Raising Arrows
How to Make a Daily Homeschool Schedule
Learn how to make a simple daily homeschool schedule that works well for your family’s routine and lifestyle!
When you first start homeschooling, curriculum is usually your first concern, but right behind that is how to fit it all into a daily schedule that doesn’t take all day and stress you and your kids out in the process!
When I first started homeschooling, I tried to put every subject into every school day every week, but the list of what I felt I “had to do” became so long and so overwhelming, there was no way I could keep up the pace.
When you take my ecourse Creating a Homeschool Schedule You Love, you learn how to build a doable daily homeschool schedule, but the first step to all of this is knowing what truly HAS to be done every day, versus what can be done occasionally, allowing you more freedom with your time and energy.
I call this the Essentials versus the Extras, and they are the KEY to making a daily homeschool schedule! This post will help you figure it all out!
Table of contents
Need a Step-by-Step Guide to Making the Perfect Homeschool Schedule?
Get my eCourse –
Creating a Homeschool Schedule You Love!
-
[TAG1]Creating a Homeschool Schedule You Love$24.99Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 1 customer rating
Includes LIFETIME ACCESS so you can go back through it
and adjust your schedule every time life circumstances change!
What are the Essential Subjects?
As homeschool moms, we tend to think ALL subjects are essential and must be done every day, but that simply isn’t true. The sooner you wrap your brain around Essentials versus Extras, the sooner you will have a daily schedule you can actually manage.
Here is a simple rule of thumb to help you decide if a subject is an Essential or an Extra:
ESSENTIALS = EVERY DAY (subjects that need to be done every day to keep up the momentum and the flow of learning.)
EXTRAS = NOT EVERY DAY (still important, but don’t require lessons every day to be retained by your children.)
With that working definition, let’s get started…
Step 1 – Write down every subject you think is Essential.
Get out a piece of paper or pull out your laptop and write
ESSENTIALS
at the top.
(if you own my Scheduling eCourse, there is a printable Essentials/Extras worksheet)
Now, without overthinking it, write down every subject or curriculum you currently believe to be something you should do every single day in your homeschool.
Take a good look at that list and be honest with yourself as we go to the next step…
Step 2 – Pair it down to 3-5 subjects.
Yes, I said 3-5 subjects. Some of you are shaking your heads in disbelief. Some of you are wondering if I really know how to homeschool. And some of you are sighing with relief!
The reason the Essentials list can only be 3-5 subjects is because much more than that and you will find yourself homeschooling from sunup to sundown. You will run yourself and your children into the ground trying to get everything done every day. Homeschooling will become a very unhappy venture because there simply are not enough hours in the day to do more than 3-5 subjects well.
Trust me on this.
So…
Do you have 3-5 subjects on your Essentials list? If so, congratulations! You are free to move onto the next step!
If not, go over it again and pare down! You can always add to the Essentials list as you get comfortable with your homeschool schedule and see whether or not you have extra time. But putting too much in there to begin with will NOT be helpful and will NOT make your schedule consistent!
Step 3 – Choose an Anchor for Your Essentials.
If you’ve taken my Free Class – 4 Steps to a Better Homeschool Day – you know how important Anchors are to keeping your homeschool day on track.
You should also listen to Podcast #77 below to help you understand Anchors their many uses in your homeschool day.