatory extra curricular activities (marching band -- I loathed it), then go home for at least 4 hours of homework. I too never went to bed before midnight or one. Nervous breakdowns were quite common in my school. Just about everyone had one at least once a year, usually once a semester. Drug use was outrageously high there as well -- it was one of the few coping mechanisms available to fit in the schedule.

Needless to say, I hated high school, I blame my absolutely screwed internal clock and endless exhaustion on it, not to mention my destroyed ambition. I'm just too tired to do anything entrepeneurial outside of being a good cog in the machine. Nothing but hate for the experience and I hold the "Tyranny of Early Bird Culture" in total responsibility. Never again do I want to live in a nation that idolizes this sort of neurotic "work ethic."

[Prism]

63. And you *had* to do all this . . .

. . . if you wanted to get into a high level college. Aside from a 7:10 start time, then I had track or soccer, mixed in with drama, newspaper, etc. There were days when I didn't leave the building until 8 or 9 at night.

I don't even keep those hours at work, and I easily put in 60+ hours a week.

[NuttyFluffers]

73. Yup, roughly 19hr days for weekdays...

and a weekend bender on whatever fix gets you through it all.

Y'know, sleep deprivation delirium is all too familiar to all my old classmates. I've seen (and experienced) all the nuanced symptoms of sleep dep. Y'know, the mania, where every little thing becomes funny and you have this false energy coursing through you; the spaceyness; the hearing of sounds and seeing of visions and the occasional cruel juxtaposition of hearing color and seeing sounds; the time skipping; the depression; the twitches; etc.

I swear, all of our development must have been seriously screwed by 4 years of that stress. And in the end I don't think it was worth it.

[Karmadillo]

50. Here's a synopsis of a study from Minnesota that argued for later starts.

http://education.umn.edu/research/ResearchWorks/sleep.html

Since 1996, Kyla Wahlstrom and her research team at the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) have led the way in the study of later start times for high school students, beginning with their study of the impact of later start times on educational achievement in two different districts.

Two Minneapolis-area school districts decided to shift secondary school start times to 8:30 a.m. or later based on emerging medical research showing adolescents have a natural sleep pattern that leads to a late-to-bed, late-to-rise cycle. Medical researchers found this cycle is part of the maturation of the endocrine system. From the onset of puberty until late teen years, the brain chemical melatonin, which is responsible for sleepiness, is secreted from approximately 11 p.m. until approximately 8 a.m., nine hours later. This secretion is based on human circadian rhythms and is rather fixed. In other words, typical youth are not able to fall asleep much before 11 p.m. and their brains will remain in sleep mode until about 8 a.m., regardless of what time they go to bed.

How sleep impacts education
These adolescent sleep patterns can have profound consequences for education. With classes in most high schools in the United States starting at around 7:15 a.m., high school students tend to rise at about 5:45 or 6 a.m. in order to get ready and catch the bus. It’s no wonder that 20 percent of students sleep during their first two hours of school, when their brains and bodies are still in a biological sleep mode. The loss of adequate sleep each night also results in a “sleep debt” for most teens. Teens who are sleep-deprived or functioning with a sleep debt are shown to be more likely to experience symptoms such as depression, difficulty relating to peers and parents, and are more likely to use alcohol and other drugs.

What the research shows

Data collected from the two Minneapolis-area school district—Edina, a suburban district who changed their high school start time from 7:20 to 8:30, and the Minneapolis Public Schools, who changed their start time from 7:15 to 8:40—provided Wahlstrom and her colleagues information regarding the work, sleep, and school habits of over 7,000 secondary students, over 3,000 teachers, and interview data from over 750 parents about their preferences and beliefs about the starting time of school.

more

[NuttyFluffers]

54. Noon. Or later. Same with work for adults.

Mornings are for birds and worms and other natural things that haven't the better sense to sleep in.

Sunlight is evil radiation and mornings its cruel mistress. Mmmm, darkness...

[seabeyond]

69. the problem is. we have so many toys.

gotta play with them after work. lol lol. makes it 1, 2, 3 a.m. before getting to bed. our times have just shifted. back in the earlier times with entertainment and electricity, was easy to go to bed at 9. f***, now....so much to do. why we are working so hard, after all.

[htuttle]

55. Ha! When I was young,...

...we had to get up for school 20 minutes before we went to bed and then had a 15 mile hike to school through raging blizzards!

