Before and after school routine

[MerryMarigold]

I know this is slightly 'off' primary school topic, but thought this would be a good place to catch parents of the right age group. My ds1 is 6 and in Y1. He has a fair bit of catching up to do on reading and writing. He's very tired after school/ evening, so not sure that is a good time to do stuff (although that is when we do it now). His homework (once a week) generally takes a few 'sessions' and I'm really struggling to fit in anything more. He goes to a laidback school and I am a laidback parent but I think the teacher is pushing for him to do a bit more at home on a daily basis - reading books, high frequency words, spelling, maths etc. (Not all on one day!!)

I'm really bad at routine so I'm coming to the lovely MN people to ask: WDYD? What's your morning and post-school routine and when do you fit 'work' in? I also have younger twins (aged 3). I'd love to know rough times for eating/ cooking/ getting dressed in morning etc. as to how you manage to fit it all in, because I am rubbish at this. TIA

Interesting ...
Here's our routine (DD in Y1, DS in Y3 - different schools)
7am - everyone up, have breakfast
7.20am - DC and DH get dressed, I do bits of housework, help DC as needed
8.00am - DC are meant to be ready and check they have everything they need (are allowed to watch TV once ready)
8.10am - DS and DH leave
8.15am - I get ready (DD is normally drawing or watching TV, or chatting to me)
8.40am - DD and I leave

After school DD and I get home at 3.15, DS gets home at 3.40 (except Mon when we pick him up and all get back together and Thurs when he has an after school club and we pick him up at 4.30)

DC have a snack when they get in and then normally have free time to do what they want - I find they generally need time to wind down.

On days when 1 or other DC has a after school club starting after 6 we eat at 5 and do homework (spelling, tables, other hwk, music practice) straight after. Other days we eat at 6 (when DH gets home) and again do homework straight after.

Try to get DD (who has less hwk) in bath by 6.40, DS by 7.00. For both DC we do reading (them to us and us to them) after bath. On days when they are tired (or have late after school club) we just read to them.

DD is in bed by 7.30, DS by 8.00. They are allowed to read in bed if they want to -we don't enforce a lights out, but they normally only read for 10 minutes or so.

Very interesting post which i will watch with interest. I am rubbish at it too, but currently my dc, age 4 and 7 (year R and year 2), get up at about 7.30, get dressed, wash, teeth etc. by 8 then breakfast and out house at 8.30. I have tried doing reading books in the morning but feel it is too rushed.
After school, we walk home so home by 4ish, then they want to relax (TV, etc), until tea. I use that time to make sandwiches for the next day and sort out tea. Tea at about 5ish, then homework. For ds (7), that is spellings and what ever else he's got and dd (4) decides she wants to practice writing, numbers etc. to be like ds. This may take about 20-30 mins. Then play, bath, bed. I listen to them read in bed (separately), and read to them.

I can't do reading with dc3 as she's so tired (now yr 1) so we always do it in the morning, whilst the older ones do piano practice.

As I'm a morning person myself, I encourage the dc to do as much as possible then.

Older dc do their spellings/ times tables sometime in the evening as it doesn't take much supervision.

More project-based homework is always done at the weekend so dh can help.

I tell myself that all the dc are getting lots of vocab expansion as they listen to audio books every night :) Library and charity shops are great sources of cd's and tapes (and I went and got a tape recorder from Argos to make the most of the millions of tapes that are available)

I do think the key is to make as much of it 'daily' as possible. You have to brush your teeth daily, and you have to do your spellings/ music practice daily too. I also went through a phase of having dc2 do daily handwriting practice in the morning - less than 3 minutes each day for a full half term, and it made a huge difference.

good luck finding your own routines.

Me up 6.30am DD (Yr2), up just before 7am
Dress etc., downstairs for breakfast

7.30am Finish breakfast, teeth, hair done, shoes on.

7.40am In car for drive to school, arrive school 8.20 (school starts 8.40)
(in car may practice spellings, tables etc, or just sing to radio!)

3.30pm Collect from school (may do reading to me on way home!)

4.00pm Arrive Home, 10/15 minutes snack/drink, Chat or TV

4.15pm (sometimes a bit later), Homework - everynight. Mon -Weds
Reading, Spellings home on Monday and Handwriting homework.
Tues. Maths, Weds. Grammar Thurs. Spellings for Fri.

