Want to know the best stay at home mom schedule to have a great, productive day? Girl, this schedule has been tested for years and is easy to follow.
Trying to be productive while staying at home with your kids can be challenging. As a mom of 4 kids, and an in-home daycare provider, I am going to share my stay at home mom schedule I use to make the most of my day.
You are going to learn about the different stay at home mom schedules I use throughout the year.
After learning about these schedules, you are going to feel like you can tackle any day with your kids and increase your productivity.
Let's jump into the stay at home mom schedule to make your day the most productive it can be.
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Best Stay At Home Mom Schedule
First of all, let me tell you, I am so proud of you Mama! Staying at home with your children is not for the faint of heart, and is the toughest job I have ever had.
You are doing what is right for your family at this time. Even though you will have frustrating days, try to make the most of being with your kiddos. They are so precious.
You can do this!
How I Started This Stay At Home Mom Schedule
My husband has a pretty time-consuming job. Can you relate? It is probably one of the main reasons you are home with your kids.
Most days he is up and gone before our kids stumble out of bed. I have fine-tuned this schedule around the kids and myself so we can make the most of our day.
The schedule we follow is year-round. It changes slightly depending on if it's “school” or “summer”. I will include these changes below.
As you read through, you will notice I do not include watch the television or have device time at any point.
During the week, most of the time my kids do not watch television. On the weekends we are freer about it though. This is done on purpose.
I have seen my kids' imaginations run completely wild by creating things and playing games together. They also expand their big, beautiful brains and get lots of reading time in.
Feel free to adjust your schedule to fit your needs. I am more of a morning person so this schedule is geared toward that.
Stay at Home Mom Schedule
5:00 a.m. - Wake Up
Getting up early can be so hard, especially during the baby years. During that time, I could never get myself together that early. I have had to train myself into this Stay at Home Mom Schedule.
Now that my youngest baby is 4, we have a good rhythm going, finally.
5a.m. is wake up time, if not before, and sluggishly I get out of bed, get dressed right away and grab a cup of coffee.
I try to make things as simple as possible for myself by making a coffee concentrate about every 1.5 to 2 weeks. Just heating everything in the microwave makes it so easy.
I am off to “Blog” work until 6. This is my “me time” and I enjoy some calm and quiet time before the 13ish hour noise day starts.
6:00 a.m. - Get Myself Ready
I wash and moisturize my face, tie my hair up, and put on a dab of makeup. And I mean only a dab.
It took me a while to land on these wash and moisturizing products. My skin went crazy after my pregnancies.
These are the face wash and moisturizing products I use: wash, cotton rounds, eye lotion, face lotion, and sunscreen.
For the record, I have dry to combo skin.
These are the few makeup products I use daily, and can be found on Sephora: clear eyebrow gel, concealer, setting power, blush, eyelash curler, and lip balm.
If I am feeling extra saucy, I toss on this lip gloss, found on Sephora.
Isn’t the power of makeup amazing to make you feel ready and energized for your day?
6:30 a.m. - Kids Wake Up
If my kids haven't already stumbled out of bed, I get them up. After a quick trip to the bathroom, they all get dressed right away. Time is of the essence during the school year.
During the summer we still follow this schedule since I am a daycare provider.
7:00 – 7:30 a.m. - Breakfast
If your kids are like mine, they don't get too crazy about the breakfast menu.
Some easy things we like to have include: toast, bagels, waffles, eggs, yogurt, and oatmeal.
7:30 a.m. – Greet Daycare Kids
This is the time when things start to get crazy during the school year.My kids are getting ready to go to school. I have daycare kids coming into my home.
There are kids everywhere!
7:45 a.m. - Off To School
Do your kids take the bus, walk, or do you drop them off? This off-to-school time will be so different for everyone.
We are lucky enough to live within 1 block of our school so my kids can walk. My youngest and I watch them walk most of the way to school.
They have to leave about 5 minutes earlier during the winter to allow time to get their snow gear put away.
8:00 a.m. - Clean Up Breakfast
If you want to keep up with household chores, try to do it a little bit at a time as the day goes on. It will be less overwhelming for you.
I try to do my best to clean up most of the breakfast mess while my kids are still having breakfast. The rest gets cleaned up right after they are on their way to school.8:15 – 9:15 a.m. - Read And Play
I let my kids and the daycare kids have a little independent playtime to start and usually take 10 – 15 minutes to clean up something.
Sometimes it is vacuuming, wiping down the bathroom, or laundry.
After this cleaning time, we read books together, have dance parties, play games, Legos, Potato Heads, and just other toys.
9:30 – 10:30 a.m. – Outside Play
Getting outside is not only important for your child but it is so important for you also Mama.
Kids need to run, explore the world around them, be loud and enjoy the fresh air. On top of all that, it wears them out. Huge win for you.
Unless the weather is terrible, we go outside. My kids love it.
10:30 a.m. - Come Inside, Make Lunch
Depending on the time of year, we either have to put shoes away when we come inside or a whole bunch of snow gear.
While I am busy getting lunch ready, my kids usually craft or color. I have a meal plan that I follow for daycare lunch.This makes getting lunch ready so easy!
11:00 a.m. - Lunch
After all that playing, you and the kids will be hungry. I have tried "lunchtime" at plenty of different times over the years and having it at 11 has worked the best for the past few years.
As the kids are finishing up lunch, I am cleaning up the kitchen and doing getting the dishes done.During this time, I also try to start any part of supper that I can to save time later in the day.
