Welcome to the last blog in this 5-step series! To wrap up our beginning homeschooling journey, let’s talk about planning your year!
Now, I’m the first one to confess that it feels really nice to use that shiny new homeschool planner and plan out the whole year in one sitting, but most of the time we don’t follow that plan to the T. Then if you stray from that “master plan,” it’s easy to get stressed about falling behind. Here are a few tips on how to efficiently plan your homeschool year:
Plan 1–3 months at a time
Veteran homeschoolers will tell you to plan for one to three months at a time. I know that goes against our initial instinct to have everything planned out…but life happens, and sometimes kids work faster than expected, sometimes they need more time, or maybe something unavoidable comes up and you have to move some things around.
When we plan 1–3 months at a time, it gives us an opportunity to reevaluate and make sure the pacing is realistic for our children for each subject (this is something that may change year to year or even month to month). Reevaluating consistently is the advantage of having a flexible schedule!
How many subjects can you fit in a week?
I briefly mentioned in Step 3 about how to alternate subjects within homeschool schedules to avoid cramming every subject in every week. For example, you can do a month of science, then a month of social studies, and so on to create a rotating schedule.
There are so many subject areas we can cover in homeschooling, but honestly there just aren’t enough hours in the day to teach our kids everything we want them to learn.
What we recommend is called a loop or rotation schedule. This is where you have a list of subjects or extracurricular activities and you rotate through the list by having a specific time slot in your schedule for that rotating subject. For example, you could do a week of music appreciation, then art appreciation, then physical education, and then critical/creative thinking or problem solving.
When you’ve completed your list, you go back to the top and work through the list again using different activities from your curriculum resources. This type of schedule keeps things fresh and fun and also allows you to cover a lot of material throughout the year.
Join homeschool classes and communities
Another great way to plan ahead for your homeschool year is by joining homeschool groups! Whether they’re local or online, they’re great for inspiring ideas or providing tips for other homeschoolers.
Homeschool groups are typically run by volunteer homeschoolers just like you! They often have fun events or lessons to incorporate into unit studies or around seasonal events for homeschoolers.
You can also look into doing homeschool co-ops! Sometimes, co-ops teach certain subjects that you don’t want to teach your child or your child may be really interested in and are beyond your curriculum.
Lastly, consider homeschool classes! These are usually offered either locally or online and can teach or enrich certain subjects. It’s a great option for teaching subjects you aren’t comfortable with or excited to teach yourself.
Homeschooling year round
One last suggestion for planning your year is schooling year round. We’ve experimented with it in the past, and my kids actually prefer it! They like having shorter school days, but it also keeps us in that rhythm and provides structure to our weeks all year long. My kids want to keep learning about the things they enjoy studying, and it allows them to keep pursuing projects that they’re interested in learning about.
Year-round homeschool doesn’t work for everyone, but it is an option worth considering. Just remember to plan for some breaks!
In these 5 steps to getting started homeschooling, we’ve discussed how to:
- Know what to teach your kids,
- Choose a homeschool curriculum,
- Create your homeschool schedule,
- Organize your homeschool space, and
- Plan ahead for your homeschool year.
I hope you found these blogs and videos helpful! If you have any other questions about homeschooling, please leave them in the comments below; we would really love to hear from you! Though our beginning homeschool guide has ended, your journey has just begun! Good luck and thanks for reading!
Learn about all five steps to getting started homeschooling in the How to Homeschool video series.
Amy Michaels is a former teacher turned homeschooler. She creates fun learning activities based on popular children’s books. Connect with her at BookBrilliantKids.com.