When families start homeschooling, they often think that they need a schedule. They think they need to have time blocks like "Math lessons from 10 am to 10:30 am" etc. This is the structure used in traditional schools so it's often the one we refer back to.
However, homeschooling has much more flexibility than traditional school. There is no need to have blocks of time in order to cram everything into the day.
Instead of a schedule, we have what I call a flow or a rhythm. We have things that we do every day in a typical order but every day is different and we can move things around.
Schedules are based on time and are usually rigid. Rhythms are different from schedules in the sense that they are not rigid and based more on order rather than on a certain time frame.
Here is what our daily rhythm looks like:
Breakfast + Time with Jesus
Daily Jobs
Open Play
Outing
Lunch
Nap and Quiet Time
Daily Lessons (Math/LA)
Open Play
Dinner
Family Clean Up
Bedtime
Again, this is the order that we TYPICALLY do things in. But we have days where our outing is in the afternoon so we do lessons in the morning. Or we have an early morning outing so the afternoon is more for play.
Breakfast + Time with Jesus
My girls are early risers so we are usually up by 6am. We like to do breakfast first thing since everyone is usually hungry. Some of our go-to breakfasts are oatmeal, yogurt parfaits, muffins, toast, waffles, pancakes, and eggs. I always keep homemade muffins and waffles in the freezer so they can be reheated for a quick breakfast.
While we are eating, we do our gospel study that we call Time with Jesus. We say a prayer, sing a hymn, and read from the scriptures. Often I will have a coloring page or short activity to go along with what we read and discussed.
Daily Jobs
After my husband leaves for the day, we start on our daily jobs that we call high fives. The girls get dressed, make their bed, get their hair done, brush teeth, and we say our family values. When they are done with their high fives, they get a hole punch on their punch card that we use as a reward system.
After that, they run off to play while I get my hair and makeup done. I also throw in a load of laundry and unload the dishwasher. If I have extra time, I will tidy up or do a quick sweep or vacuum.
Outing
We try to have an outing every day. I've noticed it improves our moods to get out of the house and gets our day going. Sometimes it is a bigger outing like going to a museum or play place and other times it is a doctor's appointment, running errands, or going to the library.
Lunch
We are usually home from our outing before lunch (if not, we pack a lunch to take on our outing.) For lunch we usually do leftovers, sandwiches, or snack trays. My husband comes home for lunch most days as well so we get to spend time with him.
Nap and Quiet Time
After lunch, I put my toddler down for a nap while my oldest picks what she wants to do during quiet time that day. She usually will read, listen to her Yoto player, do a puzzle, play games, or play with toys. I set her visual timer for an hour then head downstairs for my own quiet time.
I used to always clean and work on household chores while my kids napped and did quiet time. But about a year ago, I decided to just totally take a break to gear up for the afternoon (which is usually the hardest part of the day for us.) I usually read, blog, or plan/work on unit studies.
Daily Lessons (Math/LA)
When my daughter's quiet time is over, we do her core curriculum for the day. We can usually finish before the toddler is up but if it's a short nap, she will play while we finish up.
We typically do two lessons a day. Sometimes it is a lesson of language arts and a lesson of math. Other times it is two language arts lessons or two math lessons. If we have a unit study we are currently doing, we will read books and do an activity afterwards.
Open Play
After lessons, the afternoon is time for my kids to play. They love to go outside or when it's too hot (summers are very hot where we live) they will play inside. While they play, I like to work on my to-do list and prep dinner.
Dinner
My husband gets home around 5pm each day and we all sit together and eat. We like to talk about our day and do highs and lows. We ask each person their high- something good, exciting, or fun that happened that day and their low- something that was disappointing, not their favorite, or hard.
Family Clean Up
My husband and I work on cleaning the kitchen- dishes and wiping counters. And our kids are in charge of the living room- putting books and toys away. We like to listen to music during this time and often come up with little games to motivate the girls to clean up. When the house is all reset, we run our robot vacuum and head upstairs for bedtime.
Bedtime
We each take a kid at bedtime so we can have one-on-one time with them. We switch which kid every other night. We do baths, pajamas, brush teeth, and do a family prayer. Then we go into their individual rooms for books, songs, and snuggles.
Once the kids are in bed, my husband and I like to catch up on our own things. He is usually studying or doing an assignment for school and I usually work on planning, prepping, or blogging. We like to finish the night by reading together (we are currently reading the Harry Potter series.) We are in bed between 9:30-10pm.
Phew...that was a lot! Like I said previously, this is the typical flow of our day but each day is so different. Because we homeschool, we have the freedom and flexibility to do what we want with the structure of each day.
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