A Proven Homeschool Schedule for Your Success

A Homeschool Schedule will bring you clarity in your Homeschooling, even if you are accustomed to using a planner, and having your own or your family’s schedule planned out. Systems and routines will be your salvation as you seek to run your home efficiently and smoothly and Homeschool your children. 

Training your children to work alongside you, because “we’re all part of the family, so we share the load,” will help them later in life–it’s actually part of their schooling: Life Skills 101. Your Homeschool Schedule will include all the family events and everyday activities that normally occur, such as going to church, doing the laundry, grocery shopping, weekly visits to Grandma’s, piano lessons, AWANA, Bible Study–anything that routinely happens each week–as well as academic subjects.

Clarity and vision to succeed from a veteran Homeschool mom is what you’ll get in “How to Be a Success At Homeschooling From the Start”–get your copy today!

What To Include In Your Homeschool Schedule

• Bible reading and prayer with your kids (either as a family, or you, Mom, with them at the beginning of your school day)
• Breakfast and cleanup
• At least two additional times a day schedule a time to pick up the house
• Lunch and cleanup
• Chores: Daily, Weekly, and the seasonal to-do list (add one of these in per week or month)
• The essentials: Reading, Writing and Arithmetic (the 3 R’s), Science and additional subjects for older children
• Help from children with Supper Prep, Sitting Down at the Table for Supper, and help with Cleanup
• Read-aloud Time
• Physical exercise
• Fine arts: musical instrument practice, art, etc.
• Serving in some capacity weekly, and community service
• Worship at your local church (Covid-permitting)
• Family time

A Proven Homeschool Schedule For Your Success

How to Make a Homeschool Schedule that Includes Chores

Be Flexible, But Faithful, In Your Homeschool Day

Every family’s schedule will be different, and that’s ok. Don’t copy others, but use my schedule to prompt thoughts about how your schedule could look. I’ll tell you about our schedule in this post, Part 1, and hope to give you a sample of what one looked like in Part 2.

Don’t overschedule, or think that your kids need all kinds of activities outside the home. You may be tempted to get together with other moms or families a lot, but I would discourage this during weekdays, if you want to get school done, and bond as a family. Your children should be encouraged, both verbally and by your making it possible, to be one another’s best friends! Friends may come and go, but family is forever! Perhaps getting together with another family could be an occasional reward for getting their work done quickly, but do this only occasionally, especially if you are just beginning to Homeschool.

• You must say No in order to say Yes (say No, so that  you are free to say Yes when something really special comes up!)
• Be disciplined, but not rigid–get your work done, and work hard with focus, but vary the activities in the day
• Discern when your kids need a break, but be firm with the slothful child who just wants to get out of work
• Train by example, and be faithful to stay home and do the work of Homeschooling

You Need A Homeschool Schedule

It doesn’t take as long to do school at home as in the public school, but if you are just getting used to Homeschooling and it’s all new, it will take longer. Your kids are learning to focus in a new learning environment, you are all learning how to combine home life with schooling, and finding out what works best for each person and your family as a whole. You’ll develop a routine with time. 

It’s a lot like beginning to exercise. You’re building muscles, and habits. Until you get habits established, and build up the spiritual and mental muscles to stick to your task til it’s done, to focus in the midst of home distractions, and to be responsible with your new jobs, it may seem very difficult. But, as with exercising, it will get easier! You will be finding out the learning styles of your children, and your preferred teaching style, too, and once you find those, it helps a lot.

A Proven Homeschool Schedule For Your Success

What Our Morning Homeschool Schedule Was Like

Our Homeschool Schedule changed, as our children grew up. I had a time with our children reading the Bible and praying, from the time they were very young–babies, really. I remember reading a children’s story Bible to my child in a highchair. When we began Homeschooling, it became part of our Homeschool day. 

What we did was to have our time of Bible reading and prayer at the beginning of our school day, right after breakfast. I tried to make it enjoyable, and would read from a character-building book, such as Wisdom and the Millers, or Character Sketches, that incorporated Scripture and a lesson from the lives of the characters, or a lesson from animals or nature.  And, then I would pray for our day, for them, and for known needs, such as if someone was sick. We prayed for Daddy’s day, too.

You Have More Time For The Bible And Prayer As Your Children Get Older

We joined TEACH Institute when our son entered 7th grade and our daughter was in 4th. I believe it was the next year that my husband began leading Family Devotions. Up until that time, I would get up before the kids, and have my Quiet Time, and see my husband off to work. My husband listened to John MacArthur’s messages on the radio on the way to work, and I would listen to the same message at home. 

It was at 6:30AM. Our kids would get up a little later, we’d have breakfast, and we all had a Morning Routine we completed. Included were tasks such as: make your bed, wash your face, brush your teeth, get dressed, help clean up the kitchen, and pick up your room. Then we started school. We used different chore charts in the earlier years, and put them up on a bulletin board in a prominent place by our kitchen, with stickers they put on when each task was finished.

Later the Chore charts were detailed lists, I placed in a protective plastic sleeve, of all that went into doing a certain job, or a schedule of who did which job on which day. Chores were always an important part of our children’s Homeschooling.

