I am a BIG advocate of having a family routine or schedule, no matter what educational choices you’ve made. But I’m an even bigger advocate of creating routines that work for YOUR family as opposed to copying others routines. Every individual and every family is different and there is no one size fits all. Rather than giving you a step by step guide, I want to simply encourage you and provoke some thoughts on how to find a plan that works the best for your situation. Prior to reading this, you’ll need to already know what curriculum you’ll be using.
Situations change (so your schedule can too)
My most important tip is be flexible. While a good routine or schedule is very helpful, don’t become a slave to it. What works for you in the winter may need to be completely flipped around in spring as weather and perhaps activities change. There’s nothing wrong with changing your plan to make it work better for you.
Be willing to change your schedule or routine for each individual child when it’s necessary. Also be willing to take breaks when things are overwhelming for you or for them.
Step #1 Figure out a very basic idea for the year
I have seen some homeschool parents who sit down and draw out detailed lesson plans for an entire school year. While I’m sure that works for some, it gives me a lot of anxiety, especially when sickness or emergencies come up and you find yourself not able to stick to the plan.
What I suggest instead is to just figure out a basic plan for the year.
Start by asking yourself these questions.
– How much time every day can I dedicate to school work?
– How many days a week do I want to homeschool?
– Do I want to school year round or have the whole summer off?
– How much time do I want to take off for holidays?
– Which holidays?
– Do I want to take time off for family vacations?
– Will kids still do school work on their birthdays?
– Do my state laws require a certain number of days of instruction?
I have seen a lot of different types of homeschool schedules. Personally, we homeschool 4 days a week year round, and take breaks as needed. Our state does not require a certain number of days for homeschoolers, so we don’t have to worry about that aspect.
Many families prefer to stick to (or close to) the local public school schedule. This way their kids are free when their public school friends are and they have the whole summer to decompress.
I also know families who school five days a week for two weeks, then take a week off, and then go back to school work for another two weeks.
There is no perfect schedule or plan. Find what works for you (and remember, it’s okay to change it later)
Step #2 Figure out a weekly plan
Rather than creating a daily lesson plan, I suggest starting with vague weekly goals instead. What subjects do you want covered each week? What curriculum will you be using for each of those? How many days do you want to do each subject? How much time do you want to spend on each subject?
Some parents choose to do every subject every day. Others (like me) would rather do math and reading daily, and alternate the others. For example, you may choose to do history on Monday, science on Tuesday, art on Wednesday, music on Thursday, and a make-up day on Friday. Another less common option I’ve seen is focusing on one “extra” at a time. For example, doing math and reading daily, and then focusing on science every day for two weeks, then switching to history for another two weeks. Again, everyone is different. Different isn’t wrong.
Add to your list non-school things as well. Cleaning time, fun time, date night time, etc. Just whatever you plan to do at least once a week, put it on there.
Step #3 Make your basic daily plan.
After you have a weekly plan made up, it’s time to make a basic daily schedule.
You’re going to need to ask yourself these questions now.
– How much time do I need for each child’s school work?
– How much time do I need for housework?
– When will I need some quiet time to compose myself?
– What activities do we have outside of the house each week?
– How much preparation time do I need each day?
– Which subjects require more of my attention?
– What can my kids do independently?
Once you’ve got that all sorted out, you’ll need to find a way to write down a very basic schedule. I am currently just using an Excel file, but there are some great options out there as well!
Start with non-negotiable scheduled things that happen almost every week or even day. Example: church, sports activities, classes, therapy, etc. and put them on the schedule.
After that, figure out what other things require a lot of focus from you and need to be prioritized. For me, that’s usually math and reading for all of my kids. I put those things generically on the schedule (literally just their name and then reading, or math). Then I make sure to put them in a time of day that that child will be most focused, and I will have the mental energy required. I typically try to limit subjects to 20 minutes max, but that may vary depending on the age and abilities of your particular children.
After the priority subjects are there, I go ahead and add in everything else from our weekly plan, again, being as vague and generic as possible. I don’t put specific assignments. I just put in a general plan.
Step #4 Make An Actual Schedule, But Just For One Week
Once again, there are so many options here. I typically make two separate schedules each week.
The first schedule is for me. I type it up on Excel and it looks a bit crazy if we are being honest as I have five kids, so life in general is quite crazy. There is one section for each day of the week. I put each of the kids’ names across the top, and I put the time period I’m referencing on the left hand side.
I put in specific information and expectations for each child, and I highlight each one that involves my attention (to make sure I haven’t overbooked myself).
After this, I also print up a separate schedule for each of the older kids who can read well. On this one, it only has their expectations for each day, and a place they can put a check when it’s completed. This helps them stay on task and be able to know what’s clearly expected of them.
After one week, re-evaluate. Did you leave yourself enough time for everything? Too much time? What worked? What didn’t?
I also do only one week at a time because this enables me to adjust the next week for things that may be coming up the next week that weren’t there the week before).
What does our whole routine or schedule look like?
To me, a schedule means a system that is very much dependent upon the actual time of the clock. A routine is simply an order in which things are done.
Which one is better depends on which one helps your family stay sane. For me, that’s a routine rather than a schedule. To be entirely honest, I wish I could be a schedule type of mom, but every time I have tried it has failed miserably! Instead, we have a basic routine set up that works for us.
Mornings (after breakfast, before lunch) are our cleaning time. We all have assigned chores and work together to get things in order.
Afternoon (after lunch, before dinner) is our school time.
Evening (after dinner, before bed) is our family fun time.
I have approximate times I TRY to have meals ready, but it’s not perfect by any means.
As far as school goes, I used a bit of a public school term in my scheduling, and that is “periods”. Each period is 30 minutes, however, most take 15-20. I just like giving myself a little bit of extra time for transitions, switching around, getting kids set up with activities, etc. Because we do school four days a week, and because I do allow that extra time for “just in case” situations, our “routine” on paper consists of 8 periods a day, which equates to 4 hours.
Are my kids doing school for 4 hours a day? Absolutely not! These periods include several break times, and fun things like board games, play-doh, crafts, and more. But it is all written out so I know what’s going on.
The older two are also fully aware that if they want the breaks the way they are on the schedule, that’s okay. But if they’d rather push themselves to get all of their independent work done on their own, they are welcome to do so. Choosing this option then allows them to have a very long break after school and before dinner where they can use this time to do anything educational that they would like. This includes extra time on educational apps, activities, improving skills, baking, etc. The younger ones (who are less capable of working and making decisions on their own), are held more tightly to the routine, though there is definitely a lot of flexibility there as well.