Monday, September 7, 2009

Should You Have a Homeschooling Schedule?

I'm the first to admit that I'm not the best when it comes to creating and keeping to a schedule. I can create a schedule just fine, it's the whole keeping to it that causes me problems. I find the task of keeping to a schedule daunting and impractical for our homeschooling. However, I do believe that homeschoolers should have a general idea of what they're going to accomplish each day, or even each week.

Many new homeschoolers want to know how other homeschooler's schedule their time. So here is a general rundown of how a typical day goes in our home (with the understanding that this isn't set in stone, and on occasion, nothing gets done during the day but fun, playing, and some cleaning.)

7:30 a.m. - I get the kids up and my son eats breakfast and gets ready for school. He was formerly homeschooled, but asked to try elementary school and is doing well.

8:30 a.m. - Avlyn and I eat breakfast. I've just started working out in the morning, so sometimes we exercise together.

10:00 a.m. - We start any sort of 'school' around this time. This is when we will do handwriting practice, arts and crafts, letter practice, number practice, computer games, and songs. Depending on her mood, she usually has an attention span of about 1.5 to 2 hours.

12:00-12:30 p.m. - I fix lunch around this time. Sometimes Daddy comes home to see us, and Avlyn shows him her work for the day and her craft projects.

2:00 p.m. - We read stories and take a general rest. During the school year she will fall asleep when we go to pick up her brother, which means she's up all night. So I try to nap her around this time for 45 minutes or so.

3:30 - Leave to get her brother, and the rest of the day is spent playing, picking up the house, and cooking dinner.

7:00 p.m. - Homework time for Gavin, which means Avlyn usually gets out her "fun book" and does some work, too. Her "fun book" is a big preschool learning book that has all sorts of activities she can do independently.

9:00 p.m. - Bedtime

I hope this helps some of you wondering how to schedule a preschool homeschool day. Keep in mind that on Tuesdays we do gymnastics, some Wednesdays we go to playgroup from 10 to 12, and on Fridays we hit the library at 10:30 for storytime and to get our books for the week. Happy homeschooling!

1 comment:

  1. I'm reading Heaven on Earth which is a great book for parenting in the preschool age. I'm working on our family rhythm. I too, am not good at keeping to schedules at home, but it is so helpful to children.

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