How to Plan a Yearly Homeschool Schedule that Works for Your Family - Part 1

Length of Your School Year
Your first decision, after you have decided to home school, is to put together a schedule that works for your family. The length of your homeschool year should be determined by the goals that you have set for your childrens education, your other commitments, and by your state's rules & regulations. Most states require 180 days of instruction per school year.

Depending on your goals, you may choose to have an all year round schedule, which can shorten the amount of hours per day, or the number of days per week, or both. You can also choose to school all year long and not to shorten your hours, or days. This would be a good option if your child is looking to graduate early or to be well advanced in certain subject areas. This is totally your choice.

The nice thing about choosing your length of school year is that you get to decide when you would like to take a break or go on vacation. Make sure you plan this into your schedule, homeschooling parents need a break every now and then, as do their children.

It is best to sit down and plan your school year about 3 to 4 months before your year begins. So, if you are going to start in September then you would want to start planning sometime in May. This gives you plenty of time to get everything organized and to find the curriculum that you are going to use. The sooner you start planning for the upcoming year the better off you will be when it comes time to start.

The first thing you will want to do when planning your homeschooling year is to get a calendar, or make your own, whichever you prefer. If you can find a calendar that goes from the beginning of your school year to the beginning of your next school year, this will work best. Such as Sept. 08 to Sept. 09. Another calendar that works well is a two-year calendar, it will then include your whole school year.

I personally like the little 9 x 6, or so, monthly planning guide made by the U.S. Diary Company. It is only a one year calendar but it has many uses. It has a 3-year calendar in the back, which is very helpful when your wanting to look ahead at certain dates. Each months page also has a tiny version of 8 months along the right side, which is helpful when planning the current month#s schedule. The planner is portable, not big and bulky, yet still big enough to have a good amount of writing space.

Whichever planner or calendar you decide to use, sit down and decide on the months that you would like to homeschool in. Make sure you mark down vacation times and time off for holidays and or summer break.