One of my favorite choices I ever made very early on in our homeschooling was our yearly schedule. We take a break approximately every 5-6 weeks, sometimes as short as 4, but I try never longer than 6. This necessitates starting our school year in mid-to-late-July, but it is definitely worth it on many levels.
Usually by that time in the summer the kids have already had 6-8 weeks of break, and they are getting a little bit (or a lot) bored. Starting school then allows them to have something to keep them busy, but there’s still great weather to do school outside, play outside during breaks, and even go swimming after school.
But the frequent breaks that come throughout the year. . . These are golden! Even my kids agree that they are worth starting school early. Sometimes we organize our breaks around a planned trip (or re-organize for an unplanned trip!). Often we don’t have anything special planned, but both the kids and I are ready for a break from all the work and the study. The kids will break out play-dough for a day or building a robot, and I will get an extra project done around the house (or simply do laundry and feel amazed at how much time I have to get it done!). Every single break, I comment to my husband on how much I love these breaks! We all usually feel refreshed and ready to go for the next chunk of weeks, especially knowing it’s only about 5-6 weeks!
I plan my yearly schedule right at the end of the school year/early summer break. I start with Christmas break first and work backwards. I plan on the week of Christmas off, then mark the week before that as week 18. I work backwards until Thanksgiving (so usually there are only 3-4 weeks of school between the two holidays), when we have another break. From the Thanksgiving break, I continue to count backwards, making a break week every 5-6 weeks, depending on any plans I know we may have. I keep doing that until I have a start week, usually mid-to-late-July. Then, I plan my “spring semester,” starting in January with week 19. Usually this semester is a lot easier to plan, as we often have a lot less going on. These breaks are usually pretty consistently 5-6 weeks apart, depending on when I want to end (week 36), usually around the third or fourth week in May.
My daily schedule has definitely morphed the most from year to year. I think it’s really important to be flexible here as the number of kids you have change, their needs and subjects change, and as they age. One year, I had to let my son get his piano practice done early in the day as he was more alert then. That same year, I believe, we chose to do art, and we did it early in the morning. We used to do science and history on alternate days at the end of the day, but I realized it was challenging to pull everyone together. So we switched things up and did them both in the morning right after breakfast when everyone was already still together. As the older kids have started doing some more independent work, our schedules have changed a bit more.
I use a simple spiral notebook, a ruler, and erasable color pens to make my weekly schedule. Each 5-day school week is a two-page spread. I draw 4 vertical lines on each page with my kids’ names on top in their color. I write the dates and subjects on the left in black and write each kid’s assignment under the appropriate name in the appropriate color. I do this weekly, and it really only takes a short amount of time. We check off completed assignments in red. This year, I also write out my 9th grader’s assignments for him, so he can take more ownership of making sure he gets everything done himself.
As important as it is to be flexible, I think it’s important to have at least a general structure to a homeschool day. This way, you and the kids both have a general idea what to expect, and things go as smoothly as possible (most days!).
___________________________________________________