How I Plan My Homeschool Part 4: Establishing Our Weekly Rhythm

Welcome to my favorite part of the homeschool planning process: establishing a weekly rhythm! The concept of using a “rhythm” over a rigid schedule was first introduced to me by Julie Bogart through the Brave Writer blog and podcast. What I love about her particular approach to rhythm is that it’s there when you need it, and can take a step to the side when you don’t.

Let me explain.

If we know that Mondays are reserved for our out-of-the-house activities, Tuesdays are for science, Wednesdays are for history, Thursdays are for social studies, and Fridays are for nature study, then we don’t have to spend a whole ton of effort thinking of which days to do what every week. We can, more or less, just go with the flow. (This works really well with our “do the next thing” approach to planning, which you can read about here.)

However, say someone invites us to go to the zoo on a Tuesday, or we hear about a great children’s theatre production that’s only showing on Thursday morning. We love having the freedom to just go with it and let the rhythm catch us when we come back.

No, we don’t try to stuff Tuesday’s lesson into Sunday. No we don’t stress that we skipped anything. We just pick up where we left off the following week. This mindset of flexibility and freedom is the best combination of fitting all those rich pieces of a Charlotte Mason inspired education into a relaxed approach to homeschooling that allows for inspiration and adventure to happen.

I don’t plan out a weekly rhythm for the whole year. Rather, I revamp it here and there as we go, especially when the seasons are shifting, and I always include elements of the Brave Writer Lifestyle (you can click here to read more about that!) Here’s how our late summer / early fall rhythm looks:

Daily:

• Morning basket (songs, read-alouds, and French)
• Reading
• Math
• Writing

Mondays:

• Blake goes to her homeschool enrichment program
• Brice and I do our literature project together
• Baking
• Poetry tea time

Tuesday:

• Science
• Art (Brice’s curriculum)
• Handicrafts and seasonal projects

Wednesday:

• History
• Music
• Games

Thursdays:

• The girls spend most Thursdays with my parents.

Fridays:

• Social Studies
• Art (Blake’s curriculum)
• Movie Night

Saturday:

• Nature Study
• STEAM

This is the flow we will adopt for now, but it will likely shift a little when the holidays are approaching.  So far we’ve looked at how I plan:

• The Big Picture (click here to read that post)
• The “Do the Next Thing” Subjects (click here to read that post)
• The “Unit Based Subjects” (click here to read that post)
• Our Weekly Rhythm

The final piece of the puzzle is planning the rhythm or routine for the average day. In my next post, our final post in this series, I will show you how I establish our daily routine.

What does your weekly rhythm look like? Do you incorporate elements of the Brave Writer lifestyle? (Poetry tea time, movies, nature study, etc.) Please share in the comments!