By Terry Neven, Sunland
1-800-525-4419 / sunlandhomeschool@gmail.com
Homeschooling involves a degree of organization. Following are a few areas needing a decided structure of some type (unless you follow a laissez-faire style). Scheduling for home school can include:
YEARLY SCHEDULE
When will the school year begin and end? (See Sunland's sample calendar). Some families schedule to home school along the calendar of the local public and private school schedules. If you homeschool only one of your children, the other children’s schedule can be a determining factor, or if a family wants their child to have the same schedule as the children in their community, church or neighborhood. Families can also home school through a year around approach.
What holidays and vacations will you schedule? Will you schedule the home school year into semester and/or quarterly time frames (for record keeping purposes)? And what are some of the possible others items, such as annual achievement testing, field trips, get-togethers with other home school families or group classes, which you might add to your schedule.
WEEKLY SCHEDULE
Which days of the week will your family home school? Sometimes a family’s employment schedule might be a factor, such as Tuesday – Saturday for those who have Sunday and Monday as days off from work. One might also schedule which courses will be covered each school day. Some families work through every topic each day, while others might cover Bible, English, math and PE each day, while teaching science on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays, and history and the electives on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Will there be a day school reports are due and quizzes and tests are given (sometimes this depends on the curriculum being used)?
DAILY SCHEDULE
A schedule is not a militant agenda to be rigidly followed, but a guide to light the way. Flexibility is one of the advantages of homeschooling. The following time frames serve as a sample. While this may not be fitting for your family, establish your own. Unexpected circumstances arise and life’s details constantly call for attention, but staying focused on your child’s education and helping them to overcome common distractions is important for successful schooling of any type.
Schedules can vary depending on your children. Normally a child can stay focused for 15-20 minutes at a time (sometimes longer). Pre-school/kindergarten children many only be able to focus for 5 - 10 minutes on a topic, while children with ADD/ADHD may need a schedule which takes their needs into consideration.
The number of children in your home can also be a factor (they may not study the same topic at the same time), the type of curriculum (informal, formal or integrated) or courses (college or group classes) and personal agenda (work schedule, dad teaching certain topics at night, or doctor visits). Some families like having longer blocks of time per topic and may schedule Bible, English, math and PE each day, while teaching science on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays, and history on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Having some sort of schedule helps to provide structure to your homeschooling and can eliminate arguments about who should be doing what and when. Flexibility is good as long as it doesn’t take over and cause you to lose your focus. Children also know if their parents can be easily manipulated and they could subtly begin to gain control over who is the boss. Remember we are not only educating our children in the area of academics, but also in character, values and decision making by training and nurturing them into becoming adults. The “schedule” they live out as a teenager (staying up late, doing what they want, when they want) can play a role in the pattern they follow in their early years as an adult.
SAMPLE DAILY SCHEDULE (Monday - Friday)
8:00 - Get up, dressed, and make bed
8:30 - Breakfast and devotions
9:00 - Cleanup
9:15 - 9:55 - Language Arts (Reading, writing, spelling, composition, etc.)
9:55 - break
10:00 - 10:40 - Math
10:40 - break
10:45 - 11:25 - History
11:25 - 12noon - lunch (prepare, eat and cleanup)
12:00noon - 12:40 - Science
12:40- 1:00 - break
1:00 - 2:00 - local gym for P.E.
2:30 - 3:30 - finish any incomplete work
4:30 - 5:30 - chores, prepare for dinner
5:30 - dinner
6:30 - clean up the kitchen
7:00 - 8:00 - family time
8:00 - showers / bedtime (appropriately set per child)
CONCLUSION
Sitting down together as a family and discussing home schooling and a schedule can be a great way for the family to be on the same page and obtain mutual agreement. This can save parents from having a tug of war with their children at a later date over what is expected. Adjustments along the way will help as you traverse through this potentially new experience, changes in life requires us to adjust our schedule and calendars.
If you would like to talk with someone about home schooling, give us a call at 1-800-525-4419 or set up a Zoom Chat.