How to Create a Flexible Homeschool Schedule
That Works for Us

For many parents, flexibility is the reason they decide to homeschool their child. Homeschooling offers incredible freedom, but it can also feel overwhelming.

Balancing academics, extracurricular subjects, family life and dynamics, and individual learning styles can quickly become a juggling act. One of the keys to successful homeschooling is creating a flexible homeschool program and schedule that works for your family.

A rigid schedule can quickly stifle the joy of learning. Instead of prescribing every minute of the day, we offer another tool for your homeschooling toolkit: explore how to build a flexible schedule that supports your children's academic growth while maintaining a sense of peace and balance.

Step 1: Understand Your Why

As you consider your child’s flexible schedule, consider why you’re making this change in the first place.

A flexible homeschool schedule may be helpful for your family. It significantly reduces stress and burnout for both parents and children by allowing for a more relaxed and enjoyable learning experience day-to-day.

A flexible schedule also provides the necessary adaptability to handle unexpected events, like illness, weather issues, or unavoidable changes to your schedule. After all, kids who are homeschooled still get sick and need time to rest and recharge.

By working with a flexible schedule, you’re also creating the opportunity for adjustments and spontaneity. If every day is the same, that’s boring and monotonous for children too. When you have the chance to change up the schedule, you help your child engage and help to foster a love of learning. Besides, it’s practical – not every day can or should be the same.

Step 2: Think About the Key Elements of Your Homeschool Schedule

First things first: Start with the schedule you already have. What are the core subjects and standards that your child must meet according to their curriculum? Establish regular learning blocks to provide a foundational structure with subjects like language arts, math, and science with

Then, determine the other blocks of time that are fixed. Does your child attend a special group at the library every week? Do they have a dance class or team practices? Are there other appointments that happen regularly that you need to work around?

Next, use the scheduling method you’re already implementing. No need to reinvent the wheel at the beginning of this process! Perhaps you already use a scheduling method like block scheduling or unit studies, which allow for more in-depth exploration of topics.

Step 3: Build in Buffer Time

With those necessary blocks in place, what time do you have to work with? Build in buffer time for unexpected events or spontaneous learning opportunities, and allow for unscheduled days for projects, field trips, or brain breaks.

Try adding transition time to your child’s schedule. Rather than your child switching directly from reading to math, give them a break of five or ten minutes to close the chapter, so to speak, on that subject, and mentally prepare for a new subject to learn.

You could also add in a morning time block and an afternoon time block for buffer. Each day, you and your child can determine what to use that time for. Perhaps they need extra time to review a concept, or want to explore a topic further, or would like extra silent reading time.

Remember, this is all about balance. While a daily rhythm with consistent routines like mealtimes and quiet time is essential for predictability and stability, what we’re trying to avoid here is rigidity. It's crucial to avoid rigid schedules that dictate every minute of the day.

Step 4: Get Buy-In and Embrace a Growth Mindset

Getting buy-in from your homeschooled child is critical for success. After all, it’s their education! Involve them in the process of creating a new flexible schedule for their school days. Ask them about their preferences and incorporate their ideas whenever possible. Talk openly about what might work best and what hasn’t worked well in the past.

Frame the schedule as a collaborative effort, emphasizing that it's designed to help them learn best. Together, you can embrace a growth mindset by encouraging experimentation and viewing adjustments as opportunities for improvement. As always, celebrate successes and acknowledge challenges as growth. You’re essentially gathering data about how to optimize your child’s overall learning experience.

Step 5: Test, Review, and Adjust Your Schedule

Now it’s time to test the schedule you’ve made. As you move forward in your child’s daily learning journey, regularly review and adjust the schedule as needed, being willing to experiment and find what works best for your unique family dynamics and learning styles.

Give yourself and your child at least a week to try out the new schedule. Notice any changes – both positive and negative – in your child’s learning and make notes about your observations. Ask your child what they liked and didn’t like about the new flexible schedule.

Another important piece to remember is this: Modifying your child’s schedule isn’t just a way to help them catch up on work. It’s also a way to embrace child-directed learning.

If your child wants to go more in-depth into a topic, or find the answer to a question, or happily wishes to spend more time on a task, that’s wonderful! Flexible schedules let them explore and learn at their own pace. If something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to adjust the schedule. You can make small changes based on your child’s learning style, preferences, challenges, or opportunities. Avoid scrapping the entire schedule and starting from scratch.

Finally, ask for help if you need it. Reach out to your homeschool network with questions and asks for help or advice. Talk to a trusted homeschooling parent about what they’ve learned and what they wish they would’ve known about scheduling. If your child is enrolled in a charter school, they may have parent groups that you can connect with for support and guidance.

Other Tips for Creating a Flexible Homeschool Schedule That Works

Creating a flexible homeschool schedule that works for your family is just that – something that works for your family. Here are some other tips to try as you determine what’s best for your child:

• Think about when your child learns best. Do they focus more in the morning? Do they need a break after certain subjects? Incorporate those observations into the schedule.
• Don’t assign set specific dates if you don’t have to. Instead, work through curriculum objectives over a set period, rather than focusing solely on your child understanding certain objectives on setting up certain days.
• Try overestimating how long your child needs for time blocks or tasks in their schedule, to prevent rushing and overwhelm.
• If you find that your child needs a more flexible homeschool curriculum, consider talking openly with friends who homeschool their children and ask for their recommendations and insights.
• Work with your child’s learning preferences and challenges, especially if your child has a learning disability or is neurodivergent, work with an educational professional to determine what might work best or talk to your child’s doctor.
• Listen to yourself. If you find yourself feeling like time is passing very quickly in your child’s day, honor your feelings and balance them with the perspective that your child has years of schooling ahead of them, and this is just one day.