20 In Homeschooling

Create a Homeschool Schedule That Works

Creating a homeschool schedule can feel like a daunting task, especially if you are a newer homeschool mom. It doesn’t have to be, though! I love all the planning and scheduling that goes into our homeschool…maybe that’s just me?

 

Now, there have been times and seasons where I am just flying by the seat of my pants, and we have gotten by just fine. However, as I have added more babies and more students into the fold, I have become more of a routine and schedule person for my sanity, as well as my children. Our house just functions better when we are all on a routine. I say routine, because I am still flexible. We may not always start school at 9am, but we start with that goal and just keep the routine going from there. My children know what is expected and when and I appreciate knowing what is coming next.

 

 

Of course, now that we added our 8th baby to the mix and our 11 year old was diagnosed with leukemia, our routine has been thrown off for awhile and that is fine by me. I know we will get back to it when we can. If you are in a season where you have only little ones, your schedule will look quite different from mine. The important thing is to create a schedule that works for your family, for your season.

 

 

If y0u are interested in a tour of our homeschool room, you can see that here

 


 

If you need more encouragement and tons of resources to help you plan an implement a great homeschool year,  I also have an entire section on Homeschool Planning and Organizing on the blog, with plenty of helpful  printables.

 

And if you would like to make it even easier on yourself, grab the SIMPLE HOMESCHOOL PLANNER here and have everything you need to plan and implement a successful homeschool year.


 

 

Things to keep in mind when you are creating a homeschool schedule:

 

Leave plenty of white space…by this I mean plan for the unexpected but normal life happenings. Do not schedule your time minute by minute.. that is just not realistic. Make sure you schedule in breaks and keep your curriculum in mind. If you are schooling for 36 weeks, you may want to only lesson plan for 32 weeks to allow for margin.

 

Be realistic in your planning. Consider the season you are in and schedule with that in mind. You may need to consider important activities for your family in your scheduling or a holiday or vacation coming up.

 

Don’t be afraid to change the schedule as needed…yes, I said that even as a type A personality. I’m a big fan or erasable pens and washi tape!

 

I am going to share how I go about making our homeschool schedules, in the hopes that it will help you out a bit.

This post contains affiliate links.

Create a Homeschool Schedule That Works with Free Planning Printables

Create a Homeschool Schedule For Your Family:

 

There are many different homeschool schedules that you can follow. You do not need to follow your local public school calendar, but can if you wish. Older students may have a different schedule than younger children. Some examples of a yearly schedule would be:

  • Follow the public school calendar
  • Labor Day to Memorial Day
  • Year Round
  • 4 Days a Week
  • 6 Days a Week, with each being a shorter day
  • 6 weeks on, one week off (Sabbath scheduling)
  • January to December

 

HOW I PLAN OUR HOMESCHOOL SCHEDULE:

 

YEARLY:

I start out by loosely planning our entire year. I use the Year At A Glance printable (grab it below!) and also my Yearly Overview printable to determine which weeks we will have off throughout the school year, when holidays and vacations are, and when are terms will start and end. I know we typically take off December and June. This gives us about 44 weeks throughout the year to work with and we are only required to do 180 days.

 

Then I use the Yearly Schedule printable, one for each child. It is a loose plan, but it helps me to do that in the beginning, so I know where we are headed as a whole. I keep my homeschool goals in mind as I do this. At the end of this post, you can download this tracker and use it for yourself. You’ll write in each subject at the top, and your school weeks will go down the left column. This makes it so you can have a guideline for each week you plan on schooling. This may be too much planning for your family and that is ok, but I love having a general guideline for my year before I start my weekly planning.

 

WEEKLY:

I live off our weekly schedules. I made a schedule for each of my school age children and then I have a family schedule that I keep posted in our kitchen. This is where I spend most of my scheduling time.

Here is what my 6th grader’s schedule looked like a few years ago:

6th grade homeschool schedule example

HERE’S A VIDEO TO SHOW YOU EXACTLY HOW I PLAN OUT OUR YEARLY AND WEEKLY SCHEDULE:

*Grab this printable (updated!) here

 

  • Each of my school age children have one of these schedules, but they vary depending on age, of course. We all do chores together three times a day, which has helped our household tremendously. I have tried to make their schedules so that when the older students are working independently, I can work with the younger ones.

 

  • The older children will start out the day with their own Bible reading and then everyone starts their Math. I prefer all my children doing Math at the same time, so my mind is in “math mode” and I can easily help those who need it.

 

  • After Math, we have our Morning Time. This usually takes about an hour and it is a time where we sit on couches and sing and read and work together as a family. We have all grown to love our Morning Time. You can see more details in this video if you are interested, although I filmed this a couple years ago. For up to date morning work, visit me on Instagram.  Morning Time is when we incorporate these seasonal bundles into our homeschool. 

 

  • Then we are all doing History or Science together as a family. Because of the age differences, we have different levels, but are able to still combine these subjects.

 

  • Next we go into Language Arts. We use The Good & The Beautiful, with each child in their own level. I work with each child as needed, as I am right there with them.

 

 

Next, they all pick a book from our Book Basket. I used to assign particular books and pages I wanted them to read, but have found it works out much better for me to let them choose what they want to read. I have curated which books I want to put in our Book Basket and they are free to choose from those. The older ones read silently while I read aloud to my younger ones.

 

 

After lunch, my younger students should be done with their school for the day. My sixth grader will still have some independent work in the afternoon. This allows me time to work one on one with my older kids. They are mostly independent, as they use True North Homeschool Academy for the majority of their classes, but I like to check in regularly.

