Homeschool schedule

How to create a homeschool schedule

You love that you’ve ditched the school run, the endless testing and pressures. Now you’re relishing in the flexibility and bespoke learning that homeschooling brings. However successful homeschooling still requires a degree of structure plus plenty of hard work and dedication. Creating a homeschooling schedule will bring clarity to busy family lives.

For some, breaking down the day into half hour or hourly segments works well while others recoil at the thought of such detail. You could keep it more general and just include a rough timing spent on each subject. The main point is that your schedule outlines how each day will look so you all know what to expect. Assignment tasks can be broken down in to manageable chunks. No more mad rush to finish assignments up against the deadlines!

homeschool organisation

Student Coumba talks about how she stays organised while homeschooling.

Creating A homeschool schedule

Creating a Homeschool Schedule

How many hours a day should your child be studying?

Many parents worry their child should be studying for 6 hours a day like a traditional school. But remember, the distractions and added extras like assemblies have been removed. As your child is the sole focus, you’re likely to find it only takes a few hours to get through the day’s work. With younger children at primary level, this is likely to be even less. Place less emphasis on the time it takes and concentrate more on how well your child is grasping the subject. Let them lead the pace, tweaking your schedule as you go.

For our Secondary age students we have created a study hours calculator to help families work out how many hours per week their child should be studying.

Flexibility rules

The beauty of homeschooling means your schedule can be adapted to suit what you have coming up in the week ahead. So if you have extracurricular activities or hobbies, family commitments, you’re planning a trip or a parent has leave from work, you can incorporate these into your schedule. And it doesn’t need to stick to the traditional Monday to Friday either. Many homeschooling families don’t start until at least 10am and research has shown that teenagers are better studying later in the day.

Homeschool Schedule gives flexibility

Things to consider

  • What time does your family prefer to get up? Is your child an early riser or night owl?
  • Which subjects are your children studying that require more input from you?
  • What activities/clubs does your child have scheduled?
  • Have you included buffers for when study periods over run?
  • What other family commitments do you have? Caring for a new baby or running a home-based business may affect your schedule.

Our courses

Secondary homeschoooling courses

Lower Secondary