I've been thinking a lot about how to describe daily homeschool life to newer homeschooling parents... one of the most common questions I get is:

"If it doesn't look like school, what does it look like? What do you do? How do you structure it?"

Anchors. Rhythms. Things that happen on a regular basis that are carefully chosen for your individual family and season of life.

Things that always happen. (And by always, I mean most of the time. 😂)

What anchors are in your days, weeks, and months?

They're likely very specific to your own family culture, rhythms, and commitments.

You probably already have some anchors and rhythms in place...

• Bedtime routines
• The way you greet your kids in the morning
• Weekly commitments for kids' activities
• Sunday church related rhythms

Some examples of our current homeschool rhythms are...

We read aloud. Most weekdays. Sometimes at a meal, sometimes at bedtime. Most often, these days, we read around lunch time in the family room.

Also, 4 days a week my kids have an independent work list to complete. The items on the list changes depending on age, season, what skills they're focused on. But the list is there and it should be completed most Mondays through Thursday unless we're taking a week off!

Mondays, the school list is shorter because we clean house and have music lessons.

Fridays, there is no list and we get together with friends.

The first day of each month (or close to it), I pick a new hymn to sing. Mostly, I sing it at bedtime to each kid. We incorporate it into morning time once or twice a week as well.

Our anchors have changed over the years with various seasons of life. And our anchors change throughout the year, with various seasonal activities.

Most of our anchors don't happen 100% of the time.

Sometimes, we skip a read aloud or ditch a school list for an all day adventure.

Sometimes music lessons get cancelled or we're sick and have to miss the day with friends.

But, by and large, the anchors and rhythms of homeschool life replace the bell schedule and class periods of traditional school.

How to Set Up Anchors & Rhythms

If you're newer to homeschooling, or feeling frustrated by the days never quite going according to a spreadsheet or timetable you created, you might try looking at your week in terms of anchors and rhythms.

Every so often, I just open a blank spread in my favorite bullet journal notebook and fill in things in the following order:

1. Scheduled commitments (i.e. Monday afternoon violin lessons, Grandma's house Thursday afternoons, etc.)
2. Basic weekly tasks and when we'll usually get them done (i.e. pick up groceries and clean house Monday, Mom to the gym 3 mornings a week, etc.)
3. Read aloud time (most days, for us it's lunch)
4. Designated lesson blocks (we do this 3 days a week)
5. Dinner routines

xoxo and happy homeschooling, friends!!

-Renee

600 1st Ave, Ste 330 PMB 92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2246
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