Our Simple Homeschool Schedule

First, let me start off by saying I’ve been on both sides of the fence.  My kids went to a private school for two years.

I know what it’s like to wake up early in the morning, to wrestle the kids out of bed, get everyone dressed, eat breakfast, make lunches, and rush out the door.  It was stressful and hard because I’m not normally a morning person.

School days reminded me of boot camp back in my military days when the drill sergeant would yell at us to hurry up to get dressed, eat, and get in formation!  So, I totally get it!

Since homeschooling my kids, I don’t go into drill sergeant mode as much.  But, it still does get a little hectic. 

That’s why we try to stick to a schedule. We have found that sticking to a consistent schedule helps my kids know what to expect. 

The bigger picture of what I try to teach my kids is that there is a time to work, a time to play, a time to have fun, and a time for rest.  Learning how to govern their time is a skill they’ll need in life.

Here’s a typical homeschool schedule for our family:

7 am – Eat breakfast

8 am – Get dressed for the day, brush teeth, make beds, take care of the dogs

8:30 am – Read a book for 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on their age

9:30 am – Family devotionals

9:45 am – Start on school tasks and assignments

(15 – 20 minute break every hour)

12 pm – Lunch

12:45 pm – Resume school tasks and assignments

3 pm – Wrap up

There are a few things to note:

Getting ready for the day – A great thing to teach kids is to get ready for the day.  Even though they may not have to go anywhere, it helps them get into the habit and frame of mind to live with purpose. 

In this case, their purpose is starting school.  When they become adults, their purpose will be to go to work, college, or whatever it is they are involved in.  I will admit that we have had a few “pajama” days where we stay in our pajamas.  But most days, we get dressed.  And when I mean get dressed, it’s usually something comfortable, just not pajamas.

Part of getting ready for the day involves their daily chores.  The beauty of homeschool is getting to teach your kids life skills like washing the dishes, throwing out the garbage, taking care of the pets, cooking, doing laundry, making their beds, etc. It’s all part of learning!

Reading time – The kids do plenty of reading during homeschool.  But I try to teach them the importance of reading a book at their leisure. 

For one, it teaches them to read books they enjoy.  It also helps them build their reading skills in a non-pressure setting.  It’s a time for them to sit quietly, read, relax, and just enjoy a book.  I have found it to be a great way to start our day because it calms them down before we get started with school.

Family devotionals – We like to start our day off with devotionals. We don’t take a long time to do this because we realize attention spans can be short. 

So, we usually take 15 – 20 minutes to read a daily devotional, discuss it, and then pray together.  This is something that’s important to our family.

We’re currently going through Tony Evan’s “Kingdom Family Devotional” and we really like it because it gets the kids engaged.  Surprisingly, the kids enjoy devotional time!  They ask us every day, “When are we going to have devotions?”

Breaks – The brain works really hard when it’s learning new information.  Allowing for frequent breaks is good to help my kids reset, regroup, and do something fun in between assignments.  Often times, they’ll play a game or go outside in the backyard to swing in our little playground.

Our homeschool schedule is pretty flexible.  There are some days where we have to run a few errands and we end up skipping reading time or morning chores.  There are some days where we skip homeschool all together just to enjoy a family day.

At the end of the day, do what works for your family!  There is so much flexibility when it comes to homeschooling.  There’s no right or wrong way to do it!  You get to set the pace. 

By sharing our homeschool schedule, you’ll get an idea of what has been working for us and, hopefully, use whatever you see fit for your family.  The most important thing to remember is to figure out your priorities.  What is most important for your family?  When you’ve identified your priorities, work your schedule around it.  Happy homeschooling!

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