How to Set up a Homeschool Schedule That Works for YOU!

It can be hard to let go of our ideas of what school should look like.  After all, those of us that attended public school as kids have only those experiences to go by.  I have learned through this first year of homeschooling that what is familiar isn't always what is best for my family.  C and I are not morning people. So the cute little schedule I made up where we are up, fed and dressed by eight just did not work for us!  We were both grumpy and felt like we needed more time to slowly wake up and enjoy some quiet time in the morning.  Adjusting our schedule to allow us a slower start in the morning has really helped us have more joy in our learning time!

When should you start your homeschool day?

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help you decide what will work best for your family:

• Are you a morning person?
• Is your child(ren) a morning person?
• Do you have busy morning with outside commitments? (Doctor appointments, gymnastics, etc)
• Do you have busy evenings with outside commitments? (church, sports, etc)
• What time of day do you feel the most energized?

The first question you should ask yourself if whether or not you are a morning person and then whether or not your children are morning people.  Having a joyful school day starts with mommy's attitude!   Are your children morning people?  If the answer is no, your family may benefit from having school in the afternoon.  If the kids are morning people but mommy isn't, maybe you could start the day with individual work and end with the work that calls for the most instruction.    Of course, you need to take your outside commitments into account when planning your schedule.  

What Subjects Should I Start With?

If you are blessed to have kids that enjoy all subjects it is easier to schedule your subjects.  For those of us that have kids that have a subject or two they can't stand, it can be a little more tricky!  

• Are you the type of person that likes to hurry and finish things you aren't looking forward to?  
• Are your kids?  
• Are you (or they) the type that likes to start with something simple and then tackle the difficult things?  

If you and your kids have different attitudes towards difficult tasks, consider who gets most frustrated during the hard subjects.  It is not always the kids! 

Take Action Breaks in your School Day

Younger kids have a hard time sitting down for longer periods at a time.  To help C when it is time to focus, I made action break tickets.  She gets three a day and can use them whenever she starts feeling restless.  You can read more about how we use them and how to get your copy here.

I hope this helps you make a homeschool schedule that works for your family.  I would love to hear about your family's schedule in the comments section below!  Thank you so much for visiting Joy Focused Learning!

~Angela

Try the Brainzy educational games program FREE today!

This post is linked up at:

The Thoughtful Spot | Hip Homeschool Hop | Titus 2sday | List it Tuesday | 

Let Your Kids Take an Action Break - FREE Printable

I am very thankful that C usually has a pretty good attitude about getting her work done during school time.  Some days though, her little body just can't take sitting for that long.  To help her out, I am going to re-instate something we used to do, I'm not sure why we ever stopped.

Here's how we plan to use them: 

Weekly Wrap-Up Week of 11-3

We were super busy this week!  Last night was presentation night for our co-op.  C chose to do a presentation on sharks - so we have done very little outside of preparing for her shark presentation!  We did squeeze in a little bit of time for other subjects. 

My Kindle Picks 11/5

 



I have really enjoyed having a weekly Kindle Picks feature on the blog!  I have found some great books in the process.  There are a lot of free or cheap Kindle books out there, but a lot of them don't look that interesting or well made to me.  I have weeded through the pile to find some great picks for you!  Here are my requirements:

Homeschooling in a Small Home

I would love to have a big, bright homeschool room and I hope to have one eventually.  For now though, we live in a small two bedroom apartment.  That doesn't leave much space for our school stuff.

 I know a lot of people have school at their dining room table.  That wasn't a very convenient solution for us though.  We don't have a pantry in our apartment so we put a bookcase up in the dining area to use as a makeshift pantry.  There isn't any space in our dining area to store books or supplies, we would be constantly leaving the table to grab supplies for the next subject.  Also, I thought C would enjoy having a space of her own to learn.

Weekly Wrap-Up Week of 10/6

What a week!  Thankfully we got a lot done on Monday and Tuesday or I would have nothing to share with you!  C  had an eye appointment on Wednesday, and I expected it to take a couple hours of our morning and then we could have school at the library.  She is very farsighted, and has an eye that crosses when looking at things up close.  At our last check up, only 3 months ago, both eyes were testing even with the glasses on which was great - no crossing!

Calendar Time with FREE Printables

I hope you all had a great weekend!  Ours was busy, but not with anything particularly exciting.  EXCEPT that I finished up our Calendar Time wall and also made a second set of not so girly printables to share with all of you! 

I have seen some excellent Calendar Time ideas on other blogs, ours is pretty simple for a couple reasons:

• I try to not use too much ink/paper-it is SO expensive!
• C isn't too big on math so I try and do our math in short and sweet segments throughout our school time