Creating a Daily Routine for Your Homeschool

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Creating a daily routine for your homeschool can add structure and direction to your homeschool day, help you and your students be more productive, and make the school year more fun.

paper in binder with handwritten school schedule with pencil.

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Ready to teach your kids at home? You’ve researched until you’re blue in the face; you’ve shopped until you’re ready to drop; you’re all tooled up for homeschooling. Now’s when the rubber hits the road.

But, how do you get things done? Where do you start? How do you stay on track?

Creating a daily schedule or routine can be a great thing to add structure and direction to your homeschool day. Yet, you’re not going to find a magic bullet or a one-size-fits all routine. 

There are families who will be drawn to a minute-by-minute schedule, while others will lend themselves to a basic outline that can be tweaked on a day-to-day basis. You have to find what works for you. Here’s how:

Creating a Daily Routine for Your Homeschool

What you choose will should ultimately be determined by what works best for your family. What works best will change with the seasons.

Yeah, you knew that successful homeschooling was a moving target, right? However, if you don’t have a target, you’ll hit nothing. So, set a schedule or daily routine for the beginning of the year, realizing that it will need some tweaking as the year progresses.

student planner open to weekly page with pens and post-its

The Print & Go Student Planner

By schedule or routine, I mean the basic guideline, a map, for how your school days will go. 

Here’s an example:

  • BREAKFAST: 7 am
  • Morning meeting: Pray, talk about the day, read alouds, etc.
  • Math
  • Science
  • SNACK
  • Reading
  • History
  • LUNCH
  • Handwriting/Language Arts
  • Art/Music
  • Quitting Time and Clean up: 3:00

When my kids were younger, time blocking was the only way to get things done. I couldn’t function with a minute-by-minute schedule, but I needed ranges to guide us and keep us on track.

Time blocking is important, just remember that it may get frustrating if math takes 60 minutes instead of 45 and your whole day goes wonky as a result. Give yourself lots of margin and remember to hold things loosely.

divided lunch box with veggies cheese fruit and dip

Here are some things to consider as you create your daily schedule or routine:

1. What time of day are you and your kids strongest?

Homeschooling gives you lots of freedom to choose, particularly what time of day you start and when you call it quits.

Go with your strengths and set up your school day for when you and especially your kids are at your collective best. 

If your kids are doing distance learning, you may not have a lot of choice as to when the class meetings are held, but you do have sway as to when your child will work on his assignments. You’re not locked into the traditional hours for lessons and/or homework.

2. What activities take the most energy?

If Math is a breeze, but Language Arts is a little slower going, be strategic in when you cover each subject. Will your child do better with the harder subject when she’s fresh in the morning or would knocking out some “easy subjects” help her build traction throughout the day?

Eating the frog is not always the way to go. You know your kids.

Test out the different theories and see what works best for you. It may be that you just mix it up from day to day. You now have the freedom to go with the flow!

two girls playing bean boozed

3. Are you including regular breaks and “fun school”?

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Make sure that you are including snack breaks, “recess,” and some more “fun” educational activities throughout the day.

Play a game like Bingo, Boggle, or Trivial Pursuit Family Edition. Watch a short video on the topic of history you’re currently studying. Play Bean Boozled while reading Harry Potter.

Mix up the media that you use for learning. Listen to audio books, do math on the computer (or on paper!), go on a nature walk.

Get everyone outside several times a day. Consider taking a walk around the block to get the blood pumping and the lungs refreshed. Everyone will feel better for it and concentration will be improved.

4. Have you scheduled quitting time?

In my early years of homeschooling, I would decide on the things we needed to do in a day and keep at it, regardless of the time. If we started late, then we worked late.

But, when the sun went down (albeit early on a Kansas winter night) and my kid was still doing his math, I realized that enough was enough.

Nowadays, we try to wrap up by 3:30 at the latest so that we can have an official quitting time. If someone’s been lagging throughout the day, then they do homework later in the evening.

carafe and glasses of milk with tray of cookies

5. Don’t forget happy hour.

Since we don’t school in a “traditional” manner, my kids aren’t coming home for an afterschool snack. That doesn’t mean we don’t need one.