Twelve of us, living in a rolled up newspaper -- and all we had to eat was the lint we found in the laundry! All the while living under the threat of instant nuclear annihilation!

Kids today -- they have it easy!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

57. No doubt in my mind teens have a different internal clock and I

have to disagree with you.

I have two teen sons, with lots of teen friends, and these kids, even if they get to sleep early, sleep later.

I have said for years now that our school district should change their schedule to accomodate this. As it stands, the HS starts at 7:30AM I think that's when the elementary schools should start as also being my experience, younger children do get up earlier. They presently go to school now at 8:30 and the middle school at 9:30.

One of the rationales I've heard about the high schools starting so early is that kids have afterschool jobs, and this provides them with longer work hours. I think that their sleep is more important.

[SmokingJacket]

58. My kids' school starts at 9:00, ends at 3:00

I think it's incredibly sane and civilized. We have time for a family breakfast, musical instrument practice, homework catch-up.

The school board keeps trying to get us to start earlier, but we have major bus issues.

Another problem with starting little kids earlier is that they have a very long afternoon during which they must be supervised -- which means extra expense for parents -- whereas high school kids could use that time to work or do extracurricular activities.

[One_Life_To_Give]

59. Older kids home to care for younger siblings?

Back when I was in school. The intent was to get the older kids home first so they would be there toi look after their younger siblings.

[in_cog_ni_to]

60. As a teenager, I could have slept all day long

and on weekends, I did. There's no doubt that something happens to the teenage biological clocks. My son is 12 and I see a change in his sleep pattern already. He has always been a night owl, get up early kid, but now he's a night owl, sleep late kid.

There's DEFINITELY a biological change that happens during puberty. I lived it.

My son's school just changed their schedule. He starts at 8:00 AM and gets out at 2:55. Their excuse was that car riders were dropped off 30 minutes before school started and were sitting around doing nothing 'constructive' for 30 minutes. NOW, the kids will be dropped off at 7:30 AM and STILL be sitting there doing nothing 'constructive' for 30 minutes. :crazy: I think their excuse was stupid, but what do I know? :eyes: I like the new schedule better. It leaves more time after school to do homework and after school activities.

[movie_girl99]

62. in our district

elem day is at 8:10-3:10
MS 8:50-4:10
HS 7:30-2:30

[Donailin]

64. 8:22 AM nt

[porphyrian]

67. Kids should never come home from school.

It will better prepare them for the workplace. Alternately, they should stay home for years at a time.

[seabeyond]

68. same time all of them, out of the house, make kid (teen) go to bed

at night. have rules they have to follow. get their ass out of bed to go to school. f*****. and people want to know what the pc coddling thing is. please, let us teach our teens that they have responsibilities. and that may mean getting enough sleep. go to school. learn. do your study. then get on with life.

the end

[TimeChaser]

75. My HS started at 7:30

No matter when I fell asleep, I was never fully awake durring the first few periods and I tended to nap after school. I'm a night owl by nature, and I have been since I was born (my poor, poor Mom!).

Now, thankfully, I'm going to college and my earliest class is at 9.

[seabeyond]

76. my son is like that. the only newborn that could be up 8-10 hours

without sleep. only 10 now and it takes hours for him to go to sleep or wakes middle of night and will read. always up for school. handles it pretty well. i just dont think he needs the sleep like some, though i am sure he isnt getting enough sometimes. but, his lifetime, 10 years, gotta say, the way he is and leave it at that.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

71. I've always been a night owl

Even when I was a child and my parents enforced an 8:00PM bedtime, I would beg to read till 8:30, and even then, I often couldn't get to sleep for an hour or two.

Finally being allowed to stay up till 10:00 when I was in junior high school was a huge victory. Unfortunately, school started at 7:30.

When I was a teenager and college student, I could easily sleep till noon on weekends. Yet somewhere I lost that ability, and now I can sleep past 9:00AM only in extreme circumstances, such as illness or jet lag.

Now that I'm self-employed, I naturally stay up till about 1:00AM, which is actually handy for staying in touch with Japanese clients. I get up to attend a 9:00AM water aerobics class four days a week, and that's a struggle. On the days when I don't have water aerobics, I wake up at about 8:30.

[ecstatic]

72. but don't most parents have to be at work by 8am?

So in other words, its up to the kids to decide whether or not they will go to school (since the parents are at work and won't know either way?).

[lateo]

74. 6:00 AM

Early to bed and early to rise...

[seabeyond]

77. healthy wealthy and wise,....lol

you hard ass, wink