The Anti-Schedule Person’s Guide to Homeschool Schedules

I am not a schedule person.
I resent having my day dictated by some piece of paper or a clock. 

I really, really resent it.  

For years, we operated on a fairly loose schedule. We had a start time (9:00 am). Beyond that, the day had a slowly developed rhythm — breakfast & playtime before school, chill time after school, jobs + dinner, playtime, bedtime.

Structured enough that we knew what was coming, flexible enough that adding a field trip or a repairman visit didn’t throw our week out of whack.

At some point, though, it stopped working, and more structure had to be the answer. Our school day needed to start earlier, so we could fit it all in. We needed a set end time, so we all knew when we could call it a day. And for my sanity, I needed dedicated time to work with each kiddo.

But here’s one of my struggles with schedules: It’s 10:32, you’re two subjects “behind” in your day…so then what? Mark those assignments complete (even though they aren’t)? Extend your school day to fit it all in? Reschedule, hoping to get caught up tomorrow (ha!)?

A clock + a beautiful time-based schedule don’t know or understand the demands of the homeschool you’re standing in.

That’s why I resent schedules. Eventually, I figured out how to add just enough structure that still allowed room for real-life homeschooling. I can’t give you 5 Easy Steps to a Perfect Homeschool Schedule because that’s a lie (and anyone who tries earns a skeptical, raised eyebrow). But maybe you’ll find some nuggets from the lessons I’ve learned.

Why.

Why are you homeschooling this year? Not in general, THIS year.

If you are homeschooling this year because
…your kiddo was bullied last year in a B&M school
…an intense athletic training schedule takes up the bulk of your day
…you want a more rigorous education,

but your schedule doesn’t support your reasons? Well…why are you homeschooling if your homeschool doesn’t reflect that?

About 15 years ago, my husband was preparing for a deployment to Afghanistan. That year, one reason we homeschooled was the flexibility to spend as much time with him as we could. We adjusted our school schedule around their training schedule and took off for a couple of weeks before they left, something B&M kids couldn’t do.

And, yeah, why are you homeschooling in general? Does your homeschool actually reflect that?

Keeping the fun & joy in learning is one reason we homeschool, and I clearly remember the moment when I realized I was killing that (and not in a good way!). My kids’ grumbling made me do a 180. We ditched the workbooks (mostly), worried less about marking off every item, and leaned more into those topics & approaches that sparked us.

Real life.

Napping babies, piano lessons, chores, dance class, mealtimes.

Many homeschoolers struggle to fit everything in because they create a homeschool schedule & a ‘real life’ schedule as if two entirely separate families will be following them.

Sometimes, we can shift when babies nap, when we schedule weekly speech therapy, or when the electrician can come over. Sometimes we can’t. Either way, those real-life events have to happen.

Build your homeschool schedule around your actual days.

Transitions.

It took me years (and years) of parenting littles before I really learned how much time we needed to actually get out of the house…and account for it!

Long after last-minute diaper changes & “Where’s my wubby?” stopped being a part of our days, I still struggled.

Missing shin guards. Drive time. Getting everyone out of the car & inside. “Just let me finish this last math problem.”

And then we still had to come home & transition all over again.

Fewer interruptions = fewer transitions.

As best as I could…
We went nowhere on Mondays. Or in the mornings. If I had to schedule a mid-day appointment, I tried to make it right before or right after breakfast or lunch. If mid-day were the only option, I’d find a park we could visit or add another day’s errands.

One kiddo.

When I first started putting more structure to our days, I began with my oldest. She was newly in middle school & had started taking a couple of online classes, so her schedule had the most demands. After a few weeks focused on finding a schedule/routine that worked for her, I moved on to the next kiddo.

Getting her into a flow meant that I needed a less strict one with my other two. That freed up enough time for me to be more flexible with them. And since I only had to split most of my remaining time between two kiddos, I had more time with them.

Start with the kiddo who could most benefit from a firmer schedule, or who’d take to it the easiest. A quick win can build your confidence when you move on to the next kiddo.

Group learning.

Making the schedule a little shorter was probably the #1 reason we included family-style learning.

History & science are two of the easiest subjects to combine. A kiddo needs to know how to add 2 & 2 before they can tackle long division, but a 3rd grader & 5th grader can learn about The Nifty Fifty states regardless of whether they even know that there are 50 states in the Union.

Grammar, electives, & writing can all become group subjects, too. Depending on your kids, you could even combine back-to-back grade levels for math or spelling.

It also doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Everyone might listen to you read Story of the World & then tackle supporting work separately. A fun one-off writing activity that everyone does can replace that week’s independent work. A simple Christmas-themed science activity lets the younger ones focus on the science, while your older kiddos design the experiment or learn to write a lab report afterward.

Blocks, not minutes.

8:30 – math
9:00 – science
9:45 – writing
10:00 – literature

That schedule looks great on paper. Until your kiddo needs an extra 20 minutes to master long division. And another 20 minutes to find their misplaced literature book. And you spend 20 minutes pleading with the printer.

This is one reason I planned our days in blocks. If you have a 90-minute English block, it matters less that it took 20 minutes to find that misplaced book. There’s still time to finish their assigned reading and start their next writing assignment.

Rather than assigning my kiddos a list of assignments to do each day, I gave them a list of the next several assignments to work on throughout their time block. Whether something took longer or shorter than expected, it didn’t throw off the schedule because they knew to just move on to the next thing.

This meant I didn’t suddenly have a kiddo standing next to me saying, “I’m ready to do math with you now!”…20 minutes before I was ready.

We were (essentially) planning for a schedule that we knew would (not if!) go as planned. Sometimes, a kiddo flies through an assignment. Or the printer wakes up in a stubborn mood. Either way, thinking in blocks (not minutes) helped me build a schedule that could roll with the punches.

tl;dr

• Plan for your real life: the recurring events, the transitions, the daily demands of the non-homeschool parts of your days.
• It’s not all-or-nothing. Add more structure to only your morning. Or for only one kiddo. Or 3 days of the week.
• Transitions take up time. And brain power. Allow for both!