Our Weeknight Evening Routine

This post is sponsored by Simon & Schuster. All content and opinions remain my own.

Does anyone else feel like their kids have the most active social lives ever? And you’re just their Uber driver?  Peyton gets off the bus around 4:15, then has homework, reading, soccer, dinner, a bath, and maybe some time to be a kid in between. I can’t imagine what it’ll be like when the other 2 have after-school activities! As the season of life changes for us, so does our evening weeknight routine. I like to think of it as evolving – you know, survival of the fittest. We found a nice routine that works for us, and I am so excited to share it with you today!

First, the key is a set dinner time. We generally eat at 5:30. This might be super early for some people, but with Peyton getting off the bus and home around 4:15, she has a bit of time to play with her sisters before they have to clean up the toys and get ready for dinner.

While I am doing dishes, Peyton does her math homework, and we do her weekly spelling test. During this time, the younger two are either coloring or playing “quietly” (because toddlers don’t really have a quiet volume haha!)

To make life go smoother, I let them watch an episode of a show before hustling downstairs for baths and jammies.

In 2nd grade, Peyton needs to read for 20 minutes every night. Not a huge deal, since we always read together anyway, but we always struggle to find age-appropriate books for her to read that also engage her sisters. Example: Addy and London really love short books that have a 3-word rhyme on each page, which are easy for Peyton to memorize, so she doesn’t actually “read”.

When we discovered the Ready-to-Read collection from Simon & Schuster, it was a game-changer. With reading levels broken up into groups like: Ready-to-Go, Pre-Level One, and Level 2, they have books for all ages!

The Ready-to-Go books feature rhyming and repetitive words that are perfect for little ones. While the Pre-Level One books are perfect for London because they use characters she recognizes (like Daniel Tiger and Miffy), while using easy-to-recognize words. Peyton is at Level Two. She can read independently, but still finds some words or concepts challenging. These are great practice, especially understanding phrases as phrases, and not just groups of words.

We also love the fun “Star” levels – which means the girls and I can utilize the easy-to- understand system to bolster confidence as the girls move through the levels at their own pace!

What I love most? We can all sit together, and enjoy those post-bath-snuggles while reading books we all can enjoy. And Peyton can mark off her reading for the day! 

After reading – all that’s left to do is hugs and kisses and goodnight wishes 😉