Create a Homeschool Schedule and Setup That Works for You

Each family is unique, and so each family’s homeschool day will be unique too. I want to share some ideas with you so that you can create your own homeschool space, schedule, and routine, something that works for your family and doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s.

Your School Space

First of all, let’s think about your school space. Where do you do school? Just anywhere? In a certain room?

Our home is quite small (6×8 square meters) for the six of us, so I have to keep looking for ways to live minimally and fit everything in an organized way. The dream of a school room is for some time in the future. However, we get by well at this stage just by having a small setup. Sometimes we have had to do our school work around the dining room table, and sometimes we have had the blessing of a small desk.

Set up for Success

Set up your homeschool space in such a way that it serves you. For me it means being more minimalistic and practical.

Organize and Minimalize

Homeschool stuff and supplies can quickly become too much. If you have a small home like mine, or even in a bigger space, I encourage you to go through and organize and minimalize.

Get rid of stuff you never use. Put everything in its place. This will save space, and even create space.

Take Inventory

Sometimes we fall into the trap of getting more school supplies whenever we find good deals. Maybe school shopping is as much fun for you as it is for me.

The problem is that we can easily end up with way more pencils, rulers, glue bottles, or other supplies than we need.

Keep track of what you have so you don’t end up with a stash for several years. This will help you to have more space too.

Daily Homeschool Schedule or Routine

For the past couple of years I have been doing some preschool and kindergarten work with one or the other of my children. So we have had a kindergarten homeschool schedule too that looks different than now with a first grader.

I find that our daily homeschool schedule is constantly changing, but that is to be expected with a growing family. Our routines probably don’t look quite like anyone else’s, but that’s okay. That’s the good thing about homeschooling, we can adjust everything to our unique family’s needs.

For this year our school days are very flexible. If I have an appointment or something major comes up, we skip school for the day. But so far we have generally averaged four days a week. Once we get into higher grades and it won’t all depend on me so much, we plan to stick more to a formal schedule.

Our Schedule or Routine

While each family must come up with their own daily schedule, seeing the way others structure their homeschool day can give us some ideas. Here is our routine for this stage of life.

On a typical day, around 6 in the morning the children are getting up. First, they help their dad with the outdoor animal chores while I make breakfast. Then we all have breakfast and Marcos leaves for work around 7. Next, the girls and I get busy dressing and combing them, and doing their morning chores (which include dishes, cleaning up the house, etc.)

While they are doing their chores I help out as needed, start laundry, make beds, and just supervise getting the house in order. The girls usually get to play awhile yet after their chores, while I finish up my work.

Around 9 a.m. I am usually ready and call them all to the school time. Sometimes we have done Circle time first (some people call it morning basket), where we sit around the living room and go through some songs, memory work, and other family subjects which can include reviewing manners, basic safety, or anything else I want them to learn that doesn’t necessarily come in their schoolbooks.

Right now I find it easier to start with the school subjects, helping each one as needed, and then doing Circle time around 11 when we are done with the bookwork for the day.

During school time I start my oldest daughter on some independent work like her math lesson or penmanship, and the second one gets started on two pages of her kindergarten or preschool book. Then I work with the youngest one with some basic preschool, for even younger children are happier with a bit of Mommy/school time.

I work with my oldest whenever she needs help.

The rest of the day is spent with regular housework or anything else I need to do. During the afternoon I try to get in some quiet time for everyone, as well as time to read to the girls, and maybe go out on a walk if it is possible.

Plan Your Daily Homeschool Schedule

Your plan might be more flexible or more rigid based on your family’s needs. That is all fine. I find that even a flexible, loose daily schedule is better than no plan or routine at all.

Obviously with older children it can look quite a bit different than with littles like mine.

You can find many sample homeschool schedules online. Gather information and find something that works for your family. There are so many different types of homeschool schedules. The best homeschool schedule is the one that works for you. Here are some more ideas or common types of schedules.

Loop Schedule

A loop schedule is where you rotate through the same list of subjects, stopping where you need and picking up the next day where you left off. This insures that you get through everything, even though it’s not every day.

You could also plan for each day of the week to look different.

Block Schedule

I like to use the block schedule and the loop schedule together for my homeschool routine. In a block schedule you have certain time frames blocked off for certain things. This also helps me get things done.

School work gets done only during certain hours, what doesn’t get done stays for another day. That way I can also dedicate time to housekeeping and other things I need to do.

Year-round Schedule

For many families it ends up working out better to homeschool year-round, taking breaks as needed. What makes an effective homeschool schedule is finding out what works for you for each stage of life.

More Things to Consider

If you make a schedule or routine you might want to make sure to have some quiet time for everyone. That is such a nice time for the homeschooling mom to recharge!

Plan for free time or free play for the children as that is so important. Plan for some fun activity sometimes for your children, even if it means a bit more work for mom. It will make happy memories for your children.

Maybe you could set aside a day a week for field trips and learning outside the books, sort of like an off day. If your children have extracurricular activities like piano lessons and such, plan all of them for the day that you go out, so you can be at home more on the other days.

What is most important to you? Use that to plan your days.

Save it for later!

COMMENT BELOW!

Homeschooling is so much fun for me. I know it isn’t for everyone, but it is one of my favorite things to do – watching my children learn and grow.

I am always learning and gathering ideas from others too. How does your school time go with just little people in the house? What does your weekly schedule look like?