My oldest is starting First Grade in the fall and I was wondering how you schedule your days so that your kids have time to get everything done. She has chores, devotions, packing lunch and I am sure she will have homework. She also has activities two nights a week. I would like to establish a schedule to cut down on rushing around and ensure that she as some good family time, too Any tips or tricks that have worked for you? Also, she had an 8 o'clock bedtime over the summer but it was 7:30 during the school year. What is a typical bedtime for a first grader? Thanks!
EDIT-- she catches the bus at 8 and usually gets up at 7 am on her own. Her chores are making her bed, picking up her bedroom floor and wiping down the bathroom sink. Devotional takes 5-10 mins. Thanks!
Assuming she gets home from school around 3:30 -
Quick snack at 3:30, homework from about 4:00 to 6:00, dinner at 6:00, chores/devotions/packing lunch after dinner.
I personally am uneasy about school-night chores. Only because I think homework is the most important "chore", and piling too much on top of it can make unnecessary stress.
Our kiddo's go to bed at 9 all year round. Well, they do tend to get away with staying up later during summer due to it still being light outside but generally 9pm is bedtime when the sun is down.
I think you have to understand that after dinner is a time where the whole family can get stuff done. If you eat dinner and it's bedtime then you lose hours of time to spend together. She can't do all the things you're planning for her if she is in bed asleep.
As she gets older you'll see that she has more and more to do, homework will take hours instead of minutes. I know our youth teachers often find that youth stop coming to church because they just have too much homework to do. Some parents even require their kids to get jobs as soon as they can to teach them money skills, then they wonder why their grades slip.....
I think you'll have to adjust bedtime so she can have more family time in the evenings. She's old enough to be up later. If she ever plays sports she'll have games and practices that don't get over with until 8 or 8:15 too. Most kids just don't go to bed that early.
My son will be a first grader, my daughter in third so we will use the same scheduled we used with her. Bedtime is 8pm. Morning alarms goes off at 7am...breakfast, brush teeth, get dressed and out the door for school at 7:55am. We do pretty simple breakfasts during school, ones we know they will eat. School is out at 2:55pm, usually home by 3:10pm. Snack then playtime, preferrably outside weather permitting, until about 5pm. At 5pm is when dinner prep starts and the kids sit at the table and do homework while dinner is being made. During dinner I check homework, they make corrections if needed, we discuss days, check folders and behavior charts. After dinner is done and all homework is done and checked, they get their backpacks packed up for the next day and back in place. Then what time is left is free time until bathtime at 7:15 or 7:30pm. After bath is reading time then lights out at 8pm (my daughter's lights out at 8:30pm).
One thing I do is on Sunday I get their outfits for the week ready and hang them in the downstairs closet so there isn't any time required during the week to pick out clothes (unless there is a change in the weather). They also brush their teeth downstairs in the half bath so they don't have to go upstairs to do that, which can cause a distraction or delay.
For lunches, I pack them the night before, except for the sandwich which are made while the kids eat. I don't go fancy on lunches, we stick to what they like and will eat, but that meets my requirements for not being junk!
My daughter (going into 1st grade also) has to be up by 630 every morning in order to catch the 7am bus. She gets home between 330-345. Clothes are laid out the night before and lunch is already packed as well. Her only chore right now is helping either make dinner, set or clear the table.
From the time she gets home until I get home (around 430) - she has free play and snack. This is her 'unwinding time'. She can watch cartoons, play outside, play on the computer, etc. When I get home, tv goes off (if it's on) and then she can play, help with dinner or start her homework. Dinner then homework while I clean up. I heard (at least in our district) to expect 1 hour of homework each night for 1st grade. When her little brother goes to bed (715ish), she will shower or bathe and then read until I am done with him and go to bed between 8-830.
At that age, my daughter's bedtime was 8:30 - asleep by 9. (ETA- that was with her getting up at 6:45)
Putting out clothes and packing lunches the night before was a lifesaver for us. So, the "bedtime routine" started at 7:30 - pack lunch, pick out clothes for the next day, take bath, brush teeth, story, bed.
As far as "devotions" I'm not sure what's involved in that or how much time it takes.... so I can't help you schedule.
I do that when my daughter got home from school, she had a snack and then we "hung out" for like 15 minutes before homework.
I'm not sure what you expect from her as far as "chores" go... my daughter was only responsible for picking up after herself and then helping me, when she was done with her homework. I considered her school to be her "work" so that came first. Then her activities - so, practicing piano was more important than her setting the table. But she always cleared her dishes and put away her things - because that was about taking care of yourself.
