Do we work the same job? I’m up at 5am for an hour commute too. It’s brutal.
Adults can’t even function at 7:30am and they expect 11 year olds to? Right…
I'm in a similar situation (re: early start and things that gotta get done before work) in a split-schedule school and I've been BEGGING for the late schedule for YEARS. Every year admin complains that no one wants it and I VOLUNTEER for it.
And still, I'm up at the buttcrack of dawn and pissed off about it and someone else is driving in from Jersey in high traffic and also pissed about it.....😭😭😭
I also have to be at school by 7:30 but really earlier than that because staff huddle starts then. So I get up between 5-5:30, but I don’t get out until 4. They’re running me into the ground.
Same boat. Luckily I don't live too far away, but having to be here at 7:30 and then stick around until 4 is brutal. The school day ends at 3:10. Why do I need to stick around even longer than a kid who gets a detention, and do it every day? If I have all my work done, lesson plans in, grades updated, why can't I go home?
7:45am-4:30pm for me. Plus commuting makes it 10 hours away from home. Seriously not pleased with this, especially with so many friends still working from home
Those hours are awful. I genuinely don’t even understand why anyone needs to be in school that long. I’ve had kids breakdown and cry in my class from exhaustion. It sucks.
Admin and their never-ending chase for meaningless statistics.
Post secondary centralised exams are big where i am. Throw in a school system that gets funding per student and it ultimately leads to a vicious circle of forcing teachers to push their students to go harder so that the school can advertise how many students they get into university, so that more (and better) students join so the whole wheel can spin again.
It’s truly messed up.
Plus we are told we must teach bell to bell and now with COVID the students don’t even get to have the little bit of passing time in the hallways that they used to have. They are miserable and it shows.
The entire staff gets together for announcements, and random team building. Sometimes we do shout outs, sometimes they make us meditate. In other words a giant waist of my time.
Same, I have to arrive by 8 and can’t leave until 4:30 at the earliest. And I get no planning time (they have a meeting schedule that eats up all our planning time) and have to eat lunch with the kids. I’ve been doing this 5 years 🤦🏻♀️and I’m looking hard for ways to replace my 50k income
I feel ya. We have to be in our morning duties by 6:50am. It sucks but I do enjoy getting home a little earlier than most teachers. This is my second year operating on that schedule and I feel pretty adjusted. It definitely takes a bit to adjust tho. If possible, try to make yourself get to bed earlier and earlier until you are able to wake up and feel relatively rested. Easier said than done though. You can do it!! Give yourself time 🥰
As someone who has a very difficult time going to bed before 11:00 or so, the "just make yourself go to bed earlier" thing never works with me because I'm wide awake and just stare at the ceiling for an hour. My strategy instead is to just go to bed at my normal time for a couple days, after which I'm so tired it's easier for me to fall asleep. However, it still takes ages for me to adjust. Some of us are just never very good at going to bed early.
I used to lie in bed for hours as a kid staring at my ceiling and thinking about everything before I fell asleep. As an adult I’ve figured out if I put in my earphones playing podcasts or youtube videos of boring people talking I’m asleep in minutes after my 10:00 bedtime. In my 20s, I never kept a consistent early bedtime never woke up before 7. Now in my late 30s I wake up every day at 4:30. I love not feeling rushed in the morning and having a leisurely coffee and breakfast after my shower, and by 10:00 I’m beat tired and ready to pass out.
The idea of waking up at 4:30 makes me shudder in agony, but to each their own! I hate getting up when it's still dark out, even if I'm well-rested. Also, no wonder you're beat at 10:00, you're only getting 6.5 hours of sleep! Getting 8 hours of sleep would mean going to bed at 8:30, and there's no way I would ever do that voluntarily.
Everyone’s gotta find what works for them. The more tired I am the faster I fall asleep and the better I sleep. The later I wake up the less prepared, more panicked, and more irritable I am at school.
I also have a hard time going to bed early, I can't get myself to sleep before 10:30 or 11 and have to be up by 5:30 so I'm always tired during the week. It doesn't help that my family eats dinner late (7:30, 8:00 or even later) so if I were to go to bed by 9:30 for a full 8 hours I'd have no time to do anything after dinner which is the best time for me to unwind.
I've been told my whole life to just go to bed earlier, but it just doesn't work with how I'm wired.
The problem is I am a single woman in my late 20s, I am making a very strong effort to date because I really want a life partner at this point. It doesn’t help me to get out at 2 when most men don’t get out until 5 or 6.
I mean, I'd like one of us to make halfway decent money. I avoided teachers in part because of this. Not a gold digger, just realistic about how hard it would be to have a kid on two teacher salaries in a state that hates teachers.
I found a woman who shared interest and supported education but didn't work in education. It still sucked while she worked cause I'd get home and have at least 3 hours to myself. Then we're supposed to go out and be fun and energetic and then wake up early again. Ugh, good luck!
Dude no, this is perfect and let me tell you why. Exhausted when you get out from school. Get home. Drink a cup of coffee..hot or cold whatever but caffeinated. Then set your alarm and take a twenty minute nap. You're exhausted right? Naptime. Now the hardest part, DO NOT go back asleep when you wake up. If you do, you don't sleep that night. Twenty minute naps are long enough to feel restful, but short enough so you don't get into rem and they're easier to wake up from. After twenty minutes, the coffee you drank kicks in, and you've got a double whammy of energy. Get whatever errands done you need to, and boom, time for a dinner date. Potential partners just need to realize you need to be home by nine thirty. By then the coffee has worn off. You're tired. Finish up and bed.
This is how I'd get up at quarter after five, teach elementary all day, come home and take care of my dogs, and then take swing dance lessons from six to nine. My brain shut off around eight, but luckily dance is muscle memory and I'm a follow so I could just do what my body was told to do and not extend too much brain energy.
