??? For People with 3 Kids: What Are Your Afternoons like After School Pick Up?

When we weren't running from sport to sport to sport they did their homework and went out to play with friends.

well, i have 2 and we homeschooled, but they did go to elementary school when my husband and i were both working, and it was super hectic.
mine did best if they had a little time to decompress before doing homework. my inclination was to have them do homework first and i tried to impose that on them, but they taught me well. everything went more smoothly when i let them find their own rhythm. (i have to look up the spelling of rhythm. every. single. time. gah!)
snack, burn off steam (ie no tv or video games) for a half hour to an hour, then homework and whatever they wanted to do. i didn't entertain them or particularly restrict their relax time. if they wanted to watch teenage mutant turtles i was fine with that. they were just as likely to play legos, ride bikes or read.
of course, on sports and practice evenings all of that went out the window.
how DID i do it all????
hats off to you, young mamas!
khairete
S.

I have three children. 14, 11, and 5 1/2.
My 5 year old is off to kindergarten next week, but I assume most of my afternoons will look like they did last year.
My older two came home, had a snack, got dressed, and went to practice 3 days a week. Their practice is from 4-7. I usually go home with my youngest and this year we will do homework and get dinner ready once the weather gets too gross to hang out at the practice. Boys come home, shower, eat, and then do homework. On soccer days they do not watch tv, there's no time. ON the other two days they come home, eat a snack, watch tv for 1/2 hour, and then have to do homework. After they are done, throw in a load of laundry if needed, and then they can watch tv after dinner.
I am busy with them, but feel like having them in sports keeps them out of trouble, keeps them fit, and gives them goals.

When my sister and I were growing up, we'd get our homework done and then go outside to play until supper time.

My kids are 13, 11, and 9.

The 13 and 11 year old get home about an hour before I do. My husband works from home, so they are doing their homework when I walk in the door about 320. When our full schedule picks up, I'll let with the 13 year old at 4 for her activities.

Our 9 year old gets home about 345. Homework for him too. The boys will leave by 5 four days a week for their activities. I normally go meet them at whatever practice or game is going on.

Our daughter gets picked up between 8 and 9, then home for shower and bed.

Dinner is usually early with a snack later if needed.

HOWEVER - if they don't have an activity...then it's homework and whatever they want to do. Outside, video games, reading, whatever. They need their down time too.

Today, the first kid got home and gave me my first-day parent homework as well as telling me he needs a 1" binder. He had a snack then went outside to play with his friend for a couple hours. In a couple weeks his afterschool club starts and next week he has a paid job working at football games.

When the second kid got home, I was given more parent homework and a request for a scroll wheel mouse. He had a snack then went to his computer to play a MOG with his friends. He has a club and a team, which generally take up three of his weekday afternoons.

My husband came home from work, talked about his hobbies for a bit, then started playing Skylanders. LOL

I have 4. two in high school, one in middle and one in his last year of elementary.

I'm home. They get a snack, 15 to 30 minutes of down time and then homework.

Once homework is done, they need to make sure their lunches are ready for the next day, if they are taking a lunch. Their clothes need to be set out the night before as well. I do NOT like being rushed in the morning.

We are heavily involved in sports so the schedule varies daily. The oldest is driving on his own now. He has his own car and can help transport his younger brother(s) if his dad and I are busy.

My youngest loves to cook so he is in the kitchen with me preparing meals. He loves to fix lunches for his brothers! It's really cute! He leaves notes in the lunch bags too.

Since it's summer, we have ATVs and they go riding out back. They play video games too. We have thunder storms happening right now, so we are all inside and no practices.

I only have two kids, but when they were younger they were only allowed video games after school one day per week. The rest of the days I sent them to the school playground to play until supper (while I prepared supper). As they got older they got busier and now have activities after school most days.

My kids are 9 and 5. By the time we get home with my 9 year old, it's at least 3:00. Some days we play around near the school with his friends before heading home and get back around 3:30. He has a snack and does his homework. Most days he has sports practice, but the start time ranges from 4:30 - 6:00 depending on the day. In between homework and practice, he usually spends a little time playing on our tablet or watching TV, but also plays with my daughter - they make games up, or play board games, have gymnastics contest (neither can do anything tougher than a cartwheel and even those are bad), play in the backyard, etc.

My daughter can play with legos or dolls for ages without getting bored. She also watches a little TV most days. She is only in school from 10 - 1:30, so we have a lot of free time. Sometimes before school she plays with friends from her class and sometimes we stay home and practice reading, or just play and relax.

We don't allow video games during the week (I take the controllers so they can't play). My ex gets home at 6 and picks up our younger kids for dinner and I don't get home until 6:30 so I have hired help from 4-6 PM. I expect that immediately after school, from around 3:00 until 4, the kids will have some downtime - a snack, watch some TV, play with the dog, go outside etc. From 4-6 I expect them to do their homework and when they're done, they can do what they want to amuse themselves. One typically leaves the house at 5:15 to go to football practice, the other sometimes has to leave at 5 or 5:30 to go to hockey, there are piano lessons and other things thrown in throughout the week so it's a lot of running around and not much downtime.

When I worked from home and we lived close to school, they would often go hang out at the park or bike around the neighborhood either before or after homework.

I had three kids in six years. They just did whatever they wanted after school. TV/video/computer games, played outside, with toys or with each other or whatever. I was too busy getting dinner on the table to worry about it too much. We also sometimes had sports or scouts or other things that took time and attention during the week. I certainly didn't expect them to "work" after being in school all day, unless they had sports practice or a scout meeting they just chilled out at the end of the day.

I give the kids an hour to snack and play when they get home. Then, we start homework. They usually play with legos or outside. They can play with electronics, but usually don't choose to. If no homework, they can just play. If there's lots of homework, we'll finish after dinner.

My kid needs a little down time right after school, she is tired and hungry and I give her about an hour to do whatever she wants, but then she has to do homework. There are also days where she has to go to sports practice right after school, so they homework has to wait till that is over. It can be pretty hectic.

I have a now 16-13-8 yr old. After school routines are similar as they were when they were younger just gotten busier
They get home have a snack start homework.
If there's a game or something we need to get (ball, karate) etc we'd get to that first or after depending on what time it was. Get home Clean up before dinner hsve dinner and then enough time to wind down with their favorite show. There is no iPad, video gaming during week. U can earn it for weekend as long as good grades, behavior and if excellent and one night we have no homework I'll allow for an hour that night. We are generally pretty busy with sports, or scouts during school year so I can't even consider having that a choice.

I have to answer with what we did last year since I hope it's how this year will work too. First thing when they walk in the door is put backpacks away, give me any papers they have, and clean out lunch bags. My middle schooler would get home about an hour earlier than my elementary kids so I would encourage her to use the time to practice for band. They all get most of their work done at school but if they had homework, I would have them do it after a quick snack. We have a lot of extracurricular activities so I try to get any homework done as soon as possible.