I am tired of always having to force my kids to do homework when they almost have no time to do anything else when I get from work. I am a single mother and I come home from work around 6pm. Then my children take a bath while I cook dinner. Then they eat and that's around 8 pm. I like sitting down with them to talk about their day and enjoy them for a while. But when I look at the time it's already 9 pm and they still need to do their homework. I could change my routine but I just don't want them to go to bed with all those germs from school. What type of routine would help me to get the homework done but also allow me to spend sometime with my children. Please help!

I just posted a note on another discussion on homework, before I saw yours. One thing that has helped me is to break up the homework a little bit. I have my daughter do some before dinner, a little more after dinner, while I clean up after dinner... it helps it feel more managabel when it is broken out into chunks of time, instead of needing to have it all doen in one sitting.

I was on that same routine for a while myself. If they go to some type of daycare after school, is it possible for them to work on their homework there? My babysitter would make them work on their homework after school and it helped me out a lot. Then I would still go through and check it in the evening and work with them on corrections if needed. We have a crazy schedule now with my kids' sports practices. It does help to break it up a little bit for us as well. A little before practice and a little after. Hope this helps!

Not that having clean kids isn't important, but maybe a bath every other day (with hand/face washings in between) would provide a small break. Just something to consider is it more important to be spotless or welleducated? And I know, kids DO get dirty! Do they have a long commute to school/childcare? Sometimes we trade breakfast in the car for homework time in the morning. Twice a week we get up 15 min early & do homework, then get a "treat" for brkfst to eat in the car (hot pockets, popover, etc.) Best of luck, it can be tough!

I know it's tough when we have to work and come home late but my routine is I prepare one big dinner that will last for 2 days, this way when I get home all I do is pop it in the microwave. While dinner is being heated in their individual plates I have my son take a shower then once he is out we sit down and do homework together while we eat. It saves so much time preparing dinner in advance for us. It works out GREAT!!!