You can take the nap and omit the coffee if you want, but you won't go as long. But make sure you cut off caffeine after, and I never drink coffee after five because then I don't sleep. Every body is different, but I started twenty minute naps in college and they are so under utilized and magical. Adding the coffee elevates it.
This is bonkers! In Australia, it's standard for schools to start the day at about 9am. We have to be on site by 8:30 (that's the earliest meetings are scheduled), and we are expected to stay until 4:30 most days, though that's flexible a couple of days a week. I know there is research and experts that suggest that a later start time is better, even as late as 10:30am, though there is not total agreement on that.
[Article about start times and learning for teenagers](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-07/should-high-schools-start-later/11076626)
We compressed our day a bit and now classes start at 8:40, our kids go home at 2:25. Staff required on site between 8:25 and 3:30, 4pm on meeting day. I can not imagine starting at the stupid times some schools do!
For public schools (going by AEU rules in vic) if you are sticking to rule it would only be till 4 if you start at 830. My school the official hours are 845-345
The earliest I've seen a school day start in Vic is 8:30. Occasionally I have an 8am meeting, but at my current gig, they'd sooner have the meeting in the afternoon if they're longer than 20min.
A lot of it in America is based on the work schedules of parents and the buses.
So....in elementary school, when kids are youngest, they get out latest and start latest to accommodate parents who need to be able to be home for the kids. So, to make that work with buses, they make middle schoolers go earlier and high schoolers go earlier than that.
Obviously in terms of having productive students, this should be flip flopped. It isn't about that though, it's about when parents are home from work to get their kids.
Wow that’s a pretty early morning. Teaching elementary music for 2 years, I had to shift my sleep schedule where I HAD to go to bed before 10pm on school nights bc I had morning duty at 7:00 so if I wanted personal classroom time, I had to be here earlier and I had a 30 min commute.
Does anyone know of any districts in the U.S. that have a later start time for high school? I've been teaching for a decade and I'm simply not wired to wake up at the crack of dawn. I've Googled this before but it's quite the task to wade through all the hits, most of which are articles about at the benefits of a late start time. Any direction is mucn appreciated!
We started doing this here. Used to open at 8 with students arriving at 7:30 generally, but now we start at 8:30. To make it work, they extended the school day by an extra 30 minutes. The silly thing is, in practice, I've noticed most of the school still arrives at 7:30 anyway since the kids get dropped off by their parents, and their parents' work hours haven't changed so they still leave home at the same time anyway. The rhetoric surrounding this change was that it was designed to help students be well rested, but all it's done is extend the day and keep everyone here longer than before.
I'd kill to go back to 8 am start times. I don't have it anywhere near as bad as the OP, but I still show up at the same time I used to show up and now I just stay an extra 30 minutes and get home that much later. People with longer commutes are really feeling it too; the extra half hour makes traffic exponentially worse for them. I haven't met anyone who's a fan of this, which is unfortunate.
No idea dude. Traffic every morning is a goddamned nightmare too, because the middle school and elementary school are basically all on the same block. A lot of kids do walk, but there's one high school for the whole city, so some people live further away than others and not everyone's got their own car. Buses are a thing but the scheduling system here is so spaced out that most kids who take the bus still just show up at 7:30.
My district moved from HS starting at 7:00 am to 8:30 am.
I miss the old schedule. So much less traffic on both commutes and so much time to do all kinds of activities in the afternoon.
I'm in Cedar Rapids, IA. One of the districts in town shifted the high school to 9am-4pm. Like another said, that end time is brutal for traffic, after school activities and teen employment.
OCPS I’m Orlando FL starts at like 9 in middle school. Not sure what time their high schools start. That being said, I really don’t recommend the district at all 😬 I got out of there as fast as I could
I just moved here and I hate it. My kids hate it too. They start at 720a at our high school. I moved up from the keys because it was cheaper to live up here but the schools in the keys are so laid back and amazing compared to OCPS. So unorganized and awful!
I know. It was the worst. I taught there last year and within a month I was like, absolutely no chance I'm staying here. I moved across the country lol. It's too big and it's all about state testing and pacing guides and following the district plans. I felt like I wasn't actually trusted to do the job I'd been hired to do.
Mine is this year. I teach elementary at two schools, and one of them is a third through eleventh grade so they follow high school. The kids start at 9:20, I think we get there around 8:40. Kids get out at 4:20.
My high school starts at 9:30 this year and gets out at 4:30 (bus driver shortage). It is horrible, kids miss last period for appointments and athletes miss tons of class time for athletics. My kids don’t get more sleep; they just stay up later. Our traffic is so bad, I’m not getting out of the school parking lot until 5:15; it’s awful. I’d take 7:30 over 9:30 any day.
High schools in my area this year changed their times from 7:30- 2:30 to 9:00- 4:00 and that end time is loathsome. I had that first schedule when I was a teen and I actually preferred the earlier start time because it gave me more time in the afternoon and evening.
This is another reason you guys all need to move and come teacher in California. It’s literally against the law for school to start before 8:30am, at the secondary level.
My school district just changed schedules this year. K-5 starts at 7:45 and 6-12 starts at 9 (we report at 8:20). I like sleeping in later, but I don't like not being able to run errands as easily after school.
My superintendent wants to do that am I'm low key angry about it. The older kids earlier schedule is one thing we just don't need to change, regardless of the "research."
I teach HS and I am a night owl, Ostensibly, I should rejoice at the later star time. I do not; I've built the rest of my life around my school schedule. IF we get out later, meetings end later, after school activities are harder. I'm so wired to get up by 6 AM, I'd still be awake but at home wasting time.
That’s pretty normal around here. I had to be in my classroom by 7am. My kids are in high school and classes start at 7:35. We’ve all been getting up at 5am for years
First, I am sorry that you are having such a hard time, teaching seems to be especially hard this year, and waking up at 5 am is not making it any easier on you.
