Building an after school routine that works for YOU

I have anxiety, and recently I noticed that it was MUCH worse between the hours of 4 and 6 pm.
I finally figured out that it is due to the fact that I didn't have an after school routine. Now, nobody likes to admit it, but routines are super helpful, and I find that when I have a routine that I'm comfortable with, my anxiety is lessened and my day just goes better.

You can search Pinterest and find all kinds of after school schedules.  The problem with those schedules is that they are schedules that work for THAT family.  I needed to find something that would work for MY family.  As I started thinking about what that routine would look like, I found some basics that can be worked into any after school schedule - depending on what you need.

So, here goes.

1.  Do their part.  The kids need to help with the transition from car to house.  For my kids, who are 4 and 7, it means that they have to carry in their backpacks and put them on the table.  For older kids, it may mean unpacking the backpack, rinsing out any lunch cups or plates and putting things where they go.  
2. Downtime.  After a full day at school with people and rules, kids need some downtime.  In my house everyone goes to their rooms for at least 15 minutes.  This gives me 15 minutes to change from my work clothes and it gives them time to decompress and mentally transition from school to home.  You may want to give your kids more time than this - I generally let my kids be in their room for as long as they are content to be in there.  (It may be important to note that this time is technology free - technology comes later if at all.)  You may want to transition from downtime to homework or playtime with a snack.  
3. Homework.  This is when homework comes in.  At this point my kids don't have much homework, but if there is something to complete we do it at this point in the afternoon. 
4. Play.  Now it's playtime!  My kids can choose to play in their rooms, use technology, or play outside.  They can play by themselves, with each other, or with me.  At this point I'm not attempting to dictate how they play.  At some point we may try to do board games at this time, but at this point my youngest doesn't care about games and my oldest prefers time with technology.  
5. Dinner. 

This is the order these things happen in my house, but regardless of the order they happen at your house, these will be the basic components of an after school routine. If it would work better for your family to go from downtime to playtime and then do homework right before (or right after) dinner - that would be awesome too. You may have practices or sports that have to be worked in there as well - I would think that would be the "Play" part of the routine. The point is, having a routine and knowing what is coming next helps kids AND you!  Win-win! 

What does your after school routine look like?  What can you change that would make it better?