How to Create the BEST Homeschool Schedule for Your Family
Tried other homeschool schedules out there and nothing works? We’ve been there! You’ll love these tips from a 20+ year homeschool veteran.
Do you feel frustrated trying to create the best homeschool schedule? After 20 years of homeschooling, I can tell you that it’s NOT impossible to create the perfect homeschool schedule. But I can also tell you that it probably doesn’t look anything like what you might have imagined.
If we haven’t met, I’m Kim Sorgius. I have an M.A in Curriculum Development and planned to spend my career teaching in the public school system. Until one day while on maternity leave with my first child, I began homeschooling my 8-year-old nephew in an effort to save him from being retained the second time. My goal was to catch him up and send him back. The rest of the story is a really cool one—as I felI in love with homeschooling so much that I’ve spent the last 20 years doing anything it took to continue doing it with my own kids.
In those early homeschooling days, I very quickly learned that homeschooling was NOT THE SAME as the classroom. Baby diaper blowouts were unscheduled. Some concepts took longer to learn than expected, and most importantly, we found that the rabbit trails led to the kind of learning we couldn’t pass up.
So, I had to throw out the traditional homeschool schedule!
Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE a good schedule. I just needed one that would work with our style of learning and flex around unexpected things like a visit from Grandma, a really cool comet that we just had to stay up late for, and yes, those diaper blowouts.
3 Ingredients for the Perfect Homeschool Schedule
1. It’s centered around family life, not institutional systems.
The biggest lesson I learned as a new homeschooler was that the classroom schedule did NOT work. But it’s so ingrained in our minds as the “way to learn” we can’t see past it. Trust me, you’re not alone in that. The best homeschool schedule throws all of that tradition out the window and instead seeks to find a system that works for your family, helping you accomplish your goals instead of boxing you in or binding you to an institutional ball and chain.
2. It must be flexible.
Lack of flexibility will lead to frustration EVERY TIME, and many of those times, we just give up. I know you’ve been there. The morning starts off perfectly until little Jessica wakes up with an ear infection. By the time you get home from the doctor and the pharmacy, it’s nearly time for lunch, and you figure the day is just shot. After all, you’ve missed all of the things that you wrote down for the morning, and there’s no way to turn back the clock.
But I also feel the rub of leaving things TOO loose. No schedule at all often leads to getting pretty much nothing done. I’ve settled on a core structure (I call these “chunks”) and a flexible routine within those chunks. The best part is if something interrupts your morning chunk, it can be pushed back until later or even swapped with the afternoon chunk. Once we started doing this, we no longer gave up on school just because something unexpected popped up.
In creating a schedule based on chunks, it’s easy to get back on track at any point in the day, even if we have an unexpected appointment. We just jump back in at the right chunk. Plus, without a bunch of set times to remember, it is much easier to keep up.
3. It should teach responsibility.
If you create a schedule that keeps Mom in the driver’s seat without allowing your kids the ability to take responsibility for keeping the routine, they won’t bother. We can’t become frustrated with our kids when they don’t take ownership if we are constantly micromanaging their moments. A great homeschool schedule sets boundaries of time that contain a flexible routine for kids to accomplish.
Sample Homeschool Schedule Using Chunks
The perfect homeschool schedule works for you, not the other way around. Stop working so hard to make the schedule work, and create a system that flows with life.
We do this by dividing the day into manageable chunks of time—typically morning, school, lunch, afternoon, and evening.
Each chunk of time has a pre-determined routine within that chunk. I typically set a time that I’d like for that chunk to start, knowing that it’s flexible and may vary from day to day.
Everything that happens within that chunk of time happens as a routine with the first things first, working down the list.
Here is a peek at what a typical homeschool day looks like for our family:
Morning Chunk (7:30 am)
- Bible reading/quiet time (We use this system for kids devotions.)
- tidy room
- breakfast
- morning chores (We use this chore system.)
