I'm not sure how to have my kids balance school, activities & chores.

All 3 take a 1 hour instrument lesson a week and on Saturday morning everyone does there chores and laundry. It's not that they get tons of homework....but my middle child is always disorganized and distracted. Homework always ends up taking double that amount of time it needs too. Turning the weekend into a punishment for all. Any plans that were made now end up broken and it's not fair to the others who did what they needed to do. To top it all off bothe boys are now talking about joining the swim team!!!

Parent Answers to "I'm not sure how to have my kids balance school, activities & chores."

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We make sure school business is taking care of first. With 4 kids you have to have a schedule. All after school activities or any activites are planed in the schedule. Our chores are done on Friday night or early Sat. morning. The key to our success is planning and sticking to the plan.

Hi I am new to this but your question caught my attention- I think just managing your time would make things better. Explain to your kids that with extra things going on there will be scheduling going on.

My child is a bit younger and thankfully I have not yet experienced this problem. But I have friends that have! To one of my friends, it was worth the money to take her son to one of those homework help places. I see them around. I don't know what the cost is, but what used to take him 3 hours to do now takes a short drive to a strip mall and about 45 minutes and he is done.

School is much more important now than ever, so my childs first priority over games, movies, after school activities, and sports is homework. My 9yr old has a routine, come home goes to the restroom, changes his clothes, gets a small snack with drink and sits at the kitchen table (which in kid minutes is about 45 min. later) and starts his work. TV is not allowed until homework and reading is done. I just remind him he may take as long as he likes which means it cuts into his free TV time, or playing outside with his friends time. After the first couple of weeks of keeping the schedule this way it gets easier and the kids feel like they are in control of their time. (that is not to say that some days are better then others but it works for us).

I guess what my motto is "school comes first". If my child can't keep up on school work then he won't be able to do any extra activities. I wouldn't hold the others back just because of one. It's not fair to them since they do all their work on time. I wouldn't let him join the swim team uless he can show that its no longer a struggle to get organized and stay that way. You have to draw the line somewhere.

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