When Your Homeschool Schedule Goes Rogue
How to Reschedule and Evaluate your Schedule when it goes Rogue and Wild
How to Fix Your Rogue Schedule
- Did you get back from vacation and now everyone is sunburned and exhausted?
- Did your furnace break and the house went to chaos and now you have forgotten where you started in the curriculum units?
- Did you forget to order some books or get behind on a subject?
- Maybe the books didn’t work out, the printer broke, a kid got sick, an injury or family made unexpected visit,
- It’s just that day or week of unexpected issues?
- Is the coffee already cold?
Sometimes Life Happens…
This year for us was a challenge for our typical organized school schedule. Each month we had another issue – from an unexpected injury to appliances breaking, then a car breaking down and sickness. But life happens. Although these issues can be solved and we continue forward, it still presents a challenge when it comes to homeschooling. The schedule gets thrown off. It can’t be helped.
For us, we were spending hours fixing up appliances that were an emergency (like needing hot water!) and being in the ER all night. It all threw another wrench in the schedule. We had to go with the flow. But that doesn’t mean its easy in the moment.
Maybe for you, you’ve had a lot of job loss or family issues or moving so you are used to the changes. However, for some families, the change is drastic and extremely challenging. Whether a seasoned warrior or brand new to change, here are some ways we have adapted, adjusted and learned over time that we hope help.
We all have those seasons of life – so take it from us – it’ll be okay. Here are some suggestions for homeschooling when it all goes rogue and out of control.
STEP 1: A Quick Evaluation
- Are you at a point in homeschool curriculum that you can take a short break (maybe a day or week?)
- Is any child struggling with more than a few subjects?
- Is keeping a schedule going to be stressful?
- Is there time to keep even a simplified schedule?
- How long do you need off or delay?
- Do you have a child or multiples that struggle with change?
STEP 2: Pick a Top Helpful Trick
1. Make a Temporary Simplified Schedule
This is a favorite of ours – especially if everyone is really sick (or mostly if us parents are sick!). Or we have a major holiday coming up and the kids are too excited to focus for more than a day or two. And of course, holiday parties, events and friends off school can happen to interrupt it too. We default to this shortened simple schedule for those few times in the year that holidays, parties or events happens.
**Pick 2-3 subjects and do a basic plan for those. Checklist here.
Example: (1) Have each child read a chapter of book, (2) write in journal, (3) do one math lesson a day or review worksheet, and (4) practice either typing, piano or sport. Keeps it simple, no major lessons to be taught and mostly independent.
2. Rearrange Time Within Day
Separate your day due to those stressful components happening. Example: Maybe do a subject in the morning or review independent work in the evenings. Don’t require a time frame or only certain subjects. Just get it done by end of day and check in. This works especially if someone in the family gets a night job or has to be gone for a full week etc. Sometimes people permanently switch to night only homeschooling. That’s the beauty of homeschool – you can make any schedule you need to.
3. Pick Your Days for Schooling
Select the days that work best or alternate days so you can have a breather day in between for sleep, catch up, errands or any issues. Example: Select a shorter week like a 3 day school week for a week or two. Or a 4 day week with Friday off. This relieves stress and time restraints too. Gives you a day or two in the week to know you can go see a sick grandparent, travel, run errands, make those doctor appointments, etc.
4. Take the Week Off and Be Okay
Sometimes life just really goes crazy rogue and a week has to be off. Whether you are doing year round or just “school year” you have to give yourself grace.
Keep in mind that if you do need to take a full week or more off because of severe emergency, then the best option is to (1) implementing year round school so you can account for the loss of time and (2) keep track of your hours – which is easier to know and not fall behind with the content/curriculum/hours if you are year round. If you need to check your requirements – look here.
In the End — It’ll Be Okay..
When my father died suddenly a few years ago, there was so much chaos and stress right in the middle of summer. Our family had to make calls and make arrangements to travel across the country. Emotionally, we were drained. Since we do year-round school, we were okay. But here’s an extreme example of just taking a full week and accepting what comes. It would happen if in public, private or homeschool. You would pull your kids out of class for the funeral and travel time.
At least with homeschool you have that flexibility with no added layer of the school asking why. You can start and leave whenever. You can do school in the car even. It’s up to you. We did a lot of reading on our long car ride.
For that time, we actually implemented all three of the schedules above. We took a full week off, then did simplified weeks both before and after the funeral week. Then we took a Friday off for our wedding anniversary to just breathe for our own self care as parents and a family because it was all around the same time. It was a rough month but we made it. And we managed. We caught up with schoolwork and life. It just took time.
Consider Real Changes: Don’t Make it a Habit to Skip
Consider what is causing the disruption of your schedule and making it go rogue. This evaluation sometimes helps get to the root of the issue. This may also help you redesign your schedule or improve it to avoid a permanent or stuck situation. That way you aren’t always cutting days or needing emergency days off.
While life is challenging and can get messy, finding a good routine helps lower your stress and helps the children adjust and have expectations so when there is an emergency, it’s okay.
Ask Yourself What’s Not Working:
- Is it curriculum?
- Schedule?
- Kids ages or needs?
- Too much time on a subject or not enough?
- Does your child need a lot of 1:1 time to understand?
- Do you have too many other extracurriculars or activities crowding the schedule?
- Are family members not available to help?
- Are you home with children without your spouse for extended time periods?
Give yourself grace, adjust as needed and learn over time. Every family has those seasons in life that are hard or challenging. But you aren’t alone. And sometimes, when the schedule goes rogue, it’s time to breathe and step back. Reassess. Reevaluate and know that school continues, life goes on and you’ll get through. Everyone on this wonderful journey of life and homeschooling stumbles over a rogue now and then.