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Uh-oh. The time is near.

How do I organize my kid’s homeschool schedule for the year?

Planning your kid’s homeschool schedule can be overwhelming. If you overthink it, you’re going to drive yourself crazy and get nowhere.

So, let’s keep it simple! I’m going to show you how.

If you’re enrolled in a school, they should set up your kid's remote homeschooling schedule for you. Keep reading, make sure those things are in place, and if they’re not, start asking questions now. This is your kids’ education we’re talking about.

If you’re homeschooling on your own, you should know your state’s academic requirements. By now, I’m sure you’ve joined local homeschooling mom groups to help you pick the best curricula for your kids.

There are only three things you need to remember around your kid's homeschool schedule: be organized, track your progress, and plan fun stuff. That’s it!

Use A Calendar To Set Up Your Homeschool Schedule 

1) Get yourself a calendar. It can be a planner that opens up like a spiral notebook with a new week at every turn of the page. That's my personal favorite from my classroom teaching days. An electronic calendar works well too. Choose whatever you like best.

Quick tip. Have a separate planner or calendar for every grade level that you teach. Keep all the subjects for each grade level in one calendar.

2) Work backward through your calendar to set up deadlines for the start and finish of each unit for each subject during the course of the year. Write those in your calendar in pencil.

Quick tip. You’ll adjust your calendar through the school year. Write everything down in pencil so that your planner isn’t a scribbled-out mess by the end of your first month.

The curriculum you’ve purchased should give you a timeline for completion of each unit. For example, if you’re looking at a math unit on fractions, it should tell you how many days or weeks it'll take to finish.

All those deadlines are subject to change, depending on how well your kids respond to their lessons. Some units you may go through ahead of schedule, some you may need more time with. It all depends on your kid.

3) Review the lessons you’ll cover for your first unit in each subject. Then put those lesson titles in your calendar on the days you expect to do them.

I repeat, only do this for the first unit of the year in each subject. This should be the first two to three weeks of the school year or so.

4) As you get closer to your first week of homeschooling, plan out the first week of lessons for each subject. Don’t do any more than that.

Quick tip. Don’t plan out lessons in detail more than one week at a time. Sometimes your kids will need more time to learn a skill or concept, sometimes less. You’ll need to make small adjustments to your calendar regularly.

This will avoid extra work and save you loads of time!

Track Your Kid's Progress

At the end of the day, have a space in your daily planner or calendar for your notes on how well they did with their lessons. Where did they get stuck? Did they like it? If not, what didn’t they like about it?

You don't have to write these notes out in great detail. A few short phrases will do. If you like, use a separate journal or homeschooling diary.

Keeping daily notes on your kid’s progress is key to effective teaching. These notes remind you where you need to go back and reteach or reinforce a lesson or skill. DON’T FORGET TO DO THIS.

Quick tip. Do this every day, because by the end of the week, you won’t remember what happened on Monday or Tuesday. It’s all going to be a big blur by then.?

Keep a folder of your kid’s completed work to track their progress. At the end of the year, go through this folder to put together a final portfolio project to close out the school year.

This is an excellent way to celebrate all the great things you’ve accomplished together! 

Put Fun Stuff In Their Homeschool Schedule Too

All work and no play stinks. You all need it. As you get through your first week or two, plan some fun educational stuff for you all to enjoy together.

Any change in pace or setting, like doing lessons outside for a day, is always a nice way to break up the routine. Creative hands on projects are wonderful too. Take a peek through your arts and crafts drawers and see what inspires you.

Do you have any tips to share about setting up your homeschool schedule? Add them in the comment section below.

I want to hear your ideas!