How to Make a Homeschool Schedule {Free Scheduling Sheets}

Each homeschooling family is different. A homeschool routine that works for one family may not work for another family. When it comes to a homeschool schedule, we need to find one that will work for “us.” Read on for some insight on how to make a homeschool schedule that works for your family. Be sure to grab our free scheduling sheets found at the end of this post. 

A Homeschool Schedule that Works for You

The beauty of homeschooling is that we can tailor our education to best suit our children’s needs, interests, and extracurricular activities. That also means that we can live outside of the box as well.

You do not have to school like traditional school does, rather chose a plan that works for your family’s needs. Kids can do school work at night or on the weekends, 4 days a week instead of 5, year round, or even Sabbath Schooling. 

Are you a work at home mom who needs to set specific times to do school? Maybe your husband works nights or 4 ten hour shifts so you may want to take a day off mid week. Your homeschool day can be completely customized according to your work schedules.

Thankfully, with homeschooling the freedom is there to do that. Juggling home life, family time, and school time as a homeschool family means making a schedule that works for your unique family.

So you may be wondering, how do I make a homeschool schedule?

Figuring out how to make a homeschool schedule can be very intimidating to a new homeschool family. Even seasoned families struggle with trying to balance everything out. Your daily routine may need to be adjusted as time goes on.

First, you will want to check your homeschool state laws. This will help you to figure out if you need to report your days and how many homeschool days are required by your state. You will know what type of paperwork you need to save and if you need to start tracking your school days in your schedule.

Secondly, you will need to evaluate your family situation and make a homeschool schedule that works for your family. Like I mentioned above, each situation is unique. Take a look at your days and figure out if you want to school 4 days a week or 5.

Things to Consider When Creating a Homeschool Schedule

Think about if you have any appointments and if you want shorter days, or longer days. What time do you want to start and be finished for the day? What do you want your daily homeschool schedule to look like. 

Keep good notes. I like to keep a notebook and jot down random brainstorming thoughts when I creating my schedule. Tailor your schedule to fit your family best.

You can create individual schedules for your family if you have older kids you may want to set time to help them while a baby or toddler is napping. Sometimes large families prefer using a block schedule for different children.

Think about what you want your days to look like, do you prefer a routine over a written schedule?

Activities to Plan into Your Homeschool Schedule

• Morning time – do you want to designate the start of your day to morning chores? Have you considered a morning basket?
• Daily routine – do you want to stick to the same routine each day?
• Daily activities – what are the activities that you want to work into your schedule?
• Field trips – be sure to save time in your schedule for fun field trips. 
• Quiet time – most moms will tell you that they live for quiet time. We need this, but so do our children. We use quiet time as independent reading time and everyone goes and finds their reading space. 
• Independent work – If your curriculum can be used independently, planning some time into your day for independent work can free up homeschooling moms to focus on dinner prep.
• Homeschool group – are you a part of a homeschool fellowship group? Our homeschool group used to meet every Friday, so we were sure to work that into our day.

What is a good homeschool routine?

I do not like to be a slave to a schedule. My kids and I get stressed out if we are having to beat the clock and move from one subject to the next before the next time on the schedule. This may work for some families, it does not work for ours. You know your family, maybe a routine, or block of time will work better for your family.

We are not morning people, and I have teens that have extracurricular activities and work that keep them out late. The beauty of homeschooling is that we can sleep in, so we do take advantage of that. 

We like to do some morning time around the breakfast table. Even the teens get involved in this. Then the older children go off to their spaces to work on their Math or English while I work one on one with my younger child.

Then we have lunch, clean up, do some chores and get back to our work in the afternoon. We are pretty relaxed, but enjoy the routine of moving from one thing to the next without having to look at the clock.

How We Schedule Our Homeschool

We have been homeschooling for nearly two decades and have discovered the key to avoiding homeschool burnout. I have detailed our yearly homeschool schedule and even included our exact schedule you can copy. 

