DD school will start at 830am. I thought we would be able to drop her off and then she would need to go to after-school care but now I think we are going to have to do before AND after school care. That means she is going to be in daycare/school longer than when she was in just daycare.
How do you get homework done, dinner together and bath,etc with less time to do it all?
Re: How does anyone do it?
I have a PreK4 and 2nd grade. I am a educator at a different school than my kids go to do. It's high ESL but I have debated moving my son for K. Anywho, I have to be at work at 7:50; my kids have to be at school by 8. MH doesn't work til 9. Therefore, MH takes the kids. My kids get out of school before DH & I get off, so they go to afterschool programs. I do pick up.
Homework~ DS1 (PreK) only gets it once per month. Its done on a weekend.
DD gets a 5 section homework paper turned in weekly. We do 2 sections on Sunday, one MTW. Thursday we have cheerleading. Some afterschool programs will do homework with the child but I prefer to do hers together.
We usually have quicker meals during the week. DD bathes on her own. I do have to bath the boys but it hasn't been a huge issue. Then, I also get all the school holidays off.
It works for us. Evenings are busy but not too much.
I understand your concern. After considering our options, I went to work PT once my twins started K. It allowed me to get them to school and pick them up.
A friend's DD goes to the Boys and Girls Club before school and her mom is there to meet the bus after school.
For the first 3 years (K-2) our routine was like this:
Drop off DD at the Y at 7:45 (school started at 8:10), I got to work at 8:15 and worked 8:15-4:45
5:15 pick up DD and head home
5:30 get home, I started dinner while DD sat at the table with her homework
5:30-6 homework/reading while dinner cooked (I'd observe/help while dinner was cooking)
6-6:30 eating dinner
6:30-7 "free time"
7-7:45 bath, then play time (we'd play a board game or do something together, depending on how long she stayed in the bath)
7:45-8pm brush teeth, bedtime at 8
This year life is easier because I finally allow her to do homework at after school. I didn't in the past because they never checked it or helped her, and as a result we would have to come home and re-do it, causing a lot of frustration on our end. she's responsible for her homework this year, and if it's wrong, she turns it in that way.
Oh boy. That's really the $64k question of motherhood, isn't it?!
Here's a sample from my home life:
3:15pm -- get home to mom or babysitter. Report in to mom, snack, chill, mom looks over backpack stuff. (I am a secondary school teacher, so my hours are close to theirs.)
4:00pm-ish -- start homework. DS usually has about 30 mins. DD is in middle school and can have much more hw each night but is more independent. I work on grading and paperwork at this time so we're all doing "homework" together. DH gets home and does his workout. I also "bump" at this time if I don't have too much hw. I strive to make hw mostly independent work with supervision, but I don't do it with them.
5:00pm-ish -- Mom starts cooking dinner. DH still exercising, then doing a few chores. DS helps cook, helps with chores or plays. He can play on computer for 30 minutes during this time if hw is finished and mom and dad don't need him.
6:00-ish -- Mom finishes up cooking dinner and we eat, kids help tidy up and DD finishes hw if she's still working. Kids take showers after dinner so hair sort of dries before bed.
7:00pm-ish -- Family reading time. Mom reads out loud to whole family or Dad/DD reads and mom folds laundry.
8:00pm -- get ready for bed. Kids can read in bed for a while.
So that's how I do it. I find we actually have plenty of time for homework and together time, but here are the things that are sacrificed:
--we don't watch TV at all.
--our house gets pretty messy and we don't worry about it too much.
--kids have one activity per week on a weeknight (happens to both be on Wednesdays right now, so that night's schedule is completely different.) As DD gets older, she may add activities.
--not many weekday playdates for kiddos.
--DH and I don't have high paying jobs that require us to work long hours outside the home. In fact, I only work 80% of f/t as a teacher. We live pretty frugally, but we're comfortable with that choice. This is sort of the ultimate sacrifice that this all hangs on. I could never have this much time at home if I worked full time as a lawyer or something like that!
OMG -- so TRUE!!
In lots of after school programs the staff are available to help out with homework. If not, then check to see if there are any other kids from your LO's class in the after school program. Maybe they could work together on homework...
As for the rest of it, you just have to figure out what works for you, and it may take a few trial runs with various ways of doing things.