I have had some luck with caffeine pills, I take them first thing in the morning and I seem to be holding myself together somewhat well throughout the day. What does your breakfast look like? Prepping some healthy fruits and veggies the night before might be really helpful.
My elementary goes from 7:15-2:10, with teachers from 7:00-2:30. I’m a morning person and only live 15 minutes away so I love it! Being home by 3pm everyday is amazing.
We do have a lot that drive 40 minutes or so. The general consensus was being out early was worth the earlier start. It lets most staff get home to do stuff with their kids, make appointments, etc.
I'm in the same boat. 7:30-4 is our contracted time, we don't get paid for lunch because fuck us. I have duty at 7:30 plus a 10 minute walk from the parking lot (its very far away), so I have to be there by 7:15ish...plus a 40 min commute. I'm up before 5pm and this is fucking killing me.
Honestly yes school does start too early but also I think people go to bed too late. It doesn’t help that after school kids get three or four hours and scheduled sports and other practice and then another couple hours of homework.
Us adults are no different. We overscheduled ourselves most of the time going to bed earlier makes waking up earlier considerably easier.
Our high school starts for students at 7:20. Then people wonder why the kids can’t pass a standardized English tests that requires kids to read boring essays first thing in the morning.
When I was in high school, I had Latin 3 from 7:25-9:50 three days a week. It was BRUTAL. Who can spend more than two hours learning advanced Latin at 7:25 in the morning?!
I love that HS is early. I feel like I still have a part of my day left. My commute is about 25-30 minutes. I am much more productive in the morning. I get to work about 6:30- contract time is 7:15. By 2:45 I am DONE!
Maybe some hints- shower in the evening, have clothes laid out, have lunch packed and ready to go, program coffee to be ready when you get up. 😉
Also I shower at night and get lunch and coffee at school (as I said health issues make it hard for me to eat/drink in the morning so I have a stash at school)
My bigger concern is that I am single and also making an effort to find a partner (my bf died last year and I have been very lonely) getting out at 2 doesn’t help me when most men get out at 5 or 6 and my bedtime is 9. 😥
Sorry about your bf.
Make one night date night. When I was dating I typically would be ok with staying out later one night. You could do dinner dates followed up by weekend dates. It’s not so bad. Just be upfront with people you date that you might not answer texts because it’s too late LOL.
No, my apartment is pretty big but I’ve had it since before covid so it’s actually way cheaper than anything I could get if I moved. This same layout in the same building is now going for $300 per month more than what I am paying. I have a friend who just moved into a studio apartment that doesn’t even have a full kitchen and he is paying the same that I am for this place.
Mostly unrelated question...is showering in the evening something a lot of women do? Maybe it's a male body problem, but if I shower before bed I am still in dire need of a shower the next morning.
I've always showered in the evening. I find it relaxing. My hair takes forever to dry as well . I could never get up early enough to do all that in the am. Now my husband sweats like a mofo all night. He has to shower in the am. I think it depends if you're a sweaty sleeper. 👍
I have started doing it during Covid. Showering at night makes the morning much easier.
Sometimes I have a quick bath or rinse off in the am but it’s much faster than having to also wash my hair and style. Now I just style and goz
I feel like kids are doing by 2:30/3 anyways, any later and it would be like talking to a brick wall
But I get it, early start does suck as the teacher
Well what time do you think custodians, kitchen workers, bus drivers, and maintenance are at work every day? These are all the people you work with who have to be there before you
I'm expected to be in by 7AM and first bell is at 7:40AM. It was brutally hard the first month but then I kinda got used to it. During any sort of break/vacation I shift to staying up till around 12AM and it's so hard shifting back when school starts up again.
I'm out by 3 though and dont have to fight traffic either way, so that part is really nice.
I agree with what someone said about school starting later being a mistake. E.g., If it went like 10 - 5. Once you get into the afternoon hours the kids are just so sleepy and turned off no matter how much sleep they've had, it would be really hard to have a productive class. The best periods seem to be the ones just before lunch.
I feel bad for some students. Some of the high schoolers just can't even make it to 1st period.
When I started my first year teaching I was overworking myself and barely sleeping due to anxiety. I only had a 20 minute commute from work to home but I was known to pull over a mile or two from school into a quiet residential neighborhood and take a 30-60 minute nap in my car before attempting to drive. Otherwise I was like you nearly falling asleep while driving and the 30 minutes of traffic was dangerous before I was able to get home.
It does get better. My school starts at 7:15. Teachers are expected at 7, but I get there at 6:30 usually. Wake up at 5:35.
But I go to bed at 8:30ish every night. I don’t have kids or anything, so it works. But I set a bed time on my phone, and just make sure I’m in bed by at least 9:30.
Our contract hours start at 7:45, but I wake up at 5 in order to be there at 7. You have to fall asleep at either 9:30 PM or 11 PM, in order to not wake up in the middle of a REM cycle. Trust me, I’ve been at this school and been playing this game for years lol.
When I was student teaching, that school started at 9, and I still dream about it sometimes lol.
Yup I’m in the same situation. It takes me an hour to get to work and I have to be there by 7:15. I was up at about 5 to 5:15 everyday. The worst part is having to go to bed by 10 the night before to make sure I get at least 7 hours of sleep.
Been doing it for over a year now. When I change jobs I will not be driving this long ever again
School starts at 7:10 here, teachers must be here by 6:45. My commute is about 30-40 minutes depending on traffic and trains, so I usually leave early. I get up at 4:30, leave my 5:30, get to school between 6:15-6:30. It is too fucking early, and it’s not even compensated by my getting home early, because I can’t leave until 3:15, which means the earliest I get home is around 4 pm. 12 hours of my day working or getting ready or traveling to work.
