The non-existent perfect Homeschool Day
There is no perfect schedule for life and homeschool. I have found that we can get used to a good schedule one semester, but the next it doesn't work and we have to change things up. I have also realized that comparison for comparison sake is not healthy.
Please do not judge your abilities by our schedule. My purpose in sharing our schedule is to give you a glimpse into our homeschool and our life on the mission field as well as perhaps an idea or two if you are struggling to make your schedule work.
So, what does a homeschool day look like at our house?
One of the things that keeps us sane is that generally Hero will take 2 year old Taz with him right after breakfast to run morning errands. This gives the rest of us an hour or more to concentrate on learning without the distractions of an energetic whirlwind.
I don't school all of my children first thing in the morning (gasp!). A veteran homeschool mom recently “gave me permission” to be different, to arrange our schedule to suite our various sleep and learning needs and it has been VERY helpful.
After breakfast I spend time with Flower and Sir, my middle children. We generally do math, reading, handwriting/copy work, phonics, and alphabet book or some mixture of those in about an hour and a half.
When our oldest, Butterfly, has warmed up to the day and joins us, we do science, history or other read alouds, art, or fun projects, (or a combination of these, we don't do it all every day).
Each of the older three are also allowed 20 minutes a day on Reading Eggs, an online program that has helped their reading abilities to improve tremendously! I highly recommend their program, you can click on my affiliate link below to see it or sign up for their free two week trial.
After lunch, with our Bible lesson time, we have a two hour quiet time. Little people must be on their beds resting, reading, coloring or listening to selected music/Scripture/other recordings. This is my “school time” with Butterfly who also benefits from the one on one time with Mommy because her main love language right now is time.
After quiet time is over our schedule varies greatly from day to day depending on ministry activities and other responsibilities. But generally we will try to have dinner as a family and get the kids into bed at a good time.
Some of you are saying, but what time do you do this? I have purposefully left out the times. Routine is important, but life is important too, and when life happens I have to be free to be flexible. I have set goals to do certain things at certain hours of the day, but I cannot allow “my schedule” to interfere with God's interruptions opportunities.
Homeschool Day Resources
If you're looking for a book with practical ideas and step by step scheduling helps, these two books have been the most helpful to me, and don't be scared off by the ‘large family' thing. The information they share could help a family of any size!
Managers of Their Homes: A Practical Guide to Daily Scheduling for Christian Homeschool Families by Steven and Teri Maxwell
Large Family Logistics: The Art and Science of Managing the Large Family by Kim Brenneman
My best advice to someone struggling with their homeschool schedule is
- Ask the Lord for wisdom in planning, consistency in execution, and sweet flexibility when it doesn't happen just the way you planned it.
- Ordering your schedule by your children's best learning times may be the best thing you could ever do to help them succeed educationally and help your family run smoother.
- If it is not working, change it up. Do something different. Pray, Plan, Work, Evaluate, Repeat.
Your schedule, just like your family, will be unique. You answer to God with your schedule, not the other moms from the homeschool co-op. So do your best, and do it for his glory!
Do you have a scheduling tip that has helped you? Please share with us in the comments!
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