Design a Simple Homeschool Daily Rhythm (That’s Easy to Stick To!)
Are you looking for a way to simplify your homeschool day and make it more predictable, without feeling like you’re stuck in a rigid daily schedule? Then creating a daily homeschool rhythm might be the perfect solution for you and your family!
In this article, I’ll talk about why having a daily homeschool rhythm is important for a smooth homeschool day, the benefits of having one, how to create one that works best with your family’s needs, as well as some tips on what activities should be included in your daily routine.
So if you’re ready to get started simplifying and streamlining your homeschooling life, read on!
Why create a homeschool daily rhythm?
Having a daily rhythm can help make your homeschool days feel a little bit more predictable and less chaotic. By having a daily rhythm in place, you’ll be able to provide structure for your child’s daily learning while still allowing flexibility when needed.
Honestly, you probably already have somewhat of a daily rhythm that your family naturally falls into. It’s just about getting it down on paper so you can further enhance it! A daily homeschool routine gives you the freedom to move things around if needed, but still provides a sense of predictability and consistency that’s important for both learning and daily life.
Rhythm vs Schedule: What’s the difference?
A daily homeschool rhythm is different from a traditional school schedule because it allows for flexibility while still providing structure and predictability. A daily rhythm is more like a loose daily routine that you can tweak as needed, while a daily schedule is much more rigid and requires sticking to an exact timeline.
Schedules can be stressful, and it’s so easy to get behind when you have a rigid schedule to adhere to. Homeschooling should be fun and go with the flow of your family, not stressful!
A daily rhythm, however, can help you create a simple daily routine that works for everyone without feeling overwhelmed or like it’s too much work to stick to.
Benefits of a Simple Daily Rhythm
If you’ve been homeschooling without a homeschool daily rhythm, you may be wondering if you really need to put one together.
However, I think that you’ll quickly feel the benefits of having one in place! Here are just a few:
- Predictability in your day (for you and your kids) so there’s less questioning of what’s next
- Easily adjust daily activities without feeling overwhelmed or like you’re getting behind
- Keep your homeschool day on track, so you know you’re getting everything done
- A sense of calm knowing you have everything you need to do covered in your well thought out daily rhythm
- Increased productivity and focus because you know what’s next
- Improved family relationships since everyone is on the same page
- More chances to do the things you want to do, but never seem to have time for (as long as you actually add them!)
- Consistency and structure that your child needs for learning
Of course, these are just a few of the many benefits of having a daily homeschool rhythm. Having everyone in the household on the same page and creating a homeschool daily rhythm that prioritizes what’s important to your family can be a great way to make homeschooling simpler and smoother.
Steps to designing a simple homeschool daily rhythm
Designing a simple homeschool daily rhythm is sometimes easier said than done. If you’re a bit of a perfectionist like me, you need to allow yourself to just get it done and go with it for a while. The point of a daily rhythm is that it’s flexible and you can always change things as needed.
Below are the basic steps to put together your own homeschool daily rhythm that works for your family.
1. Consider your family’s needs and priorities
The first step to creating daily rhythm is to think about what your family’s needs and priorities are. Do you need time for daily chores? What about weekly errands? Are there any daily commitments outside of your home like co-op, library visits, etc.?
One fun way to get this together is to have a fun family meeting brainstorming all the things that are important to your family. Grab some hot cocoa or finger sandwiches and make it a fun activity where everyone is heard.
Create a list of “must have” activities (meals, appointments, etc.) as well as “wants” so that you can prioritize accordingly.
2. Outline your family’s natural rhythm
The next step is to look at your family’s natural daily rhythm. While not every day looks the same, I’m willing to bet that there are at least some parts of your day that are pretty predictable. Use this to make a bare bones outline of what your new homeschool daily rhythm will look like.
When you do this, leave lots of space around everything you input. There’s no need to add specific times, but you can add time frame estimates just to give yourself an idea.
For example, does everyone in the family have a morning routine they tend to stick to? Does mom or dad get up and make breakfast for everyone while the kids get dressed for the day? Or does everyone just kind of leisurely wake-up and make breakfast together still in their PJs?
Whatever it is, you can add things like morning routines, bedtime routines, meals you normally eat, etc. as kind of a sekleton for your daily rhythm.
