What happened to nap time??

It all started when Gwen was a baby. Nap time was a magical word. A glorious, wonderful time of day when no one was climbing on me or shoving toys in my face or eating the television remote. I had her and the little girl I was watching on a 9 & 2 nap schedule pretty quickly and adapted it as they got older and I started watching more kids.

Then came homeschooling. Nap time was no longer a time for me to eat my lunch, sit in a real adult sized chair, and read my book or have a conversation that didn't involve a high pitched "kindergarten teacher voice". Now it was a time of formal education. Writting and math and reading anyway. We did everything else in the morning as part of our circle/group activity/craft time with all the kids. I mourned the loss of nap time for months... I'll admit I was a real baby about it. You would be too if you lost your only break in a ten hour day. The only time when you could pee in peace or eat something without sharing with five kids.

Something worse happened when Gwen got to 1st grade though. She was suddenly too old for circle time and to be honest, the material was a little over the younger kids heads. The end result, after much trial and error, was that the majority of her schooling needed to be crammed into the 2 hour nap time. It doesn't seem like that should be the case. Children were schooled in one room schoolhouses and managed fine... but they didn't have four 1-4yr olds blaring sirens and crashing fire trucks into their feet.

Even though she is older now and should be able to do more independent work while I am busy with the little ones, it doesn't happen. It's my fault. Our curriculum this year involves a lot of reading aloud... for me. It's impossible for me to do my job AND sit and read to Gwen for a couple hours from various books unless the kids are old enough to listen and participate or do other work, or are sleeping.

 

Other then the occassional infant who clearly did not understand the word nap time (LOL) and demanded to be held/fed/changed/entertained our schedule has worked for us. BUT, for the past 2 weeks the little ones have been waking up early. Not 5 or 10 min early... 30 min to 1 hour early! I don't know what's happening, but I guess it's time to adapt again.

I'm just not sure how. 3 & 4 yr old boys have limited volume control (they're loud) so letting them play will most likely lead to disasterously waking up the 1 yr old and infant whose parents will not be happy about their cranky kids. Brainstorming:
Coloring usually lasts them about 3 min. so that won't help. They usually require adult direction when using math manipulatives and pattern blocks or counting cards, but that might last 10 minutes. Depending on what I have in the sensory bin at the time it may or may not be good for 10-20 min 1-2x a week. Their favorite puzzles are the ones with sound.

This is a tricky one... Thoughts? Suggestions?