Not to know how to manage my evenings with DD?

You are doing brilliantly. My only advice is try and make your child like soup and omelettes, if I had somehow got my kids to like them those primary school years would have been a lot easier!

Reading is about 3 times a week in reception and it's for about 5 - 10 mins so not much at all. Lots of reading us understanding what's going on in the pictures and recognising letters and words. You could pick some days not to do housework midweek and also factor in reading at the weekend. Other homework can be very light touch and completed over the weekend.

This term will be hardest as she will be very tired. But also will likely not have a reading book for a little bit.

Do what you can but don’t sweat it. If you read every Friday, Saturday and Sunday that would be more than a lot of parents!

One of mine was a keen reader so she read to me at bedtime. That didn’t work with the other one so would slot five minutes in at some point or on Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday she reads to you in the car and skips any words she can’t manage.

It sounds like you’re doing a great job!

Relax about the food . I found quick teas the best - eggs, etc you can have propper food at the weekend. As long as they have had a hot lunch and a substantial tea at afterschool club.

Hold off on after school activities as long as possible we leave the house at 7.15am but Tuesday ( brass band practice ) Wednesday ( cubs) and Thursday ( jujitsu) we only get in the house at 7.30pm and it is straight to bed. We have picnic teas in the car these days.

As for reading, I found doing reading at bed time dragged it out. So now we have a book in the car, and he reads a chapter here there and everywhere.

Homework he gets a lot, but that is a sit down for an hour on Sunday morning job.

Housework. Last thing before bed load and set washing machine to come on overnight. First thing in the morning, stick in the dryer.
Sort the clothes on the weekend. Get the child to help.

Relax about all other housework. I wipe the bathroom while he has a shower but everything else is neglected.

Your doing fine.

It is tough! Try not to feel guilty. Dd is fine. Food is fine and don’t worry about homework at that age. Read at bedtime.

Food is fine BTW. At best my DS got pesto pasta and carrot sticks at home. He was eating tons of food at school!

How much laundry are you doing? Buy enough clothes to do washing on the weekend so 5 x everything for school etc if you can afford it. Do only the basic cleans each day, eg wipe the surfaces. Invest in a robot vacuum again if you can afford. Minimise all qeekly activity to build back time. I feel for you as my DS had a similar routine at that age.

I think little and often with reading, so 15 mins every night is fine if you can add that to her routine.

I would keep her TV time - an hour is fine after her busy day and you need to be able to get things done so you have a little time to relax (hopefully) after her bedtime.

Food sounds fine!

It's a really busy routine for you. You are doing really well!

Your routine sounds perfect!💖

She can do her reading in bed at night with you.

By the time she has more homework she can stay up later to do it.

Agree that you don't need to worry / feel guilty about the food, what you're doing sounds fine.
Cook and eat together at the weekend.

I can't give any helpful advice about routines (was not my area of expertise when DD was young) but try to have some time for yourself at some point during the week.
Being a lone parent can be intense and as they get older (and stay up later) there is less and less chance for you to do things for yourself- I don't mean going out necessarily but things like reading / painting your nails / watching a film... Non- child related things that you enjoy.

As she gets older, she’ll be going to bed later. When my kid was your daughter’s age no too long ago also went to bed at a similar time. Now (at 5.5yrs old) that’s moved to about 8-8 and a bit with 6:30 wake up. We read in bed and I do all my wind down after he’s in bed but that’s what works around here.

I think your routine now is fine. At most she'll get 5-10 mins of reading each night. That can easily be done as part of the bedtime routine (get her to read to you before you read her a story in bed), or even get up a little earlier and do it before breakfast. Any longer 'homework' will be set in enough time for you to do it at the weekend (in reception, such homework for mine was simple things like walk in the park and collect 5 different leaves or help make a cake etc.).

We read in the morning here, too tired after school. Or if there's homework I give snack then we do it (10/20 mins tops). Or cut the TV by 15 minutes or try to tighten up bedtime. As she gets older bedtime can move a little later.

Definitely don't feel guilty about not cooking - sounds like your DD has a good balanced diet and that's the main thing. Doesn't matter who made it!

In terms of her reading/homework, is there any possibility her after-school can help out with this?

My DS has been in two different after school clubs - one didn't help with homework and the other did. Honestly it was a godsend when he had the help - we were rarely home before 6.30 and had dinner, bath, bedtime to do before 8 so I just didn't have the time.

Don't let anyone make you feel bad about it either OP - homework is a load of nonsense if you ask me. School is for learning, home is for relaxing and playing and having fun with the people you love.

I'm a teacher also. I have one in year 3 and one just started reception. My routine is very similar to yours. They have a hot dinner and a light tea at after school club. I don't cook them tea and don't feel bad as they have had a hot dinner. They have something light if they're still hungry like crackers, tea cakes, toast, sandwiches etc... evenings are generally light tea, bath, chill and bed. Homework is usually done at the weekend. Reading and spellings tend not to take very long. Ours are both in bed by 7.

I am a single mother to a 6 year old and our routine is pretty much the same as yours. I don't cook for my daughter on school nights as she has a cooked meal at school so she usually has a picky plate for tea. I often don't have a cooked meal either and join her for a sandwich. We don't do any homework except for her reading book which takes about 5 minutes once a week. I have just banned TV as it wasn't benefitting her and was causing arguments before bed. After a few days of whining she has accepted it and has embraced playing, drawing etc while I do housework and chat to her. Once she is in bed I catch up on work and chill out before I go to bed about 9.45ish.

Do you really need to stay for two hours every day after school? I am a teacher too and I know there is always something you could do but maybe two nights a week you could leave after an hour and have more time at home?

Why is your bedtime routine taking an hour already?!! Just not quite sure what’s taking an hour? Mine don’t get a bath every night but even if they did it would be 6.45 bath, 7 into pjs, straight into bed and then 15 minutes of reading so a max of 45 minutes?!

We read at bedtime too. If there were 'bigger' things, we did them over the weekend. DS is Year One now and has spellings every week too. I expect we'll do those over breakfast.

Don’t worry about the food. As long as your feel she’s had a pretty balanced day and is not hungry she doesn’t need another cooked meal. Cooke at the weekends.
Homework at this age shouldn’t be more than 10-20 mins a day at the absolute most. A bit of phonics or reading and maybe 1 other small task is more than enough. I teach eyfs and wouldn’t she while more than that and wouldn’t be doing more than that at home with my own.
You are getting home late. I’m not sure if anything can be done about that. By 6 is unlikely she is going to be fit for anything apart from snacks, chilling and bed. At this stage, with your timings I wouldn’t be pushing the homework for a few weeks. She needs to settle in to school.
Could ‘homework’ be done in the morning? It might be more productive.

DS has had a similar routine since starting school. It is tough. He has always been an early riser, so we did reading/ homework in the morning. It was a much more pleasant time, snuggled up in my bed before the day started, than trying to do it when he was tired after a long day. Now he is a bit more independent, he completes homework at after school club.