Hubs is usually home by 3, making it a perfect time to reconnect as a family, switch gears from “working,” clean up school work, and enjoy a healthy snack to hold us over until dinnertime.

Or cookies.

Now, of course, if you’re teaching more than one child at home, you’ll have more factors to think about and more personalities to mix into the fold. Every day looks different when you teach your kids at home.

6. Make adjustments for special days.

Are there certain days that don’t follow the rest of your week? Perhaps music lessons take up a big portion of a Monday. 

If so, don’t force Monday to fit the Tuesday to Friday template. You’ll feel crazy! Make a different routine for Mondays.

Organize your homeschool days with a routine!

Creating a daily routine can be a great way to give direction to your homeschool days. It just may be the organizational tool you’ve been missing. If you don’t have a routine set up, consider it this school year!

How do YOU create a daily routine that works for you?

Creating a Daily Routine for Your Homeschool Life as Mom

This post was originally published August 16, 2011. It has been updated for content and clarity.

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28 Comments

  1. All great advice! Our family uses the Love My Schedule system. It’s a magnetic wet erase schedule that I keep on the fridge. That way I don’t have to print out a new schedule when I want to change it. I also have the chore charts so I can check off their chores as they get done. Their website is LoveMySchedule.com if anyone wants to check it out.

  2. thanks for these great ideas! I struggle with setting a new schedule every year. This year we’ve just started 4th grade, which means school extends into after lunch. A rude awakening for my kiddos 😳 and me 😂

  3. Okay so I am new to the idea of Home Schooling, but seriously considering it. My major concern is the lack of social skills from the lack of kids they will be around. How often should I be bringing them out to a park (If there are any kids there if it is school hours) or how often should I be bring them to field trips, etc… Also, I do not want them to grow up solely dependent on me. I want them to be independent and I am concern that taking them from school to home that will stunt them a little. Any suggestions on what you do to keep them independent and interacting with other kids. I do not live in a neighborhood where there are kids locally they play with.

    1. My kids don’t really have problems relating to other people, regardless of the age. In fact, I think that they are better socialized than some because they know how to talk to older, younger, without a problem. There are lots of homeschool support groups and activities available, so they get lots of opportunities plus sports. I’d suggest seeing what other homeschoolers are in your community. That will alleviate some of your fears.

    2. besides finding other homeschoolers in your community there are many out of school activities your kids can join. Scouting is probably the best but there are also church groups, dance, sports, parts/rec classes, library classes, karate, ext. The important thing is to find something they are interested in and find fun! Once they have found the thing they want to do try and drop them off leaving them there by themselves as often as possible! Don’t even hang around and watch (ok some of the time is fine but mostly just leave…give yourself a break!!) Once they are use to the activity you can also find a friend they have made in the class/group and invite him/her over for a play date. You can also send your child over for play dates at that child’s home too. When your child is older (8 or more) sleep overs are great too! Lots of great ways for kids to socialize that do not require a school building!

  4. “So, set a schedule for the beginning of the year, realizing that it will need some tweaking as the year progresses.”
    I breathe a sigh of relief reading this! We’ve just started with more of a school time routine this year and it has changed OFTEN!!! I’m learning that it’s okay to adapt and change as long as we’re all happy and moving forward!

  5. Oh, I was going to say … I always began the day with my youngest child’s Math (he’s 8 now – my *baby* – I don’t know that happened!)
    Anyway – he loves Math, but Language and writing is much less enjoyable. So he asked if he could do that first to ‘get it over with’, so that’s what we do now.
    We begin our new term tomorrow, so I’ll give him the choice, but I’m guessing he’ll want to get the ‘writing stuff’ out of the way first again 🙂

  6. Yes, we have a basic schedule, but I keep telling the (older) kids – remember, it’s our aid, not our master! I’m much more lax than they are!

