Homeschool Scheduling Tips and Tricks

Homeschool scheduling. Some love it. Some cannot stand it. For our homeschool, planning is an absolute must. I usually spend the entire month of June planning out our next year’s curriculum, schedule, and rotation. Let’s go through each step.

Homeschool Curriculum

Choosing the curriculum is the place to start, but it is also the most difficult. After homeschooling for almost ten years, I have learned what works best for my kids, which is key. When choosing curriculum, ALWAYS keep your kids in mind. I can easily get distracted by the pretty, shiny, new curriculum, but I have to remember that I homeschool for my kids.

Also, I make sure that I have several options that the kids can do on their own. For example, this year we will be using MindPlay, Smartick, and Clever Dragons each day. These programs provide the kids with extra practice and free up time for me to help with the other children’s work.

Once you have your curriculum picked, ordered, and ready to teach, it is time to decide your schedule.

Homeschool Schedule

I also spend the month of June using Homeschool Planet to schedule our entire year. It is hard for me to remember how we homeschooled before Homeschool Planet. Not only can I plan out the entire year of lessons, but all the lessons can be moved around, the entire schedule can be changed by moving assignments forward and backward, and I can print out an assignment sheet for each child.

If you are interested in how I use Homeschool Planet to schedule our entire year, I created an entire FREE course called Homeschooling That Works. Click the image below to sign up for access. It is filled with 16 videos and 10 pdfs to help you create a homeschool that works for your family.

Once the curriculum is chosen and I have used Homeschool Planet to schedule out the assignments, it is time to put all the work into the crate system.

I learned this system from Kristi Clover, and it has revolutionized our homeschool year. Kristi also has a homeschool organization course that walks through all the steps of homeschool organization, including the above crate system.

Homeschool Rotation

My homeschool is filled with four boys and one girl. It has been tricky to find a system that works, especially for my boys. The first thing I have found that works is by using a looping schedule for English, History, Art, Music, Science, and Geography. Math and individual work on the computer is done every day.

Each day we do one item from our English rotation and then spend the afternoon working through one of the subjects above. This allows us to spend about an hour on science or history and really dive into the material. I have found that allowing more time, but only doing the subject once a week, keeps my kids engaged.

Here is more detail on this rotation:

ENGLISH

Daily:

• Daily Reading/Daily Grammar Practice
• Easy Peasy English found HERE and HERE (FREE)

Loop Rotation:

• Monday: Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind 
• Tuesday: Logics of English Essentials
• Wednesday: Writers in Residence
• Thursday: Readers in Residence
• Friday: Nessy Reading and Spelling

I spend about 30 minutes with each child on English and Language Arts.

Every day we do one lesson in the Daily Reading and Daily Grammar Practice book and finish the Easy Peasy English assignment for the day. Then, they have one English assignment a day from the loop rotation.

HISTORY

Monday: Easy Peasy Year 5 – Ancient History. Altogether, but in two levels.

ART

Tuesday: Meet the Masters

We also use Alisha Gratehouse’s courses as well. CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW I INCLUDE ART IN OUR DAY.

MUSIC

Wednesday: eMedia Piano and Keyboard Method

SCIENCE

Thursday: Easy Peasy Year 5 – Biology. Altogether, but in two levels.

GEOGRAPHY

Friday: Learn the states and capitals altogether.

Now that I have the lesson plans and the general rotation, it is time to come up with a daily rotation. When homeschooling multiple children, a rotation is a must. Each year (and sometimes even during the school year) our rotation changes depending on how many children are in school and the grade level.

This is our rotation for this school year:

1. I start with the top three areas for each child: Work with mom, Independent, Play.
2. I then rotate the kids through each area. For this rotation, Brinkley is 10 (5th grade), Colston is 9 (3rd grade), Hartley is 7 (1st grade), Kinsler is 5 (Pre-K), and Cannon is 3 (preschool).
3. I have found that 15 minutes to spend on preschool all the way through pre-K is plenty. My little ones get plenty of learning by just playing with their siblings and myself.
4. Every other rotation is about 30 minutes.
5. The three big kids rotate through a math block with me, independent work (Clever Dragons and MindPlay), and a play time.
6. Then, I work with my pre-K little guy.
7. The next rotation for the big three kids is to rotate through an English block with me, independent work (reading & Smartick), and a play time.
8. Then, I work with my preschool little guy.
9. After lunch, we come together for our afternoon block which rotates between history, art, music, science, and geography.
10. The kids finish the day with their Ambleside reading.
11. The last part of the block is our evening rhythm, which is a family activity we participate in together.

This rotation keeps us on track and allows me some one on one time with each kid throughout the school day.