Homeschool Scheduling

I think I mentioned recently that we are trying out a different schedule in our homeschool this year. When we first started out homeschooling, I managed our school very much like a public school, but largely modeled after my public school’s gifted program, Lift-Off, which I participated in during my school days.

My kids and I would wake up early and get started. We had a short recess. We ended school around 3PM and we stuck to the local school’s calendar. We had a local group that we did field trips and playdates with.

When my kids were 6 and 3, we moved. We left behind our awesome group of friends and our homeschool groups. I didn’t want them to miss out on having school friends, so we joined a co-op. That was fun for a while, but when you add in an extra-curricular activity (TKD in our case) and go on every field trip and to park days, etc. It gets old really fast.

Between getting ready and driving to these extras, plus keeping up with chores and traveling between states to help with family, and my husband traveling for work, it was just too much. We decided not to do co-op the following year. And that helped. We did continue to do field trips and TKD. We also joined a homeschool book club and made lifelong friends with a family that we met there. So that was great.

I’m not saying don’t do co-ops. Maybe your life isn’t as chaotic as mine was at the time. Maybe you’ve found your groove and can keep up with your primary curriculum as well as other things. That wasn’t the case for me, though.

I finally did find my groove, though. We went from a classroom schedule to a loop schedule. We tried five days a week and four days a week. We tried a block schedule. And each of it worked in its season until something came up and I needed to change things around again. I went back and forth a bit over the years.

Then the pandemic hit. We didn’t do extras at all. We had a loss in the family and just a lot of change at once. We still managed to get school done. We kept in touch with friends and family via Skype. We took some online classes. I think it was a rough time for most people. But we made it. God is good.

Now things are a little more normal. The boys have done horse riding lessons, chess club, and a few field trips. But our besties moved away. Travel is still in our lives, so sometimes it’s difficult to take our books wherever we go.

This year my oldest is in the 7th grade, my youngest in 3rd. I can’t believe it! I felt like it was time to tweak things again. We are experimenting with a schedule we haven’t tried before. One week we will focus on Language Arts and Mathematics. The next week we will focus on History and Science. The goal is to do one to two lessons of each a day (but some days we’ve done less or more, depending on how we feel, if the kids are getting it–that sort of thing).

I was worried it might cause them to forget what they had learned in between times, but so far this hasn’t been an issue. I may have them do a worksheet or two for the subjects they aren’t doing in the current week, just to kind of keep it fresh in their minds.

It’s actually been really great. We have more time to focus on each subject. We get to dive deeper into the subject matter. And I have more time to work with each kid individually. We grade the work together and go over anything they missed, freeing up time for me in the evenings. I think this will help when we travel as well. There won’t be so much to carry around.

In addition to those two subjects a week, we also do Bible daily. We have computer time which may include typing, coding, mystery science, CNN 10, videos for the animal of the week, and Spanish/Latin, depending on the day. They also do P.E. several times a week.

They have more time to read up on their interests, spend time with family and pets, play outside or with board games, etc. I also have more time. It’s been the change we needed.

So if you’re struggling to get things done, don’t be afraid to change things up. Take time to do a little research. Sometimes tweaking your schedule, your curricula, the grade-level, etc., will have a huge impact. You will find what’s right for you and your kids. Hang in there and keep lookin’ up.

God bless,

~T