So here we all are!… trying to figure out the best home school timetable for our school-aged kids! And if you are a working mom like me and have been suddenly thrust into this situation… then bonus points!!
Regardless of how you got here, let’s do this! I hope my Homeschool daily schedule will help you survive however long you are in this!
5 tips for creating an awesome Home School timetable today!
Tips Menu (feel free to click links below to jump ahead)
The timetable listed below are purely suggestions, this is a zero judgment zone! To me when we say we are in this together it means that I am here to help and not to judge however you decide to make the best choices for your family during this pandemic.
I am not rigid with the home school timetable listed below, but I do use them as a general guide. The kids work mostly independently from 8-12 to allow me to accomplish the things that are the most time-sensitive for me during the morning.
In the afternoon, I will often lead a science and social studies lessons. Elective and PE classes are interchangeable and happen during unstructured times. Most often we go on a walk closer to 5 pm or if my husband is off we do PE closer to after lunch.
Sample Home School Timetable
- 8:30 – Stations (Each Rotation is either reading, writing, or math)
- 9:15 – Rotate stations
- 9:45 – Snack/break.
- 10:15 – Rotate stations
- 11:00 –Rotate stations
- 11:45 – Lunch.
- 12:45 – PE
- 1:30 – Science (Group Lesson)
- 2:30 – Social studies (Group Lesson)
- 3:30 – Electives (art, music, etc.)
5 Tips for creating a home schooling daily schedule
I have been using my homeschool daily schedule while working full time since the beginning of the Covid -19 Epidemic. So I think the month and a half in makes me an expert. Hehe!
But seriously, I do feel like I am finally developing a rhythm and I am happy to share my home school timetable schedule with you. If you want to see my life in action feel free to hop over to Instagram, I would love to share my life with you there too.
Before I dive into the tips, I want to acknowledge a few challenges that you might face when developing a home school timetable especially if you work from home.
Challenges: balancing work while home schooling and how to overcome them
My husband is a first responder and I work from home, which means some days I am the only adult at home with four children. Two of our children are school-aged, grades 5 and 2, and my husband and I have 2 little ones, ages 5 and 3.
Home Schooling Challenge 1: How to home school with limited Computers
We are fortunate enough to have a few computers at home. I have a work computer and a personal computer, and my husband has a personal computer. But when my husband is at work he takes his computer and I use my work computer to work from home, so in essence, we only have one computer available for the kids to complete school activities.
We have worked to overcome this home school schedule challenge two ways. First I created stations for the kids to rotate within so that only one computer was used at a time. (Please see the section about stations)
Home schooling Challenge 2: Feeling overwhelmed
I am not going to lie! When they closed school for the entire year in my city part of me wanted to cry. I had no idea how I would manage working full time while home schooling my children. And you may have felt that way too when trying to organize a home school timetable.
The good news is. 1) you are not alone. 2) You can do this! The key is to realize that even if you think you’re doing a terrible job teaching your student, the fact that they are getting one on one attention is a total advantage.
Youtube can be your best friend if you have the time to do some research but if you don’t, simply call or email your student’s teacher. Most teachers are more than willing to lend a helping hand.
Home School Schedule
Now that we have acknowledged a few of the many challenges of creating a home school timetable, let’s dive into developing a plan.
Home School Timetable Tip 1: Create Stations
I learned very quickly that due to the fact that there was only one of me and a four of my children I needed to develop a way for me to present with one child at a time if needed, but also to allow each child the space to work independently in case I needed to be doing a project for work and couldn’t tend to any of them. And hence was born the idea of stations.
Below I will outline how I began using stations for my home schooling schedule and also how they helped me to overcome some of my challenges.
Example Home School Schedule: Stations
Station 1- Computer
Station 2- Reading
Station 3- Writing
Station 4- Playing
The kids have to go through each station, and although the general task is the same the actual activity is slightly different. For example in the writing station, I don’t expect my 2 year old to do much more than just scribble on a paper for now, but if my 10 year old only scribbled clearly that would be unacceptable in the writing station.
For the playing station, my three year old can play with blocks or dolls while I would expect my oldest daughter to create something more technical like poem or a portrait. Today she took some cardstock and made a pop-up card for my mom.
The stations are loosely planned and did start very basic at first. As my home school schedule developed I began to link the stations ie. my 5th grader had to write about the book she was reading. Or she had to write a creative story extension chapter to the book she was reading.
Below is a hypothetical Day 1 of my homeschool schedule
Station 1- Computer: While one person was on the computer my other children were asked to write or practice math flashcards. The stations on day one were only 15 minutes long because that was about how long I could get kids to enjoy time off of a computer LOL! We did mention this was a judgment-free zone right???
Station 2- Writing- This station was also 15 minutes long but in essence, my oldest three could be on this station for 30 minutes as they could have to wait for two rounds before they actually began using the computer. On the first few days of our “stations”, I asked my kids to write letters to family.
