Our oldest started kindergarten this year. Gulp. I don’t think I have fully come to terms with that yet. How does time fly so quickly? Because I love reading about other families routines I thought I would share what has been working for us this last month in regards to our kindergarteners after school routine.

As soon as we get home school clothes go into the hamper and afternoon showers, baths, or swimming happens for the kids. I figure this is one of the best ways to minimize shared germs as much as possible. We don’t have a swimming pool at home but have had great luck with this inflatable pool and this at home spray pad.

We are trying to keep all the kids immune systems boosted to prevent as much sickness as possible because it seems once one person becomes sick it isn’t long before we are all down for count. In addition to this the kids also take SmartyPants vitamins and a probiotic daily.

Once the heat starts to dissipate I would like to add in 15-30 minutes of playtime at the park before showers/baths to get a little extra vitamin D. The extra outdoor playtime is great after sitting in a classroom for several hours.

Homework is next on the agenda and comes home Monday – Thursday. As soon as homework is done the rest of the day can be spent focusing on quality family time. We will have a dance party (thank you Greatest Showman Soundtrack), color, build with blocks, and somewhere in there I throw a freezer meal into the Instant Pot for an easy dinner.

After dinner, if time allows, we play a little longer or we get to work picking up the house before story time and our nightly Bible lesson. Our kindergarten will read us all a story using either these BOB books or this Curious George sight word set. Each child gets to pick a book to be read aloud to them and then we end with our Bible lesson. We are still working our way through the New Testament and are currently in the book of Acts with them. We use Old Story New for our lesson along with New City Catheshim for basic theology.

And that is our after school routine. All the kids are in bed between 7pm and 7:15pm and most of the time fall asleep fairly quickly.

I would love to hear your routine or anything you have found to keep your kids healthy during school :).