Body Clock means an internal mechanism of the body that is thought to regulate physical and mental functions in rhythm with normal daily activities. (American Heritage Stedman’s Medical Dictionary) To a homeschooler, body clock means sleeping when you need to sleep and leaning when you are most alert.
“A survey of sleep-deprived teens (presented at the American Thoracic Society 2007 International Conference, on Sunday, May 20) finds they think that a later start time for school and tests given later in the school day would result in better grades.” The survey said what parents already know. Students are sleep deprived and therefore not doing their best. The article goes on to say, “Teenagers need more sleep than adults and their circadian rhythms are phase shifted so that their ideal bedtime is midnight to 1:00 a.m.; yet they have to get up at 6:30 or earlier for high school,” according to Richard Schwab, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania. According to his study, the students body clock prevents them from going to be earlier, and so they need t sleep later.
I would love it if my kids jumped out of bed every day at 7am and completed all of their work by noon. That is how our schedule is set, but that is because I am the early bird. My daughter however is a night owl. This means when I try to wake her, I hear the words, “just another 30 minutes please”, two or three times before she is alert. In an effort to teach her to regulate her body better by going to bed early, I have been waking her up soon after I get up each morning. However, I have noticed since I have been observing her (sleeping and work habits) during these last few days off, that she is more alert and open to learning in the late evening, and sleepiest in the morning. This is just the way she is wired. I can see that I am going to have to respect her body clock.
Now I cannot re-arrange the world for her to allow her to work at night and then sleep late in the mornings. There will be classes, and activities that require getting up at a decent time next school year. Nevertheless, because we homeschool, we will still have a few days of the week when she can rejuvenate her body and mind by sleeping in.
(This essay is an exercise in vocabulary. I encourage you to pick a new word each day and have your children to write an essay. Choose the number of required words according to grade level, age, or ability. ) For more words of the day see: syncretism, autodidact, extreme and mediocrity and more.
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