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3 Daily Routine Homeschool Schedule Ideas For Moms That Homeschool And Work

Daily Routine Homeschool Schedule Ideas For Moms That Homeschool And Work

All parents can use a little help when it comes to keeping their homeschool days organized and productive. But when it comes to creating a homeschool schedule that allows you to fulfill your work obligations at the same time, it can truly be a challenge!

As a mom of 4 kids and an owner of 2 businesses, the LAST thing I thought I'd have time for was homeschooling. But just a few weeks into "virtual (wannabe) learning" in 2020, I got a glimpse of what really goes on inside public school curriculum and decided that my kids would no longer be subject to the left-leaning ideology - nor those filthy masks all day long.

But I had LOTS to learn before starting. And I had TONS of questions.

If you're anything like me, even if you're not homeschooling OR working, you're probably wondering, "How do you find time to cook meals, clean the house and care for your family when there are seemingly never enough hours in the day as it is?", aren't you?

Now let's throw in time for WORK. Ugh.

And if you're wanting to homeschool - the thought of adding one more thing to your day can be PARALYZING! (Honestly, I hear you! I remember...)

So how can you possibly get everything done while working and homeschooling? To be honest, we never REALLY get everything done in a day, do we? Of course not. But there ARE ways to fit your priorities in when it comes to your work and homeschool - and I'm here to help!

Download our FREE Guide: How To Avoiding Homeschool Failure As A Busy Working Mom

1. Homeschool Daily Schedule vs. A Homeschool Daily Routine

A homeschool daily schedule/routine is simply how you organize your days so that everyone knows how they should spend their time. While the initial thought of creating a homeschool schedule or routine may seem overwhelming, just remember that there are thousands of working homeschool moms out there who have done exactly that.

And YOU CAN, TOO!

And while how you arrange your homeschool day will be largely dependent on how many children you have, here are some homeschool schedule ideas that can apply to everyone - just tweak as needed!

But before we get into the homeschool routine ideas, let me just clarify the difference between a homeschool "schedule" and a homeschool "routine".

Homeschool Daily Schedule

A homeschool daily schedule is where the activities taking place in the day have a specific start and finish time. Basically, the clock strikes 9am and it's math time. At 1pm, the alarm goes off and you slam the biology book shut and finally get to cleaning up the milk that spilled at 9:06 that you didn't have time to wipe up since it wasn't on the schedule.

Because we are working moms, there are very few of us are going to be able to follow a strict homeschooling minute-by-minute schedule. Most of us just love the idea of a color-coded schedule that maps out exactly what we need to do that day to be productive in both our work and homeschool obligations. In our minds, we want start and stop times. Time for work. Time for play. But what happens when the unexpected creeps up on us and we need time to take care of something that wasn't part of the plan?

(You know, like that time my daughter fell and broke her toe and I needed to run her to the doctor, or how about that morning when my son woke up with a fever of 103 and I had to spend all morning cleaning up vomit from the rug, his favorite stuffed animal...oh, and his sister's hair?)

Yup. Things will happen.

Homeschool Daily Routine

A homeschool daily routine, however, is a much more relaxed version of the homeschool daily routine.

Instead of a hard and fast minute-by-minute homeschool schedule that says you will start Math at 9, English at 10 and lunch at noon, shoot for loose chunks of time you have available to homeschool and work each day.

Sample Homeschool Schedule (Routine) #1:

One way is to start by dividing your days into 3 chunks of time: morning, afternoon and evening. Then, designate the TYPE of activities you'll be doing that day inside those 3 chunks - remembering that the timing of the activity is "loose" and depends on the priorities for those activities that day.

For example, let's say you choose 8:30-9(ish) to 1/1:30(ish) is when your homeschool morning routine happens.

Then, let's say you work from 2-10. That would take up the afternoon and evening "chunks". If your child is in the lower elementary grades (3-5), that's great news! 3-4 hours is usually plenty of time for them to get everything accomplished. If they are younger than that, 4 hours is usually way too long to homeschool each day!

But let's say your child is in middle school or older - well, great news again! They are usually going to be responsible enough at that age to carry out some self-guided work while you are gone (or working in your home office). This is a great time for electives such as physical education, art, music, life skills, or even reading. I remember once leaving the kids with some old boxes for art/creativity and coming home to them having made a real-life "Mario Cart" game by driving around their cut and decorated boxes while squatting on their hoverboards!

Of course whomever is staying with the child while you work can certainly have them complete small tasks while you are away, so make sure to use that to your benefit - you don't need to do it ALL yourself!

TIME-SAVING TIP: If you have multiple children, you can teach one topic to all of them at the same time! For the little ones, just go through the material and don't expect them to pick up on the specifics. For the older ones, use supplements to encourage further exploration of the topic on their own! (So on your nature walk, talk with the littles about the basic parts of a plant. For the older ones, talk more in depth about deciduous and evergreen, chlorophyll and carbon dioxide and why trees change colors in the fall.)

