Now that we have our homeschool style figured, the curriculum chosen (and ordered) and the curriculum chart made, it's time to work on the homeschool schedule.

BTW, I just got the rest of our new homeschool books in the mail, today. I now have everything on hand, that we will need for the new 2017/2018 homeschool year. I love it after all the books finally arrive.

The homeschool schedule should fit in with your regular, daily to do list/schedule that you follow for each weekday. If you do not have a regular schedule, then please see the left sidebar, under the "Homemaking and More" section, for articles that give tips on making a regular schedule for yourself. There is also a homeschool Trivium article in that section, which you may want to read, if you school or are considering schooling via the Trivium Method.

I suggest you make your homeschool schedule in a chart format, in which the first column is what you are doing, and the next columns are one for each school day for the week, of what your children are doing, while you're doing what you're doing. If you have younger children, then a lot of what you will be doing, is sitting with them, and helping them. However, even with younger children, you shouldn't need to be at their side the whole time. They should have writing worksheets, coloring science/history sheets, copy work, etc, in which they should be able to do mostly or completely on their own. With older children, they should be able to do much of their work on their own, while you are available to teach new concepts, and to answer questions.

Don't be afraid to combine school into other things during the day. A classic example of this is doing some schoolwork during breakfast. You could have one of the children read the family devotional during breakfast, then you all discuss it. Then, you could read the history, or science lesson and assignment out loud, while the children are finishing their meal. After everyone is done eating, before you excuse the children from the table, have a daily homeschool meeting, where you give them their main assignments, lead some group lessons, and then excuse them to do their morning chores. After their morning chores, they are to do their assigned work, while you get on with housework, exercising, or whatever it is you want to get done at that time.

Home school should not be public school at home. I firmly believe home school is a natural process; that all parents naturally teach their children. When parents ship their kids off to public school, they quiet that natural teaching tendency, since they have delegated it to others. The Scriptures show us how natural teaching our children is, and that it doesn't just happen during a set six hour slot during the day:

"Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." - Deuteronomy 11:18-19

First and foremost in a child's education should be their learning about the Lord, and the way He wants them to live. We are to teach our children at all times - in the morning, out taking a walk, before bedtime, when we are just hanging out, etc. Homeschool doesn't have to be from 9am until 3pm. It could be during each meal, a few hours in the afternoon, an hour in the evening, some time spent before bed, etc. Your state may require you to school six hours a day, and that is okay. It doesn't have to be all lumped together. It could be just a few hours in the morning, a few in the afternoon, and a few in the evening, etc.

What I'm saying here, is to simply integrate your home school into your every day life. Don't structure your life around school, but instead fit school times and lessons into the natural rhythms already set in your day to day activities.

Let's now set up our homeschool schedule for the new academic school year, shall we?

1) If you don't already have a daily schedule written/typed out for yourself, I suggest you make one. Follow the tips in the schedule articles in the left sidebar to help you.

2) I suggest you keep your daily master schedule/to do list and your homeschool curriculum chart, homeschool schedule, etc. in a planner. If you would like help in setting up your planner, then please click on the "Planner University" link near the top of this page.

3)Decide when you want to do group lessons with all of your children, some of these lessons may be fun to do during meals.

4) Decide when individual lessons and seat work needs to be done.

5) Look at slots in your Master To Do List/Schedule to help you put together your homeschool schedule.

For my homeschool schedule for the 2017/2018 school year, we will be doing the following:

- During breakfast, we will be working on Devotional, History, and Literature on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Devotional, Science, and Literature on Tuesdays and Thursdays

- Before we leave the breakfast table, we will have a homeschool meeting for the day, which will include assigning their Bible, Math, Copy work, and Grammar assignments on Mondays and Wednesdays, and assigning their Bible, Math, Cursive, and Latin on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This homeschool meeting time is also where we go over group lessons and other subjects from the curriculum chart, for their given assigned days, etc.

- Then, I exercise, while the children clean up the dining room and kitchen from breakfast, and then work on their assignments.

- They continue working on their assignments while I clean myself up, and get prettied up after working out, and then they are given their cleaning chores for the day, and are to do their cleaning. I do my cleaning during this time, as well. After their daily cleaning chore is complete, they are to sit down, and continue working on their schoolwork until lunch time. Meanwhile, I continue cleaning and housework until lunch time, while stopping to help the kids when/if needed.

- During lunch we do our Family Read Aloud

- The children then clean up from lunch, while I look over their completed work, and start setting up their assignments for the next day. Anything that any of the children get incorrect in their schoolwork will be corrected by them, later in the afternoon.

- Then we all sit down to do Family Bible Study, followed by P.E./P.T. (which sometimes involves taking them to a class at a gym on certain days) and then the kids do assigned silent reading for a least a half hour. Silent reading after gym/P.E. is a great way for them to recover, and still get some schoolwork done.

- The rest of the afternoon is for them to finish their assignments, and to make any corrections, if they got anything wrong, and then they have free time.

- During supper, one of the children reads our Evening Devotional, and then we do our evening Family Read Aloud.

- After supper, we have Gymnastics/Tumbling classes, Swimming, Homeschool lessons or Science projects with Dad, or Nature study, etc. This varies, depending on which day it is.

Once you've determined your homeschool schedule, I suggest you put it into a chart format, like I mentioned earlier. I like to have my first column titled "Do(ing)", then each column after that is a home school day of the week. Then, I just fill in what I'm doing, what the kids are doing on which day, while I'm doing what I'm doing, etc.

In the next installment in this Homeschool Plan With Me series, you'll learn if you need a lesson planner, or not, and a new way to plan lessons that you may not be familiar with.