How the heck do you all manage?

[mummydoingamasters]

I have got to hold my hands up and say I am struggling with time management.

I work full time (term time only) but I pick my kids up from after school club between 4.45 and 5.15 usually.
We get home, I put dinner on, they have a shower while it's cooking, they come downstairs and eat, we read them it's bedtime.
My son is in Y1 and gets reading and spellings homework but WHEN THE HECK DO I DO IT!

I don't want to fail my boy (or my girl when it comes to her starting 'proper school' as opposed to nursery) but I just don't know when to do it.

I want to talk to the school after school club about if they facilitate support but I'm not sure if this is reasonable?

How do you all do it?

I think it would be unusual for an after school club to offer homework support. Maybe the older ones might choose to sit and do theirs independently but there wouldn’t be enough adults to help little ones and listen to them read 1:1. It’s basically just playing and childcare and maybe dinner until parents come.

school may offer a separate specific homework club though, ours does though only from y3 (which is when the homework ramps up, no daily spellings in y1/2).

If they're taking an hour to eat i would do their spellings then. But an hour to eat dinner is mad.

If it’s a hour to eat every night after school, is there something else they eat that they eat a bit quicker? I would just stick to favourites or toastie/soup/ fruit/ yogurt school nights for a while.

By chance, all the schools I've worked in have had ASC either in my classroom or in the room next door. I completely disagree the adults wouldn't have time to help and always found it baffling parents didn't take advantage of that time for kids to get homework done. Where I am now the adults sit and play board games one to one with the littlest children; they'd absolutely read with them too.

Find a different aftercare solution. Homework should be done during that time. My youngest is 6 and I hired an undergraduate student for aftercare for this reason. They also shove dinner in the oven so it’s ready when I get home.

Do you have a bath? Could you get some bath crayons and do spellings in the bath? Reading I'd incorporate into the bedtime routine just before bed.

Too bad after school club doesn't include homework supervision. This is the norm in French garderies.

Ideally homework are done the second you get home. Give a colouring album or activity album such as mazes to the little one and sit at the table with the oldest and go through the spelling and maths. Then send them up for shower if really needed, whilst you prepare dinner.

Why is it taking them an hour to eat? Are they eating in front of a screen?

I have 4 and it's so hard to get it all done. I use reading eggs app too!

Paper based homework on a Sunday afternoon.

Times tables and spellings ad hoc - around the table, in the car on the way to hobbies etc.

Reading - sometimes in the car while we wait for school to open, sometimes if we're early for hobbies, sometimes while I cook. This has got easier because he reads to himself more now too.

App based homework - DS does on his tablet before he has his actual tablet time.

Aim for 10mins reading time a night and anything else is a bonus.x

An hour to eat dinner?! Do they need a full cooked meal if they’ve had a hot lunch at school? Maybe a quicker to prepare snack would give you all a bit more time to spend on homework/reading.

An hour to eat dinner?? That might be a large part of your problem!

We normally get home around 5:30-5:45ish. Change into comfy clothes and then any homework is done immediately. No TV/toys/tablets until it's complete! Fortunately for the most part mine need no help so they just do the work and then it's sorted. Reading is done every night as others have said. They read to me and then I read to them.

They don't eat hot food at school, one is eligible but won't eat it so I still end up feeding him anyway. The other is 3 and they don't provide hot food for that age.

It's sometimes up to an hour, mood dependent, not always, but my finish time isn't strict and traffic is ballache sometimes.

I just wanted to check I'm not trying to do the impossible to be honest.

His old school only sent home reading and they were so lax checking his reading diary, I just stopped filling it in and we just read.
Now, we have 3 online things to do, reading and spelling practice for a weekly test.

I'm sure we'll crack it in time, it's just figuring out what works for us.

Hubby does the school drop off and I do pick up. We have spoken about doing out loud spelling in the car and then bedtime reading and apps at the weekends when we can both help.

Every other night, with showers?

We do dinner at 5.30, after that they play for a few mins, then we do 10/15 mins writing practise / spelling or the maths app thing their homework is on. Their reading books are read at bedtime.

The hour long meals….that’s the problem. Our meals last 10-15 mins. We watch two episodes of something short on the TV after writing/spelling/maths practice and they have milk, banana or peanut butter toast. Then up for bath, bed at around 6.46/7.

Missing point but do they shower alone while you cook dinner? How?!? Mine are the same age as yours!

I would cut down the showers to every other night.

Cook every other night but cook twice as much for second night. Put a different bung in the oven side to change it up a bit.

That way you should get an extra half an hour each night.

Also I'd be encouraging them to eat a little faster. 1 hour sounds too long.

Name changed. My ds4 has to have a bath every evening as he is filthy. Clean uniform every day too. Dd12 is not the same. She's always been very neat and tidy but likes to shower after school through personal choice. Always has done then puts on comfy pjs. Honestly I would push bedtime back as long as they are getting enough sleep overall. What time do they get up usually OP? Are they both falling asleep at 7? Your year one child might be able to stay up a bit later and do some homework for a short while whilst your younger one goes to bed. Would they be better doing some homework in the morning? I work at a primary school and our wrap around care doesn't have enough staff to help with homework individually unfortunately.

Spellings in the car on a morning on way to school. Reading in the car on the way home from school. This has worked for me so far. Will have to rething once my youngest starts having reading/spellings.