- memory work
If you need ideas for a good morning routine that helps kids learn responsibility, check out this post. Remember, this chunk starts as soon as you get up. It doesn’t matter what time it is!
School Chunk (9:00 am)
- family meeting/devotion (more about how we do family Bible study here)
- complete your assignments by checking off your checklist
- turn it in to Mom (more about accountability in this post)
- free exploration (We limit this to educational activities and pursuits.)
Lunch Chunk (12:00 pm)
- help prepare food
- eat lunch
- listen to the read aloud (one of the BEST things we do each day!)
- lunch chore
Afternoon Chunk (2:00 pm)
- turn in your checklist (if you didn’t get to it in the morning)
- quiet time (especially if you have littles)
- extra-curricular activities/errands
- screen time
- outside time
Family Time Chunk (4:30 pm)
- family game (15-30 minutes)
- clean sweep the house
- help prepare dinner and set the table
- eat dinner
- help clean up the kitchen and do evening chores
- evening activities (bike ride, walk on the trail, church, etc)
Night Time Chunk (8:00-10:00 pm)
- bath and books (This is indpendent reading time. Check out this booklist for ideas.)
- special time with Mom
- prayers and lights out
The time for this chunk has greatly varied over the years from 7 pm all the way to about 10 pm with my high schoolers. Remember to take into consideration your family’s unique circumstances and ages when you determine a general time for this.
Also, if you are working from home and homeschooling, you’ll find this simple homeschool schedule for working moms super helpful. I’ve been working since my kids were very young, so I’ll share all of my best tips!
Sample Homeschool Schedules for All Grade Levels
If you’re looking for specific ideas for each grade level, you’ll find suggested homeschool schedules, curriculum, and teaching ideas for all ages below:
- Preschool Homeschool Curriculum
- Kindergarten Homeschool Curriculum
- First Grade Homeschool Curriculum
- Second Grade Homeschool Curriculum
- Third Grade Homeschool Curriculum
- Fourth Grade Homeschool Curriculum
- Fifth Grade Homeschool Curriculum
- Sixth Grade Homeschool Curriculum
- Seventh Grade Homeschool Curriculum
- Eighth Grade Homeschool Curriculum
- High School Homeschool Curriculum
Get Help Planning Your Homeschool Schedule
If this feels a little overwhelming, I’d love for you to join our Homeschool Planning Boot Camp. It’s a totally FREE 5-day course that will walk you step-by-step through the process of planning your BEST homeschool year ever!
Through practical tools & Bible-based resources, Kim Sorgius is dedicated to helping your family GROW in faith so you can be Not Consumed by life’s struggles. Author of popular kid’s devotional Bible studies and practical homeschooling tools, Kim has a master’s degree in education and curriculum design coupled with over 2 decades of experience working with kids and teens. Above all, her most treasured job is mother and homeschool teacher of four amazing kiddos.
thank you so much. this is EXACTLY what I was needing to find today. EXACTLY. Praise God!
Hi, Kim! I’ve been following for a little while now, and I just want to say what an encouragement you are! I struggle in homeschooling because of lots of reasons, but a lot of it is that I doubt if what I am doing is the “right” thing. Your schedule (or routine) looks almost exactly like ours! It was encouraging to me to know that I’m in good company and that maybe we are doing okay! Thanks so much!
Hello! I stumbled upon your blog through pinterest. I am interested and looking into homeschooling for my 2 littles (4&7). I am literally jumping into something I know little to nothing about. Reading on your experience is giving me the encouragement and motivation I need. Thank you!
This is helpful. But wow… do you only get 5.5 hours of sleep at night? :-/
Hi! Do you mind sharing your morning and evening chores for the kids? I have an almost 6 yr old and twin 4 yr olds. I am struggling with chores that I don’t have to closely monitor. I want the chores to be a helpful to the household, but I feel their abilities are limited (maybe I just need to spend a little more time initially teaching them?). Thanks for your feedback!
