How a Mom of Five Organizes Her Homeschool (plus lots of neurodiversity)

How I do it all as a homeschool mom...just kidding. ;)

Hi! This will be my one and only homeschool post, so be sure to save it and come back with your questions. I’ll try to update it over time if/when I remember. ;) PS paid subscribers, below I’m offering you some printables: 10 Questions to Help You Simplify Your Homeschool Life Worksheet, My full Simple Homeschool Planner PDF printable, To do list printable, and a Tracker page printable for subjects.

I used to write about how I planned our homeschool years ago. It's not a topic I share about too often, but I've had some requests so here we are. And plus I need to process some minor changes in how we do things and writing is always the best way for me to do that! So it's definitely mutually beneficial.

I have five children from 14 down to a toddler. Of the five, three are certainly differently wired brained so it leads to a very spicy (cough loud house). Bear that in mind with how I organize my homeschool! What works for our family may not work for yours. It's what I share with my chore tips, too. We can all learn from each other though. There's always something new to learn and try out.

Our “curriculum”

I lean towards Charlotte Mason's methods, but use quality and more modern resources for the most part. I also follow Delightfully Feasting’s advice for many things on Instagram. She's incredible! I also look to Ambleside Online (free!!) for a general topic guideline. But also pivot a lot and pick and choose for us as a family and each child. I do follow Mason’s rhythm for language arts. It's amazing!

Our yearly rhythm

We homeschool year-round with breaks as needed. I like to take every seventh week off for a respite (when I remember lol). We go much, much slower in the summer and in December.

Our weekly rhythm

We have homeschooling co-op on Fridays where we meet with lots of friends to do school together. The other four days are our school days. I'm not a schedule nazi so am flexible around those four days if something comes up like a playdate or an appointment.

Our daily rhythms

This is our current daily rhythms..the only area I realllly struggle with is our family work block. We often disregulate each other...one or more kids are running away, distracted, screaming etc. So it's a challenge lol. I’m working on figuring that out still, but I think leaning into doing some family group time when an opportunity arises is what I'm going to do. I might also just lean more into pairs (i.e. the younger three and the older two separately). I’m not sure yet! Are you glad I don’t have everything figured out so that I can help you feel normal too? :) See what I pull from for family group time below. I may pull some of it and tack onto their independent work time, too. Time will tell! Again, as you can tell, things never stay perfectly the same over time. Tweaks are almost always needed.

Independent work

Each of my children have an assignment book and I write down a list of their tasks that they work through. I just stop and start as needed. Sometimes we do more, sometimes less. I really try to honor their personhood by not pushing them beyond their capacities. If they need a break because they're feeling disregulated, for instance, they get a break.

I work with my younger two students at the same time. While I’m working with one, the other does something independent like working on a Math app. My older two children rotate between work they do on their own (with my prompting to stay on task lots of times) to working one on one with me for certain subjects.

A part of their independent work is chores! They have to finish their daily chores before moving into quiet time/screen time in the afternoon. I pick and choose different things every day for them depending on what needs attention.

My planning binder

I keep all things planning for each child and the family in one binder. I have sections for each child. The first page is an overview of their daily subjects, subjects they do with me, and independent subjects. Then there's a page of their readings, books that they read through or I read through with them. I keep track as we go.

Organization

Each of my children have a “school box” that holds all of their supplies from books, pencils, calculators, and their assignment book. They take them out during school time and then they go back on the shelf next to the table when they’re done! It’s been a great system.

Where we homeschool

We homeschool in the dining room and have a huge kallax unit from Ikea next to the table. The guinea pigs rest on top of it too.

Q & A

I’d love to know more about your day-to-day and what has helped you all get into your rhythms.

For our family, what drives our rhythms is our natural wake up times. Our natural energy times. And we also stop and start as needed when we needs breaks. No one can learn if they're disregulated, exhausted, etc.

How do you get back on track after a length of being out of routine?

A little bit at a time. I expect it’ll be slow, but steady. I tend to bring back the same rhythm, but just include less in the rhythm as I know my family (and myself) will need time and grace to ease back in. That’s really it!

More questions? Please comment them below and I’d be happy to answer. I’ll also update this post periodically. I’m going to keep this as my sole homeschooling post.

Paid subscribers, I’m offering you:

• 10 Questions to Help You Simplify Your Homeschool Life Worksheet

• My full Simple Homeschool Planner PDF printable

• To do list printable

• Tracker page printable for subjects