**

 

Now, as far as the Family Schedule…this is a guideline that shows me what we are doing each day of the week. I have our school hours scheduled in and our chore times, as well as any daily activities we have. I also schedule in my blogging time and my business time each day as well as my quiet time. You can grab a blank copy of this printable to use with your family as well.

 

 

Here is our homeschool schedule right now….

5:00 am – Mom’s Quiet Time (Why I Wake Before My Kids)

8:00 am – Breakfast and chores for everyone (take a look at the Stay at Home Survival Bundle!)

9:00 am – SCHOOL STARTS

2:00 pm – SCHOOL ENDS (I usually put the little one down for a nap and check emails or Instagram during this time)

3:00 pm – Chore time for all: We have a chore chart in the kitchen. (see 10 Habits of Highly Effective Homemakers)

3:30 pm – Free Time (during the school year, my son has wrestling practice now)

5:00 pm – Dinner Prep (I put on a podcast and get busy in the kitchen!)

6:00ish – Dinner (How To Meal Prep)

6:30pm – This depends on the day and time of year, but someone may have an activity around this time.

7:00pm – Nighttime chores, family read aloud & get ready for bed (This can take about an hour or so)

8:30pm: Ideally, kids are in bed and mom and dad have some free time. I usually will work on my Red Aspen business or chat on Instagram or read a book, visit the Simple Home Community, etc.

9:00pm: Bed for mom

 

 

And that’s a wrap! It is not always a smooth flowing homeschool schedule and things may need to be changed or switched around, but it is what is working for my family right now. I hope it helped you see that a homeschool schedule can be a good thing for your family and that is doesn’t have to be overwhelming!

 

CONNECT WITH ME ON INSTAGRAM FOR THE MOST UP TO DATE SCHEDULES


 

YOU CAN GET ALL THESE PRINTABLES I MENTION BY JOINING OUR HOMESCHOOL EMAIL LIST. **I HAVE UPDATED SO YOU’LL GET THE 2023-2024 CALENDARS.

** THEY WILL BE SENT RIGHT AWAY, BUT YOU DO NEED TO CONFIRM YOU WANT THEM FIRST!** HAPPY PLANNING!


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20 Comments

  • Reply
    Candice | The Brown Eyed Mom
    July 17, 2017 at 10:11 pm

    Thank you for sharing your schedule! I have spent the last couple of weeks planning then re-planning then scraping that plan and starting over. I’m so type A I need to let go a little!

  • Reply
    Creating a Homeschool Schedule Printable - Homeschool Printables for Free
    July 30, 2018 at 2:27 am

    […] Grab Yours Here! […]

  • Reply
    Katie H.
    October 26, 2018 at 9:37 pm

    This is great info! Thanks for sharing!
    Question: what time do your kids typically wake up?

    • Reply
      terryn
      October 27, 2018 at 7:19 am

      Hi Katie! My kids wake up at different times in different seasons. The little ones are usually up around 6-7 and the older ones will sleep until I let them ? I am not super strict on a schedule, it’s more the routine of the schedule. So if they wake up late, we just adjust. Hope that helps!

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    March 20, 2020 at 3:03 pm

    […] is a great website to help you set up your own schedule. Also, Khan Academy has a really good example with access to […]

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    DKDRinc
    April 15, 2020 at 1:12 pm

    Here is a great video on homeschooling with links to recourses! https://youtu.be/WLyOkPXAXRE

  • Reply
    Kim
    May 5, 2020 at 9:48 am

    Thanks for the nice tips and sharing your homeschool schedule! I appreciate it that you emphasize flexibility and having some wiggle room when creating our daily schedule. As a homeschool mom of multiple kids, following an authoritarian, minute by minute schedule is just impossible! 😀

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    Priyanka
    July 13, 2020 at 10:59 am

    I was looking for a homeschooling routine for my son. He doesn’t go to school yet, I’ll use your routine to outline a schedule for him. Thanks

  • Reply
    Teresa
    July 13, 2020 at 5:49 pm

    I live in a multigenerational household, and my son and his wife announced that they plan to homeschool – when they have children in another year or two. I’m a retired professor and plan to help out a little here and there. Right now I’m keeping my eye out for articles and tips like this. Thank you!

  • Reply
    Tabatha
    July 14, 2020 at 2:33 pm

    Thank you for sharing these helpful schedules, Terryn! I’ve homeschooled my daughter for the last 3 years and will be adding in my son next year. Going from 1 to 2 makes me a bit nervous. I love how you’re still able to keep a healthy schedule with a larger family and especially how you’ve taught you’re children from an early age to be such hard workers!

  • Reply
    Bre Paulson
    July 19, 2020 at 12:18 pm

    With the next school year still up in the air for us, I might need to institute some of your ideas here!

  • Reply
    Marie
    July 31, 2020 at 6:44 pm

    Can you type on these? I was hoping it was a file I could type and add my subjects. I am not able to download.

  • Reply
    Shannon Nielsen
    August 17, 2020 at 11:04 pm

    Hello! I was just sitting down to plan out our year and I noticed the ‘Yearly Planning’ calendar is off. (Example -September 2020 has the Sundays as 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 and it should be 6, 13, 20, 27. Is there a way to get an updated version? Also, I have the same question as the previous commenter – I was really, really hoping I could type onto the document directly instead of handwriting. Any chance of that being possible? Thank you!!!

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