Year Round Homeschool Schedule
A year round homeschool schedule brings stress-free days, slow paced schooling, and flexibility with your time and curriculum.
Create Your Year Round Homeschool Schedule
Making a flexible schedule is one of the most beneficial things you can do as a homeschooling parent. Creating a monthly schedule can help you stay organized throughout the school year. I have gone through many planners and calendars trying to find the best way to stay organized while not putting pressure on my family to complete school work in a specified amount of time. Here is the way I found works best for me. There are many ways to make a schedule. You will need to find a way that works best for you!
I take a blank calendar for each school year (free printable below) and mark down what I would like to accomplish each month. I begin in the spring because I love planning outdoor adventures and lessons in warm weather! You could begin in August since this is the “traditional” start of the school year or start anytime you would like! Creating a monthly school plan allows me to set yearly and monthly academic goals while not putting emphasis on the day to day tasks.
My year round schedule normally correlates with the seasons and only includes science, social studies, and electives. For math and language arts we follow The Good and the Beautiful (TGTB) curriculum. We stick to three lessons per week and move up to the next curriculum book when academically ready, not based on grade level. We don’t rush our children to finish the book by the end of the school year. This way they can take their time learning and focus on mastering concepts.
My Year Round Homeschool Schedule Example
- March – Botany, Survival Curriculum
- April – Botany/Seeds, Easter
- May – Botany/Garden, Insects
- June – Botany/Garden, Ocean Mammals
- July – Botany/Garden, Ocean Mammals
- August – Botany/Harvesting, Stargazing
- September – Earth Science, 50 States
- October – Earth Science, 50 States
- November – Earth Science, Elections and Government
- December – Earth Science, 50 States, Christmas
- January – Earth Science, 50 States
- February – Earth Science, 50 States
Get your free calendar printable below!
Reverse Planning
We follow a reverse planning approach. I create a broad monthly and yearly curriculum schedule. As we complete school work, I write down what we accomplished each day in a separate planner that I keep for academic records. I do not plan each day out to a T. I will have an idea of what I would like to get done each day but I am not strict in enforcing it. Instead, I allow my children to be in charge of their learning with me as their guide.
We do follow a daily schedule, which reminds us of what we should be doing each day but if we veer off course, we go with it! I don’t worry about completing a lesson or making time to fit in a worksheet last minute. I enjoy watching my kids’ eagerness to learn when they decide what schooling tasks to complete.
Check out our most relaxed homeschool schedule.
Year Round Homeschool Benefits
Year round homeschooling has so many wonderful benefits that you may not have considered!
The longer I homeschool, the more benefits I see to homeschooling throughout the summer and holidays as opposed to taking the traditional school breaks. One major benefit is the opportunity to learn outside. My children love being in nature but they also love doing school work outdoors. There is something so special about reading a good book on a picnic blanket or doing a science experiment in the yard.
During the holidays, we focus on the true meaning of the holiday and give lots of time to learn about it. For example, we spend the month of December learning about Christmas. This year, we will be learning about Christmas food traditions in other countries. For July 4th last year, we spent the month of July learning about the Revolutionary War. Homeschooling gives us the opportunities to learn more freely about the things that matter to us.
Year round homeschooling also allows us to spread our curriculum out, which in turn, allows us to learn at a slower pace. This helps my children digest and understand the learning material better. It also puts less pressure on my kids to get their school work done in a certain amount of time. They love learning. Why not give them the time to learn at their own pace while having fun.
Should You Homeschool Year Round?
If you are considering homeschooling year round, I would first ask yourself if your children would benefit from it. If that answer is yes, download our free calendar printable and get to planning!
Your yearly and monthly schedule don’t need to be exact. You can adjust your plans whenever you need to – that’s the beauty of homeschooling! Don’t think of homeschooling year round as putting more work on yourself and your children. Enjoy the opportunities you get to have and the memories you get to make with your children all year long. Someone very wise once told me, “you only have 18 summers with your children.” If you apply the same mentally to every season and every holiday, you start to cherish those homeschool days a little more.
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