Early Mornings

Early mornings (before breakfast) at our house are for personal hygiene and chores.  The ideal we're working under is that we establish order first and then we have room to learn, explore, and grow.

But my 'tweens have discovered that if they get through their early morning work quickly enough, they can also get through their independent school work which gives them a vast quantity of free time.

This morning I called upstairs, "Breakfast in 2 minutes." 

I heard a chorus of, "What?  That's not fair!  We still have 5 minutes until breakfast.  We're trying to finish our school!"

*Beat*

"Okay.  You can have 5 more minutes.  That's fine by me."

Phases come and go.  I don't expect them to always be finished with all of their required work by 8:30 am, but right now it's kind of funny.

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