Looking for a functional daily homeschooling schedule? Look no further! Today I’m sharing our basic daily routine with you!

While each day can bring on a chaos of its own, we do have a basic routine that we try to stick to. Obviously things don’t always run smoothly around here, and some days are crazier than others. But I like to at least have a basic guideline to get me through the day. Hopefully it will help you out as well.

Did you know I have FREE HOMESCHOOL SCHEDULES for each grade too?

Help by Grade Level

Stop by my “Help by Grade Level” page for more information on your specific grade!

Here is our schedule in a little more detail….basically…provided nothing unexpected happens…like life.

  • 8:00 am –  Devotion/shower/get dressed
  • 8:30 am – Breakfast & Kitchen clean up
  • 9:00 am – SCHOOL STARTS! We usually break for lunch around noon-ish, then finish our group studies like history, geography, art, etc. after lunch.
  • 2:00-3:00 pm – SCHOOL ENDS! (Well you know, technically it ends…realistically my kids are subject to my constant pop quizzes all day long.) At the end of each day I re-fill workboxes while the kiddos clean up their areas and make sure the school room is all nice and pretty like it was when we started.
  • 3:30 pm – Chore time: Everyone does what they can from their chore chart assignments or whatever I ask them to do. We all take turns doing daily chores like folding laundry, emptying the dishwasher, taking out trash, etc.
  • 4:00 pm – I usually work a little bit, check email, blog, etc. The kids get some free time.
  • 4:30-6:30 pm – Dinner Prep, Eat, and kitchen clean up. Some nights we have sports and extra-curricular activities, so we work our dinner around those.
  • 6:00pm – Dad enters & asks “So, what did you do all day?” I say “Not much, just lounged around and ate bon-bons.”  Dad quizzes kids to make sure I’m kidding.
  • 7:00 pm – I usually try to exercise or go on a walk during the calm between dinner and bedtime. I find that it helps my mental state tremendously to get out and get some fresh air! When it’s too cold, I hit our elliptical trainer, however I usually get bored on that, so I prefer outside I whenever I can.
  • 8:00 pm – 10 Minute Tidy & Bed Time! – This is where I set a timer and everyone runs around like maniacs cleaning up anything can they find so mom doesn’t blow a gasket at the mess we’ve created in just one day. Oh, and since our laundry room is upstairs now, I toss in a load of laundry, then swap it to the dryer when ready. Then yes, I let it sit overnight until we do chores the following day. Crazy I know, but that’s just how we’re rolling this year. A little bit wrinkly
  • 8:15 pm – Bedtime Prep (Clean up rooms, put away laundry, take baths, brush teeth) Yes, our older kids go to bed around this time as well. They usually read, take showers etc. If they have any homework to do, this is the time to get that done too!
  • 9:00 pm: Free time for mom and dad….sit down for first time today and sigh…blog…make cool printables to share…check emails etc. and praise God we made it through another homeschool day without burning down the house!

Hopefully after seeing our daily schedule you’ll be gracious with me. If you’ve emailed me during the day, you probably won’t hear back until the evening! Please be patient with me, I really do try to get back to everyone by the end of the day, but there are a lot of you and one of me ;o)

Some of the tools I use to help keep me organized:

More Resources

If you are new to my website, I offer a ton of free resources, help by grade level, and tips on how to get started homeschooling. I also have a very helpful Homeschooling 101 book and several eCourses on homeschooling. I also have a store where my book and many other useful resources can be found.

50 Comments

  1. Erica, I truly appreciate you so much. I’ve been following you for years now and truly glean so much wisdom and many ideas from you. I have no fellow friends homeschooling with me, and this is my first year. I am so thankful for someone who I trust to look to online as an example. Your schedule is great, simple, practical, REAL, and doable!
    Thank you!!!
    Shelly

  2. You are so organized. My question is, when do you PLAN for all the different grade levels in homeschooling? I find planning to take hours and hours because I’m trying to research ideas and order books from the library. I could spend all night just working on one little thing!

    Shonda
  3. Now I know where you find the time to create all the awesome printables! Our schedule at night is crammed with 3 kids in their different sports activities. Bath & Bed is 9/9:30 for our kids so hubby and I don’t get one uninterrupted sentence until at least 9:30, usually 10pm. 🙁 It is a busy life but I know we all do it because it is so worth it! Thanks for sharing your day with us!

  4. Hi Erica! Thanks for sharing! I do have a question, do you have all the kids working on the subjects at the same time and do you fill the boxes in the same order each day? Thanks for all you do!!

    Staci Lynch
  5. wow, Erica! you get your kids to bed that early??? How on earth do you manage that? Especially with the sun going down so late right now?? My boys go to bed 9:30ish and get up at 8am. I am discovering more and more that they have much later bedtimes than most kids–but they are getting nearly 12 hours of sleep! With the early bedtime, do they get up super early too? I am envious of your longer “alone” time every night without the kidlets! LOL! thanks for sharing!

  6. I absolutely love your schedule! I came up with our schedule (somewhat similar to yours) which we have been using for a little over two weeks now and it needs a little adjustment. Your schedule has given me a couple ideas to help ours. THANKS!

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