12:00 – 2:00 p.m. – Quiet Time, Work For Mom
At the beginning of naptime, I have to sit in with a kiddo or 2.
I take this time to relax for 20 minutes, maybe check out a YouTube video, check my email or read on my Kindle.
Being a mom, my Kindle is one of the best and most used gifts I have ever received.
It is a short break before revving back up to get to work.
When my break is over, I am racing like I am on fire.
If something needs to get cleaned that I haven’t gotten to yet, I do that first. Then I move on to ordering groceries, daycare paperwork, or a bit of blog work.
During the summer, the older kids take at least the first half-hour to read. Then they are free to wander outside in our yard or find a friend on our street to play with.2:00 p.m. - Naptime Is Over
If your child is having trouble going to sleep at night and they still nap, you may want to consider shortening their nap time.
My 4 year is at this point so I make sure that he is up by 2 at the latest. Sometimes the daycare kids wake up at this time too.
But sometimes I get some snuggle time in with my youngest baby. So sweet and precious.
After he wakes up completely, we get to read and play games together.
Right now these are the games we are loving.
3:00 p.m. – Snack Time
Your kids probably seem hungry All-The-Time.
Mine are for sure. Having a snack, or here it sometimes feels like another full meal, is a great way to get them through until supper.
During the school year, this is about the time my school kids are coming home.
I try to have my youngest and the daycare kids done with their snacks before the older kids come home. Snack and homework time just goes a bit smoother if I can make this happen.
During the summer, snack time may be a bit earlier. This just depends if everyone is up from rest and how hungry they all are.
3:30 p.m. - Homework
This time slot only happens during the school year.
I am glad that I am around to help my kids with their homework. My kids are getting older, which means school is getting harder.
Sometimes we can sail through homework. But then there are those days, ugh THOSE DAYS, that homework is tough.
When it is summer, my older kids are off like a shot and if it is nice outside, they go out.
We live in a smaller town and on a great street. All my kids have a friend or two that lives right on our street.Lots of biking, playing and Mr. Freezies happen during the summer.
4:10 p.m. - Outside
(4:00 or Earlier During Summer)
We all try to make this outside time happen.
The school kids need time to run and play after all the hard work they put into school. And the younger kids are chomping at the bit to get back outside to play.
During the summer, this time is adjusted to earlier.
If my kids are not able to get out at this time, they get so squirrely in the evening.
Some summer days, my daycare kids picked up early.
I go right ahead and take advantage of this time to either make a phone call, read a book or get some yard work done.
My kids are old enough that they do not need to be played with all the time.
5:00 p.m. - Make Supper And Prepare For The Next Morning
Just like for lunch, I have a meal plan for supper.
This has not always been the case but it is proving to make supper preparation easier. It is something that I am working really hard to keep going.
In between all the supper steps, the kids and I work at getting ready for the next day. When we all work together, it goes quickly.
The school year has more preparing to do than the summer. My kids all take a packed lunch to school, so that gets prepared. They gather anything else that needs to be put into their backpack.Then they get to play until supper.
6:00 – 6:45 p.m. - Supper
We try to wait for my husband to get home from work, but he also knows that we will eat if he isn't home by 6:30. My kids are so hungry by supper time but it takes a bit to get through it.
They like to talk a lot and this is where I learn the most about their day. We did have to make a no singing rule at the table otherwise meal time would take over an hour.
I love spending time with them, but sometimes I have to get some other things done too.7:00 p.m. - Get Kids Ready For Bed
As soon as the kids clear their plate, they are off to get ready for bed. They know now what they are supposed to do, but they always seem to need reminding.
Floss and brush teeth, change into pajamas, put dirty clothes in the basket and pick out clothes for the morning.
Some nights are ROUGH and others go smooth as silk.
We normally have enough time to play a bit more and read some books. Snuggling up in a comfy spot to read with your kiddos is so calming.
7:45 p.m. - Kids Bedtime
My kids are in bed most nights by 7:45, 8:00 at the latest. They know they need the sleep and rarely fight to go.
If your kids are like mine, they barely get out of bed once they are tucked in. They are so tired from all the outside play and activities of the day.
Yes, I planned it this way.
8:00 – 9/9:30 p.m. – “Me” Time
Some nights, my husband and I have “date night”. These are so important to us!
He is busy with work, I am busy with the kids, we need time to just be “us”. We get to snuggle up, maybe have a cocktail, watch our show, and chat without interruptions during the commercials.
There are also those nights, you know the ones, where you are just shot. Holy man, I have been there many times.
The only thing you want to do is what the Bachelor. Go right ahead, Mama.
Being a stay at home mom is tough. You need to take little rewards for yourself where you can get them.
As easy as it would be for me to sit and watch television or check something on my phone every night, I try not to. Most nights I try to do a bit more blog work.
This is uninterrupted time for me so I have to strike while the iron is hot. I keep telling my husband, no one else is going to do the work for me so I have to if I want to succeed.
9:30 p.m. – My Bedtime Routine
I don’t know about you but I am way more productive in the morning. So, I try to start getting ready for bed at 9 or just after.
My goal every night is to be in bed by 9:30.
10:00 p.m. - My Bedtime
Finally, sleep. Need I say more.
Getting on a Stay At Home Mom schedule may not be the easiest to start but stick with it. Soon you will find your groove and find yourself being productive.
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