By now you know that every homeschool looks a bit different. How could they not with the smorgasbord of methods and curriculum options out there? But there’s one thing that all of us wonder about everyone else. One thing that we find ourselves wanting to compare. It’s the one thing that rules us all.

The Schedule.

The plan that structures our days and gets us where we’re going. It could be your best friend or your worst enemy. It could be a trusted guide or a heavy-handed master.

The key is to make it work for you, not the other way around. And this year I think I’ve narrowed in on a winning plan, and I want to share it with you! Before I go into the details, take a look:

This is my master plan. I print it out just like this, and fill in the details for each week. Everything in white is what I teach (or at least guide), everything in blue is what the kids do on their own.

Filling out this homeschool schedule for the week takes about 10 minutes. It provides me with the structure and routine I need; the reminders of what we need to accomplish each day.

How it works

I hear you over there asking whether I cropped Friday out. Nope. We have a four-day work week. Sometimes we have one or two lessons that carry over into that fourth day, but it isn’t much. (And what a comforting thing it is to know that we have a built-in grace period every week!) Why four days? You can read more about that here.

We don’t necessarily follow this schedule in order. I might do math first one day, reading the next. It kind of depends on our mood for the day and what’s going on outside of school. And sometimes I focus on my 1st grader first, other times she gets her one-on-one time later in the day.

When I’m filling in the blanks to plan the week, I print out any worksheets we may need, gather library books, science experiment supplies, etc. I usually have an eye on things a few weeks ahead so I can reserve books or buy anything extra we need. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve started a lesson only to realize I didn’t have the materials I needed! At that point it’s pretty much a given that the lesson won’t happen that day and I’ve lost valuable time. So that little bit of planning ahead is worth it.

Daily subjects

You can see that some subjects, like math, we do everyday. And then some things, like science and Latin, are done less often. How you design this depends on you. I’m big on history, and I include it everyday so we have time to do maps and timelines. But you might be a science fan and want to do that everyday instead.

My 1st grader doesn’t sit in on Latin so she gets a bit of free time instead – or we might add in a special science or history activity just for her.

You can get more details about what we do in the academic subjects for 4th & 6th grades here, 1st grade here, and I’ll talk about morning time in a separate post.

Independent reading

I don’t know about you, but if I want my kids to accomplish certain tasks each day, it has to be written down. They’ve got to see it. One of my kids thrives on checking off the little box next to it. If it’s not written down, it might as well not exist.

That’s where my list of independent work comes in. I don’t direct any of it, but it gets done. I went to the dollar store and got each kid a little kitchen timer so they can manage their time on each task.

Much to my chagrin, I don’t have avid readers in my house. But I know that if they put just a little effort into it, they’ll gain a lot over time. They’ll become better readers and they will soon discover the love of a good book. It’s just good for those growing brains.

So, for independent reading, the older kids choose anything they’d like to read and have at it. No discussion questions, no pressure. Sometimes they choose things they’ve read before (which is a great choice, by the way!). Sometimes they choose things that are way below their reading level – also ok! But they are developing a habit of sitting down with a book and and enjoying it, because it was their choice. (I’m secretly waiting for the day one of them picks up one of the classics.)

Typing

These days, kids need to know how to type. When I was a kid, I took typing in high school, and that was just fine because I had never really used a computer before that. But our kids are on computers from the beginning, and developing correct typing skills now will be much easier than correcting bad habits later. The big kids use TypingClub.com. It’s free, it’s fun, and they are learning. The first grader uses Keyboarding Without Tears. It has a pretty low annual membership fee, and it brings in a little more age-appropriate fun and learning.

Music

Each kid is playing a different instrument – we have drums, guitar, and piano! There was some gentle nudging from me to try this out, but mostly they all have chosen to learn an instrument and I don’t pressure them too much to master it. They have weekly lessons and part of their daily schedule is to practice! I don’t play any instrument so I don’t get too involved in the practice. I like that they are learning to be disciplined in learning a skill without my help.

The homeschool schedule

And that’s our daily schedule! As we complete things I cross them off, and I can quickly see if there’s something that needs to carry over to our open Friday. (As a side note – sometimes our day off happens on a different day of the week, especially if there is a holiday or special trip).

What do you think? Would something like this work for you or do you have a different approach?