5 Secrets for a Fun, Educational Homeschool Week

Here's 5 Secrets a Homeschool Family shared with us:

5 Subjects – 5 Days. Or one subject per day.

This homeschool family shared "5 Secrets" about their interesting homeschool schedule. A typical homeschool day for them revolves around one subject per day (or five subjects per week).

And best of all, their schedule is flexible, depending on how they’re feeling each week.

Here’s an example from one of their recent weeks:

1. Monday - Language Arts / Literature: Selecting favorite books to read and using them to recognize nouns, verbs, and all parts of speech. Then creating and writing sentences, paragraphs, and their own stories, while focusing on using descriptive parts of speech, new vocabulary words, and proper spelling.

2. Tuesday – Science / Experiments: Using the Scientific Method to test ideas or hypotheses when contemplating a variety of experiments. The experiments they choose can last the entire day, from morning till night, and Mom said Science Day is their favorite day of the week. The kids eagerly record their ideas, experiments, predictions, test methods, and results in their Science Journals at the end of Science Day, too.

3. Wednesday – Social Studies / History: Currently they’re reading the “Who Was?” series of historical biographies, which include over 200 books, such as Who Was Ferdinand Magellan?, Who Was Sacagawea?, Who Was Albert Einstein?, Who Was Amelia Earhart?, Thomas Edison, Ben Franklin, Mark Twain, Martin Luther King, Maria Tallchief, John Kennedy, Louis Armstrong, The Beatles, etc. The kids are enjoying the format, and the topics cross over into Literature, Science, the Arts, as well as providing social issues to discuss and their impact on today’s culture.

4. Thursday – Math / Technology: Since Math Day lasts all day, they sometimes start with reviewing math facts, such as using Multiplication and Division Flash Cards and timing the kids on how quickly they can get the answers. Then they move on to Math Games, such as Swat, Splat, or Math Bingo. They might also use manipulatives or toys such as Math Fidget Toys, Tubo toy, or Montessori-type math items to practice Math skills. Soon they’re creating with Marble Run sets, Mazes, Lego blocks, Construction sets, Bridge-Building kits, etc. These use mathematical planning, reasoning skills, logic, creative thinking, and critical thinking skills. At some point during the day, they’ll do some math worksheets, which usually focus on solving word problems.

5. Friday – Cultural Arts / Music: This is another favorite day for the kids, according to Mom. The kids get to choose the types of art, craft, and music activities they want to do on Fridays. Mom also said she found it interesting that if the kids read a historical biography such as Who Were the Beatles?, they were interested in playing Beatles music that week. Or if they read Who Was Pablo Picasso?, the kids were engrossed in creating their own versions of Picasso art.

Although each of the days above has a designated subject, this family finds that topics and subject areas often overlap.

So even if Monday is Literature Day, they could find themselves thinking about Math if they’re reading The Phantom Tollbooth, or Science and Time Travel if reading A Wrinkle in Time.

Or if Wednesday is History Day, they could be covering Geography or Science or Math or Art or Music, depending on the type of Historical Biographies they’re reading.

Also, there’s flexibility in this family’s schedule. If they don’t “feel like” Social Studies on Wednesday or Math on Thursday, they’ll switch things up.

Or if Mom realizes the kids are getting overwhelmed by too much Math one day, they’ll switch to doing something else, even if it’s unrelated to Math.

Maybe they’ll take a field trip to a local museum or library, or go on a picnic and a nature hike, or bake or cook favorite recipes, or bring out tubs of craft items and create something off the top of their heads. They often find that Math works its way into whatever they’re doing, anyway.

Overall, they’ve found this homeschool schedule fun, interesting, educational, flexible, and a great way to provide a well-rounded pool of knowledge and learning activities. It’s something your family might enjoy experimenting with, too.

Click any of the Labels below for more ideas for all subjects areas.

Happy homeschooling!