for parents who work part time or sahms, do you structure your days with the kids?

[juicychops]

i work mon and tues and wed to sun although me and ds are busy the majority of the time doing various things, im thinking about structuring it a bit.

for example big day out on one day, a play barn for a few hours another day, cooking together on another day, set times for messy play, educational i.e. learning numbers/alphabet, swimming,

does anyone do this or do you just take each day as it comes?

I do each day as it comes and play to how we're feeling.

Although I know a load of stuff / places to go but we do it as and when the mood takes us.

never do 'learning' stuff though .. by which I mean everything we do we learn things .. I won't sit there and do numbers / alphabet .. but it'll come up with other stuff .. I don't believe in forced learning tbh

i tend to have a routine, less so mon & tues as those are the days DH is at home, although if he isn;t i have places to go.

wed , thurs, fri morning, i always have something to do, then DD has her big sleep , then tues & wed she goes to play group for 2 hours.

our days are slightly restricted by the school run

i like to have a plan, and DD is not the sort of child who is happy spending too much time indoors, with just me for company

loose flexible planning ..around nursery now, and the things that have to be done..
like going out to nice places, days away too
dont do structured learning
but lots of other ways and in play and fun..

always have slot in the day just to chill downtime whatever its important too..

part-time (8am - 1pm, 4 days a week). 2 dc's, 5yo and 20mo.
I don't structure, now that the 5yo is at school I get home, ds2 is asleep, I have an hour or so on my own (get changed, eat etc) then go and pick ds1 up. Usually go to the park on the way home or see friends after school. Swimming lessons 1 day a week.
Before ds1 started school I would get home and phone a friend to see if they were around that afternoon and we would meet up and the kids would play.
Try and do some things, baking or crafty stuff, but mostly just let them play, read to/with them etc.

I'm with Twig. I don't structure it in terms of doing numbers, alphabet, cooking. I hate all that stuff. I take mine out a lot and we spend a lot of time just hanging out with other people so they get a lot of social interaction.

Nursery is for messy play imo!

No need for doing alphabet and number 'work' at home - it's part of every day life so it's learned through 'life' rather than through 'lessons' in this house.

And I've got 3 boys aged 6, nearly 5 and 3 so I don't have to do too much entertaining - they entertain each other and learn from each other too. Bonus!

I rarely have a day with nothing planned (though it's lovely when it happens).

I have a few fixed things each week - swimming, toddlers etc - than then arrange to see friends for coffee/play dates some of the time.

What's left we go to the park, library, do painting, bake, do jigsaws, town trip etc etc

bit of everything each day really-i find you can't structure too much when they are very young because of weather / teething / illness etc.

I have a couple of set outings a week and the rest depends on the weather, money, DD's and my energy levels.

numbers and alphabet etc, just happens during life not in any structure way. Help mummy choose 3 apples...do you want 1 or 2 grapes..at 13 months she is far too young for structure lessons.

yes. we have a few fixed things each week so we work around that. i try to think of the day is 2 slots, morning and afternoon. and i try to have one of the slots as an active busy time, and the other slot as a quieter one. so busy slots are for things like nursery, swimming, socatots, soft play, family visiting etc. quiet slots are for things like library, shops, playing at home, etc. i don't think about things like number time or anything like that. she just picks that sort of thing up as we go along doing normal day to day things, like counting how many apples we buy etc. she is only 17 months old anyway!