    It’s so important to have fun every day as well as all the busy-ness… us mums *must* remember that 🙂

  7. The great thing about homeschooling is that each family has a different schedule that works for them. In our family, since our oldest had been in private & public school, she was used to that routine, so we decided to make our schedule as much like public/private school as possible. Last year, we started at 8:30 and were supposed to be done by 3:00/3:30. That included 2 breaks & lunch. By being done by 3:30, we can go out & meet the neighborhood friends getting off the bus. This will be our 3rd year & we have chosen to use A Beka’s DVDs so that I don’t have to juggle teaching 2 kids, I just have to grade papers. This year, I’m going to try to have them do some exercise DVDs with me first before we start our day, so they get some PE. Found a bunch of kids exercise DVDs on Netflix, so we can try them out one at a time.

  8. Thanks for this post, it was a good reminder. I really need the next one! This will be my first year with 2 and I’m really unsure how to go about it. Hope you’ve got some good ideas for me! : )

  9. Our state the age is age 7!
    My boys, I find that I schedule bookwork from 8:30-12:30 and then after lunch we do school that is not bookwork. It works well with four active boys who do not learn well, sitting all day.

    1. Same! We’re in Kansas and don’t have to do a lick of school until age 7. It’s very nice. Of course they are always learning so we don’t do too much formal stuff when they are little. PLENTY of time for that later, trust me!

  10. For how many hours a day do you do PreSchool (PreK)? What types of subjects do you teach and for how long?

      1. Thank you but I just came from that page. Although I got a lot of good ideas from it but it said nothing about how many hours a day I needed to do this nor gave an approximate time for each activity.

        1. That really depends on the kid. I have some whose interest is totally engaged and they’re happy to do an activity for 20 to 30 minutes or longer. Others not so much. With preschool, I think having a few different “subjects” or activities during the day, mixed up with reading time, outdoor play, and snack is a good thing to shoot for.

          When I worked in a preschool, we varied the activities between those that were directed, like a craft or a story stretcher, and those that were free form, like playing with blocks or building sand castles.

          Since I’ve almost always been working with older kids at some point in the day, my little people follow along with us if they’re interested. So, they pick up their colors, numbers, and letters without a lot of work.

          1. Okay, thanks. I was looking more for required hours by government more than the other but thanks for your time and knowledge on this subject. Also, I thought PreK (K4) was different than what I would be doing with my 2 year old.

          2. Compulsory age varies by state. So, you’d need to see what your state laws require. I have never lived anywhere preschool was required. Certainly what a 4yo is interested in and capable of will vary from the average 2yo. But, again, I think that it depends on the child.

  11. I’m not a homeschooler but I wanted to share this anyway. 🙂

    Before I had kids I spent a few years working in a Waldorf School. While I’m not a big fan of many things they do what I always found interesting was their morning lesson. The first chunk of every day (2-3 hours, I think?) was the main unit the kids were working on that month. They ranged from things like fractions to units on India, Judism, Norse Myths, etc.. So they weren’t limited to one subject to spend that time on. During the rest of the day regular subjects like math, reading, languages, music, etc. would be scheduled in shorter time slots. If I homeschool when my kids are older, which I’m considering pending their school experiences, learning styles, etc. I would probably do something similar. A major factor in whether or not we homeschooled an older child would be if they had other interests they wanted to pursue but didn’t have the time during a regular school day. If that makes any sense. Of course, I am completely ignorant of what it’s actually like to live homeschooling and my oldest is only 5 so I could be way off base. 🙂

  12. I love the idea of “quitting time.” Last year was our first year homeschooling, and the homeschool day ended when the work was done. That drove one of my kids crazy.

    This year we’ll have a definite quitting time. Oh, and happy hour!

  13. Thanks for a great post. I am a veteran home schooler, but it is always good to be reminded of some basic principles that make the school day work. You hit it right on as far as I am concerned.

  14. Thanks for posting this. We are toying with the idea of homeschooling our son with high functioning autism. I have 4 others as well but will keep them in school. I like how you broke down alot of the areas I was concerned with. Thanks!

    1. Preschool starts as soon as they are interested in some of these things: http://lifeasmom.com/2010/08/a-preschool-education-at-home.html

      Kinder starts at the “traditional” age. I am an over-achiever naturally and have held myself back from making my kids do more than they were ready for. But, so far all my students have been boys. So, this year my first girl starts kinder. We’ll see if that is different.