When you first start homeschooling it’s hard to find the homeschool schedule and curriculum that works for your family. When you finally find that perfect curriculum then you need to figure out a schedule that works for your kids and your household.
This is the magic of homeschooling independence!. To us, we establish routines that last and teach our kids the importance of following a schedule and being accountable for it.
The good thing is that you don’t have to go crazy trying to figure out the best homeschool schedule that will fit your family here I have true and tried homeschool schedules from experienced homeschool moms who have had success with them.
The best part is that every situation is different and you have choices. I have to gather advice, tips, and tricks from veteran homeschool moms.
If you are a single mom trying to homeschool take a look at this post How to Homeschool as a Single Mom: Where to Start?
But before we start lets talk about some important points
- Remember that homeschooling is different for everybody. This is not one size fits all like jeggings. You need to try different things to see what works for you and most importantly your kids. The great thing about homeschooling is the freedom to choose and learn according to your child’s needs.
2. Be consistent and flexible: again if something it’s not working for you change it up. You want to create a learning environment your child will enjoy and love, and part of that is adjusting to their needs.
3. This is not institutional education: Your child does not need to sit on a desk for 8 hours. Sometimes we have to let our kids teach us the best way they learn and the way to do that is letting them be.
4. Plan for lazy days: As a mom of multiples this has saved me a lot of time. a lazy day is a day when your child does little work but still fulfilling their educational needs. Such as, go to the back yard and find an insect and write where the insect is coming from? the type of insect it is and what do they eat? you get the idea.
5. Enjoy the journey. This is an enjoyable stage of their lives because we are learning together. And I love when my daughter tells me mommy did you know … they joy that she is teaching me something that we have read together is priceless.
What Our Homeschool Schedule Looks Like
Let me start by saying that we follow a year-round homeschool schedule, especially because I have a set of twins who are 3 years old) and every so often life happens and we need to take a break here and there.
We don’t follow a schedule with the time written. Lord that would drive me crazy and we would never be able to follow it.
Instead, we do blocks of time. Where my 8 y.o. daughter Sasa, will sit to do math for 30 minutes finish take a break or move on to the next subject.
Morning basket:
Our morning education starts with a morning basket where we all sit on the carpet and read a verse from the bible and we talk about it. Meanwhile, the twins are coloring or playing with their blocks.
So, I move to read out loud this last around 20-30 mins. Then Sasa moves over to writing. From here on things change because I go to work and Sasa works on her assignments independently with the help of her dad.
Afternoon: Movement
I get home from work around 3. This means that around 4 we go to the park or to the playground. The kids look forward to this and love it. I get together with some of the neighbors who have kids so they can play.
On days that we don’t go to the park, we stay home I use Beachbody on-demand to exercise and the kids love it. I mean they do better than me working out.
Daily Homeschool Schedules from Other Veteran Homeschool Moms
Here are some true and tried homeschool schedules from moms who have been homeschooling for a while.
Missy From Homeschooling my Kinetic Kids
I’m homeschooling three kids in early elementary school. My biggest scheduling hack is to set your phone alarm for a certain time every day and actually DO SCHOOL after it goes off.
It’s ok if that time is the only scheduled thing in your entire day if you don’t have any other schedule or routine for any other part of the school, but you have to have a good start time!
Also, I highly recommend putting together some fine motor busy bins (you can find ideas on my blog) to keep the kids occupied while you work with their siblings- especially in the early years when everyone wants your attention all the time!
Just get some fun and interesting things that the kids will look forward to doing every day and keep them special by only allowing them during school time.
Madz from Mommynmore.com
I’m homeschooling my daughter. What works for us is to have homeschooling in the morning when she’s energetic. We do it after exercise/kids yoga, breakfast, and bath time. She’s in kindergarten. To get her in the mood, we do something she likes first.
Kelly from Hope In the Chaos
Hey there! Homeschooling mama of 4 here, ranging in grades 1-11 this upcoming year. We have found that having a dependable routine keeps our homeschool running smoothly.
We start our day at the same time and work through our combined subjects and lessons together in the same order.
Once our combined classes are finished, then we move on to individual courses and independent learning. This keeps us consistent and our homeschool moving forward.
