You may be new to homeschooling and trying to get into a routine.
Or perhaps you’ve been following a rigid schedule attached to your curriculum.
Either way, now is a great time to create your own flexible homeschool schedule!
Table of Contents
Create A Yearly Homeschool Schedule
Step 1: Gather Your Supplies
- Notebook & Pencil
- A calendar
- Homeschool Curriculum–any courses or books you want to use.
Keep this really simple! I like to plan with paper and pencil. Then it is easy to make changes to my homeschool plan.
This also a great time to use an ipad for digital planning.
Step 2: Determine Your Homeschool Year
- Know your state’s homeschool laws. Does your state require a certain number of days or hours?
- Choose to follow a traditional homeschool schedule with the summer off OR plan to homeschool year round, choosing your own days off.
- Begin marking your calendar. Mark days off for birthdays, vacations, special events, and holidays.
- Mark your planned homeschool days (count out the number needed for your state). Skip this step if not required by your state.
Feeling a little lost?
Read HSLDA’s
Filling in Your School Year–The Big Picture.
Just Thinking About Homeschooling?
Homeschool Calendar Tips
Don’t stress–use a pencil to start. This is the beginning of a flexible homeschool schedule.
You can make changes! Just another benefit of homeschooling.
Step 3: Plan Your Homeschool Curriculum for the Year
- Look at your curriculum.
How is it divided? How many lessons for each chapter or topic? Is it already neatly divided into semesters or quarters?
This will give you a starting point.
Many of the books we use from Masterbooks already have suggested lesson plans.
If you are creating your own lesson plans, you have so much flexibility!
We started with three weeks and then a week off (keep in mind that we school year round–lots of flexibility in that).
Now we are homeschooling six weeks and then a week off. With longer breaks for holidays and vacations.
2. Fit the curriculum into your homeschool calendar.
A youtube video would probably be really helpful here! Perhaps I’ll make one for you. Remind me in the comments if this would be helpful to you 🙂
Reading, Writing & Arithmetic are usually a part of our daily schedule. While Science, History, Music, Art, and Spanish are 2-3 times a week.
Your homeschool calendar may include art everyday! Find the best fit for your family.
*Use a pencil and change the calendar until it fits your family and reflects what is important to you.
Sample Weekly Homeschool Schedule
Create A Daily Homeschool Schedule
Build Routines
Routines are the key to a flexible schedule.
Look into Charlotte Mason for more information about routines.
My girls do their morning routine everyday. This gets us off to a good start and everybody knows what to do.
We also have a bedtime routine! This saves my sanity at the end of a long day.
You can create routines for any part of your day that has multiple steps.
- Morning Routine
- School
- Playtime
- Lunchtime
- Library
- Chores
- Afternoon
- Bedtime Routine
Keep it simple! Especially if you are new to homeschooling. Try some of these strategies for challenging times.
Yes, I find Charlotte Mason inspiring! She was definitely a fan of routines.
Drop Anchors
Anchors keep your homeschool schedule secure.
Anchors are the solid parts of your schedule that are present and consistent everyday. They are often at a specific time.
- Breakfast
- Lunch
- Piano Practice
- Supper
- Bedtime
Write these on your daily schedule. You can even use a pen! We drop our anchors and they hold secure.
Add Priorities
If it’s important to your family, put it on your schedule.
- Devotions
- Family Game Night
- Read Aloud
If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!
Leave Room for More
Empty space on your schedule is a blessing! This space is room for MORE of the good stuff (yep…another benefit of homeschooling).
- More Boredom (This truly is a good thing!)
- More Creativity
- More Rest
- More Playtime
- More Exploring
- More Relationship
- More Hobbies
- More Experiments
Sample Daily Homeschool Schedule
Free Homeschool Planner Pages
Check in! Can I help you with your homeschool schedule?
How’s your homeschool planning going?
Have you created your own yearly and daily homeschool schedule?
Let me know how it’s going in the comments and drop in your questions too.
