Spoken school morning reminders
School mornings run on a clock. This recipe has the kitchen speaker call out two reminders at fixed times on school days: one to brush teeth and one to put on shoes. If music is playing, it gets interrupted for the announcement and then picks back up.
Best for: A family with a fixed school departure time and a speaker in the room where everyone gathers in the morning.
Not for: Mornings with no fixed schedule, or a house where nobody wants a speaker talking at them.
Why this exists
The same two reminders get shouted across the house every school morning. A speaker is calmer than a parent on the fifth reminder, and it never forgets the time.
Logic
- Trigger: Two fixed times in the morning.
- Conditions: Monday through Friday, and the home mode is Home.
- Action: A spoken announcement at a fixed volume that interrupts and then resumes music.
- Wait / timeout: None.
- Stop condition: Each reminder plays once.
- Manual override: Switch the home to a different mode, or pause the rule, on days without school.
What I used
Speak the reminder
A Sonos speaker in the kitchen. On Hubitat, I use the community Sonos Advanced Controller, which adds the high-priority text-to-speech command.
See recommended gear for the job-first checklist. Product recommendations and any future affiliate relationships are explained in the disclosure.
Setup notes
- Pick the times by working backward from when you need to leave. Our two reminders are five minutes apart.
- Set a fixed volume for the announcement. Morning music volume varies, and the reminder should be heard every time.
- Use the Home mode as a condition. If the house is still in Night mode or everyone is away, the reminder stays quiet.
- Keep the wording short. A little playful is fine.
- Test on a weekend morning first, while music is playing, to confirm the music comes back.
How I do it in webCoRE
This is a real piston I run on Hubitat.
- The piston has two timers: one at 8:52 AM and one at 8:57 AM, both limited to Monday through Friday.
- Each timer first checks that the location mode is Home.
- At 8:52 it sends
playHighPriorityTTSto the kitchen Sonos with the text “It’s time to brush them teeth” and volume 30. - At 8:57 it does the same with “It’s time to put on your shoes”.
The high-priority command is what makes this work well. It cuts in over the music so nobody misses it, and the driver resumes the music right after.
Advanced features
Skip school holidays
Add a virtual “school day” switch that a parent can turn off for holidays and breaks, and check it as a condition.
Confirm teeth were actually brushed
Pair the spoken reminder with the teeth-brushing reminder that watches the toothbrush charger.
Failure modes
- No announcement: Check that the mode is Home at that time. A late morning routine can still have the house in Night mode.
- Music does not resume: Make sure the command used is the interrupt-and-resume one, not a plain speak command.
- Too loud or too quiet: Adjust the announcement volume, not the music volume.
- It ran on a holiday: Add the school day switch above.
FAQ
Why a spoken reminder instead of a phone notification?
Kids in the kitchen do not see a parent’s phone. A voice from the speaker reaches everyone in the room at once.
What happens to the music that was playing?
The announcement uses a high-priority text-to-speech command that briefly interrupts the speaker, then resumes what was playing.
Does this run on holidays and vacations?
It only runs on weekdays when the home is in Home mode. On school holidays, you either accept it or add a virtual switch that turns it off.