The Best Homeschool Schedule For You

Happy New Year!

So, how did last year go for you?

Did you accomplish everything you wanted to?

How about your last semester?

A new year is a good time to stop and reflect.

It is recommended to reevaluate

a few times through the year, some say 3 times a year, which is what I do, some say quarterly.

What did you love about last year?

What would you like to do better?

Take a moment to jot down some things that come to mind. This could be what you want to accomplish in homeschooling or in yourself, academically, spiritually, physically, even financially. To me homeschooling covers all of these areas.

Many life coaches recommend having a goal to focus on, this works well in homeschooling too. Think about what you would like to accomplish and write down the goals you want to focus on for this next semester and for the next year.

Now let’s talk about a schedule to work towards accomplishing your goal.

Schedules will be as different as homeschooling. It will depend on the ages of your children, size of your family, availability to resources such as computers or other media. Your personality will also determine what works best for you and your children.

That is a lot of variables and I haven’t even listed them all. But there is no right or wrong, only what works best for you, so instead of telling you the best method to schedule your homeschool day I will give you a few basic ideas and you can see what works best for your family.

I have used all of these methods at one time or another. I have learned to change and adapt as my children or I need. Be flexible. Life happens and children grow, things change and that is OK.

What works this year may not work next year, don’t worry about it, just change as needed. That is one reason we are always reevaluating, that and to stay focused.

Think of your goal as a target you are aiming for, you may not hit the target straight away but with consistent work you will continue to get closer.

There is also a difference between a schedule and a routine but for the sake of this article I will cover them both as a type of schedule.

Now let’s get to it.

Block Schedule

This is a typical schedule where you plan everything by hours or even half hours.

Example:

8am have breakfast

9am math

10am language arts etc.…

You can find many printable forms or planners for this method. This schedule requires a strict adherence.

Problems can arise if unforeseen or unexpected events come up and alter the schedule, then tasks either get skipped or backed up.

This is a good type of schedule if your days tend to be predictable.

High schoolers or more mature students can do well with a block schedule if a set amount of time is given for school or if there is a consistent work schedule to fit into the plan.

It is also good if you have resources that children need to share such as a computer or a certain book or educational media that they can’t use together, you can block off time designated for each child to use the resource.

Relaxed Block Schedule

This is much like the block schedule but with more flexibility.

Larger blocks of time are set to accomplish a group of related tasks.

Such as: setting the time between 9am-Noon for a group of subjects or time on the computer

Noon-2pm for lunch and chores

2pm-5pm creative, or outdoor activiti