How to Keep Little Ones Satisfied?

[Kela]

I have a 5 yo and an 8 yo. Last year was our 1st year homeschooling and All. Day. Long they complained they couldn't do a bit of work because they were absolutely famished and on the brink of starvation. I usually feed them a hot breakfast and lunch with plenty of snacks, but they are still complaining that they are hungry. What are some meal and snack ideas that are quick but super satisfying?

[HomeAgain]

Are they like this on non-schoolwork days?

[73349]

If they've eaten a meal reasonably recently, I would offer to let them snack on baby carrots while working. I schedule food every 2-3 hours, so a request in between is very reasonably met with raw vegetables. It might be that they just consider snack time a better deal than math.

That said, when my child was 5, school that involved sitting and working was done in under an hour, and it was under 3 hours at age 8. If you can get them done with seatwork by lunch, there's less effort in the afternoon even if you're doing something educational (library visits, etc.), and you may find it easier to manage snacks around activities.

[BlsdMama]

42 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

Are they like this on non-schoolwork days?

^^^^

Important to discern what is genuine hunger and what has become "filler" to either verbalize boredom or as a way to sidetrack from school. 😉

[Jean in Newcastle]

Do you feed them protein at meals and snacks?  A meal without  protein will not satiate some people and if their blood sugars spike and then crash they can feel genuine hungry. 

[KungFuPanda]

In my house it helped to have a written, predictable schedule. Something like:

Breakfast

Math

Lang Arts

Snack

Science

Art

Lunch

The breakfast needed to be a savory protein, no cereal or pastries. I could sometimes get away with steel cut oats if it had cream on it. Yogurt needed other things with it to hold them. 
 

For snack one kid could do sweets, but the other needed cheese or veggie sticks with it. Lunch was just normal lunch. 
Most days we left the house around 1 or 2 for an activity and had a teatime/snack when we returned.  Dinner was served later at my house. Sometimes someone asked for a bedtime snack but not usually.  
 

By middle school they didn’t need so many snacks but I swear they just ate their first ten years. My daughter was tiny and couldn’t finish a kid’s meal until she was double digits  She just couldn’t hold that much at one time. 
 

If I wanted to stay on track I had to plan out the snacks. I didn’t want anyone spending 10 minutes making a decision every time.  I really do not miss feeding people every 2-3 hours.

When Dh stated working from home I moved the big meal to lunchtime and served the quicker, lunch-like stuff in the evening. It matched my energy level better this way.

 

[Clarita]

I find sometimes with my 5 year old he just asks for snacks, potty, water because he can't sit still and focus not necessary because he is hungry. So I added a new ask which is I need to take a walk and/or close my eyes for a minute. If he is really famished and is eating all morning (even unattractive food like plain lettuce) then I just do some school stuff while eating or take an early lunch. 

[athena1277]

My 6yo doesn’t really need a snack between breakfast and lunch, but she will ask for one most days.  I found that offering a small snack tied to schoolwork is enough to satisfy her.  For example, if there’s 10 review questions for a lesson, I’ll give her a peanut for each one she gets right.  Or if she’s complaining about doing copy work (usually only a few words), I’ll give her one chocolate chip after each word she writes.

[Tanaqui]

So, without knowing much about your kids and the situation, I think you need a multi-pronged approach.

FIRST, you need to give them a breakfast that has protein and fiber in the morning. Eggs and whole wheat toast, porridge that's half steel-cut oats and half quinoa with nuts and some greek yogurt, breakfast burritos with eggs, beans, and sausage - like that.

SECOND, you need to write out a schedule with set snack and break times. And take their input! If they're adamant that they want to do math first thing and art at the end of the day, do it that way. Or if they're sure the other way around is better, fine. Agree to review after a few weeks in case changes need to be made, but as much as possible, get their buy-in to however you have divvied up the time.

THIRD, you need to plan for them to have a non-messy, healthy snack to eat during the day if they get hungry that - importantly! - is something they'll agree to eat but don't love to eat. This can be plain carrot sticks, hard boiled eggs, a small serving of unsalted peanuts and raisins - it doesn't really matter much so long as it doesn't require a utensil or a lot of prepwork, doesn't vary much day to day, and is acceptable but not loved. If they're saying "I'm hungry" because they mean "I do not want to do this work", well, that'll stymie them. And if they're really hungry, then they won't be starving. It's important not to go too far in the other direction - don't insist on serving them something they actually hate. Just something that they'll eat, but that they don't love, and that they can eat while also doing school.