Our Simple Homeschool Day Schedule

Some seasons of homeschooling call for a detailed schedule while others run better with a loose routine. This year my family needed a simple schedule that could keep us on track but provide some flexibility as well.

Simple Routine with Little Ones

When my kids were all young, a simple routine was ideal. We ordered the events of the day but didn’t attach a time to each event. That way, we were always on track whether we all got up early or slept in.

Our simple routine went something like this: breakfast and morning chores, school or playtime, lunch, nap, snack, more playtime, clean up time, dinner, family time and finally bedtime.

Stricter Schedule with a Large Crew

As my family grew and my older kids had more school work to complete, a stricter schedule was the solution. I set strict times to each and every activity for our day. It was the only way I could manage all the chaos and make sure I had time to homeschool each child. You can see our strict schedule here.

Simple Schedule This Year

At the start of this school year I attempted a simple routine but half of my kids were sleeping in and the other ones were waking up early. That meant that everyone was eating breakfast and doing chores at different times. This led to a lot of confusion in our home and a several really hungry children who had to go a long stretch before lunch.

I knew that having a baby in the mix was going to make it difficult to follow a strict schedule so I opted for a simple schedule. Instead of scheduling our day into a lot of short time slots, I decided to plan out large chunks of time for tackling tasks like homeschooling, chores and free time.

Our Simple Homeschool Schedule

We are entering the last stretch of our school year and our simple schedule is still working great! Here’s what it looks like:

• 7:00 am to 9:00 am
  • wake up
  • breakfast
  • dress
  • morning chores
• 9:00 am to 12:30 pm
  • school time for the older ones
  • playtime for the younger ones
  • squeeze a snack in when we start getting hungry
• 12:30 pm to 3:30 pm
  • lunch
  • afternoon chores
  • rest time or nap time
  • finish up school work if needed
• 3:30 pm to 6:00 pm
  • snack after the little ones get up from nap
  • free time
• 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
  • dinner
  • family time
  • bedtime

Do you follow a routine or schedule? Share in the comments!