Alexandra from Coffee with Pixiedust
I Homeschool two boys in 4th and 2nd grade. Homeschool is about flexibility and finding out what your children thrive with. Our schedule is flexible, but I do keep a planner and make sure we finish all of our subjects daily.
We start at about 10 am, lunch at 12:30, and then finish up (some days go quick, some we finish around 6, but that is ok as long as we finish). We do the basics, Math, Language, Spelling. and alternate History and Science.
We also add in Bible daily usually through Podcast lessons that we listen to while working. I supplement with Youtube videos, especially now that going to the Library is not possible.
I keep a monthly calendar for the boys on the fridge so they always know what days we have school, have holidays and breaks, and any days that we do field trips. Good days and bad days happen, but we love being flexible in our day. Lots of breaks help on the bad days.
Mary from Mamarohrerspride.com
I homeschool my two boys, k and 2nd I also will be homeschooling my friend’s kids too pk and K. We have a routine we stay on every day. And get all of our learning done in the morning. I have a blog post on our routine. I also have tons of homeschooling tips.
Justina from The Well Planned Mama
I’m homeschooling my 6 and 4-year-old kiddos. What has worked for us is limiting subjects to 20 minutes per lesson followed by 10 minutes of play (unless they are really into the lesson, then I follow their lead and continue as long as they would like).
We do daily language arts, math, handwriting, and reading but loop schedule art, social studies, and science.
Heidi from Homeschool How To
Self-teaching was always my goal once my children were in 3rd grade and above. So I would give my children what they needed to do for the day/week and they knew they were responsible to get it done before they could have any privileges like television, going outside, etc.
When they were little we would have some bible and read-aloud time together after breakfast. Then I would have 2 of my daughters play together while I worked with the 3rd one on her table work for about 1/2 hour.
Then they would switch until everyone was done. I have 4 children but the youngest just graduated from high school 
I hope these ideas help someone.
Emily from Our Little Piece of Heaven
Hello! We are a homeschool family going into our 6th year of homeschooling. We have 2 girls that are in 5th grade and 2nd grade.
We are very relaxed in regards to our schedule because we like to leave room for field trips, activities, and following any rabbit trails that come up. We generally start our lessons between 8 and 9 each morning and always complete our daily math, language arts, and spelling.
Once those are completed we dabble in our other subject areas for 20-30 minutes each. We do give “play” breaks in between each subject of 10-15 minutes so the girls can play, read, or dig into other activities to give their brains a break.
I think we find success in keeping lessons short and allowing them to drive the conversations and learning experience.
Tiffany from The Stoke Fam
Hi! I’m a homeschool mom to two active boys (3rd and 5th grade) and we are going into our 7th year of homeschool.
We’ve done a lot of trial and error over the years in regards to our schedule, and we’ve found that, ultimately, a routine works best for us. Instead of setting a strict start time, we have a rhythm we follow that allows for a little more freedom, but everyone still knows exactly what needs to be done.
After the kids wake up, they do their morning chores and breakfast, then they have a short amount of free time to play or read before we sit down to start our school day. For us, we’ve found that that little bit of “freedom” to do what they want before school gives us a lot more cooperation when it’s time to do the work.
Betty from Mombrite.com
I am a homeschool mom to a 6 years old boy and 4 years old girl. We are taking the flexible homeschooling route and throwing the schedule out the window!
The kids wake up and head outside to play (we are in Arizona so in the summer it’s way too hot to go out after 8 AM). Then after they come in and eat breakfast, we begin school.
If they happen to be playing Legos or wanting to play a board game, then that’s fine. We finish what they want to do, and then I try to fit either math or reading in sometimes during the day.
My kids are eager to learn so I am not worried about setting a strict routine. Usually, once we begin a subject they don’t want to stop. We also do a lot of interactive experiments and hands-on learning for the days when the kids just don’t feel like sitting down to learn.
We find having a flexible schedule less stressful and the kids are happier when they are working when they are in the mood. My blog is full of fun kids activities, especially science experiments you can do at home!
Rebecca from Busy Mom Smart Mom
I’m a homeschooling single mom of two tweens. We’ve been homeschooling for nine years and our routine has evolved a lot.
Since I run a business from home mornings are dedicated to office hours for me and we homeschool in the afternoons. The start and stop times are flexible and some days are shorter while others are longer. We also do a co-op day once a week and take Fridays off.
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