Creating a Homeschool Schedule

Creating a homeschool schedule is an important way to stay on track, no matter what your style of homeschooling is. Even unschoolers can benefit from having some type of schedule. The key to making it work is flexibility.

A homeschool schedule will save you time.

Creating a homeschool schedule brings many benefits, even though it may seem like a monumental task at first. Once you get past the initial stage of organizing your basic schedule, you'll see benefits for you and your children.

Benefits that you will enjoy include no frantic, last-minute assembling of lessons for the day as your children wait patiently (or not so patiently?) for you to tell them what they're doing for the day. You'll find that you are able to get more done each day, likely in less time. You'll also enjoy the feeling of accomplishment that you get at the end of the day when you look at your schedule and see all you have helped your children to do.

Your children will enjoy similar benefits. They will also learn how to organize their time, which will come in very handy when they enter the workforce or if they go on to college. In fact, many children enjoy creating a homeschool schedule of their own. This allows them to not only see what they need to accomplish each day, but allows each child to check things off as they finish a task. What a great way to boost self-esteem!

Even if you unschool, creating blocks of time for special activities can help guide your child's education without the constraints of traditional schooling. You are likely to find that you and your child will feel more relaxed if you know that before lunch is devoted to certain types of activities and after lunch is devoted to other types. This type of schedule will create excitement and anticipation, which is just what you want in your learner.

Before you jump into creating a homeschool schedule, there are a few things you should consider first. To begin, check the legal requirements for your state. The Home School Legal Defense Association website will give you up to date information on what's required and you don't have to be a member to access it. This information is essential in order to assure that your homeschool is completely legal.

Most states require that you homeschool a certain number of days each year. Some also require certain subjects be taught, among other possible requirements. These things need to be made note of so they can be included in your schedule.

Other considerations should include your current daily schedule, including nap times, meal times and any regularly scheduled activities. If your child has special needs, this must be considered as well. You should also keep your schedule reasonable if you have several children. You can only do so much! Don't forget, there are regular household tasks to keep in mind, as well as free time. You don't want to micro-manage every second of the day.

Once you have a list of all the things you need to include in your schedule, sit down with your family and get their input if they are old enough. It can also be very helpful to get feedback from other homeschool families about their homeschool schedule. This will give you an idea of what works for others; you'll likely get a few stories of what doesn't work, too.

Now that you know what you want to accomplish each day, or even each week, you'll find that creating a homeschool schedule isn't as difficult as you thought it was. However, there is one more important thing you need to have in order to have a schedule that works - flexibility.

Some families feel they need to schedule every moment of every day. They schedule the time they wake up, the time they take breaks, the time they take a bath and when they go to bed. If that works for you, that's great! However, most families can't keep up that kind of pace for long. So be willing to leave a little wiggle room in your schedule.

Also, be willing to change your schedule if it clearly isn't working after a reasonable amount of time. Forcing the wrong schedule on your family isn't fair to anyone and will only make you all miserable. If you find the schedule you have isn't working, sit down together and re-work it.

Here are some excellent resources to help you create a homeschool schedule:

• DonnaYoung.org has a large selection of planners for every homeschool need.

• Homeschool Forms offers several choices in planners, all in PDF form that you can print.

• Home School Inc. has an awesome web-based planner. You do have to register with the site in order to use it, but registration is free, easy and secure. It also allows you access to other features on the site.

• Highland Heritage Forms offers many printable record forms including schedules. All are in PDF format.

All of these are free resources, but you can also purchase books to set your homeschool schedule up with, if you desire to do so. You can use a simple notebook as well. Just use a method that is easy for you and you'll be more likely to stick to it and enjoy the benefits.

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