At this age, monitoring is going to be part of the game. You’re still teaching them, so you’ll need to stay close. Start with ONE thing per child only for the main chore. Our morning chores are make bed, brush teeth, get dressed, eat breakfast. That’s it.
Hi! I loved your question because when my kids were little I struggled for guidance on the same thing! I now have 5 children, from 9yrs down to 2yrs. I have found that my kids LOVE to feel like they are helping and participating in the daily running of the house, so I start them fairly young with doing jobs around the house apart from caring for themselves. So by the age of 2 and a half they will be toileting themselves (mostly), and cleaning their teeth, they also start following me around while I clean the house, so I give the a duster or a spray bottle like mine but has water in it, with a cloth (like mine) and they help clean. Dressing themselves comes between 3-4yrs. From 4yrs on, they can do small household tasks as well, such as tiding their room, making the bed (pulling up the doona). What they really love at this age is loading the washing machine or pulling the washed clothes out into a wash basket, though I do have a front loader which makes it a lot easier for them. I also start training them to lay the table for a meal. We start with breakfast for training, as it is the most simple meal in our family so the table is not too complicated. As they get older they progress to the next meal time and a younger sibling takes over the breakfast one. My 5 yr old dries the breakfast dishes, my 6 yr old dries the dinner dishes from the dishwasher, my 9yr old keeps the yard tidy, bakes bread every day, and helps with the dishes to keep the kitchen tidy. They can also help me hanging out the washing. I have hangers with pegs on them and they can hang out socks and underwear on these for me.
Hope this helps! I found it hard at first to see the little jobs that they could participate in, but I let them show me what they could do by encouraging them to help and it didn’t take long for them to try different things and that showed me what they were able to complete on their own, and what enabled them to spend time with me while we were working together.
Love seeing a great working schedule, and it is helpful, but I can’t help but look at it and wonder where certain things fall into place. Things like: outdoor play (other than maybe 30mins a day?), other outdoor time like gardening, etc, other extracurricular activities/lessons outside the home, shopping, shower, play dates, everyday unexpected messes, real household cleaning (i see you have cleaning/picking up, but my oldest is 7 and i can’t expect him to take on half the daily cleaning and my house requires lots of cleaning each day, multiple times a day especially in the kitchen and laundry (maybe we’re just messier than others)). And, I go to bed about 11-11:30 each night and don’t wake til about 7:15am, but cannot seem to gather the energy to jump up and get going until I have my coffee.
I just look at your schedule and others’ schedules similar to yours and don’t understand where any of this other stuff fits in. I do need to manage my time better, but it just seems like everyone has a schedule that only involves the basics of getting through the day and nothing else.
(This is not a criticism, just trying to understand and find out how others manage the same things that I need to.)
Well first of all, since I am a single mom, we stick with the basics. I don’t have the luxury of much time for hobbies or even sleep most days. 🙂
We don’t do play dates very often, if at all. We have very few extra-curricular activities, as well. At the time of this schedule, we had none. The house is deep cleaned on weekends, but much of what I’d like to do is let go because there isn’t time to be as clean as I’d like.
Thanks for all of this info!! New to homeschool this year and I’m feeling prepared! (I shouldn’t have jinxed it ?)
Say – could you share a blank or editable copy of your chunk schedule? It looks like it would be great for my family (1st grade, 3rd grade & 6th grade) – I’m just not good at getting it easy to read on paper. (Things that make sense to me, my kids don’t follow ?. I have ADHD and Dyslexia so organizing my goal on paper can be difficult.) Further – my daughters – the 3rd & 6th grader also have ADHD & Dyslexia, so it can get confusing and stressful. Or could you post what you use and I could try to make an electronic copy for myself?
Also – side question that probably doesn’t belong here – but would you have any suggestions about homeschooling for Dyslexic kiddos? My daughter worked with a specialist 2-3 times a week at public school and it was a huge help. Just wondering if you had a suggestion for keeping up the progress while homeschooling?
Thank you in advance!!!
Meggan
As far as the chunking schedule, it’s just a spreadsheet! So there really isn’t a template. Sorry!
