My son is a mix of Creator and Friend Learner. My husband or I will do about half of his school work with him to meet his need for connection as a Friend Learner. My husband works a non-traditional schedule, and we have an only child, so it makes it a bit easier. If you have a Friend learner or a student who could benefit from another adult’s attention, consider asking a relative, neighbor, or friend.
Here is our weekly rhythm. We are also part of a teen homeschool group that meets randomly throughout the month, so we adjust as needed.
I will share the journals + books we’re using on each day in an upcoming post.
Monday – He does school mostly independently in his core journal. We’ll listen to a literature book together as an audiobook, and do the nature study drawing page together. Mondays are my busiest work days, so I’m not as available to do school with him.
Tuesday – He’ll do about half of his school day independently and the other half with me.
Wednesday – He’ll do about half of his school day independently, and the other half with my husband.
Thursday – Field trip day- every week! He’ll do about an hour of schoolwork before or after, and we’ll listen to one of our “free read” or “extra” books in the car.
Friday– He helps teach a homeschool gym program for little kids & participates in one for teens. Then he will spend the rest of the day with my in-laws and bring any schoolwork he didn’t finish earlier in the week. This gives me an entire day to work without interruption.
Saturday & Sunday- He needs to finish 4-5 days/week of Life of Fred Math and 4-5 lessons/week of Latin. If he didn’t get to them during the week, he will do those on Saturday. He will also read for an hour/ day on Saturday & Sunday from his “free read”/”extra” books.
Yearly schedule–
We homeschool year-round—
4-6 weeks on, 1-4 weeks off.
We have three terms, each lasting 10 weeks, with two weeks of exams and flex time at the end of each term. This gives us a total of 36 weeks of school.
Holy Week is always spring break. We take the entire month of August off and all of Christmastide (December 25th-January 6th). School starts back on the Monday after Labor Day and the Monday after January 6th.
This school year we have a family wedding in October so we’re going to have 4 weeks on, two weeks off, 6 weeks on, exams/flex, four weeks off, 6 weeks on, one week off, 4 weeks on, exams/flex, one week off, 6 weeks on, one week off, 4 weeks on, exams/ flex- summer break. Next summer will be the longest break we’ve ever taken. He wanted to try having a more “normal” summer this year, so we’ll have all of July and August off.
I create a schedule with weekly readings for each journal + book. Previously, I wrote the schedule on a piece of paper cut to the size of a bookmark, which I left in the book or journal. This year, I plan to create a syllabus that includes the schedule. Partly for nostalgia, because I used to love getting my syllabus in high school, and partly to familiarize him with them before he starts dual enrollment courses. Then he can make bookmarks from the syllabus if he wants them.
Please let me know if you have any questions about our regular school schedule or rhythm!!
The next post will be about the exact materials we are using.