In this blog post i am going to share with you the homeschooling schedule that took me two years to perfect. If you are a homeschool mom, or you have been thinking of homeschooling your children, you will want to read this 🍎
I have been wanting to put this blog post together for a while and after talking with other homeschool parents, i think this is the right time.
Yesterday i was at my children’s basketball practice and i happened to be sitting next to a very tired looking mom. We got to talking and she was struggling with finding a homeschool rhythm that works for her family.
I have been that mom. I will admit that the first year we homeschooled, i tried to recreate what my children did at school (rookie mistake!) and since i was trying to keep up, all i did was burn myself out.
That summer after our first year i took a step back and thought about what i was really trying to create, and what type of learning worked for each of my children. That is the beauty of homeschool, i get to meet my kids needs where they are at and create schedules that work for our family.
This is essentially why we started the homeschool journey in the first place.
I also think there is certain type of guilt that parents feels when they take their children out of the school system. Will they have any friends? And what if they hate us for doing this?! I too struggled with these feelings.
But, almost three years on i can safely say that it is the best thing we ever did, and my kids are thriving in their own amazing ways.
I am going to share with you our schedule from Monday to Thursday. Take what you want if you know it can work for your household.
I will add, if your day doesn’t go as planned don’t beat yourself up, just pick up where you left off the next day! Also, don’t go online and watch homeschool influencers (like i did!) most of it is staged, they don’t show the hard days.
Here is our schedule:
Daily
6 AM - 8:30 AM: My self care time. I think it is important to fill your own cup before you attempt to teach and help children learn. I really committed to this during the second year of homeschooling. You can read all about my morning routine here.
8:30 AM: This is the time i wake up the children. They take a while to wake fully and i don’t rush them.
9 AM - 10:30 AM: Core subjects start - We do half an hour of each subject (math, English, science)
10:30 AM: Breakfast. This is when my kids get hungry. Sometimes i cook while they are working and sometimes we make breakfast together.
11 AM - 12:30 PM: Free play. This can either look like Art, building with Lego, or even sometimes we just play a boardgame. I let them kind of dictate the next hour or so with their own interests.
Lunch is generally at 1, just before afternoon sports which we have 3 times a week. But all “schoolwork” is done by 11AM. This used to make me feel like we are not doing enough, but the truth is, we are learning all day, it just may not look like sitting at the table with work on the table.
The days we don’t have sports in the afternoon, i may run errands, or catch up on my home jobs.
When we are home from sports or running errands, dinner is cooked and then we relax for the evening.
On Fridays we usually volunteer at the farm, visit the library, or i schedule a fieldtrip. It is a flex day where we don’t do any core subjects or real book work.
That is pretty much it!
You may be thinking about how i fit in my house cleaning, well i have schedule for that too and i fit it in around what we are already doing. Habit stacking is the best when you are a busy mom!
Also, since my children are older 14, 12, and 10, they will help and have their own assigned tasks.
Why having a homeschool routine helps
One of the things i love most about homeschooling is the freedom it give us. Since we are not tied to the same schedule as traditional school, we can adjust things and make schooling around our real lives.
However, flexibility does not necessarily mean having no routine at all. I find that having a general idea of how the day should unfold helps everyone know what to expect.
A routine can also make it easier to balance schoolwork with everything else that needs doing around the house. When you know roughly when lessons will take place, you can plan meals, fit in a few household tasks, and avoid feeling as though you are constantly jumping from one thing to another or just surviving and winging it.
I also think it is important to remember that a homeschooling routine does not need to be perfect to be effective. Some days will run smoothly, while others will take a little more patience. The aim is to have a framework that helps your family, not a strict timetable that leaves everyone feeling stressed when something changes.
Homeschooling Multiple Children at Different Ages
When you are homeschooling more than one child, organizing the day can take a little extra thought.
Each child has their own strengths, learning pace, and subjects that require more attention. What works well for one child may not work as well for another.
One approach is to combine subjects when it makes sense and separate them when individual instruction is needed.
For example, you might study a history topic together, read aloud as a family, or complete a nature study outdoors. Then each child can work on their own maths, writing, or other age-appropriate assignments.
It can also help to have a few independent activities ready for the times when you need to focus on one child.
These might include:
Independent reading.
Previously explained practice exercises.
Handwriting or spelling practice.
An assignment that the child already understands.
A project that can be completed without constant supervision.
The key is to choose tasks that are appropriate for the child's age and ability. Independent work should not mean leaving a child struggling with something they have not been taught.
I would also avoid expecting every child to follow the same timetable to the minute. A shared routine can help organise the household, but the details will naturally look different for each child.
How to Create a Homeschooling Schedule That Works for Your Family
If you are trying to organize your own homeschooling routine, I would start with a simple plan rather than attempting to create the perfect timetable straight away.
1. Look at your existing routine.
Think about when your family usually wakes up, eats meals, and has other commitments. It is much easier to build a schedule around your natural rhythm than to force everyone into a routine that does not suit them.
2. Decide which subjects need the most attention.
Identify the core lessons you want to prioritize and consider when your children tend to concentrate best.
3. Allow for individual needs.
If you have several children, think about which activities they can do together and which will require your individual attention.
4. Plan for meals and housework.
Include realistic spaces for preparing food, tidying the kitchen, and completing essential household tasks. Remember that you do not have to do everything during school hours.
5. Leave room for breaks.
Children need time to eat, move, play, and rest. You need breathing room, too.
6. Try your routine before changing everything.
Give your schedule a little time to work. After a week or two, consider which parts are helpful and which parts regularly feel rushed.
7. Adjust as your family changes.
As children get older, their workloads and independence will change. Your schedule should be flexible enough to change with them.
A homeschooling routine is something you can keep refining. You do not need to have every detail worked out before you begin.
A few homeschooling resources we use:
Studypug - I love that they use Canadian curriculum and offer video lessons so i don’t always feel like i am the one teaching. Once you set up an account, you can add a profile for each child you have so that they can work independently on lessons for their grade level. You can also track their progress and see how many tasks they have completed each week. I find studypug cost effective at only $17 per month.
We use Complete Smart math, Smart English, and Smart Science for text books as a guide. This helps us stay current with what is being taught in schools and allows us to make sure we are on the same learning path with other children the same grade. Although we are not trying to copy traditional school, i still like to be aware of what is being taught so that my kids are caught up, and even learning further than kids their ages.
Twinkl.ca is a website that i like to pull worksheets from. Again, you can select worksheets for the grade you need and most of them are free. I don’t rely on these worksheets as full curriculum, but they are great for when you need to get things done because they are usually easy enough for independent work.
ixl.com is also a great website for math.
The local library! So once a week, we go to the library. My children select two books to learn from and then 4 books each to read. Each of their reading books have to be different. So if they pick one comic, the other must be a novel of some kind. This means they are reading a variety of materials and we are a reading family.
If you homeschool, i would love to learn about what you do and how you organize your days!