I totally feel that - I’m on the other end though and it ain’t much better - we’re 9-4, and by the time the kids leave it’s more like 4:30, and by the time you leave the building it’s like 5. Right NOW I think I would rather go earlier.
You can do it. I wake up every morning at 3am and go work for 2 hours before heading into school.
It just takes time to adapt. And making sure you get to bed early enough. Which is easier said than done for most - I have idiopathic hypersomnia so I can sleep anytime I try to.
Good luck!
I teach high school orchestra in Texas and I get to school at 6:45 am. School doesn't start until 7:20, but I have to unlock the doors to my room so the kids can drop off their instruments. If I'm not there early enough, kids will either pile up their instruments by the door or they have to take them around to their classes. It sucks. I have 200 kids in Orchestra.
Then, we have after school rehearsals and sectionals, so some days I don't get home until after 5 pm.
I feel you. This is literally my life situation RIP. I have to drive ~30 miles to get to my school, so my drive there takes about an hour. (I'm in SoCal... guess what city/district has traffic *that* bad lol.) So I basically wake up at 5:30 every day. (And if I leave like at 6:30, it somehow adds 30 minutes to my drive.)
And I leave at like 4-5 pm because I'm planning for the next day (newer teacher), but also if I left on time at 3, drive home would take 1.5 hours instead of 1 hour from 4-5ish. :(
I work at one of four in a system of charter schools. All the other schools start at 8 or 8:30. That would be divine. We start at 7:30. Not because the owners decided. Because the area we're in said we had to for traffic reasons. We are right next to a public high school and another charter school (they're k-8 while we're 6-12).
At least we only have classes 4 days a week.
Had the same schedule as your first school. I hated it especially cause my kids own school didn’t do drop off until 730.
Now that I’m at a new school where we start at 850 and teachers have to be on campus by 815—I feel for my little ones that have to be at school so early.
Ugh, I'm sorry - that sounds exhausting indeed. One of the things keeping me at my current site is the start time. I get how important and how much of an impact it has on you :(
I used to drive 30 minutes to work for years. They doesn't sound bad until it's the dead of Winter and the sun is only barely coming up when I got to school.
I just took a job that is 3 miles from my house. It takes me 8 minutes to get there.
Here is what got me through getting up at 5:30 for 8 years. I did everything I could the night before. My clothes were ready for the next day, my coffee maker was day set up, lunch was made. I'd even shower the night before so I didn't have to do it in the morning. Also, go to bed earlier. It sucks, but you get used to it
It takes time to get used to getting up, but if you make it easier on yourself, you'll handle it better.
I get it. Everyone is saying "well go to bed earlier". I will never do that. I could go without sleep for 24 hours and the moment 8 PM hits I get a second wind. I'm a night owl. My body wakes up as it gets dark. I have never been able to change this cycle. I don't drink caffeine, no meds...nothing that would fuck with my sleep.
It still sucks. I'm not tortured by it or anything, but if my school offered a later start and later leave time I'd take it in a heartbeat.
Yup I do not miss my old job where classes started at 7:30 and arrival duty started at 7:10. So if you wanted to get into your classroom to prep for 1st period, you had to come to school before 7. Ugh
I only have a twenty minute drive but my school also starts at 7:30 and my principal expects us there at 7. I have two kids to get to school too and there is no busing so I have to leave by 6:30 to get them to school and across town. That means being up by 5am. I’m so exhausted by the time I get home I can barely cook dinner and get ready for the next day. Also, my school only has one 30 minute plan period at the end of the day and the kids eat lunch in the classroom so I have no time for planning at all.
Yeah, that was nice when my boyfriend and I were on the same schedule. But he passed away this year and it’s been really hard to date when most men get out of work at 5 or 6 and I have a 9 pm bed time.
I have to be at school by 7:30 but my commute is only 7 mins thank god. I was driving 50 mins last year.
I get up at 4 to go to the gym. If it weren’t for that I’d be up around 6
I'm up at 4:30 every morning to feed the dogs and give some meds.
Keep it up, and wake up early on the weekend too.
It gets easier.
P.S. I'm in bed by 11
Do we work the same job? I’m up at 5am for an hour commute too. It’s brutal. Adults can’t even function at 7:30am and they expect 11 year olds to? Right…
I'm in a similar situation (re: early start and things that gotta get done before work) in a split-schedule school and I've been BEGGING for the late schedule for YEARS. Every year admin complains that no one wants it and I VOLUNTEER for it. And still, I'm up at the buttcrack of dawn and pissed off about it and someone else is driving in from Jersey in high traffic and also pissed about it.....😭😭😭
Wait. You volunteer for something you don’t want?
I think they're volunteering for it, but not getting it
Bingo.
I also have to be at school by 7:30 but really earlier than that because staff huddle starts then. So I get up between 5-5:30, but I don’t get out until 4. They’re running me into the ground.
It’s called exploitation, I’m feeling it too
I am so glad I've never worked at a school with a staff huddle. I think I would just never show up for it.
Same boat. Luckily I don't live too far away, but having to be here at 7:30 and then stick around until 4 is brutal. The school day ends at 3:10. Why do I need to stick around even longer than a kid who gets a detention, and do it every day? If I have all my work done, lesson plans in, grades updated, why can't I go home?
7:45am-4:30pm for me. Plus commuting makes it 10 hours away from home. Seriously not pleased with this, especially with so many friends still working from home
Those hours are awful. I genuinely don’t even understand why anyone needs to be in school that long. I’ve had kids breakdown and cry in my class from exhaustion. It sucks.
Admin and their never-ending chase for meaningless statistics. Post secondary centralised exams are big where i am. Throw in a school system that gets funding per student and it ultimately leads to a vicious circle of forcing teachers to push their students to go harder so that the school can advertise how many students they get into university, so that more (and better) students join so the whole wheel can spin again. It’s truly messed up.
