One of the greatest issues with home schoolers is finding time to do everything you want/need to do. This can be tough. Here are some things that have helped me keep my days organized:
Get A Calendar. This is my most important investment every year. I use it to write down everything we are going to do. If I don't write it down, there is a good chance that it won't get done. This calendar is not for day-to-day school schedules. It is for field trips, music lessons, ball games, play dates, etc. I've even started keeping track of when my bills are due on it.
Decide On A School Schedule. First we'll talk about a yearly schedule, then a weekly one and then the daily schedule.
Yearly Schedule: Are you going to school year round? Follow the local school schedule? Take a break every couple of months? We've tried it all. We have settled on following (loosely) the public school schedule. We do this so it will be easier to participate in outside activities. We also do it because the kids like it. I don't take teacher in-service days when they do. We take those whenever I need a break.
Schooling year round works for lots of families. Some will school for 3 months, off for 1. Or they will school for 6 weeks off for a couple. This last schedule worked well when the kids were young. We were doing lots of Unit Studies and it gave us time to complete one, rest and then start again.
Whatever schedule you decide to use, take into consideration your family's schedule and lifestyle. Does your husband have a certain time of year that he must take off? Make sure you aren't doing school at that time. Do you like to ski? Make sure you take a break during that time of year.
Weekly Schedule: Now it's time to see how your week is going to look. Will you home school 5 days a week, 6 days, 4 days? Each have their advantages.
We tried 6 days a week once. It didn't last long. Neither my son (fairly young at the time) or my husband liked the idea of schooling on Saturday. But, if it works for you, that's great.
Five days a week is what most people expect to do when they start out. Most curricula are written with a 5 day school week in mind. The typical work week is Mon-Fri. The public school week is Mon-Fri. It makes sense that home schoolers would do that also. It is a good schedule.
Four days a week is what we do. I know most people who school for 4 days a week do it from Mon-Thurs. This leaves Fri for extra activities (which, by the way, would then make Friday a school day). The schedule works well and is very relaxing. Allowing you a day a week to do some fun stuff. We school four days a week. We school Tues-Fri. Once we started this schedule our school ran much smoother. My husband is a preacher. Sundays are really tiring for us. We take off Monday and run errands. We get our grocery shopping done and anything else we want to do. Of course, this doesn't leave room for the fun stuff, so we have to squeeze that in when we can.
Daily Schedule: How long does it take to home school? That's a question I get a lot. Some people have the idea that we have to sit around the table for 7 hours a day like they do in traditional school. Keep in mind that it doesn't take as long to teach one or two children something as it does to teach 17 or 18. Plus, you don't have all the wasted time that goes in school. Finding pencils, going to the bathroom, settling down between classes, dealing with behavior disruptions. All these things take away from instruction time in the traditional school. They are all pretty much eliminated at home.
The younger the child, the less time you'll need. A 5 or 6-year-old may need only 30 minutes of formal schooling. Some days it may not even take that long. That doesn't mean that learning isn't happening at other times of the day. It just means that the formal phonics or math instruction you'll want to do won't take very long. As the child gets older, the time spent “doing school” should increase also.
We have 3 kids that are being formally educated at home. There are 2 younger ones that are not doing anything formal yet. My time doing school is about 4 hours. This varies a little from day-to-day, but I set aside 4 hours everyday. One hour is spent reading aloud to all the children. Then I have schedule an hour block to spend with each child alone. While I'm working with one child, the others are doing independent work.
Now, this doesn't mean that the kids always take 4 hours to finish school. Some days it is less, some days it is more. It depends a lot on how much work they are doing and how their attention span is that day.
I don't like to say that we'll do Reading at 8, Math at 8:30, language at 9, etc. If I schedule it that tight, then if something interferes — phone call, little one needing attention, etc — then I feel behind. Instead, I have a schedule that looks like this:
Reading
Work with Timothy
Work with Andrew
Work with James
It's pretty simple, and it is pretty flexible. If Andrew is chomping at the bit to get his day finished, I might switch him with Timothy. The schedule should be a guide not a dictator.
Individual Schedules: Each child should know what is expected of him each day. I usually begin the year writing all of this down for them. They can then check off things as they finish them. After a month or so, we are usually into a good rhythm and the need to write it down is not there. They know what's expected and they do it. Some families may find that they need to write things down all the time. That's fine. Adjust the individual schedules as needed. Feel free to eliminate something that's not working and/or add something that you think they need to do.
Life Experiences: It is important to remember that not all schooling happens with a textbook. Keep in mind that much of what your child will learn will be in the day-to-day activities that you make available to them. Whether it's raising animals, working with the elder or young children, or working in the family business, activities that are done as part of the real world are the best. Always be on the look out for things that will benefit your child. As a home school parent, sometimes we need to make things happen. If you want your child to be around others his age, you may have to start a co-op class or plan a field trip or park day. If you want your child to learn about giving to others, you may need to search out volunteer opportunities. If you want your child to learn a trade or hobby, you will have to find someone to help him learn. Be creative and have fun.
