One of the advantages of homeschooling is a flexible schedule. Most homeschooling parents create a schedule that suites the child and the parent the best.
The younger the child is, the least structured the day will be. High school children will have to work according to a relatively structured schedule to be able to manage the curriculum.
A homeschooling day is in general shorter than that of public school children. Breaks and lunch don’t have to be at specific times during the day as in a public school. In happens regularly in public schools that children have to leave a task they are busy with because it is the next period or it is break or lunch time. With homeschooling the task can be finished and the break or lunch can be taken a bit later.
Some families tend to spend more time at schooling during the winter months which will again allow for more free time during the summer.
Weekends can also be used for schooling if the child needs a day or more in the week for other commitments.
It is important to make time for socializing in the homeschooling schedule. This can be visits with friends or at a sport, social or cultural group. The homeschooling parent will also need time for socializing. The day can be planned around this and it would be ideal if the parents can either have some time for themselves or for social activities at the same time as that of the children’s.
If the homeschooling parent will be responsible for the curriculum it will make even more demands on his or her time. Time for this can be set aside while the child sleeps (if it is a small child), read or have some other free time.
In a homeschooling household without help for the everyday cleaning, laundry and cooking, time can fly and the parent might feel overwhelmed by all the responsibilities. Children can and should assist with these chores. Important life skills are learned in the process. It doesn’t have to take hours. If everybody helps these chores can be done early in the morning or after school.
On the website about.com there are quite a few individual schedules posted by different parents that has interesting advice and explanation on how each of them deals with the daily schedules of homeschooling.
