Schedule Planning 2024-2025

[Momof4sweetkids]

What's your general daily/weekly schedule going to look like? How do you "fit it all in"?

Here's my ideal plan:

History, Science, Spanish, Bible and Picture book read alouds and Memory work during breakfast and lunch.

Breakfast

Clean up and get ready

Seat work (phonics, math, handwriting)

Free play while I make lunch

Lunch

Board game

Quiet time

Handicraft

Clean up

Dinner

 

I am hoping to add some random tidy sessions in there so the end of day cleaning isn't so stressful. Thankfully we don't do a lot out of our home so it stays mostly the same.

[wendyroo]

We operate on a weekly schedule more than a daily routine.

My oldest will have a dual enrollment class M, W, F from 12-1...but it is a 30 minute drive away, so that will mean I am out of the house 11:30 - 1:30. On Mondays and Fridays I will take my youngest with me to the college and work with her one on one during the class.

Monday's are our at home day, with the DE class in the middle. Then the youngest two kids have rock climbing after dinner.

Tuesday's are Spanish immersion for the youngest two. I work with the oldest at a coffee shop nearby to make sure he is keep up with all his course work.

Wednesday's and Thursday's we are doing electives at the shared time school. My youngest has classes from 11-4 both days; she is a social butterfly. My 6th grader will have one class on Wednesday (at then work with me the rest of the time), and have classes from 11-4 on Thursday. My oldest will be at DE all day Wednesday (only in class from 12-1, but working on campus from 10:30-4:30) and will take two electives on Thursdays.

Fridays my youngest has a movie making class and scouts, and I will work with the 6th grader and oldest (who will also have his DE class).

Add into that my 6th grader will have two piano lessons, one violin lesson, one composition lesson, and will do about 1.5-2 hours of music practice a day. Plus all the kids have therapy appointments. And the youngest is in 13 hours of PE classes a week. And to top it all off, they are all 2e, so they are all academically very advanced...but their executive function and independence are many, many years delayed, so my younger two do almost no work independently at all. It is a juggling act.

[Clarita]

Since I only have have a first grader and second grader our schedule is pretty loosey goosey.

Wednesday or Friday is the day we don't do homeschool. Some Wednesdays we'll have Charter school day or fieldtrip. On weeks without those we do Fun Fridays with a friend (go someplace fun could be educational, depending on the place and time we may do short homeschool). We have activities scheduled for after noon or Saturday. Piano and baseball (during the spring) for DS. Ballet for DD. PE class and Chinese class for both. Contemplating ice skating and swimming for this coming school year. 

On all the other days we "do school" from 10am to noon. I make sure the core subjects (Reading, Writing, Spelling, Math, Chinese and Piano) get covered everyday. History and Science occur on Tuesdays or whatever other day nothing is going on in the afternoon. Well really History is the one I make sure happen since the kids will ask for science for fun.

In terms of our school day, we start off with read aloud time. This year I'm thinking about incorporating history and poetry during that. We'll see if that happens this year. Then, I give my children a check list that has all the core subject work everyday. They just work through that list. 

 

[SilverMoon]

I reject the assertion that we're getting it all done. If we can get most of it, the kids get fed, and the house isn't completely falling apart, it's a win. 🙂

The kids in the OP sound little. When mine were little mornings were for English and math and afternoons were for science and history. We had lunch and quiet time in the middle. 

Now I'm scheduling three teens. 

Saturday/Sunday

Any unfinished work is due end of Sunday.

All of us: Watch full length movies that tie to something we studied that week, family game night, field trip, competition, etc

 

M-F

Wake up bell is at 9, if they're not up already.

Appointment with one boy if needed

Boys check their planners and grab their literature book to start. One of them eats breakfast here; the other two later. Then they start picking off the other lessons in any order they choose. 

They get their own lunches when they feel like it. If the math anxiety guy hasn't done his math by now I'll call him over to it and stay near him until it's done. 

I'm nearly always right there in the same room with them, getting my own work done while being totally accessible to the boys for anything and checking in constantly. We don't have scheduled breaks. They take them as needed for food, brain break, etc. 

Dance drop-off. The one that doesn't dance can get some one-on-one if he needs it, and I'll get more of my work done. Dance pickup. Dinner. 

Edited July 16 by SilverMoon

[Xahm]

I am pretty nervous about it this year. My youngest is now a Kindergartner. That doesn't take much time, but it'll be the first time that all four are officially school kids (K,3,5,7). I made up a schedule that should make it all possible. We'll have breakfast together, watching CNN 10 and maybe another short learning show, then do history and anything else we do as a whole group. I'll then do science with the younger two while the oldest start their independent work. After lunch I'll do science with the older two. The rest of the time I'll be rotating for one on one with each child. The Kindergartner will have 2 short sessions with me and maybe 5 minutes of independent work and some basic chores. The third grader will have the same but a bit more independent work. The older two will have one session with me plus more if they had terrible with their independent work. The oldest has a couple of online classes that will be mostly asynchronous. It's our first time doing that, so we'll see how it goes.