This site will be a big help: https://homeschoolingwithdyslexia.com/
My schedule looks slightly similar to Kim’s. I homeschool 8 children, so we keep our extracurricular activities to a minimum. Some of the kids are involved in a science co-op one morning a week. I drop them off but, my husband teaches on of the classes, so it works well for him to bring them back home afterwards, that gives me a chance to run a quick errand or just spend extra time with my younger ones. That same day, my son gets a ride for his piano lesson in the afternoon from science, and he usually ends up back at my husband’s office and comes home with him at the end of the day. I try to only allow one day for appointments if necessary in a week and other than that I encourage my children to play outside at least once a day and often they go out on their own for short periods of time. Sometimes I ask them to stay in the backyard, but when I can keep an eye on them I let them play in the front as other neighborhood kids enjoy playing in our yard, too. Maybe this helps.
Be kinder to yourself!!! Go to bed earlier!!! If your oldest is 7 and you have younger kids and/or a baby, you are doing a fantastic job to be cleaning and tidying more than once a day!!! The schedules here that you are looking at are primarily for older children, who can do a lot by themselves, from self-directed schooling to self-caring. Your primary goal (in my opinion) at the young ages you are dealing with is to develop good habits. Good habits instilled in your oldest and supported and encouraged in the younger ones will help you MASSIVELY when your children are a bit older. They will then have the groundwork in place for being self-caring (they will know how to wash themselves, how to keep their room tidy, how to clean their teeth, how to clean their own bathroom, toilet, how to lay the table etc) and this independence will follow into such areas as schooling and play.
I have 5 children, 9, 6, 5, 4, and almost 3. 3 weeks after my youngest was born we lost my step-son who was 13yrs. Having 5 children 7 and under was so daunting, and working through such grief at the same time was incredibly hard. Advice from other homeschooling moms was wonderful, but only those who had so many young children so close together REALLY understood the time-consuming task of just cooking and cleaning and keeping them safe every day. Here is a schedule of my day when my oldest was 6-7 and I had toddlers and baby….
4am feed baby go back to sleep
5-5:30 am kids wake up and wake me up 🙁
Hot drinks all round
7am Breakfast
Dishes etc
7:30 Feed baby
8-8:15 Start school
Other kiids not involved in school can do ‘play school’ colouring etc, but as I have only one girl this didn’t amuse for long, so I also kept toy boxes in the cupboard or garage that could come out at this time on a rainy or overly hot day, nice days I encouraged them to go play outside in the garden.
10 am give kids morning tea and feed baby while the other kids are eating
12:00 school should definitely be finished by this time. Generally it would be done by morning tea but if upsets had occured knowing we had until 12 to finish if need be helped to keep me calmer.
Give kids lunch and in bed for afternoon sleep by 12:30-1pm, depending on how day travels
1pm lunch dishes and/or feed baby and put baby to sleep
Sleep myself if kids are all asleep. 7yr old would play with lego or draw etc quietly – it was a QUIET TIME
3pm kids start waking up, afternoon tea and feed baby
Free play for kids all together in yard or indoors
4-4:30 we start cleaning the house – picking up toys, run around with vacuum cleaner if required
4:30 start cooking dinner and put kids through the bath (or I would do bath AFTER dinner, which often helps kids to settle better)
5pm – 5:30 pm serve up dinner
6:30 Bedtime story (often while feeding the baby his milk)
7pm Bedtime
Put baby to sleep and get to bed (hopefully before 9pm!)
Hope this helps a bit! Of course this schedule means you don’t do all the cleaning etc every day. But ask you can see there are big blocks for tasks that don’t take very long, but EVERYTHING takes longer when you have a baby and no older children to help. Jobs like folding washing, ironing, major house clean etc would get done once a week, on the weekend in the block where we would do school work. Oh, and don’t overload your young children with too much school work like I did. Its not necessary and they are not teens. It will just bog you both down and make them hate SCHOOL.