3. Add in other needed or wanted aspects of your day
Once you have your framework (or skeleton) laid out, it’s time to add everything else! This is the fun part where you get to design a daily homeschool rhythm that includes all the wonderful things you want to do daily, like read-alouds, nature walks, art projects, etc.
Take a look at the long list your family made together. Try to chunk like activities together with a more broad theme or title. For example, you can just put down “outside play”, “quiet time”, “outings and errands”, or “table work” rather than outlining exactly what you’ll do during that part of the day. That way you have an idea of what’s going on at that time, but the flexibility of filling it in with what works that day. This allows for flexibility and keeps the daily rhythm from being too rigid.
Remember: It’s totally ok to be ambitious about all the things you want to do, but it’s also important to be realistic and not overwhelm yourself with a strict schedule to the point where it feels like you need to change activities every 15 minutes to keep up.
4. Play around with it
Once you have all the pieces together, it’s time to take a step back and look at the rhythm you created. Walk yourself through the day mentally. Does it feel too full? Or does it feel like it doesn’t flow very well?
Try moving things around until they make sense. It’s ok to cut things out or consolidate things! I’m all about a simplified schedule. You can always add more later.
Tips for a simple homeschool daily rhythm that works for everyone
Now that you know the simple steps to create your own family homeschool routine, I wanted to provide some extra tips you might find helpful. Of course, these are just some of my own ideas, you don’t have to do things exactly as stated, but I wanted to provide some ideas that might spark some inspiration
Involve the children
Kids often feel empowered when they can be involved in making decisions that affect their daily lives, and it’s a great opportunity to teach them about planning and responsibility. Ask your kids what activities they would like to do daily or weekly, and include them in coming up with ideas for a daily homeschool rhythm.
Younger kids will usually gladly help brainstorm and may have some very creative ideas you hadn’t thought of. Older children may be more resistant to the idea, but when you involve them in the process, they will usually be more likely to want to participate.
Don’t forget free play
Free play is an incredibly important part of daily life, and it should definitely be included in your daily homeschool rhythm. Homeschooling provides so much freedom and allows us to be much more efficient with our learning, so don’t feel like you need to plan out every second with a specific activity or learning block.
Giving kids the opportunity to explore and express themselves with free time, away from adult guidance, has a lot of benefits and can help kids develop problem-solving skills, creativity, confidence, and more.
Set the tone for the day
Start your daily homeschool rhythm with an morning time activity that sets the tone for the day. This could be anything from a morning meditation, reading a couple of pages of a chapter book together, or having breakfast as a family. This could be a great way to start off the day feeling connected, motivated, and on the same page.
Plan out quiet time
Quiet time is also an important part of daily life and can be a great way to help kids (and adults) decompress, reflect, and relax. Whether you plan it in the morning or at night, make sure to set aside some time for everyone to just have their own space to relax.
This might look different for each family. For some, it might be a time that the family spends together. For others, especially those with young children, this might be a time that everyone spends alone so mom or dad can sneak off to put a baby to sleep.
Plan a time to get outdoors
I truly believe that getting outside every day, even if you don’t live in a particularly nature-filled area, is incredibly important for physical and mental health. Have you heard of the 1,000 hours outside challenge? I love that! I know that’s a stretch for many families, while it’s easy for others, but just making the goal to get outside can be so beneficial. It’s one of those things that can be hard to prioritize unless it’s part of your daily rhythm.
So make the effort to get outside daily, even if it’s just for a few minutes. Take a family walk around the block after dinner, kick the kids out into the backyard while you prep dinner, or make some time to go on a hike or nature walk, or just go to the local park. You don’t need to do the same thing everyday, either. A simple “outside play” or “go outside” on your homeschool daily schedule works perfectly!
Keep it simple and sustainable
It’s so easy to fall into the habit of over-scheduling and cramming activities into every second of the day. Remember, a daily homeschool rhythm should be flexible and sustainable. It should serve as a daily reminder and guide, but it’s still important to leave open space and lot of padding for flexibility.
Add sections for you
One thing a lot of parents forget to do is to add space for themselves. Whether you love spending early mornings in the quiet before everyone else or you take some time to do self care or some work on the computer while everyone is having lunch, planning out a daily rhythm that includes time for yourself will only help your daily homeschool routine run more smoothly.
