Different homeschooling seasons call for different things. Being aware of what those different things are is so key. And sometimes I get it wrong. But it’s always a coming back to and reflecting on what worked, what needs to be changed or dropped. Today I’m sharing with you three things you need to know to create a simple homeschool routine.

A picture of my homeschool binder.

Complicated homeschool routines that don’t work for your family can lead to burnout

At the beginning of January, I tried a new to us homeschool routine, but I ended up burning out after two weeks. I’m laughing because I should’ve seen it coming. The simple routine and rhythms I had before have been working for us so well for a long time. And when I stepped it up a notch from what was working, I definitely felt the burnout. Complicating things or just too much in the homeschool day can lead to burnout, I’ve always found. For refererence, my kids are 10, 7, almost 5, and almost 2. For more on homeschool mama burnout, check out Teresa over on her blog here. She’s all aboout sharing tips to help homeschool moms in particular avoid burning out.

What did I change up in our homeschool routine that led to burnout?

I basically took our regular routine and spread it much longer into the day and added on more independent work time for the kids and more family work time too. Our quiet time ended up being right before supper time vs at 1pmish. I just added on MORE really. So I guess I didn’t actively hugely changed up the routine, but I definitely added on more things. And it became pretty evident after a couple weeks, that this was not sustainable for myself or the kids. I’m grateful to have had this perspective and experience because it reminded me once again about the important of creating a simple homeschool routine for our family that works!

Create a simple homeschool routine that works for YOUR family

After burning myself out, I came back to remembering to create a simple homeschool routine that works for OUR family. And reminded myself of these three things to know to create a simple homeschool routine that works for your (and my) family:

  1. Create routines and rhythms that work for your family. It won’t be figured out overnight, but one little thing at a time. A natural routine or rhythm will become evident over time when you’re observing them slowly.
  2. Don’t compare to other homeschooling families in the negative sense. Find inspiration, yes, but learn from vs. mimic another homeschool family. Every family’s routines and rhyhtms will be different from another family’s.
  3. Make adjustments a little at a time vs a lot of changes at once. Big changes all at once can often lead to stress, frustration, burnout, the list goes on. Taking baby steps with a simple homeschool routine is a lot more enjoyable and doable.

I also found a few blogs with different perspectives on simple homeschool routines as well:

Now, we’re back to our old faithful routine, but with some simple tweaks. During our family work time and independent work time, for instance, I’ll be pulling from a master list of all subjects that are categorized under frequency or topic. And go day by day. Some days we do less, some days we do more. This allows for so much flexibility! I just track what we do with a checklist to see if there are areas we need to focus on next.

Free homeschool daily routine printable

And if you’re in the midst of creating a simple homeschool routine for your family or you’d like to switch things up, you may enjoy the homeschool daily routine printable I created for my family. You can snag a copy HERE. For reference: We use A Charlote Mason curriculum for the most part - Ambleside Online - for the foundation of our homeschool curriculum, but go at a much slower pace. See the homeschool routine printable below:

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Hi, I’m Kelly! I’m a mother of four children - three boys, one toddler girl - and our family lives on the beautiful east coast of Canada. I’m a past elementary teacher, turned stay at home, work at home mom eight years ago after I had my second child. I’ve found that the busier I’ve become and as my children age, that it’s become even more important to figure out what is most important to me and us as a family. Living a simpler lifestyle has helped us in so many ways in our home life - from better routines to faster tidying up times. It has been through my children that I have been inspired to learn how to effectively manage my time and to simplify in all areas of my home and life. I enjoy helping busy moms simplify home life by teaching flexible planning methods and skills. Enjoyed this blog and think it would be helpful to others? I'd love if you shared it. Thank you!