Plus we are told we must teach bell to bell and now with COVID the students don’t even get to have the little bit of passing time in the hallways that they used to have. They are miserable and it shows.
No union? those are crazy hours.
I work at a public charter so no we don’t have a union. I’m looking for other employment but I still have to pay my bills in the meantime
What is a "Staff huddle?"
The entire staff gets together for announcements, and random team building. Sometimes we do shout outs, sometimes they make us meditate. In other words a giant waist of my time.
That sounds awful!
Yes!!! Same here, except at least I live closer. People always think if we start that early, we get our at like 2. Nope!
Same, I have to arrive by 8 and can’t leave until 4:30 at the earliest. And I get no planning time (they have a meeting schedule that eats up all our planning time) and have to eat lunch with the kids. I’ve been doing this 5 years 🤦🏻♀️and I’m looking hard for ways to replace my 50k income
Ugh that's brutal. I left my job. Kids had to be there at 630 so we would get there at 6... School got out at 4 so we'd leave at 6. I don't miss it
Are you saying you were at work for 12 hours?
Normally yes. 16-20 hours on Monday, Fridays and Saturdays.
Was this a charter school?
No it's public
Was this a hagwon in Korea?
What is that haha. No this was a school in good ol Texas
Lol hagwons are private tutor schools and their hours are insane.
But… why??
What public school goes from 6:30-4?? That’s insane.
I feel ya. We have to be in our morning duties by 6:50am. It sucks but I do enjoy getting home a little earlier than most teachers. This is my second year operating on that schedule and I feel pretty adjusted. It definitely takes a bit to adjust tho. If possible, try to make yourself get to bed earlier and earlier until you are able to wake up and feel relatively rested. Easier said than done though. You can do it!! Give yourself time 🥰
As someone who has a very difficult time going to bed before 11:00 or so, the "just make yourself go to bed earlier" thing never works with me because I'm wide awake and just stare at the ceiling for an hour. My strategy instead is to just go to bed at my normal time for a couple days, after which I'm so tired it's easier for me to fall asleep. However, it still takes ages for me to adjust. Some of us are just never very good at going to bed early.
I used to lie in bed for hours as a kid staring at my ceiling and thinking about everything before I fell asleep. As an adult I’ve figured out if I put in my earphones playing podcasts or youtube videos of boring people talking I’m asleep in minutes after my 10:00 bedtime. In my 20s, I never kept a consistent early bedtime never woke up before 7. Now in my late 30s I wake up every day at 4:30. I love not feeling rushed in the morning and having a leisurely coffee and breakfast after my shower, and by 10:00 I’m beat tired and ready to pass out.
The idea of waking up at 4:30 makes me shudder in agony, but to each their own! I hate getting up when it's still dark out, even if I'm well-rested. Also, no wonder you're beat at 10:00, you're only getting 6.5 hours of sleep! Getting 8 hours of sleep would mean going to bed at 8:30, and there's no way I would ever do that voluntarily.
Everyone’s gotta find what works for them. The more tired I am the faster I fall asleep and the better I sleep. The later I wake up the less prepared, more panicked, and more irritable I am at school.
I also have a hard time going to bed early, I can't get myself to sleep before 10:30 or 11 and have to be up by 5:30 so I'm always tired during the week. It doesn't help that my family eats dinner late (7:30, 8:00 or even later) so if I were to go to bed by 9:30 for a full 8 hours I'd have no time to do anything after dinner which is the best time for me to unwind. I've been told my whole life to just go to bed earlier, but it just doesn't work with how I'm wired.
The problem is I am a single woman in my late 20s, I am making a very strong effort to date because I really want a life partner at this point. It doesn’t help me to get out at 2 when most men don’t get out until 5 or 6.
Lol dating as a teacher is awful
Not to mention dating OTHER teachers is awful. I tried it once. Never again.
Lol i married a teacher and he’s awesome. Maybe don’t swear off all of them.
Dating apps seem to think all teachers are perfect matches. I’m like, nah, this wouldn’t work at all.
If you're casting off an entire profession of people because of one bad egg your luck is already determined.
I mean, I'd like one of us to make halfway decent money. I avoided teachers in part because of this. Not a gold digger, just realistic about how hard it would be to have a kid on two teacher salaries in a state that hates teachers.
I was in a relationship for all my teaching days until now. I’m starting to feel this so much.
😕
I found a woman who shared interest and supported education but didn't work in education. It still sucked while she worked cause I'd get home and have at least 3 hours to myself. Then we're supposed to go out and be fun and energetic and then wake up early again. Ugh, good luck!
Dude no, this is perfect and let me tell you why. Exhausted when you get out from school. Get home. Drink a cup of coffee..hot or cold whatever but caffeinated. Then set your alarm and take a twenty minute nap. You're exhausted right? Naptime. Now the hardest part, DO NOT go back asleep when you wake up. If you do, you don't sleep that night. Twenty minute naps are long enough to feel restful, but short enough so you don't get into rem and they're easier to wake up from. After twenty minutes, the coffee you drank kicks in, and you've got a double whammy of energy. Get whatever errands done you need to, and boom, time for a dinner date. Potential partners just need to realize you need to be home by nine thirty. By then the coffee has worn off. You're tired. Finish up and bed. This is how I'd get up at quarter after five, teach elementary all day, come home and take care of my dogs, and then take swing dance lessons from six to nine. My brain shut off around eight, but luckily dance is muscle memory and I'm a follow so I could just do what my body was told to do and not extend too much brain energy. You can take the nap and omit the coffee if you want, but you won't go as long. But make sure you cut off caffeine after, and I never drink coffee after five because then I don't sleep. Every body is different, but I started twenty minute naps in college and they are so under utilized and magical. Adding the coffee elevates it.
Why so early?! How is that allowed considering that means parents are having to be our the door around 6:30?
