Creating a Homeschool Schedule Around Your Life

When I first started homeschooling my two youngest kids, I was running an in-home childcare. So, as you can imagine, the days were very busy. I struggled at first with how to get the lessons in for my kids and still care for the childcare children well. It took me a little bit of time to learn how to juggle the two roles effectively.

A thought that helped me to set up a schedule that would work for our family was that it doesn’t have to look like traditional school. I don’t HAVE to get schooling done in the hours that traditional school does or even set up the day like traditional school is set up. Once I truly believed that thought and set up our schedule the way our family needed it, the days were not as stressful (don’t mistake that for every day was perfect because it was far from that! 😉).

The flexibility of being able to tailor the homeschool schedule to fit our individual family needs is a huge benefit to homeschooling! I was able to make the schooling work for us not the other way around. Not every day was smoothly run, of course there is always hiccups; but for the most part, we were able to create a homeschool schedule around OUR life. And you can have that too.

Assessing Your Family’s Needs and Priorities

Understanding your family’s unique lifestyle, routines and obligations is the best place to start when setting up a homeschooling schedule that fits around your life. Sitting down and listing out daily, weekly, and monthly commitments (work, appointments and extracurriculars) will help you when you start to put your schedule together.

Understanding Different Scheduling Approaches

Doing some research on different types of scheduling will also help when you are trying to put together a schedule that will work for your family. Here are the common types to jump start your research:

Traditional: Studying all the subjects at once with a set amount of time each day designated for each one. Example-

                                                             8:00-8:20- vocab and daily journal

                                                             8:20-9:00- math

                                                             9:00-9:30- snack and stretch break  ECT.

Block Scheduling: Organizing your homeschool subjects in a way so you are doing fewer subjects at any given time. This allows for deeper focus on fewer things throughout the day. You can do this as a weekly block schedule or a term block schedule. An example of a weekly block schedule-

you might do 20 to 30 minutes of daily learning to start your day (like journal writing, reading, and math practice), but then focus only on one or two subjects for the rest of your homeschooling time. For example, Mondays might be for science and Wednesdays for language arts. You would group all your weekly subject work together, completing it in one day, and then focusing on a different subject the next day. An example for a term block schedule-

The mindset is similar, but you might decide to tackle only one or two subjects per quarter or semester, like social studies from September to November and science from March to May. You could even plan these terms around things happening in your child’s environment. For instance, you could study a presidential election during your social studies quarter or observe the natural growth of plants and animals in the spring.

Loop Scheduling: a flexible approach to homeschool planning that allows you to rotate through a list of subjects or activities without feeling tied to a strict schedule. You create a list of all the subjects or activities you want to cover, like math, science, history, art, and so on. Then, instead of scheduling each one for a specific day or time, you order them in a loop. Example of a loop schedule-

Math

Language Arts

Science

History

Art

If you only had time to complete Math, Language Arts, and Science on Monday, you would start with History on Tuesday and continue your Loop until you are out of time that day.

History

Art

Math

Language Arts

Science

Unschooling: is an approach to home education based on learning through living rather than through the conventions of school, parents partnering with their children rather than re-creating "school at home", and children following their interests and curiosity, with help and resources from supportive parents.

Experimenting to find the best fit for your family is key. Rule out the ones you know will not work and try out the ones you think will. A lot of homeschooling, I have found, is trial and error. And you won’t mess anything up for trying, promise 🙂

Establishing a Flexible Routine

A schedule is a plan of actions that are tied to a specific time, while a routine is a sequence of events that occur in a certain order, but not tied to time. I think knowing the difference between those two is important. Following a schedule usually doesn’t allow you to have spontaneity. Having a routine or a flow for the day allows for conversations to flow since you’re not rushing onto the next thing because of a timeline you have put yourself on. Also remembering to incorporate regular breaks, free time and family activities is important too. Most families, if they are not schooling year-round, choose to take time off usually around holidays to give everyone a break and to enjoy family time.

Integrating Homeschooling with Daily Life

Just about everything you do in your day-to-day life can be used as a homeschooling lesson, so don’t underestimate the mundane. Daily tasks like cooking (math or science), grocery shopping (budgeting or nutrition), travel (geography or history), or even laundry (life skill!) can be easily incorporated into the day of learning. Using real-life experiences can often solidify the information better.

Balancing Work, Household Responsibilities, and Homeschooling

Having a routine set up for these things are going to be the best way for success in all these areas. Time management strategies are not only good for your child to learn but for you to know and show them as well!

The best way to help children with time management and getting help in getting things done around the house is to include them in it. Make certain age-appropriate chores part of their homeschooling routine. They not only learn time management in doing this, but they also learn important life skills.

Also, please remember that it is important that you as the parent have some sort of self-care happening. This will help you be able to pour out into all that you do in a day from a place of wellness and not a place of burnout.

What I hope you walk away from reading this is homeschooling can be a truly rewarding experience when you design a schedule that fits your family's unique needs and lifestyle. Remember, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. By assessing your family's priorities, exploring different scheduling methods, and integrating learning into daily life, you can create a homeschooling routine that works for you. Don't be afraid to experiment and make adjustments as needed. Most importantly, prioritize your family's well-being and ensure you enjoy the homeschooling journey. With flexibility and thoughtful planning, you'll find that homeschooling can seamlessly blend into your life, offering rich and fulfilling educational experiences for your children.