My Simple, Realistic Daily Routine Schedule (homeschool and SAHM)
I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for almost 8 years now. I have 3 boys ages 3,5, and 7 (almost 8.) Being a stay-at-home mom is so amazing and SO hard! Once my oldest became school age we decided to keep him home and homeschool. I had set up alot of methods for our daily routine when they were babies and toddlers, but now adding school into the mix was a whole different mountain. I knew I needed a simple, easy daily routine and schedule to follow or we would be spending all day doing school and cleaning.
Here is how I have learned to structure our day and some tips and tricks to help you keep your day on track. This is not about perfection or living on a strict minute-to-minute schedule. This is about setting up an attainable and sustainable routine for you and your family to thrive in!
Why I Needed a Routine as a Homeschool Mom
When I first became a mom in 2018 I was young (barely 21 to be exact) and had no idea what I was doing. Our days felt miserably long and yet, somehow, over in a blink. I was bored but also couldn’t find the time to get the laundry both folded and put away in the same day.
By the time the 4 month sleep regression hit I was desperate for sleep and routine. I sleep trained and set some structure to our days. I remember feeling like a new woman being able to have rhythm to my day and not just chaos. This is when I set up my 5 motherhood methods to shape how I ran our home and took care of our family. It was life giving. Then we decided to homeschool…
My husband and I both were homeschooled, and we knew it was something we were potentially going to do from the get-go. When we got to actual school age, I thought we would just sprinkle it into our day and keep our same structure. This is when the narrator says, “this did not go as planned.”
Every day felt wonky. If we started right on school and didn’t get anything else done first I felt behind and worried about the house. Then I tried starting school later so I could do some chores donefirst, but then the kids were mid play. It was like pulling teeth to get them seated and focused.
I finally landed on a good rhythm that’s been the best of both worlds.
Our Morning Routine
Our mornings always start about 7:30 am. This is such a blessing that is not lost on me that we get to start our days much later than most people. The boys eat breakfast and do their morning chores.
Their morning chores include:
Making bed
Feeding animal (the oldest does the cat, the younger two tag team the dog)
Get dressed
Brush hair and teeth
Put dishes in sink
I have these chores listed and hanging on our kitchen wall so they know exactly what is expected. I keep this short and straightforward so we don’t have time to get side-tracked. Then we get right to school.
Our Homeschool Block
I try to start school no later than 9. I start the oldest on spelling, which is pretty independent, and the middle on tracing or something he can do alone. Our oldest is in second grade and our middle is in kindergarten. We have been using the My Father’s World curriculum and have really enjoyed it! The “baby” is living his best life and just does whatever he wants. Occasionally he will watch a show, but most of the time he plays with cars or trains or play dough on the floor in the school room.
While they do their independent work for about 15 minutes, I will go clean up the kitchen from breakfast and make my coffee. The life blood. Joking. Kinda.
The rest of the house is typically still pretty tidy from my evening reset the night before, so I only need a little bit to get the kitchen in order and be ready to do the second subject with the boys, grammar.
After grammar I will usually read history and science to the them and then we will do math. Math takes our oldest much longer than the middle so I will often try to have a craft for him to do or he will do an interactive math and reading game. It’s super fun and independent AND has no screens. I’ll link it here if you want to check it out.
On most days, (aside from the occasional full melt down day, which totally happens to all of us!) we are done with school by 11.
After School Routine
After school is over I will head downstairs to do my work out for the day. My oldest recently started piano lessons so he practices for a bit and my middle unloads half of the dishwasher. The youngest usually comes down with me.
After the oldest is done with piano practice, he will go unload his half of the dishwasher. My middle and youngest will clean up the toys in the school room and then they will all go play outside. I call all of these our “after school chores” and these are also hung up in the kitchen.
We will do a nice easy lunch most days and my husband is usually is home from 12 ish-1ish. It’s so nice to have school and some chores done by lunch time. I’m a little selfish and have made sure our afternoons are restful for everyone and that only happens if we get our stuff done in the morning. I have a hard time chilling out if my house is a disaster, haha!
Mid-day Reset
From 1-3 pm is our household wide rest time. The three year old still naps (praise!) and I make the older two do quiet time. They can listen to their Yoto (this is also amazing and I will link it here) or they can play Legos. They can color or read or nap. The cardinal rule is that they have to be quiet and let me have time to myself.
I do alot of things during this time depending on the day; fold laundry, watch a show, tidy, walk on the treadmill, bible study, read, nap, drink a coffee, etc. It is the BEST pick me up and reset for us all. I cannot recommend implementing some form of this into your life.
Afternoon Schedule
At 3:00 the boys are allowed to do one hour of screen time, if we don’t have any other plans ie: a playdate or errands to run. They also have a small snack during this time. The “baby” is usually up between 3:15 and 3:45
At 4:00 we do our household chore for that day. I will link our full weekly cleaning schedule and exactly what I do on what days below. My kids also help with household things each day which keeps our family economy working and grooving.
Our families weekly cleaning schedule!
Evening Routine
Dad gets home about 5 every day and it really depends on the day what the evening looks like. Most nights I get dinner going with some good tunes going and the boys play or rough house with dad. We eat dinner around 6 and the boys help clean up after. They bathe and get ready for bed and are in bed between 7:30 and 8.
We do AWANA on Wednesdays and depending on the season; we have a random sports practice other nights. My hubby and I also get down with some rec-league sports and have that throughout the year too!
Here is what our daily schedule looks like with time!
My Best Advice for Daily Routine Schedules
Schedules are meant to bring structure not imprisonment. They should help guide and shape your day not confine it. Take some things that you really love about your days and that are working for you and structure your “have-tos” around that! Not the other way around.
Try not to over schedule. I still do this at times and it makes my day feel like utter chaos. Err on the side of caution so you aren’t trying to pack 3 days worth of things into one morning. Simple systems and methods will help you get it all done without having to work your tail off all the time.
One thing that we really struggled with is the boys always asking when they could be done with school, or when it was the end of rest time, or the beginning of screen time, or snack time. I came up with a super cheap and easy way to help them and you! I bought a cheap clock and some dry erase markers. Then I drew colored “pies” over the time that each activity happened. This helped me not be the bad guy and have to always tell them “it’s not time yet.” They could visually see when it was time for each part of our day, and it helped them tell time!
If you want to make one of these clocks in your home here is a clock and the markers I bought!
Final Encouragement
Even on the hard days when nothing goes to plan or schedule… Give. Yourself. Grace. We are not going to be perfect. We can be consistent but not perfect. This is the beauty of staying home with your kids. Some days will be “wash days.” The only thing you might accomplish somedays may be keeping everyone alive. That is OK! A bad day, week, or even month; does not have to derail the methods you have set in place! I challenge you to make simple, realistic daily routines and a schedule and let them give life to your days back!
If you want to read more about my full morning routine, evening reset, work out routine, my method to get out the door faster, or how I created my 5 Motherhood Methods you can read them HERE!
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