Whether it’s taking a moment to meditate or reflect in the morning, reading a book during naptime, or just having some “me” time after dinner, make sure to include a few daily activities that are just for you! It will help you stay organized and focused, which in turn will benefit your daily homeschool routine.
Adding these spots into your schedule as an aside can ensure that you actually take this time to do what you need to do, whether it’s self care, work, or chores, and allows your children to understand when you’re available to them and when you’re not. As much as we want to be there to help 24/7, it’s important to have boundaries as well.
Create a weekly loop schedule
One thing I love to do in a homeschool daily rhythm is pop in some sections that loop so that we can fit in things that don’t need to be done daily. For example, you might have a “chores” section, but you don’t necessarily need to do the same chores. Or even a “daily activity” section where you do a different type of activity depending on the day’s theme. Monday can be for baking, Tuesday for library day, etc. Setting up a weekly rhythm can be beneficial as well so you can fit in everything you’re excited to share with your kids, without feeling like you need to do it every day.
Try a morning basket or morning menus
Morning baskets or morning menus can be a great way to start your day in a way that feels productive and intentional, but doesn’t require you to be too structured or put in a lot of prep the night before.
I like the idea of having a morning basket that you kind of curate as needed rather than being too “official” or rigid about changing things out every day or week. If you prefer to be more structured, that’s ok too! But having a morning basket, or morning menus, as a morning routine to add to your daily rhythm can be an easy way to start the day off on the right foot.
Make it fun
Some people really think learning is serious business, but did you know that kids AND adults really do learn better when it’s fun? Even if they just do something fun and then get to the “serious” learning after, it’s important to have fun. So make sure quite literally plan to have fun by making sure there’s a good balance of opportunities for fun, joyful experiences throughout the day.
Create a visual aid and post it
What’s a daily homeschool routine without everyone being able to reference it? You could just scribble it down on a paper and throw it on the fridge if that works for you. But I love to create something fun and colorful for the kids.
If you’re feeling artsy, you could write it out and add some watercolor. If not, a simple typed out list can work too. Whatever the method you use, a visual schedule of sorts will likely help keep everyone on the same page.
Give it time
Once you have your daily homeschool rhythm created, give yourself and your family some time to get accustomed to this new routine. It might take a few days or weeks before everyone is used to it and you may need to nudge your kids along sometimes, but that’s okay! Just keep repeating it daily and trying to make it a habit.
You may also need to tweak and edit your daily homeschool routine as you go and figure out what works and what doesn’t. Life happens, after all, so don’t be afraid to switch things up if needed or even remove something that isn’t working for your family. That’s the beauty of homeschooling, isn’t it?
Tweak with the seasons
Most of us adjust our routines based on the time of year so the change of the seasons is a great time to re-evaluate your homeschool rhythm. We likely spend a lot more time outside in the spring and summer, but having outside time after dinner in the winter may not work where you live. Adjusting with the seasons can help not only keep things interesting and fun, but also make your day more practical.
Ideas for things to add to your daily rhythm
What post about a homeschool daily rhythm would be complete without a list of daily rhythm ideas to inspire you? Here are some things that might spark some interest or inspiration for your daily homeschool rhythm.
- Morning check in
- Morning basket
- Morning menu (I ordered these!)
- Morning mom time
- Chores
- Quiet time
- Family read aloud
- Outside play
- Time in nature
- Meal prep
- Storytelling
- Independent or free play
- Project time
- Arts & crafts
- Creative writing or journaling
- Table work
- Curriculum work
- Nature study
- Nap time
- Circle time
- Family time
- Field trip
- Errands or outings
- Tea time
- Bike ride
- Independent work
- Music lessons
- Screen time
Creating a daily homeschool rhythm doesn’t have to be intimidating. It’s all about finding what works for your family and making it sustainable and flexible so that you can feel productive, but also have some wiggle room because life happens (especially when homeschooling kids!)
With the tips I’ve provided, I hope you feel more confident in creating one that will work for your unique family situation. So go ahead and start jotting down ideas of how you’d like your daily routine to look – from morning check-ins to outdoor playtime -and get ready to enjoy the benefits of an intentional daily homeschool rhythm!
