3 Steps to a Daily Homeschool Routine for Your Family
One of the quickest ways to set your homeschool up for success is by creating a daily homeschool routine that best serves your family. As multiple studies show, setting up a daily routine benefits your sleep, mental health, physical health, and also family relationships. When you and your children have a general plan for how the day will go, your homeschool and work assignments go more smoothly.
With the variety of tips, tricks, and ideas revolving around this topic, I want to share three simple steps for creating a routine that works.
Three Practical Steps to a Daily Homeschool Routine
One of the biggest WFH homeschool mom mistakes you can make is to “wing it” when it comes to fitting homeschooling into your day. After all, you plan your work routine, right?
As you navigate these steps, the biggest things to keep in mind are your family and their dynamic. Keep them at the center of all you do as you plan for your homeschool. I say this because it’s really easy to play the copycat and comparison game. What works for one family may not work for your family, and that’s okay.
Use these three practical steps to help you establish a meaningful routine that serves your family.
Establish Goals
I know you’re probably thinking that setting homeschool goals isn’t necessary for creating a routine. However, setting goals for your homeschool routine can actually change the nature of how you create one. It can also impact whether or not everyone is willing to follow it or not.
A few goals to consider:
- To create structure in your homeschool days
- Helping your children (and yourself) be more productive
- To make the school year more meaningful (and fun)
- To give children set starting and ending times for “school” work
These are just a few examples, but great places to start. When you and your children put a “light at the end of the tunnel”, per se, on your plans, it can add a boost of motivation. Consider creating these goals with your children as well. This may help them be more open to abiding by them once your homeschooling routine goals are complete.
Consider Every Area of Life
It’s really easy to see homeschooling as its own separate entity and attempt to plan specifically for it without considering everything else. Not only does that set you up for confusion, but it can be downright disastrous.
When creating your daily homeschool routine, think about everything else that your family does. Things such as meal times, extracurricular activities, and time to run errands are just as important.
Write down time frames (or time blocks) in which these tasks and activities are normally completed. Let’s say you eat breakfast between 7:00 AM and 8:30 AM. Perhaps you still have a few kids who take naps between 12:00 PM and 2:00 PM. Maybe there are soccer or karate lessons two to three times a week between 4:00 PM and 5:00 PM, with dinner following by 6:30 PM.
All of these times are important so you can see what time is left for homeschooling. Write down everything so you can put a time to it. And don’t forget to include breaks!
Record Your Daily Homeschool Routine
Even if you’re not the Passion Planner or Erin Condren planner type of gal, you still need to use something that you can see. It’s a major perk if it’s something your children can see as well (at least those who can read). The idea behind writing down your daily homeschool routine is so you don’t have to try and memorize what you’re doing and when.
Moms who work from home, parent, run a household and homeschool are busy. Our brains are full.
Do you ever notice how things can quickly become stressful and overwhelming when you’re trying to think about this, remember to do that, and so on? Getting in the habit of writing things down can lift a huge weight off your mind – especially when it comes to following a homeschool routine.
Regardless of your planner style, make sure it includes a few pages where you can write down a general routine. Your general schedule should include everything that your family will be doing for that day in terms of eating, homeschooling (not a breakdown of subjects), napping, playing outside, extracurricular activities, and so on. I also write in my work from home hours.
Use a Block Schedule
Use a block schedule kind of layout if you want the easiest flow. The idea is to create this schedule in a way that points directly back to the goals you established in step one. Your routine should say, “When this is followed we are (better structured, more productive, having fun, etc.)”. Also, never hesitate to make any necessary changes. If a few weeks have gone by and you notice that nap time needs an adjustment, do it!
Your daily homeschool routine should always complement and serve your family. In the end, it’s the total purpose of having one in the first place.
