A Proven Homeschool Schedule For Lifelong Success

How’s your homeschool schedule working out this year?

Are you finding success? Are you burnt out? Are you looking for a change? Do you want a happy homeschool?

I can help. As a homeschool mom for the past fourteen years, I’ve tried just about every option there is. I’ve been completely burnt, in February. I’ve dropped the ball in May. And I’ve wondered many a night, in September, if I’m doing it right.

Can you relate?

If you can, stick with me for a few minutes. I have a solution that may just revolutionize your homeschool and set your kids up for lifelong success.

It’s called the 6:1 Homeschool Schedule. The 6:1 schedule means you school for six weeks and then take one week off. I found it to be most effective from August until June with the month of July taken off entirely.

Sound interesting? Here’s how it works.

A homeschool schedule that works

Several years ago, I was homeschooling my two young, elementary-aged kids and we were adhering to the public school schedule. The problem was that we were all getting burnt out, all of us, even me. Then, summer rolled around all I heard after the first few weeks was, “I’m bored! There’s nothing to do.”

I started thinking, “This is lame. I mean seriously, I’m a homeschool mom. I can do anything I want, however I want to do it. So, what do I need to do to make this experience fun for everyone again?”

After doing a little research I stumbled on an article that laid out several different methods of establishing a homeschool schedule. One was called the Sabbath or Term Schedule. Moms like it because you can move subjects around easily and do unit studies during each term.

Kids loved it because there are regular, long breaks to look forward to during the year. I liked it for the simple reason of having a beginning and an end.

I’m a project gal. I like a definite start and a definite finish. I’ve always worked well in jobs with this kind of schedule (like legislative sessions and campaigns, but that’s another story) and I use this type of mindset in my workouts, my blog projects, and even in my free time. It’s the way I’m wired.

After reading about this method I knew I had to try it. Lo and behold, my kids are just like me. They too loved a beginning and an end. They liked to have something to look forward to and they relished their free time when there is an extended break.

Yes, many of our activities still followed a public school schedule like sports, AWANA, and our co-op. But we discovered great freedom at home in our 6:1 Homeschool Schedule.

Each summer we’d start before anyone else in our neighborhood. For lower elementary, this was never much of an issue. While the kids didn’t look forward to starting school, once they were back in the swing of things it was a very easy transition. One year I even heard my 4th grader say, “How do public school kids take three months off from math? I’d forget everything if I did that.”

BAM! Mom win.

The best part was when everyone else was just getting back to school in September, we were taking our first week-long break. We’d sleep in, read books, watch movies, hit the beach or the river, and stay up late. We traveled, we relaxed, and we regrouped. It was awesome.

As we continued through the year here’s what I learned:

• I didn’t get tired of teaching.
• The kids didn’t get bored or burnt out.
• We always looked forward to the upcoming break and everyone returned to school refreshed and well-rested.

What it looks like over the year

Here’s the breakdown:

• Around Aug. 1 we’d start our first block of 6 weeks “on.” We eased into it for sure but it never took long and there were rarely tears.

• 2nd week of Sept. we’d take our first week “off.” Usually, the kids were in sports so we’d stick around home and relax. I used the time to get projects done and transition our home from summer to fall/winter.

• Mid-Sept. thru the end of Oct. was our second block. Getting back to work was easy and this block always seemed to be very productive.

• The first week of November we were off again. This was an important break as we usually used this time to prep for the holidays. We determined what gifts we need to make, planned for Advent, decided holiday parties, concerts, and activities we wanted to attend, wrote down the movies we wanted to watch, got our list together for baking, and finalized our travel plans. I can’t tell you how awesome our holidays became after we started planning ahead of time.

Check out this post about how I have the most relaxing holidays ever.

• During the next block, before Christmas, we hunkered down. As the kids grew and became more self-sufficient they got their work done and we sometimes did a special unit on art or music.
  
• We took two weeks off for Christmas and New Year’s with the option for an extra week if there happened to be snow or extra travel on our agenda. That’s the beauty of this system, you can take extra days because there are extra days to take.

• After the holidays we got back into the swing and some years, back to our co-op. Our next break came in February. We’d try to travel or see family during this break. We have many good memories of this break because of the trips we took.

• Our spring break came at the beginning of April when everyone else in our area was back in school. It was a good time for us to head to the coast or go on an overnight trip.

• Spring term was usually spent finishing up our core courses like history and grammar and testing. Our last break was in late May. We used this time to plan for summer, sign up for camps, get the patio and yard prepped for warmer weather, and make our summer bucket list.

• For the month of June we practice independent study since we were done with our core courses – history, grammar, bible, and our electives. During the month the kids were responsible for completing their math and spelling units and doing some reading. Once they did their work for the day they were free to play or explore their hobbies and other interests. It’s like pre-summer. We usually did this for four weeks then we were officially off.

Here’s a printable to help you see how it all works. Just click the graphic to download.

I loved this schedule. It worked well with all of our personalities and the kids knew exactly what to expect. We were able to plan, relax, travel, and enjoy each other in a relatively stress-free environment.

The freedom of a 6:1 homeschool schedule 

The beauty of this schedule is how easily it can be modified to your needs. If you want, or need, to travel you might push your week off up or back a week without any issues. If there are unforeseen emergencies you can skip a day or two without feeling the crunch of a deadline to get work done. With this homeschool schedule, you easily get ahead. When you finish a book or grade level the kids just keep moving forward and go on to the next book. Grade levels become more fluid.

As far as national/school holidays like President’s Day or Veterans Day you can choose to work through them or take them off. We usually worked through them because we also chose to school on a four-day week. As an outdoor-loving family, Fridays were always our fun day to ski, fish, or explore.

A homeschool schedule for lifelong success

This schedule is much more balanced and closer to real-life than a public school schedule. Of course, teachers work on a unique schedule but doctors, electricians, writers, and entrepreneurs know that life happens year-round. This schedule has a few more breaks than “real life” but it’s as close to it as anything I’ve found.

I believe this homeschool schedule will help my kids for their whole lives, to work and rest at regular intervals. It encourages hard work for set periods of time so that breaks can be enjoyed and looked forward to. It encourages planning, thinking ahead, and focusing on tasks that must be done for set periods. It really does lead to lifelong success.

As kids get older this homeschool schedule becomes more complicated. But you can tailor it easily to fit your family’s needs. When our kids reached middle school and high school we found the need to work around summer camps, mission trips, church activities, sports.

The biggest challenge was sports. When our kids started competing in high school sports, we decided it was easier to adhere to a more traditional schedule due to practices, games, and tournaments. Our daughter also began attending a charter school and our local community college. After many years of the 6:1 Homeschool Schedule, it was hard to let it go, but it was the right thing for our family. And there again is the beauty of homeschooling, you can adjust for what’s best for your family as needed.

UPDATE: Our kids are now in high school/college. They are attending our local community college and working towards their Associate’s Degrees while also getting their high school diplomas. Using the 6:1 Homeschool Schedule was ideal for setting them up for these new academic rigors. The college schedule is very similar to what we did when they were younger and they have no problem working hard for a set time and then getting a break. The best part is they now get an extra-long summer to work, travel, and relax. The 6:1 Homeschool Schedule truly is a proven schedule for success.

What do you think about this homeschool schedule?

Would this make a difference in your homeschool classroom?

What would you change or add?

I’d love to hear your input. Please leave me a comment below so we can talk about it.

Please follow and like us: