This is our first year homeschooling and we started in February. That being said, we are homeschooling through our summer. My summer homeschool schedule has been very similar to what we did in February.
I am currently homeschooling my four-year-old who is in preschool. He actually attended a private Christian school for his preschool year this past fall through spring.
Shortly before it came time to enroll into the next school year, I began to consider homeschooling. I have to say I never, ever, ever thought I would be a homeschool mom. Ever.
But here we are, homeschooling for the past five months and loving it. Maybe one day I will write a post about why we switched to homeschooling.
All that aside, we have found a pretty awesome summer homeschool schedule for us. I figured I would share in case it helps others, especially those who are considering homeschooling for the first time.
Contents
Why This Summer Homeschool Schedule Works
- Your preschooler will have an activity to do for 30-60 minutes a day.
- Schoolwork helps break up the long summer days of parenting a toddler.
- Schoolwork happens after plenty of play time and with a full stomach.
- The schoolwork itself is fun and playful. I have another post discussing the importance of playing during learning if you want to check that out.
- The schedule is child-led to give them the power they desire.
- The suggested materials are fun and age-appropriate.
- There isn’t a need to complete a certain amount of lessons a day.
- A summer homeschool schedule helps maintain routine, better setting up the rest of the school year.
Before I get into the nitty gritty of the summer homeschool schedule, I first want to say that this is a flexible schedule. I believe flexibility is so important in a joyous homeschool setting, summer especially.
If it is a sunny day here in the PNW, we will be outside longer than usual, and it will cut into our homeschool time. I have zero problems with this.
As most families do, we tend to take a few vacations in the summer. Typically, these occur on the weekend and so it doesn’t interrupt homeschooling. But, at times, we are gone during the week.
We will not do any homeschool work during our vacation. We are always vacationing with family and it is so much more important to spend time with loved ones we hardly see than it is to do some schoolwork.
Our Summer Homeschool Schedule for a Preschooler
We all love this summer homeschool schedule. It is evident in that my preschooler asks to do school every single day. If he didn’t ask for it, I probably wouldn’t even be homeschooling through the summer to be honest.
I believe him looking forward to school has multiple causes, some of which include the actual school work he is doing, the flexibility we have in our day, the attitude we approach school, and the actual homeschool schedule.
He also just naturally loves to learn and has been inquisitive since the day he was born.
I have included our schedule in the table below. It’s important to note that I have things listed in an order, rather than a timeframe.
While these activities do tend to happen around a certain time each day, I really try to keep things adaptable. The exception is snack time. We have snack time at the same time every single day because my kids will lose their minds if we don’t. I’m guessing your littles are similar.
Sometimes, my kids take thirty minutes to eat breakfast and other times it takes them two minutes. Similarly, our chores for the day take different amounts of time to accomplish depending on the day.
It would be silly to sit around and wait if we complete a task early. Even more importantly, if my son wants to spend a longer amount of time doing something, he has the freedom to do that. This releases my stress of needing to go, go, go.
| Order | Activity |
| 1st | Wake up/Morning Basket |
| 2nd | Breakfast/Weekly Bible Verse Memorization |
| 3rd | Chores/Free Play |
| 4th | Outside Play/Learning |
| 5th | Snack |
| 6th | School |
The last thing I included in our table is school. Notice that before “school” plenty of learning happens in play, whether indoors or outdoors.
After the official schoolwork is complete, we typically eat lunch and return to the play structure of learning the rest of the day.
Our play learning consists of playing outside, reading, playing with siblings, really anything that your preschooler does during the day can involve learning. This is as subtle as them naturally learning as they play or can be guided with me identifying things for them.
I love completing school in the morning. My kids are in their best moods and it enforces my belief that school should be enjoyable.
We also only follow this summer homeschool schedule Monday-Friday. My son does ask to do school on Saturday and Sunday because he loves it so much, but we will keep to the games and activities instead of anything too formal.
School Work We Do in The Summer
The actual work that gets done in the summer homeschool schedule is all comprised of things my son wants to learn about.
In reality, everything he is learning about in preschool is something he wants to learn and hopefully we can continue to follow his interests.
I mentioned above that we do a morning basket at wake-up time. The morning basket has a toy rotation but once a week has a new learning experience. This month, July, included a United States map puzzle and a United States board book.
My son has really enjoyed learning about where he lives, and we’ve also begun to teach him his address.
During breakfast, the family rehearses the weekly bible verse memorization. It is important for our family to view the world from a biblical point of view and bible verse memorization is perfect for preschoolers.
We use the Abeka Bible Memory Cards each week which follows the alphabet. It has been a lot of fun for my four-year-old as we have added song and dance.
Fast forward to our official “homeschool time,” where we begin our session with Children Learn Reading. This program is more challenging for my son so we do this first. While it is challenging, he still enjoys it, especially when he gets to use the whiteboard.
Once my son is ready to move on from learning how to read, we do his favorite homeschool activity: The Good and The Beautiful Preschool Course Book.
My son loves this workbook so much that we sometimes do up to three lessons a day from it. He also loves the games in the activity folder.
If my son still wants to continue doing schoolwork, we will do a lesson from Kate Snow’s Preschool Math at Home. My son loves math and has always been into numbers.
We also typically end school with some sort of game, whether it is from The Good and The Beautiful’s activity folder or something like a puzzle, board game, or matching card game.
| Summer Homeschool Schedule |
|---|
| Morning Basket Toy Rotation with Once-a-Week New Seasonal Learning Study |
| Weekly Bible Verse Memorization |
| Children Learn Reading |
| The Good and The Beautiful Preschool |
| Preschool Math at Home by Kate Snow |
| Game/Activity |
I will say, while this is often the summer homeschool schedule we follow, I leave it up to my son for the most part. If he wants to start homeschool with a game/activity instead of doing that last, we will do that.
I want his homeschool experience to be full of joy. He is so young that setting the foundation for a love of learning is the most important objective right now.
All of this schoolwork takes place in about 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how long he wants to take each day.
Also of note, if my son doesn’t want to do any school that day (which is rare!) I will “cancel” school. It is great to take breaks and I don’t want him working on school when he is not happy to do so.
Save this Summer Homeschool Schedule for Later Reference
If you are in need of a summer homeschool schedule for your preschooler, make sure to save this post for reference. You can use any of the social share icons at the top of this page.
Thank you for your support in my family’s homeschooling journey. I’d love to know in the comments below, what homeschool schedule do you follow in the summer? You can also leave any tips and thoughts for me and others as well.
