WHEN is the best time to do homework (reception) if you have more than one child?

[EggsOvaryZee]

DS will be starting school in Sept.
I was wondering when the best time to do his homework with him would be seeing as will have a 3.5 (high maintence) DD with us at all times too...
After school?! Waiting until the evening when DH gets in - 6ish - seems too late and too unfair on DS who would like some time with dad.
How do you all schedule?

With ds's 1&2 I did it as soon as they got in from school but I now work full time so ds3 goes to after school club. By the time we get home and eat it's usually 7ish so we do it then. I wouldn't choose to do it so late but it is the only 'space' I have. Anything that can be left for the weekend gets left.

DS1 is in Reception, and the only 'homework' we get during the week is his reading book - we do this/practice his phonics chart after his bath, before bed. He loves it as it's time alone with me/his dad/both of us while DS2 is getting ready for bed/asleep.

We get a homework book each Friday, which we usually do on the Sunday.

Hopefully at that age they will be given the weeken to complete any work. We always leave DS1's homework until the weekend and do it when he is nice and relaxed and refreshed and also ideally when one of us can keep DS2 out of the way for a bit.

In reception, he wont (shouldnt) get homework, apart from reading

theres no reason why the 3.5 couldnt get in on that act too

He surely won't have much homework in Reception? Not daily anyway (other than reading). At 3.5, your other DC might like to do some pretend "homework" at the same as her brother? (I mean get her to look at a book or draw pictures/scribble or whatever is appropriate to her ability/interests).

I've found that the DC needed wind down time when they got in, so we do homework just before or just after tea (depending on what other activities they have on). Tend to do reading at bedtime, but if DC are too tired, do it in the morning instead.

My ds has daily homework in reception - a worksheet and a book. We usually do the worksheet pretty much as soon as he gets in - drink and a biscuit then sheet. It only takes a few minutes though. He usually reads his book to me over breakfast.

Hi EggsOvaryEzzy:

We opted for Divide & Conquer solution. We split bath times (DH washed younger DD, whilst I worked with elder) and I tried my best to be available to go in for 'reading morning' and maths games days as and when I could juggle with work. Didn't always and given they were pretty chaotic affairs where I could barely hear my DD speak, don't think it was a huge problem.

We only had a weekly reading book (which easily can be bedtime reading for both, even if you are also getting eldest to read) and maths games (like snakes and ladders, simple dice or card games, making shapes puzzles) which DD2 also joined in with.

One other solution is get your youngest to play CBEEBIES video games or colour whilst you're doing 'homework' with the other - just tell her that's her homework.

OK if he is and he will be learning phonics, I have a phonics cd that we listened to in the car and it was fab they both learned the letter sounds that way. or at least supported what DS1 was learning at school, and DS2 just learned his phonics at the same time as his big brother. -
DS1 has homework, so I give DS2 some playdoh or coloring at the table so we all sit together to do homework.

By the way, DS2 is much better at reading as he had the example of his big brother and he could read before he started reception!

I do find this difficult. My DS (2.5) spends the time hitting me on the head when I try to read with DD (5). It's as if he knows this is her special reading homework as opposed to the general reading we do together. TV doesn't work because then my daughter ends up with one eye on Tree Fu Tom while she's supposed to be reading. I'm hoping it's something that will get better with time. Usually do it about 5.30 - 6 and try to distract DS with something for ten mins. Not easy.

DS2 in Reception just has reading and phonics. We either do it over a cuppa (milk for him!), straight from school, or after his bath. He is perkier straight from school.

DS2 is year 3. He generally does his set homework on weekend mornings, as he is fresher. We have tried evenings, but he does get tired quicker. So - reading every evening, he does his spellings at 6.30am in a Saturday and Sunday morning (his decision - I am still asleep), and maths and literacy after football on saturday and Sunday.

Oh, DS2 always sat with us when we did DS1's homework and did some colouring.

DS (yr2) always does his homework straight after tea.

DD (4 and in nursery school - due to start reception in sept) also has homework so she usually does it at the same time as her older brother and when/if she does not have any she draws/colours etc.

Reading books are done just before bed

Only one DC here but after school works best for us; DS is brighter and doesn't go to bed until 8pm so there is plenty of time. We do 20 - 30 mins each week night. DS (5) has 2 reading books a work and internet (Education City) every two weeks. School sends home ideas based on what they are working on in class.

Would your daughter colour or play Cbeebies games on the computer? If there are enough hours in the day you could spend 10 mins on your own with her before or after?

Don't put the TV on .

It is difficult when the younger one just won't let you work with the older one. I used to do reading with DS once his toddler sister was in bed (and actually started putting her to bed a bit earlier in order to do this before he got too tired), anything else waited until the weekend or rare evenings when DH was home and we could take one child each. Mornings were no good, not that DS wasn't up for it, but I'm not a morning person and we all have to up and ready and out of the house by 7:40 to get to the childminders.

This year with DS in yr 4 and DD in yr 1 it is at last resolving itself and we can all sit at the kitchen table together for 15 minutes at 6pm, DD then goes to watch telly for a few minutes and DS and I spend a further 10-15 minutes together. Having a regular slot has really reduced homework arguments and now he has accepted the new arrangement DS is really starting to concentrate and is producing much better quality homework, we always did it before but it was sometimes rushed and not his best efforts. As for DD she likes to join in and is doing lots of homework by choice as little is set by the school apart from reading books. She writes news, draws pictures and labels them and does pages of X + 2 = sums, all of which has really brought her on and increased her confidence, which was a little low.

Because my DS goes to afterschool club he is pretty tired when he gets home. If he is too tired to do reading in the evening he reads to me in the morning while im getting dressed. He likes the idea of me reading him a bedtime story and then him reading me a breakfast story! That way he is rested when he reads and less likely to get frustrated..:)