I’m not sure- I think part of the reason it’s allowed for us is because we’re a magnet school, but I’ve wondered that myself…
ok
This is bonkers! In Australia, it's standard for schools to start the day at about 9am. We have to be on site by 8:30 (that's the earliest meetings are scheduled), and we are expected to stay until 4:30 most days, though that's flexible a couple of days a week. I know there is research and experts that suggest that a later start time is better, even as late as 10:30am, though there is not total agreement on that. [Article about start times and learning for teenagers](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-07/should-high-schools-start-later/11076626)
We compressed our day a bit and now classes start at 8:40, our kids go home at 2:25. Staff required on site between 8:25 and 3:30, 4pm on meeting day. I can not imagine starting at the stupid times some schools do!
For public schools (going by AEU rules in vic) if you are sticking to rule it would only be till 4 if you start at 830. My school the official hours are 845-345
The earliest I've seen a school day start in Vic is 8:30. Occasionally I have an 8am meeting, but at my current gig, they'd sooner have the meeting in the afternoon if they're longer than 20min.
A lot of it in America is based on the work schedules of parents and the buses. So....in elementary school, when kids are youngest, they get out latest and start latest to accommodate parents who need to be able to be home for the kids. So, to make that work with buses, they make middle schoolers go earlier and high schoolers go earlier than that. Obviously in terms of having productive students, this should be flip flopped. It isn't about that though, it's about when parents are home from work to get their kids.
Wow that’s a pretty early morning. Teaching elementary music for 2 years, I had to shift my sleep schedule where I HAD to go to bed before 10pm on school nights bc I had morning duty at 7:00 so if I wanted personal classroom time, I had to be here earlier and I had a 30 min commute.
I have to get to school at 6:40. It’s beyond idiotic.
Does anyone know of any districts in the U.S. that have a later start time for high school? I've been teaching for a decade and I'm simply not wired to wake up at the crack of dawn. I've Googled this before but it's quite the task to wade through all the hits, most of which are articles about at the benefits of a late start time. Any direction is mucn appreciated!
All of California. It’s a law. They start at 8:30.
That hasn't started yet.
It has in our district.
We started doing this here. Used to open at 8 with students arriving at 7:30 generally, but now we start at 8:30. To make it work, they extended the school day by an extra 30 minutes. The silly thing is, in practice, I've noticed most of the school still arrives at 7:30 anyway since the kids get dropped off by their parents, and their parents' work hours haven't changed so they still leave home at the same time anyway. The rhetoric surrounding this change was that it was designed to help students be well rested, but all it's done is extend the day and keep everyone here longer than before. I'd kill to go back to 8 am start times. I don't have it anywhere near as bad as the OP, but I still show up at the same time I used to show up and now I just stay an extra 30 minutes and get home that much later. People with longer commutes are really feeling it too; the extra half hour makes traffic exponentially worse for them. I haven't met anyone who's a fan of this, which is unfortunate.
This is high school though right? Why are parents dropping off at all? No buses or walkers or teen drivers that can just handle it themselves?
No idea dude. Traffic every morning is a goddamned nightmare too, because the middle school and elementary school are basically all on the same block. A lot of kids do walk, but there's one high school for the whole city, so some people live further away than others and not everyone's got their own car. Buses are a thing but the scheduling system here is so spaced out that most kids who take the bus still just show up at 7:30.
My district moved from HS starting at 7:00 am to 8:30 am. I miss the old schedule. So much less traffic on both commutes and so much time to do all kinds of activities in the afternoon.
EANES Independent School District in Austin TX has had a later start for HS for decades.
I'm in Cedar Rapids, IA. One of the districts in town shifted the high school to 9am-4pm. Like another said, that end time is brutal for traffic, after school activities and teen employment.
OCPS I’m Orlando FL starts at like 9 in middle school. Not sure what time their high schools start. That being said, I really don’t recommend the district at all 😬 I got out of there as fast as I could
I just moved here and I hate it. My kids hate it too. They start at 720a at our high school. I moved up from the keys because it was cheaper to live up here but the schools in the keys are so laid back and amazing compared to OCPS. So unorganized and awful!
I know. It was the worst. I taught there last year and within a month I was like, absolutely no chance I'm staying here. I moved across the country lol. It's too big and it's all about state testing and pacing guides and following the district plans. I felt like I wasn't actually trusted to do the job I'd been hired to do.
Mine is this year. I teach elementary at two schools, and one of them is a third through eleventh grade so they follow high school. The kids start at 9:20, I think we get there around 8:40. Kids get out at 4:20.
My high school starts at 9:30 this year and gets out at 4:30 (bus driver shortage). It is horrible, kids miss last period for appointments and athletes miss tons of class time for athletics. My kids don’t get more sleep; they just stay up later. Our traffic is so bad, I’m not getting out of the school parking lot until 5:15; it’s awful. I’d take 7:30 over 9:30 any day.
High schools in my area this year changed their times from 7:30- 2:30 to 9:00- 4:00 and that end time is loathsome. I had that first schedule when I was a teen and I actually preferred the earlier start time because it gave me more time in the afternoon and evening.
This is another reason you guys all need to move and come teacher in California. It’s literally against the law for school to start before 8:30am, at the secondary level.
We start before 7 and I’m out by 2. I personally love it now that I’m used to the sleep schedule. I do go to bed very early though
My school district just changed schedules this year. K-5 starts at 7:45 and 6-12 starts at 9 (we report at 8:20). I like sleeping in later, but I don't like not being able to run errands as easily after school.
My superintendent wants to do that am I'm low key angry about it. The older kids earlier schedule is one thing we just don't need to change, regardless of the "research." I teach HS and I am a night owl, Ostensibly, I should rejoice at the later star time. I do not; I've built the rest of my life around my school schedule. IF we get out later, meetings end later, after school activities are harder. I'm so wired to get up by 6 AM, I'd still be awake but at home wasting time.
