Our Homeschool Schedule – Excerpt Part Two
Excerpt from our Homeschool Planner
Our Home Education Schedule
Create a Flexible Schedule to Keep Your Homeschool On Track
For us another way to de-stress and thoroughly enjoy our homeschool life again – even with the added children, was that we started to school year-round. At first it was to “make-up” things missed during babies being born and other such life-altering events, but now because the kids LOVE it and nothing is ever missed – we don’t have any “make-up” work. Also on “summer vacation” I can’t even tell you how many times the kids pestered me about wanting schoolwork to do! “Mom, when can we do school again?” became a daily question – which I guess was a good thing since they obviously enjoyed it.
So now we school year-round – taking small and large breaks as we want/need. For us it’s a thousand times less stressful and we’re never hurried to “finish” anything – we just take a smaller break and then pick up where we left off – and we do it more times a year, so there’s more “vacations” instead of just one big one in the summer. This also makes it great for regular, but somewhat spontaneous, hiking trips or field trips. Plus, we spend more time relaxing over the winter holidays – actually being able to enjoy them and – big confession – inside in the cool house when it’s too darn hot to be out there! For summer months we adjust our daily schedule so that the kids get to play outside during the cooler hours and are inside when it’s super hot outside. Homeschooling year-round also makes it so that the kids don’t have long breaks in between and are less likely to need as much review of what we were learning.
The main thing for every home education program is keeping it flexible – and that’s more relaxing for everyone, no stressing. We simply strive to follow a regular schedule and routine. I go through and edit my plan about every 3 months or after anytime we take a break. This way my year plans are basic, and then I detail out smaller chunks and it ends up being more realistic and is more likely to be accomplished.
For you, schooling all year may or may not be practical, you may want to take off three months over the fall because you’re having a new baby or moving – the point is that you need to do what works for your family. Just because you have to turn in portfolios or forms to your school during a certain day/week/month doesn’t mean that’s the day/week/month you have to start or finish homeschooling for the year.
Schooling how you want is part of why you homeschool, but you also need to remember that you can school when you want/need as well. Being able to follow your own schedule is one joy not to be missed. If it’s something you’re not sure about, be sure to pray about it and follow through with the answer you receive. One year may be different than the next, and we can only trust that it’s what is best for us.