A Homeschool Schedule for 7th Grade.

When my husband began leading what we called Family Devotions, we met earlier, at 6:15AM, and he left a half hour later for work. While this was an answer to prayer, I’m not a morning person, and this was a major investment for me to make, but I felt it was really important. My husband chose what we studied.

After Family Devotions, our daughter made Daddy’s lunch and he left for work. The kids and I would eat breakfast, each do our morning chores and Morning Routine, and then begin school. Our children and I had our own time with the LORD, because they were old enough to do so by this time (about 10-13 years old). They continued to work on Bible memorization, as well, even though they were not in AWANA anymore. We set goals in many areas, including Bible memory, every year.

Clarity and vision to succeed from a veteran Homeschool mom is what you’ll get in “How to Be a Success At Homeschooling From the Start”–get your copy today!

Life And Learning Are Interwoven In A Homeschool Schedule

Our children were each taking piano lessons, so they practiced piano every day. Whereas, if they were in public school, they would have had to wait until they came home from school to practice their lesson, my husband had me schedule the two of them doing Math and Piano practice–one of them practicing piano, and one doing Math, and then switching–in the mornings, first thing in their academic school day. This allowed me to work with the one doing math, if they needed. 

Most of the time, I was free to take a shower, get dressed, do my hair and makeup, and other chores around the house for nearly two hours! I was always available, and answered any questions, taught a concept when needed, or kept them on track. But, this was such an ingrained part of their routine after a time, and one of the ways that we taught responsibility and taught them to take ownership of their own schooling, that they just went straight to their assigned task and got it done! Our daughter had more difficulty with Math than our son, so I had more instruction time with her, but I still had quite a bit of time as they got older for my Morning Routine, which was lovely.

Older children Should Take Ownership Of Their Education And Be Responsible To Do Their Work

During their Junior and Senior High years, I loved hearing two hours of piano playing (as the years went by they were getting to be very enjoyable to listen to, and played mostly classical pieces and hymn arrangements!). Then we did Language Arts/English, and then Science or Social Studies. So, the bulk of their schoolwork was done, or what are the core elements, in the morning. At times we used workbooks for Science, Social Studies, and separate Language Arts books. 

I’ve mentioned that we moved toward more of a Unit Study approach, and those are the times I loved the most. We did as much of our schoolwork together as possible. Math was the only subject that had to be separated out. I just gave different or more work to the older child, for instance a longer report, with footnotes, might be assigned.

We participated in various extracurriculars, you might call them, over the years, with other families, and in groups.  Sometimes with one or two other families, sometimes with half a dozen families, and other times, in co-op settings. I won’t take the time to talk about these in this post, but will cover that later. While co-op classes were during the day, the family groups were in the evenings or on weekends, and included the dads, which was amazing.

How to Make a Homeschool Schedule that Includes Chores

A Sample Of Our Afternoon Homeschool Schedule

After lunch, we had read-aloud time, which was historical fiction, or biographies, mostly, reading wonderful “living books.” It was a time we all loved. Because we’d done the other work in the morning, we could read longer, if we wanted to, and often one or the other child would beg for just “one more chapter”! And, that’s when you know you’ve got a great book.

Chores, work, exercise and free time were in the afternoon before supper prep. Each day there was a schedule with chore assignments that were to be done. From the beginning of Homeschooling, I incorporated the cleaning, laundry, and food preparation into the children’s training, and considered it part of their schooling. 

Learning to work hard, and learning how to maintain a home, and take care of your things are vital skills that equip you for life! When the children were 6-12, they were assigned cleaning jobs, and they had increasing responsibility as they got older.  I spread the cleaning out over the 5 weekdays, so that by the weekend the house was clean, and we could be free on Saturday to do something fun as a family with Dad, if he spontaneously had an idea to do so.

I learned over time that a home doesn’t have to be cleaned all in one day to be clean! This was a huge realization for me! It totally changed my attitude towards practicing hospitality, for one thing. Keeping things picked up most of the time also made it easier to clean. When our children were 9 and 6 we moved to a neighborhood where we would have neighbor children (and sometimes their mothers) drop in at any time, and I was keenly aware of the fact that someone might knock at our door at any time and see the condition of my home!

Sometimes it helps to motivate you if you think this way. One suggestion I read in a book during this time was to have a friend or family member close to your children spontaneously drop in weekly and inspect your children’s rooms! The children were responsible to keep them picked up. This visitor would even take pictures of what the room looked like, and they might even post those pictures for the child’s friends or others to see!

Thankfully, we didn’t have to go this far! But, if you’re desperate, you might consider it! 

How to Make a Homeschool Schedule that Includes Chores | Your Home For God

Our weekly cleaning schedule would go something like this: One child dusted, one cleaned all glass and ceramic/non-wood objects, one cleaned one bathroom, one cleaned another bathroom (when they were old enough to do this job). They learned to sweep and wash the floors, both with a mop and on their hands and knees. 

