Although flexibility is one of the great benefits that homeschooling offers, it does not mean that homeschoolers should not have any scheduled study or activity times. Homeschooling parents and their children have a lot of leeway in terms of homeschool schedules, including which curriculum they choose to work with, what topics they decide to cover and how many hours they will spend on each task. Parents new to homeschooling often feel the need to work within strict homeschool schedules. They push their children to sit in front of the books from early morning until late afternoon when regular school goers often end the school day. It doesn’t have to be this way. Homeschoolers should take advantage of the flexibility homeschooling allows and should attune their studies to their interests and preferred timings. This often results in a more productive and effective education.

One of the most ignored but glaring drawbacks of the public schooling system is the sheer waste of time and energy that it produces. Many periods are simply wasted away and students often derive a mere couple of hours of serious study time per day. Then there are also the days when a teacher may be stresses out with report cards or trip planning and may allow the students to play games or pass time ineffectively for most of the day. Also, when a teacher is working with twenty or thirty students it takes much longer to convey information and ensure that all students have grasped new ideas and skills. All of these factors lead to less effective study times in public schools.

When you homeschool your child, you shouldn’t feel the need to stick to public school schedules because studying at home is much more efficient. Often homeschoolers cover a whole week’s worth of public school work in just a couple of days. This leaves a lot of time for fun activities and social outings. So, create you own homeschool schedule and don’t worry about mimicking what goes on in public schools.   

Although you don’t have to copy public school schedules it is a good idea to create some sort of schedule that work for you and your child. If you’re not a morning person, then feel free to offer your child some free time in the morning and start studies in the afternoon. Create a schedule that suits your family’s needs and interests. Ensuring that you have some sort of homeschool schedule though will help you get through the curriculum. Children often do better when they have some structure and routine in their days. A homeschool schedule will also help your child feel that you are serious about his/her studies

When putting together your homeschool schedule, you may be wondering how many hours you need to block out. You know that you don’t need to study for as long as regular school hours, but how much is enough? Well, the fact of the matter is that there is no specific answer that applies to everyone. Every child is different and works at a different pace. Also, every child will struggle with some topics and zoom through other ones. So, the best thing to do if you are new to homeschooling, is to schedule start times for study sessions, but take as long as you need to get through the work. Later, when you gain a better sense of your child’s abilities and the difficulty of the curriculum that you need to cover, you can work with a stricter homeschool schedule.

Your homeschool schedule should not only include times that need to be spent in front the books. Field trips, watching documentaries, visiting factories and libraries also make
up an important slice of the homeschooling process. It makes sense to intersperse these activities so that learning becomes fun. You may want to finish off the few hours of textbook learning in the morning with a visit to the community centre in the afternoon. So, take advantage of the flexibility homeschooling offers and create a homeschooling schedule you and family can enjoy.