A Morning Routine for Mom, part one

So what does a homeschool mom morning routine look like day to day? This story starts early in marriage and continues in a series.

I have been inspired by Kerri’s multi-part, What’s For Dinner?, so for the next few weeks I’ll be writing about the homeschool mom morning routine. Today, I’ll start with a story…

My husband and I were married fairly young – I was nineteen and he was twenty-two. Back in those early days when it was just the two of us, I would get up every morning and make breakfast and the two of us would sit and eat together before he left for work. It was wonderful.

A Morning Routine for Mom

About two and a half years into our marriage, four months or so after our first child was born, that beautiful sweet baby boy who had been sleeping through the night since we brought him home from the hospital decided it was time to give mom a reality check and start waking up every hour and a half at night. There was one morning in particular when I crawled back into bed for the 5th time at around 5:30. Not long after I was happily sleeping, my husband’s alarm went off and he got up for work. I didn’t budge. I heard him shaving and getting dressed. Still didn’t budge. A short while later, dear hubby walks to my side of the bed and says “are you going to make breakfast?”

I didn’t say anything. I got out of bed, popped some frozen waffles in the toaster, poured a glass of milk and set his breakfast at the table for him. I sat in the chair next to him scowling for a moment, furious that he was so oblivious to my need for sleep. Then he said, “what, did you have a rough night?” I picked up the cup of milk and threw it across the room. It crashed into the wall and milk went everywhere. He left for work without saying a word.

Okay, so that wasn’t the finest half hour for either of us. In all fairness, he really was completely clueless about how little I had slept the night before. I learned then that he really could sleep through anything and if I want him to get up with the kids at night, I have to wake him up. He learned a lesson that day too… it’s best to let sleeping moms lie.

After that day, my breakfast making was sporadic at best. When more kids came along, my desire to get out of bed in the morning grew less and less.  Then a couple years ago I was reading through Proverbs 31 and was convicted by this verse,

She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.

Ideas for Blessing Your Husband

God had already been working on my heart, nudging me to get up early for many reasons, so I decided then that I would make the effort to get up with my husband each morning and make sure he had something to eat. Most days it is something simple… a toasted bagel or a quick bowl of grits. But it is wonderful for me to know that he is leaving each day with a little reminder that he is loved and that he is still important to me, even now that I have little people to take care of.

Of course, there are still those times when I am up all night with one the kids and need a little extra sleep. On those days I let him know that I won’t be getting up and give him a quick list of what is available for him to eat before he heads out the door.

Getting up with him has other benefits too. It gives me about an hour and a half of peace and quiet each morning – time to spend with the Lord and just enough time to tackle the rest of the morning routine. More on that next…

Homeschool Mom Morning Routine Series

• Part 2 – Imperfect Edition
• Part 3 – Getting Mom Ready
• Survivor Edition – A homeschool mom’s routine with a new baby
• Taking Care of You! The Homeschool Mom
• How to Start a Homeschool Routine

by Kendra, October 2009