Many people have been making the shift to homeschooling. More people want control over what their children learn and at what pace they learn the curriculum. When taking under the schooling of your children, often the first question people ask is how they can create a good homeschool schedule for their family.
\nThe wonderful thing about homeschooling is you can tailor your daily schedule to fit your needs completely. You get to plan as many field trips as you like. You can do project-based learning. The possibilities are endless.
\nOne important thing to remember when setting up your homeschool schedule is that you do not have to set up a traditional seven-hour school day typically seen in public school. You won’t have a classroom full of kids to cater to, just your own, and you can make a schedule that works for you and your kiddos!
\nThere are no rules to learning and no rules to your daily schedule. It might even seem too good to be true, but you can do whatever you think works best for your family. If you are new to homeschooling, it may take some trial and error, but we know you’ll find something and hit your stride in no time!
\nWhen it comes to your daily schedule, you have a lot of flexibility. One thing a lot of homeschool parents do is buy a curriculum to help aid them in their teaching. While some may vary, most will base their curriculum around 36 weeks. Meaning that broken into two semesters, each semester would have 18 weeks.
\nBefore jumping in, be sure to check what your local or state laws are around homeschooling. Many may require that you set up your annual schedule a certain way, but the flexibility still stands when it comes to your day-to-day schedule.
\nOnce you determine your annual schedule, you can begin to break down what curriculum you want to be taught for each week. It will take some time to frame out your year, but once that is complete, you dive into what you want your day to look like for you and your kids.
\nA typical homeschool schedule may look different for every homeschool family. You need to remember that how you choose to run your day can be up to you. Again, some states require you to meet in each subject for so many hours, but you can meet those requirements in ways that work for you.
\nMost homeschool schedules are going to set time aside for reading, math, language arts, science, and social studies. You are going to spend less time schooling the younger your children are and more time schooling the older your children are.
\nKeep in mind once you are homeschooling high school students you must keep up with hours for subjects to help determine grade-point-average so they can graduate and have a high school transcript to apply for college.
\nTake a look at some scheduling tips for different ages to consider as you start making your schedule for your family.
\nWhen children are in preschool, play is a huge part of learning. You will not schedule a full day of teaching or educational activities for your child to do. You will frustrate yourself and you will frustrate them. Frustrated children are less likely to be open to learning what you are teaching.
\nConsider only having about 3 hours of instruction a day. You can set those hours for when you’d like to complete them, but be sure to have a routine and a schedule in place to optimize the time you have set aside for school.
\nBe sure you have time set aside for storytime, math, playtime, circle time, phonics, coloring, gross motor, and fine motor skills. Remember, this is preschool, you are going to have a lot of play incorporated into your lessons. Movement is great for littles in preschool.
\nKeep in mind that when children are younger you can only expect them to have an attention span of their age in minutes. So you can expect 3-year-olds to be able to listen for three minutes.
\nOnce your children have reached to point of being in elementary school, typically defined as a student in kindergarten through fifth grade, you will want to be sure that you are teaching Language Art, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Reading.
\nKeep in mind you do not have to teach each of these subjects daily. You can teach them two or three times a week. You can have instruction for a couple of days and application on the others in the form of games and practicing skills.
\nA lot of the learning should be hands-on. Children are more likely to remember when they get to do something versus being said something.
\nSetting aside time for nature walks or cooking classes can satisfy science and math. Homeschool gives you the ability to think outside the classroom. When cooking, you are measuring and using fractions–it can be a great math lesson for upper elementary. Keep it fun, and they will learn!
\nHomeschool schedules can be flexible and can be made to work for you. Whether you start at eight and end at 11 or wait until 4 pm to get started, we know you’re going to rock homeschooling with your kids! The investment that you are making will be worth it!
\nWhen students get to middle and high school, they can be given some responsibility to start doing some work independently. Through our research, we found that when parents have kids that get to upper grades, they like to go to a block system.
\nThat often means that teenagers have checklists where they are responsible for their daily tasks. Having a paper checklist for them or a digital one displayed in your home is a great way to keep your kiddos on track.
\nAgain, once students get to high school, keep up with laws and regulations in your area to ensure they have their credit hours for graduation. When you reach their later years, many parents will opt for an online curriculum to ensure their students have what they need to fulfill graduation requirements.
\nHomeschool provides some flexibility and incredible learning opportunities for people all around the world. It can allow you to teach your children the lost art of sewing or let them participate in extreme sports requiring a lot of training.
\nWith the proper schedule and curriculum, homeschooling can provide a rigorous and well-rounded education for students—all in the safety and comfort of their own home.
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