“…Establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of
fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of order, a house of
God.”Doctrine and Covenants 88:119
My Evening schedule came to be about a year ago. After we had been reading scriptures for a while in the morning we felt like it wasn’t quite enough. Dadzoo would read a chapter while the kids were eating, and while that was good, it wasn’t as good as it could be. We still continued to read in the morning, however we tried to add some study in the evening. Tried is the key word here, it just never seemed to happen. Since having a morning schedule seemed to work so well I decided to implement an evening schedule.
Here is the rough schedule we are working on right now. It isn’t totally complete yet, I am still tweaking it a little, I have added a some new things from last year and I was able to take off “homework” for my two oldest (yay!).
5:45-6:00 Check Stewardships.
(I like the house to be picked up when Dadzoo gets home)
6:00-6:30 Dinner
6:30-7:00 Clean up dinner and bath Tom
(every child has a weekly dinner stewardship: Setting the Table, Clearing the Table, Rinsing dishes, and Bathing Tom)
7:00-7:15 Scripture Study and Family Prayer
7:15-7:45 Tom to bed, baths and homework
7:45-8:00ish Family Reading time
(This is new this fall, and so far we are loving it, right now I am reading Tom Sawyer out loud to the kids, it is a part of being a “house of learning”)
8:30 Bed, the children may read if they would like
9:00 lights out, no exceptions
(Momzoo turns into a witch after 9:00 and nobody really wants to see that)
This is what works for us for now, at this time in our lives. Our evenings are fairly empty and as far as I am concerned I am going to try to keep it this way. On evenings where either Dadzoo or I are not home, the other keeps to the schedule as much as possible. This has become a wonderful time for our family. We laugh together and we learn together, it warms my heart to her my girls giggling over Tom Sayers and Dadzoo’s deep laugh in the background.
This is what works for us for now, at this time in our lives. Our evenings are fairly empty and as far as I am concerned I am going to try to keep it this way. On evenings where either Dadzoo or I are not home, the other keeps to the schedule as much as possible. This has become a wonderful time for our family. We laugh together and we learn together, it warms my heart to her my girls giggling over Tom Sayers and Dadzoo’s deep laugh in the background.
Next Post:
Homeschool Schedule
Do you have any current thoughts on extra activities for your kids like sports or dance that would take place in the evenings?
you are AMAZING!!
I love that you mention empty evenings. Having both parents home helps so much! It seems that we always have something going on–Cub Scouts, orchestra, meetings with China . . . and our kids aren't even old enough to have activities yet!
Evenings are my worst time. I am not a night owl and by the end of the day I am spent. I have tried for years to get a good bedtime routine going, but I can't make it stick. Did you have to do anything special to keep the routine on task?
You are my HERO!