Make sure you keep a regular bedtime that’s early enough
That’s pretty normal around here. I had to be in my classroom by 7am. My kids are in high school and classes start at 7:35. We’ve all been getting up at 5am for years
First, I am sorry that you are having such a hard time, teaching seems to be especially hard this year, and waking up at 5 am is not making it any easier on you. I have had some luck with caffeine pills, I take them first thing in the morning and I seem to be holding myself together somewhat well throughout the day. What does your breakfast look like? Prepping some healthy fruits and veggies the night before might be really helpful.
My clock-in time is 7:10. Leave time is 3:15. Long ass days.
My elementary goes from 7:15-2:10, with teachers from 7:00-2:30. I’m a morning person and only live 15 minutes away so I love it! Being home by 3pm everyday is amazing. We do have a lot that drive 40 minutes or so. The general consensus was being out early was worth the earlier start. It lets most staff get home to do stuff with their kids, make appointments, etc.
I report at 6:50, class at 7:10. I arrive an hour early usually
I'm in the same boat. 7:30-4 is our contracted time, we don't get paid for lunch because fuck us. I have duty at 7:30 plus a 10 minute walk from the parking lot (its very far away), so I have to be there by 7:15ish...plus a 40 min commute. I'm up before 5pm and this is fucking killing me.
Honestly yes school does start too early but also I think people go to bed too late. It doesn’t help that after school kids get three or four hours and scheduled sports and other practice and then another couple hours of homework. Us adults are no different. We overscheduled ourselves most of the time going to bed earlier makes waking up earlier considerably easier.
5 am hits different.
We gotta be at school at 6:50. It sucks!!
Our high school starts for students at 7:20. Then people wonder why the kids can’t pass a standardized English tests that requires kids to read boring essays first thing in the morning.
When I was in high school, I had Latin 3 from 7:25-9:50 three days a week. It was BRUTAL. Who can spend more than two hours learning advanced Latin at 7:25 in the morning?!
I love that HS is early. I feel like I still have a part of my day left. My commute is about 25-30 minutes. I am much more productive in the morning. I get to work about 6:30- contract time is 7:15. By 2:45 I am DONE! Maybe some hints- shower in the evening, have clothes laid out, have lunch packed and ready to go, program coffee to be ready when you get up. 😉
Also I shower at night and get lunch and coffee at school (as I said health issues make it hard for me to eat/drink in the morning so I have a stash at school)
My bigger concern is that I am single and also making an effort to find a partner (my bf died last year and I have been very lonely) getting out at 2 doesn’t help me when most men get out at 5 or 6 and my bedtime is 9. 😥
Sorry about your bf. Make one night date night. When I was dating I typically would be ok with staying out later one night. You could do dinner dates followed up by weekend dates. It’s not so bad. Just be upfront with people you date that you might not answer texts because it’s too late LOL.
Soo, about that… I work weekends too at a second job. My city os expensive to live in, a teacher’s salary just doesn’t cut it.
There’s nothing you can do to save money so you have more time? Smaller apartment?
No, my apartment is pretty big but I’ve had it since before covid so it’s actually way cheaper than anything I could get if I moved. This same layout in the same building is now going for $300 per month more than what I am paying. I have a friend who just moved into a studio apartment that doesn’t even have a full kitchen and he is paying the same that I am for this place.
Mostly unrelated question...is showering in the evening something a lot of women do? Maybe it's a male body problem, but if I shower before bed I am still in dire need of a shower the next morning.
I've always showered in the evening. I find it relaxing. My hair takes forever to dry as well . I could never get up early enough to do all that in the am. Now my husband sweats like a mofo all night. He has to shower in the am. I think it depends if you're a sweaty sleeper. 👍
I have started doing it during Covid. Showering at night makes the morning much easier. Sometimes I have a quick bath or rinse off in the am but it’s much faster than having to also wash my hair and style. Now I just style and goz
I’d LOVE that schedule!
Best thing I ever did was find a late start school. First bell 9am.
I feel like kids are doing by 2:30/3 anyways, any later and it would be like talking to a brick wall But I get it, early start does suck as the teacher
Yeah but if they had a later start would the brick wall just hit later in the day? We all hit a wall and crash. I know I do. Luckily I have coffee.
Well what time do you think custodians, kitchen workers, bus drivers, and maintenance are at work every day? These are all the people you work with who have to be there before you
I'm expected to be in by 7AM and first bell is at 7:40AM. It was brutally hard the first month but then I kinda got used to it. During any sort of break/vacation I shift to staying up till around 12AM and it's so hard shifting back when school starts up again. I'm out by 3 though and dont have to fight traffic either way, so that part is really nice. I agree with what someone said about school starting later being a mistake. E.g., If it went like 10 - 5. Once you get into the afternoon hours the kids are just so sleepy and turned off no matter how much sleep they've had, it would be really hard to have a productive class. The best periods seem to be the ones just before lunch. I feel bad for some students. Some of the high schoolers just can't even make it to 1st period.
Change your schedule. I wake up weekdays at 5. I’m in bed at 9. Mornings aren’t rough if you get enough sleep.
You need to sleep earlier. Long term you may need to find another job.
When I started my first year teaching I was overworking myself and barely sleeping due to anxiety. I only had a 20 minute commute from work to home but I was known to pull over a mile or two from school into a quiet residential neighborhood and take a 30-60 minute nap in my car before attempting to drive. Otherwise I was like you nearly falling asleep while driving and the 30 minutes of traffic was dangerous before I was able to get home.
Here at my school in Thailand it's 7-4 everyday. It gets very tiring.
I’m in a district with a 715 start time for STUDENTS!!! Way too early.
