Recipe for Success - Relax the Schedule

Home Education Week at Principled Discovery

It is also National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day! So share a recipe…figuratively, as in two parts love, one part creativity, or literally, as in a super quick, nutritious meal your kids scarf up. Think about what you do in the day, what helps keep it organized and you sane (or how you got past that need for organization and saneness!), and curriculum materials you find effective.

My first few years of homeschooling were very structured and scheduled out. When everything on my schedule didn't get done I got very frustrated. There were days that we just couldn't homeschool, yet I had that day planned into the schedule. Over the years, I have relaxed in our daily scheduling. It has been the best thing for me and the kids appreciate a more pleasant mother.

This is my recipe for success: Make a Relaxed Schedule

We have a general daily schedule, but it doesn't include exact page numbers. There are occasional days that we can not get to everything on the list. I also have planned that there will be unexpected days that we won't be doing our typical learning at all.

Here is a sample of a typical day's relaxed schedule for my 10-year-old:

Do 4 pages in Language Arts workbook.
Do 1 page in Math workbook.
Practice Spelling words.
Listen to Mom read from the historical fiction book.
Choose your own science activity.
Read to Mom for 20 minutes.
Listen to Adventures in Odyssey

I also encourage the children to learn on their own - delight driven learning or unschooling. They play educational games, do art projects, cook, watch educational TV or DVDs, go on field trips, learn through church activities, learn things on the Internet, participate in volunteering, travel, read magazines, write in a journal, and explore.