This past school year the kids were in a charter school that required we follow at least some curriculum, so we gave it a try. We are relaxed, eclectic, unschool type homeschoolers. I don’t like to be labeled, but we use bits and pieces of curriculum as needed while most of our learning is through games, field trips, discussion, and everyday life. It took a bit of trial and error to choose curriculum that was not overwhelming, but we did find some we really enjoyed using. Check out the curriculum we liked and will continue with. With my work schedule I really needed a very simple schedule for the kids as well, so together we created a very relaxed homeschooling schedule that was loose enough for flexibility, but scheduled enough to accomplish what we needed to each day and make sure we spent time on that curriculum. We started out with something much more full, but whittled it down to bare bones, and this is what works best for us.

Our Relaxed Homeschool Schedule

I have tried again and again to get this family scheduled. The problem lies with me, I hate being over scheduled. If a schedule is too strict or too full, I will just stop looking at it. I go through bursts of productivity and days where I just want to sit on the couch and read, so I like to allow for that in our homeschooling as well. After years of coming up with schedules, this is one my whole family has been able to follow and we really love! It has helped us get necessary things done, like cleaning and school worksheets, but also allowed time for science projects and game night, which we constantly were pushing off to another date because I was too tired or too busy to do any prep. I have adjusted my work schedule to flow with our family homeschool schedule so we can all have time for what we need and want to accomplish each week. I also have two meals listed here, tacos and pizza. Having a basic meal plan helps free up my time and lower my stress level so much!

Every day:

• Water garden
• Feed the pets
• Morning School Work: 3 pages of math from Math U See workbook & 3 pages of reading/writing in Explode the Code workbook, plus a lesson (or at least a few pages as the lessons are long) in Susan Barton Reading program for my son.

This work is usually started around 10am and finished by lunch. Then the kids are pretty much free for the day to play and explore their own interests. They do have to help around the house and yard as needed and are not allowed screen time until afternoon. Plenty of time outdoors and getting creative is important to me.

Update: For the summer we adjusted morning school work to be: 1 lesson on Nessy.com in each reading & math for my son and 1 lesson in each reading & math on Readingeggs.com for my daughter. Plus 60 mins of rigorous exercise daily: Minimum of 30 min in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening cardio. 

Monday-

• Morning school work
• Listen to a chapter in Story of the World via audio CD
• Chore Day- laundry, floors, bathrooms

Tuesday-

• Morning school work
• School Classes
• Taco night
• Awanas Kid’s Club

Wednesday-

• Morning school work
• Activity based on the History chapter
• Do a Science project. (It helped that I had a planned day for science so I could look for relevant books and videos as well as gather supplies for the project we would be doing in advance. I let the kids decide what topic to learn about each month.)

Thursday-

• Morning school work
• Family Game night

Friday-

• Morning school work
• Nature day. Go for a hike or field trip and create 1 page in nature journal.
• Pizza & movie night

Saturday-

• Morning school work

Sunday-

• Church
• Family Day
• Family Dinner (make dinner for great grandparents)

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We also began an interactive Math Journal, which was so well received we may be doing journals in multiple subjects next year. Or starting a writing journal at least. We did some lap books here and there, which I usually incorporated into our Wednesday project days. This really helped me make time for projects as I work a lot, so it’s hard to spontaneously do things that need any prep.

For someone who hated to be overly scheduled and loves spontaneous learning and activities, this schedule was the first that we were all able to follow for months at a time! Notice I did not put in any times. Generally everyone is up by 8 or 8:30am, we eat breakfast together and start school work around 10am, but if we sleep in, go for a morning walk, or begin a board game that runs long, we just push our schedule out. Lunch is typically at noon and dinner around 6pm. Bedtime is generally 8pm, but as it’s still light and hot for much later during the summer, we’ve been pushing 9 or 10 pm lately. I read them storybooks and a chapter or two of a novel each night. We do school work on Saturdays as well because my kids usually just start doing it without asking now that it’s become routine and because they enjoy their work and they have so much free time, they don’t feel the need for a break or time off from it.

We do much more learning than just the worksheets in the mornings and projects once a week, but the kids are free to follow their interests. They watch documentaries, look up things on the internet, gather books on all sorts of interesting subjects at the library, draw, paint, dance, play educational games, count out change at the store or while playing store, put on performances for us to watch, build and craft… so much more than I could list. And they really enjoy learning.

Do you plan out your homeschool? Would this relaxed schedule work for you, or do you need a detailed plan?