It's been helpful for us to put ENDING times on things, instead of START times.
DD likes to have breakfast first thing - so I put a limit of 6:55 am on breakfast. Whether you are finished or not, breakfast dishes go in the sink at 6:55. This has been very helpful motivation to get her out of bed in the morning. I only had to toss half of one breakfast for that motivation to work.
I have also set an alarm for the time we have to leave the house to get to school on time (no bus service for our neighborhood - we drive). The kids know that the alarm is going off - time to pick up the backpacks and go! (7:25 - the school late bell rings at 7:45)
She can have wind-down time after school, but the TV and computer do NOT come on until after homework is finished. And they aren't on during dinner or the bedtime routine, either.
Also, our homework was sent home on a weekly basis - four assignments all came home on Mondays, to be turned in on Fridays. Our after-school activities are Wednesdays, so we do two assignments on Mondays, so we can skip homework on Wednesdays (except for the occasional homework sent home due the next day, but those didn't happen terribly often, and were relatively short).
It depends on what time your first grader has to get up and how much sleep they need. My boys don't have to be up early and they are fine with 10 hours sleep or less. My boys get up at 8:00am. They get ready and walk to school for 9:00am. They get out of school at 4:00pm. They have free time, preferably outdoors until dinner. We eat dinner at 5:00pm most nights. Swim lessons are from 6:30 to 7:30pm on Monday nights. My older son had choir and musical theater right after school until 6:00pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so we eat later on those days. Our new video game day will be on Thursdays this year so they will get to play video games after school on Thursdays. We try to go out and do something after dinner, whether it be a trip to the Y or to the library. The boys usually sit down to do homework around 8:30pm, then they get ready for bed at 9:30pm and bedtime is at 10:00pm. The schedule changes again during soccer season. They used to have martial arts two nights a week, but they are boxing on Sundays now instead. They have had this schedule since they started school.
7:30 bedtime still for my fourth graders. she will have enough time for all those listed and then some. kindergarten barely has any hw and no studying at all.
My younger daughter is ravenous after school, so as much as I want to get the homework done immediately it is not going to happen.
However, this is our basic schedule:
3:30 pick up: Snack in the car on way home (or to gymnastics once a week)
4:00 arrival at home: Change out of uniform and into "play clothes". Second snack.
4:30-6 homework: if help needed at kitchen counter while mom cooks. Otherwise, in bedroom.
6-6:45 dinner
6:45-8 chores, then free time/family time
8-8:30 get ready for bed
8:30 prayers and bedtime story
8:45 PM lights out
6:00 AM wakeup, brush teeth, make bed
6:15 dressed
6:30 snack in car on way to a friend's house (we carpool and she eats breakfast at their house)
first graders have homework?
She seems way busier than she should be but I am not aware of what some of that means or how long it takes.
My daughter normally is in bed by 8pm. She also is starting 1rst grade. In Kindergarten she had all day, and it started at 8:30am. We started her bed time at 9 since we are late night kind of people. That was not working cause she was a bear in the morning. So we changed it to 8 and she was fine. This year school starts earlier so we will start it at 8pm and if she is having problems we will just fix it.
What time does she have to get up for school?
My big thing, on school nights, is to get everything set up the night before. Literally, clothes laid out, lunch all made, cereal already on table, backpack ready to go. Mornings are still crazy, honestly, but that way we reliably get out of the house on time.
On weeknights, it's:
Run around randomly like a little goofball ;)
Dinner
Homework / instrument practice
Dessert
Bath
Bed
This is only worth mentioning because my son really needs run-around time before he can do anything else. And dessert is his reward for doing his homework and instrument in a reasonable amount of time, with minimal drama. That works pretty well for us.
my son woke up at 630 and took a shower, then we walked to school @715 so he could do the mileage club. He went to bed at 830 in 1st grade. he had jujitsu 3 days a week til 630, he did his homework while i made dinner.
Home work immediately after school.
Pack bookbags and set it by the door
Pack tomorrow lunch and put it in the bag in fridge for easy grabbing
Don't try to do gourmet lunches
Lay tomorrow clothes out before bed
My daughter is going into second grade in a couple weeks. I keep extra curricular activities to a minimum during the school year. We do lots of classes over the summer, but during the school year it's usually play time with friends after school that takes up her social time.
But, she had quite a bit of homework and I expect that to continue. They get written assignments from their teachers, but then they have extra work on the computer that is not required but excellent to reinforce math and reading, so we take those activities as seriously as her turn-in homework and projects.
Everything else comes after school work is done, and I don't schedule it out day to day.
