My MS'er has activities that regularly go to 9 or sometimes later. Her day is brutal!

Anonymous wrote:My 7th grader has been doing fine - New bedtime is 8 pm. He gets up at 6:40, has breakfast that we make, packs lunch, and leaves home at 7:10. Riding a bike to school saves time. He did mention that some classmates look tired.

It’s the younger siblings that complain about lack of sleep. I switched their rooms on Thursday hoping they don’t get woken up in early mornings. It seemed to work on Friday morning.

You’re also lucky you live close enough so he can bike. Kids who live further out have to wake up earlier to catch the bus. I would be so happy if my kid could sleep till 6:40!!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a Loudoun County parent I currently hate our schedule because my K and 2nd graders bus picks them up at 6:40. That’s too early for little kids. I have to pull them out of bed each morning and it’s miserable. We debated moving or going private because of it.

What did you decide? Stay? Then STFU.

Wow, is the hostility necessary? Just saying that flipping elementary earlier isn’t easier.

It might also help your kid if you keep a similar bedtime over the weekends. My kid is in bed at 9 and gets up at 5:45 during the week (he is slow and makes his own big breakfast every morning). On weekends, he is in bed by 10 and usually sleeps til about 8. This gets him a little extra sleep, but doesn't get him totally off schedule.

We generally enforce the 10 pm bedtime and let him sleep as long as he needs in the morning. But no sleeping til 11 am and then staying up super late also.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS is weird. ES should go first, then MS, then HS. I mean my ES kid is up at the crack of dawn and we need to wait three hours until school starts.

It’s not about your wealthy, privileged kids. It’s about the families who need their high schoolers home early to work more hours at a job to help their families and/or to provide childcare for younger siblings. And no, they aren’t going to move the times just for your rich school(s).

Actually, when FCPS was looking at adjusting high school start times, it was the wealthy families who cried loudest because they didn’t want a later start/dismissal to impact their precious sports practices. High school start could be even later if it weren’t for the sports fanatics. That’s who this schedule is catering to. If high school started later, so could middle school.

Our bus pick up time is 6:25. Too early so we are driving. We also make his breakfast and lunch to help save time in the am.

My 7th grader has been doing fine - New bedtime is 8 pm. He gets up at 6:40, has breakfast that we make, packs lunch, and leaves home at 7:10. Riding a bike to school saves time. He did mention that some classmates look tired.

It’s the younger siblings that complain about lack of sleep. I switched their rooms on Thursday hoping they don’t get woken up in early mornings. It seemed to work on Friday morning.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:30 minutes is not long enough to get ready. It really isn't (and I think it's absolutely horrible that FCPS has this schedule).

Again, 30 minutes will not work. I've had instances where I've been w/out luggage, sleeping in a hotel, catching a flight before sunrise. Sleeping in my clothes. Nothing to do but brush my teeth and go. And still can't do it, for some reason, in 30 minutes. Just waking and rolling out of bed takes some amount of time.

Really? You do get that most people can get out the door in less time.

My kids (boy and girl) needed 20 min in the morning. This includes:

Mom: making hot breakfast, getting water bottle and ice ready, getting hot lunch ready, getting ready to take kid to a bus stop with a later pick up time.

Kid: shoes, socks, eat, teeth, pack lunch and water bottle and go (insert grab hoodie or something if needed).

Everything that could be ready the night before, was.



Zero electronics until out the door.

Do you work, that you can manage doing all of that prep for your kids and get yourself out the door to go on time? Even so, it takes me 20 min sometimes to even get out of bed after the alarm so I set it earlier. I don’t think most people can wake up and be out the door in 20 minutes. I need time for my eyes to open and sorry for TMI, but to get things moving to use the bathroom. So do lots of kids because they are human too.

I’m not the PP, but I work and I did do something like this when my kids were in middle school. Given the early start time the deal in our family is I did make breakfast and pack lunch for middle school. They would do some helping in the evening to get lunches ready but I’d finish it up in the morning. I would get up at 6, get them out the door at 6:50, and then finish getting myself ready and leave at 7:40. Middle school for my second was interrupted by the pandemic and I now have two kids in HS and work at home a lot more. I’m not going to say I don’t appreciate the somewhat less hectic morning but we did manage it previously with some organization.

It’s early but I honestly don’t think 6:20 is that crazy early, especially if the kid is going to bed by 9. I would think your child will adjust. The first week back is always a shock to the system. I think where it gets trickier is not over scheduling the kids in the evening so they can get homework done and go to bed at a reasonable hour.

Anonymous wrote:As a Loudoun County parent I currently hate our schedule because my K and 2nd graders bus picks them up at 6:40. That’s too early for little kids. I have to pull them out of bed each morning and it’s miserable. We debated moving or going private because of it.

What did you decide? Stay? Then STFU.

As a Loudoun County parent I currently hate our schedule because my K and 2nd graders bus picks them up at 6:40. That’s too early for little kids. I have to pull them out of bed each morning and it’s miserable. We debated moving or going private because of it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just get a doctor’s note saying your child can’t start school before 9 AM. Then skip the first few periods everyday, and do an online class to make up the missed periods.

Oh great! Encourage lying both in collusion with the doctor and with your kid’s knowledge, and then do a class online which we all know isn’t the best way to learn and has a non existent social aspect. This is a great idea. Really, bravo, you.

Are you aware that sleep deprivation is literally used as a form of torture? These kids are miserable their health is suffering

The child in question is getting 9 hours of sleep. That’s not sleep deprivation.

Anonymous wrote:Just get a doctor’s note saying your child can’t start school before 9 AM. Then skip the first few periods everyday, and do an online class to make up the missed periods.

God, you entitled wealthy parents are SO ABSURD.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand what time you guys want school to start. Ours is at 8AM. That seems like a normal start of morning to me. Why on earth would we push that back just so teenagers can go to sports practice?!

Try to keep up. Not all middle school starts at 8am like yours. Ours start at 7:30am. Not everyone gets "a normal start of morning".

Anonymous wrote:FCPS is weird. ES should go first, then MS, then HS. I mean my ES kid is up at the crack of dawn and we need to wait three hours until school starts.

It’s not about your wealthy, privileged kids. It’s about the families who need their high schoolers home early to work more hours at a job to help their families and/or to provide childcare for younger siblings. And no, they aren’t going to move the times just for your rich school(s).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS is weird. ES should go first, then MS, then HS. I mean my ES kid is up at the crack of dawn and we need to wait three hours until school starts.

You mean like they do it in Loudoun County? Love it.

You mean the Loudoun County that’s less than half the size of FCPS with over 100K fewer students? That same district?

Well people are clamoring that it won’t work for high school to go to 4PM. Regardless of size, Loudoun does it.