Finding Your Homeschool Rhythm

Village sisters regularly post questions for coaching and feedback in The Village app. We take the best of those questions and responses and share them here with you (with edits for clarity). If you’d like to become a Village sister and have your questions answered, you can join here. 

A sister posted this question: 

“I’d love the learn more about how to create a daily routine or rhythm for my family. I am a single mom and my is schedule different from week to week… How can I get started?”

I love that this sister asked this question. It’s beautiful when mamas pause and think through how they can create a schedule that really works for them and their family. Homeschooling has so much flexibility and one of the things we can do to make our lives easier is lean into this flexibility so that we can consistently homeschool and handle our other responsibilities.

Here are three tips that can help you get started:

Tip# 1 Take a Moment Each Day to Prioritize

Taken ten minutes at the top of each morning to make a list of three assignments/subject that you will complete that day and an estimate of how much time each will take. This means at the top of each week (or each morning) you’d ask yourself, “Where will we fit in two hours of academic* time today?” Then, you’d block out that time during your day and jump into it. Taking time to prioritize allows you to remain flexible while ensuring there is time for school work.

As you are planning, be sure to consider when you and your children are the happiest, and most alert and engaged. This is important because it allows you to prioritize academic work and be consistent. As you start feeling to feel good about covering your core subjects, you can add in other subjects once or twice per week like music or art. Also, remember that you can naturally incorporate science and history during language arts by being intentional about your reading and writing assignments. 

Tip #2 Think in terms of the sequence of events, not times

If your schedule changes from day-to-day, that’s totally fine. Instead of saying at “10 am we do X”, think, “After breakfast, we have reading time together” or “Before I go to work, we will do math,” or “Before bed, we will do do our science experiments.” Thinking in terms of sequence frees you from the clock, while still ensuring that you move through your list for the day. Our training “Two Proven Apporaches to Homeschool Schedules“ training talks more about sequencing events. 

Tip #3 Do what you set out to do for the day, nothing more, less is fine. 

Sometimes, you won’t get everything you wanted that day. This is OKAY, actually, it’s great because as a homeschooler you can move at your child’s pace. When I worked in the classroom, there were plenty of days  where we couldn’t cover everything for the day. As you continue to teach and practice, you all will find your rhythm together. 

If day after day you are finding you guys can’t complete the work, this might suggest you are assigning too much and you’ll need to re-evaluate. Other times, you will get done ahead of time you feel like there is “too much time” and you should “do more work”. Don’t. Let the focus shift to learning through play and learning in life. Sit and celebrate what you have already accomplished.

So, this is a lot to chew on! 

Comment Below: What sticks out to you? What’s one thing you want to try?

You can do this, mama day.