Sample Homeschool Schedule (Routine) #2:

Now let's say that you're gone to work from 9am - 5pm. Again, the same rule applies that 3-4 hours is just fine for the younger elementary years. And the older ones can participate in self-led curriculum while you're gone.

Perhaps for your "routine", you could listen to an audiobook in the car about history on the drive to the sitter's each day and discuss what you heard while driving back home in the evening. Boom - history is done for the day! Maybe tomorrow, it's a poem that teaches rhyming...or an audiobook of Shakespeare for the older ones that you can try to decipher together! (The most Shakespeare I can understand is "Romeo, Romeo, where the heck are you?!") Ha!

Remember, "school" doesn't need to be done in one place. You can take it anywhere. And learning doesn't have to come from just books. Youtube, online apps, life skills and audio resources are also wonderful opportunities for your child to learn while you are at work.

When you get home, you can set aside a loose amount of time in your evening chunk to check over their work and finish up any assignments that may not have gotten done yet.

2. Block Homeschool Schedule Vs. Homeschool Loop Schedule

Homeschool Block Schedule

When I first started homeschooling, I admittedly tried to do "a little" of each subject every day. And boy, were my kids overwhelmed and I had anxiety about getting each subject on the list done.

Eventually, I gave up on cramming it all in every day - 4 kids made it too hard to do all subjects every day.

Block scheduling is a way to organize your homeschool subjects so you are focusing on less variety of content at the same time. Planning a block schedule starts by choosing the period of time over the week, month or year for your blocks. You can have a term to learn the subject for as long as a semester or for as brief as a few weeks. Block scheduling allows you to focus longer and deeper on fewer things throughout the day.

Homeschool Block Schedule Examples

Sample Homeschool Block Schedule #1:

For every school week of the year, your block schedule could look something like this:

Monday, Wednesday - Math, English, Science

Tuesday, Thursday - Math, English, History

Friday - Electives

In this example, you'd cover the subjects that require more practice and recall every day for short amounts of time while studying Science, History and their electives for longer times, but less frequently.

(Hint: just be sure you're meeting the minimum time requirements for your child to receive the credit)

Sample Homeschool Block Schedule #2:

Or, you could break up your subjects by semester, allowing your child to focus on less variety and more consistency in their lessons:

Semester 1 - Literature, Math, Science, Art

Semester 2 - Composition, Math, History, Music

Homeschool Loop Schedule

With a loop schedule, the subjects for each day are not determined by the specific day itself. Instead, you have a list (loop) of work that you need to accomplish during a certain amount of time. You can choose any time length you want and simply move from one task to another - picking up where you left off during your next time slot.

Let's look at a homeschool loop schedule example:

If you use a homeschool block schedule that contains 4 subjects for the semester (as shown in Sample Homeschool Block Schedule #2 Above), you would create a homeschool lesson plan naming the assignments needed to be done and in the order that they should be done. For instance, when the first Literature assignment is finished, your child would move onto the first Math assignment, then the first Science assignment, and finally the first Art assignment, etc. Then, when that Art assignment is finished, the child would move to the second English assignment, then the second Math assignment, and so on. The only thing you'd need to set is the amount of time the child would work on their homeschool loop schedule for that day. Once the time is up for the day, the child stops and works on where they left off for the next homeschool time slot!

3. Homeschool Life Skills As Time-Saving Learning Opportunities

I call "real life learning" when homeschool moms get to mix in their daily errands or "life skills" into a teachable activity for their child that is both educational AND time-saving! This includes activities such as taking family vacations, working in volunteer opportunities, doing household chores, and even going to the bank. Even "grocery shopping" can count as a homeschool learning experience! If you don't think you have time to work these things into your day, there are things we can do to be more intentional about adding them to our schedule.

For instance, if you have to make a deposit at the bank, have your child help you count the money and have them add it to your check register balance. Or when you're grocery shopping, ask your child to look at the price of 10 items and tell you what 10% of their prices would be.

If I'm being honest, I'm even trying to double-up on the purpose of my kids' extracurricular activities. For instance, my 10 year-old son attended a "Wilderness Survival" week-long day camp where there was plenty of hiking, swimming and learning taking place for 7 hours a day. There was NO way I was making him do schoolwork after that. Instead, I counted that camp as 35 hours of learning broken into gym, science and practical arts. And the socialization of the activity was a bonus!

(Of course, you have to keep your local guidelines in mind for credit, so make sure you check!)

There are so many ways to include learning throughout your day and your homeschool. As you find a way that works for you, just remember how much learning can take place in ordinary life events...I would argue that life skills are even more valuable than some of the "required" subjects of some states!

Creating a Homeschool Daily Routine that Works

Of course, creating a homeschool daily routine that works takes some planning and testing. YOU ARE NEVER STUCK. If it's not working, just keep tweaking it until it does!

So, make sure to take into consideration how much you can realistically do in a day. We all wish we were "supermom", but alas, that title doesn't really exist just for one mom. We are ALL super in our own way!

Remember that homeschooling gives you the freedom to make your own schedule. It may take some creativity and planning, but wow - the experience you can give your child is beyond compare to public schooling. So, embrace that advantage when you create your homeschool daily routine!