I’ve always said that I hate getting up early, but I love being up early. There are so many benefits to being up early – I’m more productive, I’m happier, and I get a better start to the day. But I have never been what you would call a “morning person”. Getting up early has always been a struggle, but it’s something that I’m willing to put the effort into.
For about four months now, the family has a new morning routine that is working out really well for everyone (despite the occasional complaint).
I read some studies that showed that getting up at the same time every day is really beneficial for you, so the entire family is now getting up at 6 am, seven days a week (yep, even on the weekends). We have music that comes on throughout the entire house at exactly 6 am. Everyone then needs to report to the dining room by 6:15, dressed for the day. They might be sleep-walking to the dining room, but they need to be in the dining room!
Waking up early for the 5K Color Run.
We have a different “leader of the day” every day. It starts with Jim, then me, then Brett, Colter, Emery, Fletcher, Greyden, Hewitt, Indigo, then Jade. And then it starts all over again.
The leader of the day starts by leading 3 minutes of exercises. This can vary dramatically depending on who is leading. Several of us do mostly yoga stretches for 3 minutes, but some of us like to get pushups, planks, burpees, and all sorts of exercises into those 3 minutes. After that, we sit down at the kitchen table and the leader of the day shares a Bible verse. They talk a little bit about why they chose that verse and what it means. They can also ask questions about it if they’re confused.
Then we go over the weather for the day (because when you’re on a farm, the weather has a big impact) and what’s on the calendar. We get all of that situated and assign any special tasks or find out if anybody needs help getting their work done that day.
We finish by 7am and then we all head off to our different areas. The barn crew heads out to milk. Jim, Brett, and I head downstairs to do yoga (this is currently Brett’s favorite yoga DVD*). Indigo and Jade get to work on whatever they’ve been assigned – sometimes it’s cleaning up, making bread, or helping the barn crew.
I’m really excited about how well this new routine has been working out for the family. It really gives us all a chance to start the day with what is important to us – exercise, God, and each other. Usually we try to put God first, but found the exercise first helped most of us wake up enough to pay attention to God!
How do you start your day?
I love that your family starts every morning with A Bible Passage and discussion. Praise God for fellow believers like you!! GOD Bless you and your business.
Thanks, Tammie! God is good and deserving of Praise. 🙂 PJ
Hi PJ! Thank you for ALL if your posts. You continue to make a positive impact on my family’s life. I’ve tried to figure this out on my own, for several days now, but can’t seem to figure out if this is also the time that you eat breakfast? Do you all have the same thing, or does everyone get their own as they please? Thanks!!
Hey Evie – I’m so glad that they help! We do eat later. The boys milk the goats first and then come back for a big farm breakfast. It really depends on the day. Sometimes I’ll make a big farm breakfast for everyone. Sometimes people will make individual breakfasts. It depends on the mood of the day I suppose (there is no rhyme or reason to it). The boys usually do go a longer time before breakfast. Every once in a while they’ll take an apple or banana with them, but they usually get the farm chores done so they can then rest and enjoy breakfast. When they eat first, they have to rush through it because the goats are waiting!! PJ
Your morning routine is great. I grew up poor in the Appalachian mountains. I was the one in charge of the alarm clock. I would get up at 5 and wake my brother. His job was to stoke the two stoves and bring in the days’ firewood and lumpy coal. I started the coffee and went and milked the goats. I fed each a pint of sweet feed while milking then returned to the house to pour up the milk and record each goat’s production. I would then fix Mom’s coffee (two sugars and cream) and take it to her and wake her up. Then brother would join me in hauling water (for the house and the animals) out of the spring (sometimes had to bust the ice to get to the water), and a flake of hay for each goat. We would put the water behind the stoves so it would be warmed. Gather the eggs and feed the chickens and rabbits. Then we would dress in school clothes and get our butts out the door to catch the schoolbus. If we missed the bus – we would be punished by a full day of work – so missing the bus was RARE. When we got home, we had a limited amount of daylight to get our homework done, do all the chores again, do the dishes after dinner, and wash and curl my hair. Mom had a few good rules: the animals always ate before we did, also, Mom insisted that our shoes were shined in the evenings – because even though we were poor, we weren’t lazy. Mom got up multiple times throughout the night to keep the fires stoked so we would be warm. That was the deal – we make sure she had enough wood and lumpy coal to keep the fires stoked, and she would tend the fires at night. That was our winter schedule. The summer schedule had longer days and gardening, preserving/canning, cutting firewood, construction, etc. Thought maybe you could share this with the family – maybe let them know how it USED to be done. We were so proud when we got indoor running water. Then I got a wringer washer. Then – wait for it… we got a hot-water heater! LOL