Discover the Best Homeschool Schedule [That Works for Your Family!]
Trying to find your family’s rhythm and come up with a homeschool schedule that works?
Schedules are important in all areas of life. They establish stability so that everyone knows what to expect, which is especially important when it comes to establishing a homeschool schedule.
Kids need to know how things should generally run from day to day to create a sense of normalcy.
Does this mean that your homeschool schedule will always go as planned? Of course not!
Having a schedule gives you and your children a baseline to operate from, but also gives you the flexibility to move things in your schedule around to suit any changes to your life.
Fortunately, you don’t need to figure out a homeschool schedule all on your own.
You can turn to more experienced homeschool moms to share what has worked for them.
Below is advice about homeschool schedules from other homeschool veterans for you to check out, but first let’s look at the different types of homeschool schedules.
Homeschool Schedule Ideas
Before you get started creating your schedule, there are a few things you need to keep in mind:
- Homeschool scheduling is not a one-size-fits-all deal. Just like your family is unique, so should your schedule be. You have freedom in homeschooling to find what works for YOU, taking bits and pieces of advice from others, and finding what is the ideal homeschool routine for your family.
- You need to be consistent, yet flexible. If your child is having a rough day, you might need to throw out the schedule and adjust to meet your child’s emotional needs. Educational training can wait. Heart training cannot.
- What works now most likely won’t work later on. You’ll have new things added to your life throughout the years (or even months) that will require you to adjust your homeschool schedule.
- You don’t need to follow the same routine as institutionalized education. Once again, you can embrace the freedom that comes from homeschooling.
- You know your kids better than anyone. So, have confidence that you can create a daily homeschool schedule that will work for your family.
Now let’s take a look at the different types of homeschool schedules.
Sample Homeschool Schedule
For most people, keeping it simple is the best way to go.
A lot of parents get frustrated because they try to overload their kids’ schedules with too many things thinking they have to fit it all in.
Remember, your homeschool doesn’t have to look like a traditional school.
Simple is better.
Here’s an example of a simple homeschool schedule that you can adapt to your needs:
- 9:00 am – Reading & Language Arts
- 9:45 am – Math
- 10:15 am – Break
- 10:30 am – History & Social Studies
- 11:00 am – Art
- 11:30 am – Lunch & Play
- 12:30 pm – Science
- 1:00 pm – Self Interest Studies (instruments, coding, etc.)
Many homeschoolers end their school day at 1pm or earlier.
Remember, it doesn’t take as long to homeschool a few kids as it does to teach a classroom of 25-30 children.
Homeschool Daily Schedule
If you feel the need to create a daily homeschool schedule, remember that you should remain flexible.
One way to create a homeschool daily schedule is to start with the work that you want your kids to accomplish for the month. Then take that work and break it down by weeks and then by days.
Doing it this way allows you to assign specific lessons to each day of the week.
If your kids are good at working independently, then this type of schedule allows them to see exactly what needs to be done and when, eliminating the need to wait on you for assignments.
Homeschool Weekly Schedule
Creating a schedule for the week allows more freedom than a daily schedule.
To create a homeschool weekly schedule, organize your homeschool material by month and then separate it further into weeks.
For instance you may know that in math you know you want your child to get through a full chapter in one week that includes 5 lessons.
So instead of assigning a lesson to each day as you might do with a weekly schedule, instead you assign that chapter to the WEEK and let your child finish it at their own pace.
They may complete one lesson per day or they may finish two lessons each day, leaving Friday as a no math day.
The point is, a homeschool weekly schedule can offer you a lot of freedom.
4 Day Homeschool Schedule
You may think a 4-day homeschool schedule is impossible, but that’s not true.
While it does require slightly longer days, it’s completely doable and a very popular choice for many homeschoolers.
With a 4-day homeschool week, you can choose any day to be your day off from school.
If you like to have long weekends, taking Friday or Monday off will work best for you. If there’s an activity that meets for several hours during the middle of the week, then taking off Wednesday or Thursday will work better for you.
Here are some benefits of a 4-day homeschool schedule:
- More family time when parents are off work on the weekends
- More time for your child’s interests
- Ability to participate in activities outside the home that meet during more traditional school hours
To make a 4-day homeschool schedule, first decide which day you want to take off.
Next, decide on the length of your homeschool day for instructions. Remember that you will probably need to lengthen your days to accommodate the day you take off.
Finally, decide the day you want to place each subject and how many days a week you want to do each subject.
You can start with a rough sketch of how you want your week to go and adjust as you get further into your school year.
Year Round Homeschool Schedule
This is the schedule I use with my kids in out homeschool and we love it!
The idea of a year round schedule is that you get to take your time moving through the course work because you aren’t limited to only nine months for a school year.
What we do is for every six weeks of school, we take a week off. We also take extended breaks for Thanksgiving and Christmas, we take a full month off in the summer and we do lighter work in the summer.
It works out great for our family because the kids know that a break is always on the horizon. They look forward to watching the calendar and reminding me that “we have a break next week!”
Because let’s face it, burnout is real. But with a year round homeschool schedule, more frequent built-in breaks allow me and my kids to avoid that. Most of the time.
Homeschool Loop Schedule
We’ve done a traditional daily schedule and loop scheduling in our homeschool and the one that worked best for us was using a loop schedule.
A homeschool loop schedule allows you to fit more subjects in on a rotating basis.
For example, if you want to do music, drawing, sign language and knitting as electives, with a loop schedule you just rotate through each subject so that they all get equal time.
No matter when you finish a lesson for music, when electives come up on the schedule again, you know that drawing is your next elective subject to tackle.
Homeschool Block Schedule
A homeschool block schedule allows you to set aside a chunk of time dedicated to specific subjects during the week.
So, instead of doing math five days a week, with a block schedule you might block off an hour for math on Mondays and Wednesdays.
With this method you get more focused time on a particular subject. This works well for students who need extra time working through subjects that are difficult for them or that they really enjoy.
Things to Remember When Choosing a Homeschool Schedule
Remember, you don’t have to choose one type of schedule and follow it rigidly.
You can choose a combination of schedules or try one for a month and try another the next month.
The point is, find what works best for your family and remain flexible to changes.
There is not a right or wrong way of scheduling. Each family has a unique set of needs and goals.
I hope that these homeschool schedule ideas have encouraged you to find a routine that works for your family.
I encourage you to draft up a plan for your family and adjust it over the next few months to find the best fit.
