SAMPLE HOMESCHOOL SCHEDULE
A regular routine and a schedule can be a valuable part of helping children become self-motivated and self-directed. While home schooling allows flexiblity, lack of boundaries and direction can be harmful in the development of life skills and habits. The following time frames and schedule may not be fitting for your family, but they serve as a sample for encouraging you to establish your own. While unexpected circumstances arise and life's details constantly call for attention, staying focused on your child's education and helping them to overcome common distractions is important for successful living and home schooling.
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 - 12 noon - lunch (prepare, eat and cleanup)
12 noon - 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)
Schedules can vary depending on the ages (young child many only be able to focus for 5 - 15 minutes on a topic) and the number of children in your home (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 therapy). Some families like having longer blocks of time per topic and may schedule Bible, English and math each day, while teaching science on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays, and history on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
A schedule is not a militant agenda to be rigidly followed, but a lamp to light the way. Flexibility is one of the advantages of home schooling, but sometimes families need to "get back on schedule" if they lose focus.