Simplifying Our Homeschool Schedule – Minimalist Homeschooling
In the beginning of December I started to realize our homeschool schedule was not working very well for us.
I would plan our day and rarely would we get to it all. It wasn’t because I was planning a whole lot in the day, but every time I mentioned what we were going to do next it would be met with groaning (with the exception of poetry tea time, that is always met with cheers). Math, which Raeca has always enjoyed, became something she dreaded.
I hated that they were hating it so it was time to switch things up. (Major pro to homeschooling: flexibility!)
At one point I came across a blog post on a minimalist homeschool schedule, I don’t even know if I was looking for scheduling ideas or how exactly I got there but as soon as I read it I knew it was something I wanted to try.
2020 EDIT: we are now following a different, even more simple homeschool schedule, you can check it out here.
Previously we had a bit of a daily routine: Bible, math, language arts and then either science, geography or history (depending on the day) and then squeezing in art and a few other subjects here and there. It was very much the schedule of a school, and not a schedule for us.
A few weeks before Christmas we decided to start our new weekly schedule and we all just loved it.
Using the idea I found we try to do something each day for the head, heart and hands.
The “head” is usually the academic part, the “heart” is something Bible related; memory verse or character development and the “hands” include art, handiwork and music.
We are still moving things around a little bit but right now our week looks like this:
MONDAY
I intentionally made Monday a bit of a relaxing day so we can ease into the week and do any catch up (like cleaning) from the weekend.
main lesson: language (Spanish and sign language)
heart: scripture writing and memory verse
handiwork: art journal
* bread making in the morning
TUESDAY
main lesson: math
heart: memory verse
handiwork: our choice
* our church community group in the evening so often it’s a cleaning/baking afternoon
WEDNESDAY
main lesson: science or history (alternating weeks)
heart: memory verse & character study
handiwork: our choice
* poetry tea time
THURSDAY
main lesson: language arts
heart: memory verse
handiwork: our choice
* fencing class
FRIDAY
free day/catch up/errands/swimming
UPDATE: We actually haven’t been using this schedule for awhile and I want to get back to something similar. This summer I am planning on heartschooling the kids and hope to use a combination of that and the idea behind this schedule to create our plan for the fall.
Most days our handiwork is whatever we feel like doing that day. Monday’s will generally be art journals as we begin our new memory verse for the week we will usually write it down and paint around it.
Other handiwork we will be working on:
- music (piano & recorder)
- knitting
- embroidery
- weaving
- card making
- candle making
- painting
- sewing
- jewelry making
- games
As I mentioned before, math was usually Raeca’s big complaint, every day she would whine that she didn’t want to do math (even though she enjoys it). But now she knows that Tuesday’s are (official) math days and even though we actually end up doing more math in one day than we used to get done in a week she doesn’t complain any more. (And I just don’t tell her all the other math stuff that we do throughout the week without her even noticing.)
With our previous schedule our last subject of the day always ended up getting cut short but now, since we are pretty much only doing one subject a day there is always time for it!
I am sure this kind of schedule won’t work for everyone and it might not even work for us in the future but right now it is working extremely well.
What kind of schedule works for your homeschool and family?
Linking up with the Homeschool Nook Link Up.