We schedule work for Mon-Thurs so that Friday can be a catch up day if needed but it's usually a flexible day for getting together with friends, field trips, or following their interests. We will have one day that ends early for a PE co-op, plus music at church one evening and gymnastics one afternoon. They have Scouts as well, and the oldest has youth group and will be in confirmation class this fall and winter. 

[Slache]

6 AM: Big Subjects. 8th and 6th graders get up to do math and foreign language, the hardest subjects, while the kids sleep. This is my time for Bible and working out. No talking allowed.

8AM: Breakfast. 3rd and 6th graders make breakfast, 8th grader takes care of 4 year old's needs while I do the headless chicken thing, meeting whatever needs there are for that day. I read history over breakfast. I clean the kitchen while everyone prepares for the day.

9AM: Small Subjects. This varies by day because we rotate some (history/science, Spanish/logic, chores/exercise), group some kids together (art, science, history) and have some olders teach some youngers (Spanish, Greek, piano).

12 PM: Break. Pick up, play, snacks.

1 PM: Big Subjects. The big ones have some things to do together while the littles play.

2:30 PM: Lunch. Quick sandwiches, I read poetry and literature. The 3rd grader cleans the kitchen while the big ones clean up and the baby makes everyone's life difficult. 

3 PM: Quiet time. Everyone has a booklist and art basket. Reading is required, but everyone has free time. No talking. 

4:30 End of day.

[Momof4sweetkids]

@SlacheI like the specific rule of no talking 😅

[Slache]

3 minutes ago, Momof4sweetkids said:

@SlacheI like the specific rule of no talking 😅

It sincerely makes a huge difference. They get along better throughout the day when they shush it every once in a while. We have silence before breakfast, in place of nap time and after 9PM unless they're in their rooms playing together or chatting. That's only after 9, otherwise no exceptions, and all chores need to be finished before mouths are opened. 

Oh, speaking of mouths opening, no food until everything is picked up. That's usually 4 times a day.  So the house is completely picked up several times a day, which means there's not much to do. It takes about 10 minutes. 

[Clarita]

2 hours ago, Slache said:

Oh, speaking of mouths opening, no food until everything is picked up. That's usually 4 times a day.  So the house is completely picked up several times a day, which means there's not much to do. It takes about 10 minutes. 

Oh my this seems like homeschooling goals in our household. I've just barely cracked getting my children to clean their schoolwork off the table after official school time. 

[Slache]

8 minutes ago, Clarita said:

Oh my this seems like homeschooling goals in our household. I've just barely cracked getting my children to clean their schoolwork off the table after official school time. 

It was a hard habit to get into. We homeschool year round and we take a week off about once every 10 weeks to deep clean. We don't do the whole house every 10 weeks (we're actually doing the school cabinet and kitchen this week), but this and weekly lists make daily cleaning extremely doable. I don't think that's something the typical family can just *start* doing, you have to do some major cleaning first so it's manageable. 

[Clarita]

9 minutes ago, Slache said:

I don't think that's something the typical family can just *start* doing, you have to do some major cleaning first so it's manageable. 

I definitely understand. Our family needs professional help before we can get to manageable. Seriously our house has never been manageable since we moved in. 

[AnneGG]

I get up at 6:00ish. I toss in a load of laundry, make coffee and read until 6:30ish. Breakfast is available at 7:00. Kids can come and go in the dining room as they please until 7:40, then I start cleaning it up. School starts at 8:00. I expect some semblance of grooming and tidying of the bedrooms before school begins. 
 

We do Morning Time for about an hour, followed by group content subjects. People start working on individual (mostly skill) l subjects around 10. I go person by person, oldest to youngest. I’m typically ready for a break around noon, although there are times it takes longer than that.

We are typically out of the house in the afternoons, but if we are home, we have afternoon occupations and quiet time. Unmotivated or unfocused kids may still have unfinished individual work to complete.

We do formal school four days a week (or three if there’s something happening.) Friday is my planning day and our cleaning and errands day. Kids have monthly passion projects they work on while I’m planning. 
 

Cleaning/chores: We have a weekly and monthly checklist. Weekly stuff is usually handled before dinner if we have time, monthly stuff we usually do on a slow weekend. No big deal if we fall a little behind and things end up being done on two month schedule instead of one. We have a small house and I need general tidiness to feel at peace. So clutter and mess aren’t really our struggle, it’s the deep cleaning that I struggle to get done. 

[LauraClark]

Right now we are all over the place because any outside time has to be in the morning (HOT here right now), so we just start when we get too hot and come in. Ideal schedule is: 

8:30 I read Bible and we might watch World Watch while they snack

9:00 Independent work for older 3 while I help preschooler

9:30 I help 3rd grader

10:30/11 I help 6th grader

12:00 lunch while I read science or history to 3rd/6th (8th can listen in if he wants) 

12:30 I help 8th grader

What actually happens is that ds 6th finishes all his independent work super early in the morning and then begs me to help him with the rest, so I say, "ok, here how to do math", and by the time I'm done explaining preschooler is playing and doesn't want to stop.  And then my schedule just becomes chaos. Ds 8th needs help, ds 3rd is still waiting, preschooler: "I'll do school later". 🤦‍♀️. Every day. You'd think I would learn my lesson...