Your weekly homeschool schedule is perhaps one of the most important aspects of an easy flowing and on track homeschool year. Yet, I have a love-hate relationship with all things scheduled. In this podcast, I share tried and true methods, the difference between schedules and routines and how to mesh a free-spirit with a paper-trail that validate that yes, you did homeschool this year.

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When you think about planning your homeschool you think big picture. The overall goals of your homeschool as well as the books and subjects you will cover that year. When you consider your weekly homeschool schedule, now it is time to break it up into manageable bits that can be accomplished in a day, and ultimately in one week. You can easily manage this plan with a good planner. I love the Well Planned Gal planners and wish these were available when I began homeschooling.

Once you answer these questions it will be easier to make a plan. As you probably realize without me telling you is that homeschoolers rarely fit into one, nice, neat box. There are things that overlap our day. Besides school, we have the busy life of a mom with all the household chores and obligations. I will share some ways to simplify this with you – and hopefully, it will take some of the stress of planning away.

The most important take away in this podcast is to realize that you can change and tweak your plan all year long. If something does not work don’t think you have to continue it all year long. *Listen to this podcast as Felice shares her math curriculum nightmare her first year of homeschooling her son, Neal.

Depending on the method you use, there will be a different emphasis on how you set up your day and your weekly homeschool schedule.

Here is an example of several methods and how you might structure your week – and then work on your daily schedule. One thing I have not discussed is homeschooling co-ops. I have a love-hate relationship with co-ops because as you’ve probably guessed I’m an overachiever and many times the bulk of the teaching and planning. I did like co-ops for teaching lab sciences such as biology especially and when the children were younger with group projects such as history—studying a period of time, or an indebt unit on creation science. (Listen to the CreationSciencePodcast.com).

If you are involved in a co-op your daily schedule will work around co-op times. Some co-ops are very involved where the main bulk of the teaching is completed at a paid facility on Monday and Wednesday and the parent homeschools on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday or vice versa. If you are part of a co-op you will plan with the organization or your group of homeschool friends and work out the details of what you will be responsible for teaching at home.

One thing – and I plan to do a podcast on the role of a homeschool teacher. A teacher is a facilitator –someone who engages your child in learning in a way that is interesting and enticing a child’s natural curiosity to learn. We all hear stories of the teacher’s that love to “blow things up,” to gain a child’s attention. We as moms with so much on our plate, especially if we are teaching multiple children or grades may feel this is too much. One bit of advice, allow your child time to explore and delve into the things that interest them, and you can provide these things through time. Again, I don’t have the time I’d like to explain more in this podcast, but it is upcoming soon!

My advice, if you are not using a set curriculum is to look at what you’d like to accomplish for the week, and then break it down into days.

Obviously, if you are unschooling it will surround your child’s interests as the basis of studying. If you have a budding chef, you may plan your day around a food shopping list, time to experiment, the chemistry of foods and mixtures, temperatures and how the effects cooking, nutrition and foods effect on the body.

While unschooling is allowing your child time to explore a subject or area of interest, those who do it well have a loose organization of skills that can be compiled before or after your child has experimented, researched or learned.

Those who use Thomas Jefferson or the Classical Method will have particular books or studies and a well planned day filled with reading and study that builds upon itself year after year.

For unit studies, your days will look different as well. You may have a Monday – Wednesday schedule as well as a Tuesday – Thursday schedule that are the days for reading or hands-on projects. Friday will be the catch up day. With unit studies, you will incorporate routines such as daily math and perhaps reading. Or your reading and writing will surround your subject topic.

Unit studies are immersion at it’s best – a study of a topic such as American History or Government with a culmination of a visit to a history museum or political office in town. It can center, as my curriculum does on Creation topics such as Creation science – a general overview or Creation Geology, Creation Astronomy or Creation Anatomy.

How many hours will you homeschool? Is it three, four or five times?

2. Daily Routines/ Subjects

3. What subjects do you want to cover each day or every other day?

Other subjects

4. Additional Assignments

5. Creating a family schedule of important events.

Be sure to print out the schedule sheets on the podcast page and I hope you enjoy your new school year!

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