Printable Homeschool Schedules:

These homeschool schedule printables will help you to get a head start on planning out your own schedule. I like looking through the various printables and templates for ideas and inspiration.

There are so many to choose from, it can help you find one that will work perfectly for your family.

Daily Homeschool Schedule Examples – There are printable schedules for each grade level, blank and prefilled printables to help you get started. 

Student Daily Agenda – This student schedule will help your children to learn how to better work independently and be encouraged with inspirational quote pages. 

Printable Homeschool Schedule Template – There are 4 and 5 day schedule printables that are easy to edit and use. 

Super Relaxed Homeschool Schedule – This editable schedule is very relaxed and flexible. I love that it in one page and easy to print and hang up somewhere.

Homeschooling on a Loop Schedule – Find out how to homeschool on a loop schedule with this free printable.

Coordinating Homeschool Schedule Sheets – There are homeschool schedule ideas and planning worksheets for creating a homeschool routine, printables for your kids to keep track of their assignments and more.

Daily Homeschool Schedule – This printable daily schedule will help your family stay on track by hanging it up in the house where you will pass by it frequently.

Visual Homeschool Schedule Plus FREE Printable – If you have a child that can’t read yet, but you want to get them used to a schedule of what happens next these printable cards will be a wonderful help.

Homeschool Planner Printables 

These planners will help you get organized as you make your schedule. There are extra worksheets to aid you in planning everything out to fit your family best. Your students will enjoy the different checklists to help them to stay on task.

Homeschool Planner and Scheduling Forms – This is a free downloadable homeschool planner with 44 pages of different organizational charts and scheduling sheets.

Weekly Checklist Homeschool Planner – This is a simple colorful printable that will help you map out one week at a time for greater

125 page Homeschool Planner – I am in awe of this planner. New updates are added each year and there are so many different pages to choose from to best fit your family.

Homeschool Planner Printable Pack – There are many different printables to choose from. A monthly schedule as well as different weekly schedule varieties.

Homeschool Planner Worksheet for Kids – This is a simple one page printable perfect for a notebook. You and your children can write in what they have to do each day.

Binder Printables and Homeschool Planners – Huge list of planner printables as well as handy worksheets and printables to create homeschool binders for you and your children. 

Simple Homeschool Planning Pack  – This printable pack will help you simplify your goal setting, curriculum shopping and daily homeschool schedule. Free for subscribers.

Samples of a Homeschool Schedule, Tips and Ideas

Sometimes reading and seeing what other families are doing in their home can help give you some ideas. Each family is unique, and not all schedules work the same for each family.

It is nice to check out what does work for others. I like to see real examples, samples of homeschool schedules so I can creatively tweak ideas to fit my family best.

7 Tips for Making a Homeschool Schedule That Actually Works – Learn how to make a schedule that is a guideline that will work for your family and help them to stick to a routine. 

10 Unique Homeschool Schedules from Veteran Homeschool Moms – These are tried and true homeschool schedules from homeschooling families that really work.

Homeschool Schedule Ideas for Preschool – 2nd Grade – The early years are my favorite for homeschooling. It isn’t as rigorous as older grades, but routine is very important for little ones. These ideas will help you stay on track.

How to Make a Year Round Homeschool Schedule – Many families benefit from schooling year round and taking smaller breaks. Find out how to practically make this happen for your family.

The Best Homeschool Scheduling Method to Avoid Burnout – Carrie details out how to do Sabbath schooling, with a sample schedule of her school year this past year.

Remember to make it a priority to pray and spend time in God’s Word, when creating your schedule. Embrace flexibility and don’t be afraid to take a break to refresh when you need to. 

Don’t set your schedule and goals so rigidly that months pass without you really enjoying spending time with your kids. Enjoy every moment with your family, and don’t forget to schedule in some fun to your homeschool days.

Free Homeschool Scheduling Sheets

Download our pretty homeschool scheduling sheets to help you get your year organized. You’ll find an attendance tracker, lesson planner, daily schedule, and student checklist. Click the image below for an instant download.