I stacked envelopes on the table and they put their letters in the envelopes, I wouldn’t recommend giving the kids the envelopes though because my 5 year old “wrote” and sealed about 10 “letters” before I realized it was the same stick drawing with no words anywhere on the page. From that day on, I asked my kids to stack the letters so I could “check them out” later. Some days I read the letters and sent them
As the days and weeks progressed we added more stations and more independent work. I think it’s important to start small with stations for both the parents and the kids. It will take a while to develop a rhythm for your home school timetable be patient with yourself and your kids and give yourself permission to start small.
Home schooling schedule Tip 2: Develop a Time Structure
For my sanity only 8 am to noon is a required home school time. After lunch, I decide one day at a time what the afternoon will look like. Some days if work is crazy, the afternoon is filled with the kids binge-watching Disney+ and Netflix.
Other days, if my husband is home or if my job’s demands can wait until after the kids go to sleep I will do a group lesson in History and Science. I think both subjects can be taught in a way that kids of all ages can get some deep and age-appropriate learning. Let me know in the comments at the end of this blog post if you would like to see a sample science or social studies lesson.
My main goal in the morning block is to create enough structure that the kids can start their morning without me walking them through each step. This takes repetition and practice so I did spend the first several days working with the kids through this. As a friendly reminder allow patience as you work to develop your rhythm for your home school schedule.
Home schooling schedule Tip 3: Develop a Network
Don’t forget to reach out to your school. Many schools are trying to get connect with students via telephone or email. Some school districts even working to distribute technology to students to support with online learning. I strongly suggest that you reach out to your school site to see what supports are available.
I am also recommending that you reach out to your neighbors and parents of students in your children’s classroom. More than likely they are working through the same math problems and reading books with their children that you are. There is much truth to the idea that two heads are better than one. So reach out to them, and develop a network of support.
Home schooling schedule Tip 4: Choose a focus
Espcially if your student is in elementary school the packets that went home can be overwhelming. So choose a focus. I should have mentioned earlier that I am a former teacher, and I have taught grades 4, 5, 6, middle school math and science and high school biology and forensics so I do have a strong understanding of what needs to get done in your child’s education.
And with that I have three main focuses when I decide what my kids should focus one when I begin to feel overwhelmed by the packet, or if I don’t have time to look at the packet.
Three Main Focuses of Home Schooling learning
If all else fails, focus on 1) Reading, 2) Writing, 3) Listening and 4) Speaking. If you do those four things your student will be just fine!
examples:
- read a book
- Write a story, letter, or report
- Listen to a podcast
- tell someone about a book you read or a podcast you listened to
When there’s nothing else to do, my kids have to read, write, listen, or speak.
Home Schooling Tip 5: Power Hour
Power Hour is a roving hour during the day and can happen ANYTIME during the day. Sometimes I start power hour because I have a conference call if I have a project that I need to fully concentrate on with zero distractions. And sometimes power hour is because I need to unwind and just need a break.
The rules for Power hour are:
- You cannot bother mom (unless someone is dying or the house is burning etc they have whatever they want without burning the house
- During Power Hour my kids can write, read, play dough blocks, take a nap etc.
- Did I say they can’t bother me! hehe
If I am honest, I don’t care what my kids do during power,, even though I don’t tell them that. Power hour is a tool in my home school timetable to allow me to jump on a conference call, accomplish a really important task, or just an hour that I use to refresh before I go back to tackling that grammar work with my 2nd grader.
Fresno, CA: News Segment
You may have seen my news segment on KSEE 24 on 4.21.20, I was so honored and excited to share the tips you just read on our local news channel. But there were a few questions that they asked off the air that I thought was worth sharing here.
Q&A
Q: Do I force each child to wake up at a specific time?
Nope! The wake-up time depends on each child. I have four kids, with four personalities. My son is grouchy in the morning so I don’t tend to wake him up early. Generally, my kids are all up by 8 am so the 8:30 start time works for us. If you work evenings or also have a newborn, or just don’t function well in the morning, then, by all means, start later.
I think that part is going to be important house-to-house I don’t really want to put extra pressure on a mom to say I was going to be up to eight-figure out what works for you
Q: What do you do for PE?
We ride bikes quite a bit. And sometimes we workout as a family. There are some really a lot of great workout apps. You can also visit fresnounified.org, they have a great list of activities listed for each day by grade level.
I know on the list of their recommendations for kids to try Yoga by Adriene, Cosmic Kids on YouTube. We try to get out of outside as much as possible
Q: Any last bit of advice for families trying to develop a home school routine?
Yes! hang in there! I feel both your joy and your pain!
Thanks for reading my tips for developing a home school timetable. I hope you found value and I hope you will consider subscribing to my blog below.
Love your post on homeschooling while working full time. God has placed something incredibly special within you.
Author
Thanks so much for your kind words!! I am so glad you found the information useful!