It probably sounds silly, since we can make our own routines, but sticking to a homeschool schedule is HARD. It can be really easy to let unexpected events derail us into not completeing any work for the day, sleeping late, or getting ”behind”. While some families thrive in the randomness that homeschool allows, ours is definitely not one of those.
Today I’m sharing what a typical day and week look like in our homeschool. I’ll also share how we get back on track when things come up, and how I try to anticipate those things in advance.
Our Daily Homeschool Schedule
Here is what an ideal Monday, Wednesday, and Friday look like for us. On these days, we do a “typical” school day.
7:15 Morning Work/Breakfast
7:45 Morning Gathering
8:00 Unit Study
8:30 Reading Centers
9:00 Math Centers
9:45 Snack & Learning Show
10:15 Free Play/Outdoors
11:00 Lunch
11:30 Free Play/Outdoors
12:15 Rest Time
1:30 Snack & Activity (explained below)
2:00* Free Play/Outdoors until dinner
Tuesdays
Tuesdays are typically our field trip days. These are often weather dependent, so if they need to happen a different day during the week, we will simply switch the planned activities from Wednesday or Friday as needed. I’ll break down our field trip days next week! We typically still complete all of our subjects on Tuesdays, but I’ve arranged them to be shorter lessons.
For example, our math curriculum has four weekly lessons and one enrichment lesson for each week. Let’s say we’re on unit 5. We complete lesson 5.1 on Monday, 5.2 on Wednesday, 5.3 on Thursday, and 5.4 on Friday. Then, the following Tuesday, we’ll do lesson 5.5 from that unit, even though we’ve started Unit 6 Lesson 1 the day before. The enrichment lesson generally involves a picture book and quick game, so it takes much less time than the typical lesson and workbook activities for lessons 1-4.
Thursdays
On Thursdays, my older two kids typically spend time at their grandparents’ house. This was a tradition that started LONG before we began homeschooling, and it was so important to the kids that we plan our weeks so that they include time at ”Grammy and Papa’s”. Before we leave in the morning, we review our Bible verse and complete our math lesson. On the way there, we listen to an audiobook, and on the way home, we watch a Leap Frog DVD on letters. Often during dinner time, I will read a book that goes along with our unit study. It’s a lighter day, but we definitely manage to squeeze in moments of learning.
Special Weekly Activities
Our kids have rest time in their rooms for about an hour each afternoon, from 12:15-1:15. The youngest (2) naps until 1:30, which is usually about the time the older two finish cleaning up what they were playing with at rest time. They come downstairs and have a snack, and then we do 1-2 more afternoon activities depending on the day.
Monday
On Mondays, we have ”Movie Monday” which is an idea from Julie Bogart’s writing curriculum, Jot It Down. On these days, I try to choose a movie that’s related to our unit, and I will pause throughout the movie to interject or ask questions.
Tuesday
If we are home from our field trip by this time, we will have Poetry Tea Time. Another brilliant idea from Julie, we use this time to enjoy poetry together (sometimes related to our unit, sometimes not). We have a special snack and drink tea (or another special drink) from my great grandmother’s China. The kids absolutely love getting to use the fancy dishes.
One of the poetry books we use often is The 20th Century Children’s Poetry Treasury, which often has poems related to our unit studies, and when we don’t have related poetry that week, we read from a Shel Silverstein book. Currently, we are working our way through “A Light in the Attic”.
Wednesday
On Wednesdays, we do a portion of our Jot it Down curriculum. Each child has a composition book for this curriculum, and they dictate to me while I record what they say. This is a brilliant idea from Julie to help the children see themselves as writers long before they have the stamina to pick up a pencil and write fluently. At their ages, we are primarily working on handwriting and sentence structure. Copywork, as well as our Learning Without Tears handwriting books, help us practice that.
Often on Wednesdays we will also bake a special treat. Earlier this year we worked our way through season 8 of Kids Baking Championship. I picked this specific season because two of the little girls on the show were type one diabetic, just like our two oldest kids, and we enjoyed getting to catch a glimpse of their Dexcom glucose monitors and Omnipod insulin pumps. About halfway through an episode, we pause to make our treat, and then it bakes while we finish the episode. My parents also got the kids a subscription to the Young Chef’s Club Box for Christmas, and we have so enjoyed getting to work our way through those boxes as well.
Fridays
On Fridays, we do a second activity for the Jot it Down unit we are working through. If we’ve missed an activity that week that I really wanted to do, we can catch up at this time. Sometimes, we’ll do a special artwork project. Afterwards, we have plenty of time left in the day to play.
Getting ”Behind”
I put “behind” in quotes because one question homeschooling families love to ask is ”Behind Whom?” Which I love. One of the great things about homeschooling is the ability to go at our own pace without the stress of end of year testing. Each state has different requirements for homeschoolers, but in SC we are required to get 180 days of documented learning. We have a lot of flexibility with what counts and what we can use for these days. We can continue things next year, double up this year to finish, or simply not finish something that isn’t working.
This year, I planned to take the months of April and May off for our ”summer break”. I was hoping we’d get to enjoy some nice weather outside without the pressure of school. Since July and August are miserable outdoors in South Carolina, we prefer to have our “summer fun” in spring. My plans end the second week of March, so if we do get “behind”, we have plenty of time to cover anything before the end of May. But again, as long as we’ve gotten in our 180 days, we don’t have to.
On a weekly basis, I try to review our calendar for the next week on Fridays when I finish up my lesson plans. If we have many appointments, I plan for a lighter week to make sure I get most things on the plan done. For example, last week we had a doctor’s visit for all three kids, one specialist appointment, and one virtual appointment. Knowing that in advance, I planned to only cover three reading and three math lessons over the week, and I just fit them in when we had the time, rather than stressing that we would get “behind”.
When something unexpected comes up, I can choose to just focus on our math lesson that day, since that’s the only real scheduled curriculum we are using. Or, we can cover a few things on Saturdays or Sundays. My friend Anna had the brilliant idea to use a highlighter as you work each day. So as we do school, I highlight the things we worked on. On Fridays, I take anything that needs to be carried over and immediately add it to our plans for the next week.
So, to schedule, or not to schedule. That’s the question of the day. Let me know in the comments…does your family thrive on a homeschool schedule and set routines, or is your best homeschool life lived in spontaneity?
[…] for next year. If you want to read how we started the year, check out our curriculum and schedule posts here and then come back and find out how it […]