Awake by 5:30 AM. At school by 7:30 AM. Home by 5 PM.

Paige and Camy Barnhart, freshmen, follow this stringent schedule every school day, along with their mother and science teacher Dawna Barnhart.

“I wish I could sleep longer,” Paige said. “We spend a majority of our day at school because we come here early and stay after school for a bit too since [my mom] has to help her students.”

Despite the drawbacks associated with a lack of sleep, the siblings say that having their mother teach at their school has, overall, been a very good experience.

“Our experience has been great having [our mother] here with us,” Camy said. “There’s a bigger support system here. You always have people to count on if you need somebody.”

Dawna Barnhart, their mother, teaches Honors Biology and AP Biology at MHS. She began teaching at MHS in 2004, when Paige and Camy were only two years old.

“It’s nice that I can check in with my kids throughout the day,” Barnhart said. “And, it’s really cool that all three of my kids will check in with me.”

In addition to Paige and Camy, Barnhart also has accompanied her son, Adam Barnhart, senior, for all four years of his high school experience at MHS.

However, the move from Eureka for the sisters has been somewhat difficult, Barnhart said.

“They live in Eureka, so we had a tough decision with the girls: whether they wanted to stay in Eureka with their friends or if they wanted to come here,” Barnhart said. “But, it’s been a successful year so far. They are both very happy they came here even though they had to start all over.”

And, although the experience for the mother-daughter trio has been quite smooth, there have been a few challenges that Dawna Barnhart has faced, she said.

“I try to make them be the one to talk to their teachers and stand up for themselves and be their self-advocates but when I have the opportunity to step in, it’s hard to resist,” Barnhart said.

“Teachers talk so usually, my mom knows my grade before I know my grade,” Paige added.