They learned how to clean the kitchen, how to do laundry, how to grocery shop (they went with me, and from a young age were taught how to pick quality produce, how to look at and compare prices (this is Math, mom!), and when they became old enough, were sent with part of the list to get items by themselves, and bring them back to my cart. They were such a huge help, that I can’t understand the mother who chooses to do the grocery-shopping by herself. Also, this was part of good training, in my opinion.

I practiced time-blocking in our Homeschool Schedule, rather than a rigid start and stop time. There was great incentive to get your work done quickly! There was a period after breakfast that I told you was for Math and Piano practice. Another time block was for Language Arts and bookwork, when we were using more workbooks. Read-aloud time was after lunch. 

There was a block of time for Chores in the later afternoon. However, there were smaller snippets of time for chores throughout the day, too. In the morning, they had a list, and we had two times a day that we stopped and picked up, one of which was before Daddy came home from work. If the children finished their schoolwork earlier, they had more free time! 

On the day we went to Piano lessons, we bought our groceries afterward, to prevent a lot of running around during the week. The children would bring their schoolwork along and do it in the car, and while the other child was having their piano lesson. The piano teacher allowed us to sit in the same room where she taught, and I would do handwork, or sometimes finish making my grocery list while the children had their lessons. This taught them how to focus and concentrate!

A Proven Homeschool Schedule For Your Success

Your Homeschool Schedule will look different than mine, because you have a unique family, and depending on how many children you have, what your husband does for a living, if you own a business, if you also work–either from home, or outside the home–the ages of your children, and the methods you use to teach. Use your Homeschool Schedule to solve problems. If you need to schedule around naptimes, do that. 

Have activities that toddlers and babies can do nearby, while you work with older children. You don’t need a dedicated classroom, or a special space. You can all be in a small room together.  I encourage you to have bookshelves, and establish your own home library, but if don’t have room, we used the bed headboards for some books, closet shelves at times, and sometimes kept them in backpacks. Be flexible, but have a place that your children can put away their books.

If you have a couple of shelves cleared for your children’s schoolbooks, that is sufficient. We used an old piece of furniture for many years that we picked up at a used thrift store, and then painted. It sat near our table in the eating area. When a table was needed we sat at the dining table, but we also sat on the sofa or the floor, or they sat on their beds, or on the floor in their bedrooms. Sometimes they used the coffee table for a desk. Outside was a favorite place to do school at times. Taking walks and learning about nature. Going on mini field trips, or just learning as we were out and about, when the opportunity arose for a teachable moment–this is Homeschooling. Life is Homeschooling, and Homeschooling is life.

How Can I Homeschool Multiple Ages | Your Home For God

Friends And Activities Were Included In Our Schedule

We were flexible to meet friends, and sometimes we did, but I quickly learned it was highly advantageous to stay home and get the schoolwork done. In the earlier years we were part of a co-op, but quit after a few years. We would often have another family over on the weekends. We practiced hospitality extensively, and this was another training ground in Homeschooling.

 When the kids were younger, we were involved in AWANA one night a week, but tried not to have activities more than two nights a week. When our son was in his early teens, we went with him twice a month to what was called “Discipleship Group,” dropping off our daughter at Grandma’s house on the way, until she was a teen and could attend, too. 

We were part of TEACH, which stands for Teaching Effective Academics and Character at Home. This Christian organization provided a Homeschool Consultant who we met with once a month (for most of our years in teach, Bonnie Anderson was our consultant–click to get her American History Visual Timeline of Books and get info on how to see her amazing library). Discipleship Group was a group TEACH offered, which involved moms, dads, and children teenaged and up. 

Clarity and vision to succeed from a veteran Homeschool mom is what you’ll get in “How to Be a Success At Homeschooling From the Start”–get your copy today!

At Discipleship Group, we heard a short teaching message with a spiritual application from the leader, then broke up into groups for prayer: moms together, dads together, and older teens leading groups of younger ones, boys and girls separate. We all shared prayer requests in our small group and prayed together. 

When we gathered back together as a large group, parents and their children sat together. A highlight was when the older teens and young adults gave testimonies of what God was doing in their lives, what they were learning from the Bible and applying in their lives. Yeah, it was every bit as wonderful as it sounds!

• As your kids get older (junior high and high school) they need to take on more and more ownership of their own education and be included in deciding what they will study
• If you are just beginning to Homeschool, no matter how old your kids are, expect to ease into it, and make adjustments, having stops and starts, and know that it will probably take a year or two, at least, to figure things out!
• You are not going to ruin your kid’s life by doing the wrong thing; it’s ok–relax

Pray And Ask God To Help You With Your Schedule

• Don’t think you can do this alone–you need God
• If possible, have a Godly older Homeschool mentor
• Spend time in prayer, with your spouse, with your kids, with other Homeschoolers, and by yourself
• Make Time in the Word of God a top priority; it’s way more important than any academics you’ll do this year

You need a Homeschool Schedule. It will change over the years, and as you find something isn’t working, or need to solve a problem. This is Part 1 of “A Proven Homeschool Schedule For Your Success,” because I only scratched the surface! I hope to give you an example of a Homeschool Schedule next time, so bookmark Your Home For God!