Lesson Hearth / Free guides

How to plan a homeschool year: a simple step-by-step guide for parents

Planning a homeschool year can feel huge: curriculum, schedules, field trips, a different level for each child. Broken into steps, it fits into a quiet afternoon and a cup of coffee.

This guide walks parents through a year plan from the big picture down to a typical week. It works whether you start in August, September or January, and whether you teach one child or several.

Step 1: Set your dates

Start with a calendar and mark:

• Your first and last day of lessons
• Holidays and family events you already know about
• Planned trips and visits
• Co-op, sports and activity seasons
• A week off every six to eight weeks, if you like a rhythm with regular breaks

If your local rules ask for a number of days or hours, count your planned days now so you know there is room. Requirements differ by state and country, so check what applies where you live.

Step 2: Write a family overview

For each child, write a few lines: age, grade level if you use one, what is going well, what is hard, and what they are interested in right now. Add your own notes too: how much time you have each day, which subjects you enjoy teaching and which you would rather outsource.

This page takes ten minutes and saves a lot of second-guessing later. When you are unsure whether to add something, look back at it.

Step 3: Choose a few goals for each child

Pick two or three goals per child for the year, not twenty. Good goals are specific and easy to check:

• Read ten chapter books independently
• Learn multiplication facts up to 12 x 12
• Write a one-page report on a topic they choose
• Complete a first-year science course

Then add one shared family goal, such as reading through a history period together or learning about every state.

Step 4: Split the year into terms

A year is too long to plan in detail. Split it into three or four terms of about ten to twelve weeks. For each term, write what you plan to cover in each subject for each child. A grid helps: subjects down the side, children across the top, and a column for subjects you teach together.

If you use a boxed curriculum, divide the number of lessons by the number of teaching weeks to see how many lessons each week needs. A math book with 150 lessons over 36 weeks is just over four lessons a week.

Step 5: Gather curriculum and resources

With goals and terms in place, list what you need for each subject: books, online courses, art supplies, a library card, science kits. Mark what you already own, what you can borrow and what you need to buy. Check the list against your goals. If a resource does not serve a goal, it can wait.

Look at your own time too. A curriculum that needs an hour of parent preparation each evening may not suit a family with three children and a part-time job. Choosing a simpler option you will use is better than an ambitious one that sits on the shelf.

Step 6: Plan a typical week

Now sketch one ordinary week. Do not plan every week of the year in detail; plan the pattern and adjust as you go.

1. Put shared subjects first, when everyone is fresh: read-alouds, history, science, art.
2. Give each child their independent work blocks, staggered so you can sit with one child while others work alone.
3. Mark the subjects that only happen some days, such as science twice a week.
4. Leave one afternoon light for catching up, trips or projects.

Our sample schedule for homeschooling multiple children shows how a morning can look when you teach several ages.

Step 7: Decide how you will keep records

Choose now, before the year starts, what you will keep: attendance, hours, a reading log, work samples, a list of trips. A few minutes each week is easier than reconstructing a term from memory. The free attendance tracker is a simple start.

Step 8: Build in review points

At the end of each term, set aside an hour to look back:

• What worked well, and what did we drop?
• Is each child on track for their goals?
• Is anything taking far longer than planned?
• What needs to change for next term?

Changing the plan is not failure. It is the reason you made one.

Tips

• Plan for about four days of full lessons a week. Real life fills the fifth.
• Keep the plan in pencil, or in a format you can easily edit.
• Plan your own breaks too. A tired parent is the biggest risk to the year.
• Start the first week light, then add subjects one at a time.