5.00pm Play, TV, make cakes - whatever. I cook tea in between if poss.

5.45pm Tea, then bit of reading and play

7.00pm In bath, story (me or daddy), sometimes dd wants to read for a bit

8.00pm Lights have to be out, often is asleep straight after story

One night a week we go Riding, homework fitted in as soon as home from school. Friday night, swimming straight after school.

Looking at it like this, I think phew!!!!! Although the times do vary a bit, it is more or less our week!, I am lucky though that I only work two or three days a week, so can prepare meals in advance..

I sometimes think i should be doing more 'educational' activities with dc after school, but when i asked them last night to do painting, hama beads make pictures they refused and watched telly instead! I do feel that maybe they spend a bit too much time doing that or ds loves going on computer for Bin Weavils (or whatever latest obsession is), but i am limiting that to every other night now.

Thanks so much for all this. Food for thought! I can't believe you fit so much in KTk9. I have stopped TV in the mornings now, but we seem to watch tons after lunch (ie. post Nursery for twins) and after school, so cutting some of that would help with the homework. I think twins will just have to draw/ playdough while ds 'works'. Handwriting every day is a great idea. I think I do need to cook a bit more in advance too...like now instead of MNing!

brightblue, what on earth are Bin Weavils. Sounds disgusting!!! Ds1 only just discovered Friv, so that's his obsession!

I am sure you will soon find out! It is along the lines of moshi monsters and club penguin. It is not too bad because they get to write their own little books (take photos and type in writing about them), so i try to convince myself it is educational!

What will work for you will depend on what time you get up and and the children's bedtime.

Mornings here are like at brightblueday's 7.45 wash/teeth 8:00 breakfast 8:15 dressed downstairs out house at 8.30. Too rushed in the morning to do much reading etc - no TV unless totally ready.

I agree with BleughCowWonders project based homework is done at the weekend. DS (R) has online homework set every other Friday and we do this at the weekend as well.

Our weekday routine is the same.

3:30 get home, grab a snack and then do reading books, high frequency words, spelling, maths for 30 mins.
4:00 TV cbeebbies games for 1 hr whilst I make dinner and sometimes ds helps.
5:30 Dinner
6:00 Bath most days (but not all); pjs.
7:15 DH comes home and takes DS upstairs
8:00 DH reads DS a story, bed.

I find that if we don't sit down without distraction immediately it won't get done. He was behind last year and is now fine. I sometimes make extra dinner and give this the to DS the next day to save time. Freezer is full of chili, curry, spaghetti sauce etc - I make something each weekend.

Hi I have 3DC in Yrs 3,2 and R.
I too am a big believer in using mornings! Up at 7 straight into uniform. DS1 does his piano while DS2 does spellings then they swap over. Meanwhile I am preparing breakfast and chatting to DD. we will do her key words using the fridge magnets.
Then breakfast. After DS1 does cello. Then free time with teeth etc somewhere in that. We leave at 8.30.
On evenings with no after school stuff they all read to me as soon as we get home and they have had a snack.
I usually prepare tea during the day so it just needs reheating and pasta or something doing so quite quick. Usually help DS1 with his timetables during tea or breakfast.
Then they have free time to play. Sometimes if they are up for it we will do the topic homework they have but mostly we do that at weekends.
Bath at 6 then down in PJs. Bed at 6.45 for DD and 7 for DSs. I read to them at bed time.
We have no TV in the morning and TV only after bath in the evenings and sometimes not at all on say swimming or Beaver Scout nights.
I agree that little and often is better than long sessions.

I don't have TV on in the mornings atall, dd spends too much time watching it and therefore not eating breakfast, so ends up only eating half of it. I do let her watch when she first comes in from school and if I am not eating with her (I wait until dp gets in later), she can have the TV on when eating her tea, so I get on and make ours.

Tonight is a mad night, as we have to fit in homework, then change for riding, we get Fish and Chips on the way home, but still end up in bed late! I start to panic if she is later than 8.00, but at least I am not cooking!

I would be interested to know if anyone waits until after the children have eaten and gone to bed before eating too.

Hi KT9 I always eat with my kids and DH heats his up later (if he is in at all)... The only exception is Friday when we either have friends round or go to a friends so only the DC are fed. DH and i usually have takeaway together after kids in bed. We all eat together at weekends.

I think I waste mornings. The kids usually get up fairly early, anytime from 6, but they are not allowed to wake us till 7. Dh gets up with them/ gives them brekkie and I lie-in have some quiet time to myself as I am the one who gets up in the night if anyone needs me/ plays musical beds to get away from dh's snoring! I usually get up around 7.30, but then it's an endless round of dressing the kids, making packed lunch, having my breakfast. Putting shoes/ coats on takes 15 mins in our house!!! We don't need to leave till 8.45am so there's actually plenty of time in the morning to do some work, handwriting is a good one. But I need to get up earlier and there needs to be a specific time for it. Ds1 does get to play A LOT. If he gets up early he plays lego, plays before school, plays/ watches TV after school.

I like the idea of reading straight after school. We do tend to hang around the playground and walk home slowly, get back about 4pm, so he has had a break. A drink and then some reading I think. I think him reading before bed won't work as he is usually absolutely shattered by 7.15 when he gets into bed, then it's story time with me or dh (he can only just manage to listen to a book!).

I also think eating earlier is a great idea and working afterwards as we eat around 6/6.15 then they all get a burst of energy! Earlier would be better, but then I need to cook earlier too. Ds1's going to hate it, so will need to introduce slowly, but will start TODAY with book reading after school.

Thanks so much. Heaven help me when I have 3 of them at school o00 all needing to work on different things!

This has been really useful! DD is in reception, all we're doing at home currently is reading, but the last week or so she claims to be too tired at bedtime to do much/any. Coincidentally this has coincided with her being moved up a book band or two and now having a non-fiction book and a chapter book from school...

We've been chatting about moving her reading earlier, which I was planning on starting today, this has given me a kick up the bum to get that sorted. We don't use the mornings at all at the moment, so that's another idea - I hate the mornings though, and both kids normally sleep till 7.30 so we don't have loads of time then.

7.30/7.45 wake up, downstairs for breakfast
8.10 I finish eating & sort out or double check book bag, PE kit, water bottle, anything that needs doing for school
8.20 finish breakfast, get uniform on
8.30 leave for school

3.45 get home, chill out time - sometimes read her new book if it's been swapped
4.15 ish start tea
5.00 everyone sits down for tea (DH works from home so we can eat together)
5.30 finish tea, in living room to play - DD might do some drawing, colouring, craft type stuff, play on cbeebies website - think this might be a good time to get her practising writing?
6.15 upstairs,get ready for bed
6.40 into bed for reading - we read to DD, she reads to us
7.00 tucked up to look at books by herself
7.30 lights out

Reading that back, my kids do like their sleep don't they?! :o

I make lunches; lay clothes; put everything we need for the morning out for DS DS and I the night before. I also wash and straighten my hair the night before cos we just don't have time in the mornings. We get up much later than you though.

Having three at school is certainly interesting from a logistical perspective!, that's why from quite early I tried to get DS1 and now DS2 to work independently on things like spelling and music practice. They now do it routinely without any badgering partly as they know there is no free time to play rugby far to near my ornaments play until it is all done... I'm mean me....

I have a dd yr 1 and find it extremely hard to fit reading and spelling in as she does swimming on a mon, dancing on a wed and rainbows on fridays and the days she doesnt do an activity we go to the park. I try to do reading before school as hubby also at home as works lates so there is never the mad panic as I don't have to get myself and 3 yr old ready till 9am!!

I sometimes feel that they are school for 6 hrs a day and it is nice for them to do something that isnt academic after school and I never push her to do reading or spelling if she is tired. I would rather her do an extra cirriculur activity than be pressured into school work at home.

I agree peppajay. And has been my philosophy so far. But sadly, ds1 is lagging behind despite being a bright kid. There's some things he finds quite hard, like learning the sounds of letters put together sh, ch, igh etc. and it seems to take him longer than some other kids. There's a boy in his class who I wouldn't say is as 'intelligent' as ds1 but his mum is a teacher (p/t) and spent his reception year getting him well ahead, just doing a few mins per day. Ds1 just did reading with his Grandad. He is now busy playing for an hour, so I don't feel too sorry for him. They're at school 6 hours per day, but 1.5 hours of that is playtime. So he has roughly 10 hours of play per day. (I am not hot on 'extra curricular' at a young age).

