My daughter is 8 in Oct, The start time 5 am and stay until about 9am when the bus comes to pick her up. The bus comes at the top of our entrance into the condos. You are more than welcome to use the guest room and rest once you are here. As long as you have an alarm set for 8am where she will need to be woken up, she can get herself ready she is very independent and will just need help with making breakfast and walking/driving to bus stop