Back to (Home) School! Part 1-Choosing your School Schedule

Hi Everyone!

Are you enjoying your summer???  I am!  But it truly is flying by very fast.

Yesterday I found myself in Staples, and they had a whole front page of their "Back to School" sales on school supplies!  Staples happens to be one of my favorite stores to find good school supply deals, but that is a post for another time. :)

Today I want to talk about something that many homeschoolers would prefer to simply ignore--planning your school year during the summer time.  I know, I know.  I can hear you now! "But it's SUMMER BREAK!  Why do we need to spend it planning school?"  Trust me--it won't be nearly as bad as you think it will be, and the small amount of time you put into your planning now will pay off HUGE later on.  After all, how can you know that you are being successful in your home teaching if you really don't have a goal in mind that you are aiming for?  If you don't know where you are going, how will you know when you have arrived there?

As someone who has already homeschooled a child from Kindergarten until college (and lived to tell about it!), I have been around this block once already.  And even with all of that experience, I am STILL needing to take the time this summer to sit down and plan out our next homeschool year.  I "can" wing it--and some seasons that is exactly what I have had to do, but trust me when I say that EVERYTHING goes better if it is planned out ahead of time!

So I thought as I go through my planning this summer, I would try and bring you along with me.  "My way" isn't the only way to do this--it is just what works for me.  Take what is helpful for you, and ignore the rest.  Change things to fit you and your family.  After all, that is the beauty of homeschooling.  You DO have flexibility and can arrange your homeschool to best meet your family's needs.

Today I will simply share with you the first step--that isn't too intimidating, is it?  I hope not!  It is a simple step, but do not skip it as all your other planning will depend on this one.

1) Choose Your School Schedule

This is crucial--more important than ordering all that shiny new curriculum.  More important than those lovely school supply sales at Staples.  More important than setting up your homeschool area in your home.

***Before beginning anything--PRAY!  Claim the promise that if anyone lacks wisdom God will supply our need (James 1:5).  Thank God that you can come to Him for wisdom.  Acknowledge that He is the One who created your children in the first place, and therefore He knows best how each one of them learns.

***To start choosing my school schedule, I first print out an Academic Calendar.  These are available  online on several sites.  You don't need a special or fancy one--just a paper that shows the months of the school year all on one page.  I used this free calendar here:

2017-2018 Academic Calendar

***After printing your calendar out, it's time to consider your personal family schedule.  Does your husband have specific dates off as vacation from his work?  Do you have an older child who attends school and you want to match that school calendar?  What about Grandparents coming for the holidays?  Take your calendar printout and grab a colored pencil, marking out days or weeks when you KNOW you do not want to be doing homeschool.

***Now that you have your firm vacation days planned, think about other things--such as when you want your school to be out for the summer! Is there a certain month you want to be out by?  Since my hubby is a college teacher, I always like to be done with our homeschool by the graduation date of his school.  Let's just say it is a LOT easier to run our homeschool when daddy isn't home and offering to take us places, run errands, or starting in on a home project!  Therefore I know that every year I really want to be finished with our school year by the early part of May, even though other area schools all go until the end of May or even sometimes into June.  Yes, I know we are always learning even on "non school" days.  But in my state, I am required to report attendance days, so I do keep a record of our "official" school days.

***Once you know when you want to be finished by, it is a simple matter of working your schedule backwards.  I like to make sure we have some time for special things, such as Field Trip days and even special activities at home which are educational but are not necessarily doing "Book work."  Find a flow that fits your personality and go with it.  I like to have a term--usually six weeks (though this might vary) of concentrated book work time, and then we have a break week from our books and do other things.  You know--those things that you always want to do with your child but they get squeezed out of day to day living.  Actually stopping the book work and allowing TIME for these special activities is the only way they happen in my house.  For us, these are things such as concentrated time on Home Arts, for example, cooking, baking, sewing, embroidery, crocheting, quilting, etc.  All those fun, hands on activities!  I have four weeks of these planned in my school year, two weeks each semester.  Having these types of "Home Arts weeks" gives me a rest from the book work and makes me so happy that I am able to teach these types of activities to our daughter. :)  And yes--they "count" as school days!  I strategically place these weeks in our schedule when there are not other vacation days coming soon.  For our first semester, we will start our homeschool in early August and then have a "Home Arts week" in September.  By late October, we will have another Home Arts week, and then November has a built in change with Thanksgiving week and December has the same with Christmas.  When we get to second semester, we do take off for a Spring Break in March, so our two break weeks are placed in February (EVERYONE needs a break in February, in my opinion!) and in late April.

***Add up your school days to make sure you have what you are required to have.  I also evaluate what type of day each school day will be--whether it is a "Book Day" or a "Home Arts" day.  Then I also look at official "Field Trip" days, and see what my total for the semester is, adjusting as necessary.  In my state, I need 180 total school days, so I aim for 90 school days in each semester.

My Academic calendar gets filled with notes and "chicken scratching," as I count the weeks in each term, mark out our vacation days, and put slash marks through our Home Arts weeks.  Then at the bottom I add everything up, counting how many weeks we are going to have of "book work."  Knowing the number of weeks we are going to be sitting down and doing actual book work will be crucial in your Home School planning a little later down the line.

But first--now that you have your school schedule set, it is time to choose your curriculum--my favorite part of home school planning!  Watch for Part 2-Choosing your School Curriculum (hopefully!) soon!

I hope this has been helpful!  If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I will try and help out.  Don't be intimidated--you can do this, and God has promised to lead you in each task He brings you to!  So have fun--and jump in!

~Susan