BJU Press Blog

Homeschool schedule

Taking Homeschool Flexibility to the Next Level

by

homeschool flexibility like a slinky
When I homeschooled my two boys, we were able to take full advantage of the flexibility homeschooling offered. Creative scheduling allowed me to take into account my boys’ different personalities and adjust to the needs of our family. Our schedule didn’t always allow for the length of a typical school day. One of the boys liked to get up early in the morning and tackle his work, while the other wanted to do his work later. And neither of the boys liked having full open days with no work to do. So we adopted a schedule that suited everyone.

Six-Day Homeschool Schedule with a Twist

In the early years, daily lesson times revolved around the needs of my schedule, but as the boys got older, we didn’t have set times for any of their subjects. That way they could arrange their responsibilities within the time they had available. Most days we doubled up on at least one subject so that we could finish five days of work in four. Then our Friday would be a field trip day—whether we were going to a museum or visiting the park. We especially liked this schedule the fall because it meant we had plenty of good field trip opportunities. Any work that we weren’t able to finish through the week, we would do on Saturday. Doing that every week, we had the flexibility to take an extended break for Christmas and still finish our required school days by the end of April .

Keeping the Schedule During the Summer

During the school year, we only did subjects with 180 days of work during the school day, leaving the 90-day subjects for the summer. So, in the lower grades, we would do history and science during the summer. In the upper grades, we’d do literature. I also added in other learning activities such as math games, keyboarding, and foreign language practice as well as recreational reading time. That gave my boys a couple of hours of work each day, which kept them busy, but wasn’t overwhelming to them. With that set up, we were also able to count some of their textbook reading toward the library’s summer reading program.

In the end, our homeschool schedule was a little unusual, but it worked for us. I was able to capitalize on homeschool flexibility so that both of my boys’ learning needs were met in the best way possible.

3 Reasons to Homeschool Year-Round

by

Acquarium year-round homeschooling
Our homeschool is undergoing a lot of change. This is the first year we’ve homeschooled more than one child (we added two children). This is the first year that we started in July. And this is the first year we’re trying a year-round schedule.

Until recently, I had never considered homeschooling year-round. But in the spring, somewhere in the long stretch between Christmas break and Easter, I found myself feeling burned out. Neither I nor my third grader was really interested in doing school, but I didn’t feel free to take a break because I was determined to be done by the beginning of May.

When I expressed my frustrations to another homeschool mom, she encouraged me to consider a year-round, four-day-a-week homeschool schedule. We decided to give it a try this year for the following reasons.

1. Year-round gives added flexibility.

Flexibility is one of the greatest benefits of homeschooling, but I’ve found it hard to be “flexible” when trying to follow a traditional school year schedule. In the four-day-a-week model, we get a day off every week—a day for field-trips, play dates, music lessons, doctor’s visits, grocery shopping, or other appointments. Most weeks, our day off will be Monday, but we have the flexibility to move that day if needed.

2. It keeps kids in the routine of learning.

My kids, like many others, do best when they are in a routine. A three-month-long summer vacation has always been challenging. The kids get bored—usually within a few days. And they usually lose some academic ground. On a four-day schedule, I will homeschool for forty-five weeks this year. It’s doubtful that we’ll have a break longer than four weeks, and I see that as a good thing.

3. It lessens the stress on any given day.

If you have homeschooled for any length of time, you know that some days don’t go as planned. I had one of those days just last week—the DVD player my second-grader uses for Distance Learning broke. Was I worried about getting behind? No. I knew that we had a free day each week that we can use for make-up work if needed. Having that “cushion” helps everyone’s stress level.

So far, I’m liking our new homeschool schedule. Will I still like it next June when a lot of our friends are done with school for the summer? We’ll see. I’m curious to know if any of you have tried a year-round homeschooling schedule. What did you like or not like about it? Leave me a comment to let me know.