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Tips & Tricks: Class Schedule

How do you make a class schedule? When do you do which subjects? How long do you do a class? Does each day look the same? It is easy to make a homeschool schedule since you can school however you like. Since we use Timberdoodle we have access to their online schedule which over the years has been updated to be an outstanding way to schedule our subjects. If you do not use Timberdoodle I would suggest using Excel. If you know a website that allows you to create a schedule (for free) then let me know in the comments. The first thing I do make our schedule is make a list of all of our items and mark which ones I think will be challenging and which will be easy. Core subjects would be harder than things like STEM and thinking skills. Then I use that list to make another list on what day we will do each item. Making sure that not one day will be to hard or to easy. I like it to be pretty even as well as each day having about the same number of items. Some subjects we do everyday those are English and math. The other subjects I do on Tuesday/Thursday or Monday/Wednesday/Friday. So far we do history on MWF and science/art/STEM/thinking skills on TTH. It is just the way I find best for us but you can schedule things whenever you like for what works your kids.

After this I see which items, if any, I would like to use at the beginning of the year and which closer to the end. This would items that may overlap or if I have multiple of similar items like thinking skills books. I make sure if items are for the same subject that I have them planned for the same days. That way they can follow each other and we do not miss a beat. Then I go onto Timberdoodles online scheduler and create my schedule. Some items I delete and input manually. I do this because blank pages are often counted. I like for the schedule to be very precise. I do keep to our schedule. Now this may change as she gets older if she does not understand something but right now she grasps everything we are doing perfectly. The only thing that I do not have a set time to end is our reading curriculum, All About Reading. I go at her pace since she is young for reading and it is a hard thing to learn. I make sure we take it at a slow pace. This is the only subject that we do even on the weekends. We do not do the full class on the weekends just a bit of practice. 

Sometimes I get asked how long we do school for or how long a class is. Since we do not do school for as long as public school and we have a longer school year we do not cover to much in one day. I do class for as long as we need. Once our daughter finishes the assignments we move on. I always start with math to get it out of the way, then whatever she wants to do next and we end with reading. Normally school does not take longer than a 1-3 hours each day. Longer if we play games or do experiments for an extended time. How do you create your schedule? Do you use a planner or hand write it? Have a program you use or just go with flow? Let us know in the comments below.



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