We all have just twenty-four hours in our day to get everything done.  Homeschooling moms have the challenge of adding teaching, grading, recordkeeping, and other educational activities to their already busy lives.

Creating a schedule, or routine, will help you accomplish all the things you need to do each day, and even have time for the activities you enjoy.  Life will seem less chaotic with a plan in place for managing your homeschool day.

Three Basic Types of Schedules

There are three basic styles of scheduling:

• Time-specific schedule – activities are accomplished at a specified time of day.
  For instance:
  Rise and shine at 7:00
  Breakfast at 7:30
  English at 8:00
  Math at 8:30
  and so forth.
• Block schedule – tasks are arranged within a specified block of time in which they are to be done.
  An example of this would be:
  9:00 AM to 12:00 PM: Morning Devotions, Math, and Language Arts
  1:00 PM to 3:00 PM: Quiet Time
  3:00 PM to 5:00 PM: Projects and Afternoon Chores.
• Routine – tasks are given a general time of day to be completed.  For example:  get dressed, make bed, brush teeth, eat breakfast, and start laundry are all part of a morning routine that begins upon waking up in the morning.

Find What Works for Your Family

There is no one right or wrong way to schedule your day.  Some families thrive on a strict, time-specific schedule with everything clearly laid out, changing activities frequently.  This is often true for children with special needs like Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).  Moms who have a child who dawdles may find this style of schedule helpful as well.  Assigning a specific task to a set time can help keep these types of children on task and focused.
Block schedules, and routines, work for many families because it gives them the flexibility they need to accomplish the tasks of the day, and, yet it accommodates the various outside activities they are involved in, and the frequent interruptions that tend to occur within their household.

Putting a Schedule Together

These steps will help you organize your day:

1. List everything that you, and your children, need to do each day.  Include school subjects, chores, outside commitments, personal grooming, and so forth.
2. Write beside each activity the amount of time needed to accomplish each task.
3. Write down the parts of your day that you typically do at the same time, such as: breakfast 7:00, school 9:00, lunch 12:00, ect.  Regardless of whether you employ at time-specific schedule, a block schedule, or a routine, this gives you a framework to fill out with the rest of your day’s tasks.
4. Finally, decide how specific you want to be with your schedule.  This will determine how you put it all together.  A time-specific schedule will need definite times attached to each activity.  A block schedule, or routine, will need to have the tasks divided into logical time frames, and use a few reoccurring activities, such as a meal time, as benchmarks for staying on target.

Remember, a schedule is a tool, not your master.  If your schedule isn’t working, try something different- and keep trying until you find what works for you.

Written by Crystal Killion