Ah, summer, how I love you!  The kids are sleeping later, we are spending lots of time reading, playing, and finding creative ways to keep cool.   However, as August rises on the horizon, the summer itch is setting in.  The relaxed routine and minimal schedule has been nice but I’m beginning to look forward to the Fall schedule with a bit more affection now.  I guess you could say that I’m craving a bit more routine without the pressure of actually needing it!

I began to organize our {large family} homeschool schedule this week and thought you might like to know a few things about creating routines that I have learned over the past 17 years of homeschooling that make my life easier.  The general format I use is one that I adapted from the book Managers of Their Homes by Terri Maxwell.  Her book is an excellent resource for the kind of unique scheduling needs of a large family.

Choose Your Yearly Schedule

Every state has their own requirements for homeschooling including how many days of instruction they require each year.  Check out the Homeschool Legal Defense website for the laws in your state.  There are many different ways to structure your yearly schedule to most effectively get your minimum amount of school days scheduled:

• The Traditional Public School Calendar
• Labor Day to Memorial Day
• Year Round Schooling
• Six Weeks On, Six Weeks Off
• Four Days a Week
• Something Completely Unique Just For Your Family

The Daily Homeschool Schedule

1.  Once you have determined which schedule works best for your family, begin making the following lists - one for every child (don’t worry about the order of events yet – just list them):

• begin by listing the subjects that you will be teaching them
• add to each childs’ list any classes, tutoring, sports or music lessons
• add a list of their daily, weekly and monthly chores

2.  Make a master schedule on paper or if you like something larger, make your schedule on poster board and write every event that needs scheduling on a Post-It note.  Write the names of your family members across the top and the times of day along the side.  I use 15 minute and half hour increments.  Begin plugging in each activity, subject and event where they need to be.

• begin with unchangeable events such as morning routines, Bible study, and any classes, tutors or lessons with a fixed schedule
• add everyone to the schedule – even the baby and preschoolers
• schedule times when school-aged kids are not doing school to have them help with the preschoolers
• schedule a few chores in between subjects or break times.  Sometimes all that is needed is 5-10 minutes to wash a few windows or move and fold a load of laundry

3.  Consider the first days and weeks using your new schedule as a trial period where you test it to see if it is working and adjust events as needed.  For example, my older two kids (both in 9th grade this coming school year) will be sharing some computer programs and for obvious reasons can’t both use the discs at the same time.  As you use your schedule, simply move the Post-It note to another time slot if the current time isn’t working.  Continue tweaking as you go until you get a schedule that works for you.

Scheduling Tips for the Large Family

• Find as many ‘do-together’ subjects as possible.  Whether it be reading aloud for history, group science projects, family art lessons – they will save a lot of scheduling conflicts later.
• For some very unscientific reason, my days seem to go better when I start with my little guys.  Giving them one-on-one attention early in the day both ensures that they are not slipping through the cracks and somehow settles in their hearts that they have had their ‘mommy time’ and are better able to play alongside the older kids for the rest of the morning.
• Try scheduling specific activities for scheduled play times with the younger kids ie. Monday – Play-Doh, Tuesday – puzzles, Wednesday – dry erase pens or crayons, etc…
• Schedule a ‘Quiet Time’ into your afternoon.  All kids are in a designated ‘quiet’ area for a set amount of time.  I use (and plan on) this time for checking email, doing paperwork for my husband’s business, reading, blogging or just sipping some tea in a bit of peace.
• Schedule an afternoon clean up time, allotting everyone an area to clean.
• Your day will never go just as you have planned.  A schedule is just a guideline to help you aim for the goal of ‘getting it all done’.
• Once everyone is familiar with the schedule, you can put it away and work more off of habit than by the letter.

Scheduling Tips for Those Homeschooling Struggling Learners

• Kids who are not reading well on their own will require a lot more of Mom’s time.  For this reason, choosing a curriculum without a lot of individual reading and writing helps.
• Instead of assigning individual reading, plan for family read aloud times followed by narration (having the children tell back what they have just heard).
• Don’t be afraid to occasionally let students choose not to write a report, instead let them choose to draw a picture, put on a dramatization or some other non-written activity that allows and encourages them to apply their new knowledge without the painstaking {and time-consuming} effort of reading and writing. Your right-brainers can do these things without your help, freeing you up for some one-on-one time with another child.

Homeschooling even one child while managing a home, business and church or other commitments can be a struggle.  With every child there comes more to fit in.  Scheduling will not guarantee that you get it all done – I don’t think anything will!  Scheduling will help everyone to know what they should be doing at any given time and give you a framework to manage your days.

Check back next week when I will be hooking up with the iHomeschool Network’s “Not” Back to School Blog Hop and posting about the curriculums that we have chosen for our large family who learns differently!  

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