Well I am obviously rubbish compared to you lot! I have DS in YR and DD in Y2. Their school is quite progressive so has minimal homework. DS gets nothing and DD gets weekly spellings and two weekly projects. We read together every night but that is all we do. DD is still doing very well and finished Y1 at 2b for everything so I am not worried. Do they really need to be doing so much outside of school

So our day is:-

7.30 Get up and have breakfast
8.00 Get dressed and washed
8.30 Leave for school
3.00 Pick up
On Mondays we go home and chill out, Tuesdays we go swimming straight from school with MIL, Wednesdays we go home and have dinner then go to swimming lessons, Thursdays we chill out, Fridays we go home and have dinner then DD goes to Brownies. So the kids just spend lots of time playing and relaxing. My neighbour said to me yesterday that she has tutors for her 2 (from YR) so they can have an hour of one on one each week (she works a lot). Am I not doing enough here? We read a lot but I didn't realise we should be practising other stuff after school!

I also tend to do homework with the dcs in the morning.
I wake up at 5:30am. THe dcs wake up at 6am and then get washed and dressed. About 6:30am the children complete homework, spellings etc ; they do this for about 45 mins. At 7:15am the children eat their breakfast and relax.
I have a strictly no tv rule in the morning.
The children go to te after school club . When they get home, they have a bath and are in bed by 7:30pm. I limit the amount of tv watched during the week. However, they are allowed to watch tv at the weekend (Friday night to Sunday).
They have activities a couple of times a week.

Bit off topic I know but I don't have to limit tv in my house as the kids will not watch it. The most they have ever managed is about 7 mins of something special I put CBeebies on often to see if anything catches their fancy but no. We have a few DVD's nursery rhymes, bob the builder and mr men but they not interested. I would love to be able to use TV to give me 10 mins peace but they not interested altho my 5 yr old watched 5 mins of Emmerdale with her grandad once and was mesmerized as she was watching real people on tv rather than clowns, dancing numbers or talking pigs so have taped come outside from cbeebies today as is a"real life program".

5.30am??!! Isn't that illegal?

Angryfeet. Sounds like your dc are fine as they are! My ds1 will not be achieving those levels. He is quite behind. Reading just about 'average' for his class (80% English as a second lang) and writing is further (his fine motor skills need some work). Hence the extra help. Believe me, I would rather not!! If what you're doing works, then I wouldn't mess with it...

I was thinking the same about 5.30am. I get so grouchy if one of the kids wakes me up at that time even ONCE!!! What time do your kids get to bed, forehead?

5am start. Cbeebies/reading/cuddles. If I am lucky back to sleep for half hour
6am coffee on for me
6:05am breakfast for the kids, me if I want anything - this can take 45 mins for some reason
6:45am or so (more coffee for me!) homework with DD if there is any, DS aged 2 will colour in
7:00am and DH will surface (sometimes earlier)
7:30am dressed and ready for school/childminders, back packed, lunch prepared (sometimes done the night before, not often)
7:45am watch tv or play while I get ready (DH will be ready by now)
8:15am leave for work/school

3:45pm home with one parent or the other
4:00pm snack if me, if DH, who knows!
5pm-6pm dinner (earlier if me, later if DH)
6:45pm ready for bed, stories. School book by DD if she is not too tired. If she is, will do it in the morning when not doing homework).

This is the idea. More often than not, like the OP i run out of time and we just do 5 mins homework when we can fit it in. Sometimes the kids sleep longer, sometimes I am just too tired and sit there like a zombie.

But, there are lots of times to practice spellings - verbally in the car, reading signs in supermarkets or on billboards, road signs, leaflets. Does not have to be Biff, Chip etc. Same with maths - we do this as we go along, if DD asks us a question about numbers we use it as an opp to help her learn in every day life, not just as 'homework'. Means that on the weeks that we just have other priorities I don't really stress about the homework. So the teacher might be cross, but it is not about that is it? it is about ensuring your child learns what they need to learn to succeed in life.