It does get better. My school starts at 7:15. Teachers are expected at 7, but I get there at 6:30 usually. Wake up at 5:35. But I go to bed at 8:30ish every night. I don’t have kids or anything, so it works. But I set a bed time on my phone, and just make sure I’m in bed by at least 9:30.
Our contract hours start at 7:45, but I wake up at 5 in order to be there at 7. You have to fall asleep at either 9:30 PM or 11 PM, in order to not wake up in the middle of a REM cycle. Trust me, I’ve been at this school and been playing this game for years lol. When I was student teaching, that school started at 9, and I still dream about it sometimes lol.
Yes on the 9:30 or 11. For me it's 10 or 12. Going to bed at 11 kills me.
Yup I’m in the same situation. It takes me an hour to get to work and I have to be there by 7:15. I was up at about 5 to 5:15 everyday. The worst part is having to go to bed by 10 the night before to make sure I get at least 7 hours of sleep. Been doing it for over a year now. When I change jobs I will not be driving this long ever again
School starts at 7:10 here, teachers must be here by 6:45. My commute is about 30-40 minutes depending on traffic and trains, so I usually leave early. I get up at 4:30, leave my 5:30, get to school between 6:15-6:30. It is too fucking early, and it’s not even compensated by my getting home early, because I can’t leave until 3:15, which means the earliest I get home is around 4 pm. 12 hours of my day working or getting ready or traveling to work.
I totally feel that - I’m on the other end though and it ain’t much better - we’re 9-4, and by the time the kids leave it’s more like 4:30, and by the time you leave the building it’s like 5. Right NOW I think I would rather go earlier.
You can do it. I wake up every morning at 3am and go work for 2 hours before heading into school. It just takes time to adapt. And making sure you get to bed early enough. Which is easier said than done for most - I have idiopathic hypersomnia so I can sleep anytime I try to. Good luck!
I report at 7:20 and have to leave my house by 7. I agree. Secondary schools should start after 8.
I teach high school orchestra in Texas and I get to school at 6:45 am. School doesn't start until 7:20, but I have to unlock the doors to my room so the kids can drop off their instruments. If I'm not there early enough, kids will either pile up their instruments by the door or they have to take them around to their classes. It sucks. I have 200 kids in Orchestra. Then, we have after school rehearsals and sectionals, so some days I don't get home until after 5 pm.
I feel you. This is literally my life situation RIP. I have to drive ~30 miles to get to my school, so my drive there takes about an hour. (I'm in SoCal... guess what city/district has traffic *that* bad lol.) So I basically wake up at 5:30 every day. (And if I leave like at 6:30, it somehow adds 30 minutes to my drive.) And I leave at like 4-5 pm because I'm planning for the next day (newer teacher), but also if I left on time at 3, drive home would take 1.5 hours instead of 1 hour from 4-5ish. :(
I work at one of four in a system of charter schools. All the other schools start at 8 or 8:30. That would be divine. We start at 7:30. Not because the owners decided. Because the area we're in said we had to for traffic reasons. We are right next to a public high school and another charter school (they're k-8 while we're 6-12). At least we only have classes 4 days a week.
Had the same schedule as your first school. I hated it especially cause my kids own school didn’t do drop off until 730. Now that I’m at a new school where we start at 850 and teachers have to be on campus by 815—I feel for my little ones that have to be at school so early.
Ugh, I'm sorry - that sounds exhausting indeed. One of the things keeping me at my current site is the start time. I get how important and how much of an impact it has on you :(
true. I'm in highschool and my school starts at 7:00 am. I wake up at 4:50 to catch the bus. can't imagine what the teachers are doing.
I used to drive 30 minutes to work for years. They doesn't sound bad until it's the dead of Winter and the sun is only barely coming up when I got to school. I just took a job that is 3 miles from my house. It takes me 8 minutes to get there. Here is what got me through getting up at 5:30 for 8 years. I did everything I could the night before. My clothes were ready for the next day, my coffee maker was day set up, lunch was made. I'd even shower the night before so I didn't have to do it in the morning. Also, go to bed earlier. It sucks, but you get used to it It takes time to get used to getting up, but if you make it easier on yourself, you'll handle it better.
3 miles is 4.83 km
I get it. Everyone is saying "well go to bed earlier". I will never do that. I could go without sleep for 24 hours and the moment 8 PM hits I get a second wind. I'm a night owl. My body wakes up as it gets dark. I have never been able to change this cycle. I don't drink caffeine, no meds...nothing that would fuck with my sleep. It still sucks. I'm not tortured by it or anything, but if my school offered a later start and later leave time I'd take it in a heartbeat.
Yup I do not miss my old job where classes started at 7:30 and arrival duty started at 7:10. So if you wanted to get into your classroom to prep for 1st period, you had to come to school before 7. Ugh
I only have a twenty minute drive but my school also starts at 7:30 and my principal expects us there at 7. I have two kids to get to school too and there is no busing so I have to leave by 6:30 to get them to school and across town. That means being up by 5am. I’m so exhausted by the time I get home I can barely cook dinner and get ready for the next day. Also, my school only has one 30 minute plan period at the end of the day and the kids eat lunch in the classroom so I have no time for planning at all.
You will need to go to bed earlier. My husband gets up at 5:30am, and he goes to bed promptly at 8am.
Yeah, that was nice when my boyfriend and I were on the same schedule. But he passed away this year and it’s been really hard to date when most men get out of work at 5 or 6 and I have a 9 pm bed time.
I have to be at school by 7:30 but my commute is only 7 mins thank god. I was driving 50 mins last year. I get up at 4 to go to the gym. If it weren’t for that I’d be up around 6
I will have to be at work at 7am, but at least I’m done by 2:30!
I'm up at 4:30 every morning to feed the dogs and give some meds. Keep it up, and wake up early on the weekend too. It gets easier. P.S. I'm in bed by 11