When a Catholic parent chooses to homeschool, they will face many distractions. Many publishers exploit the anxiety and inexperience of homeschool parents and lead them on an endless pursuit of “the right resources”. Others falsely advertise resources as “traditional” and “classical” that are not so at all. If you don’t ask questions and demand proof for claims made by publishers, you’re going to pay for it.

Even worse, there is an incredible amount of ignorance and laziness in homeschool circles that has become the normal culture of homeschooling in many place. Some even give this a name, calling it “unschooling”, where they pretend that losing all of the order and discipline of school life is a good thing.

You will no doubt hear homeschool families talk about having their homeschooling done in a few hours each day–“We’re finished before lunch time!”.  What these families don’t mention (or understand) is that they are only fulfilling the minimum legal requirements for education. This would be like a mother giving her children bread and water at 8am and boasting that she was able to get her daily food preparation done in just a few minutes each day. That may be true, but it’s not good.

The goal of a Catholic education is not to satisfy minimum legal requirements for education. The goal is twofold: (1) to provide children with a classical Catholic education and (2) to prepare them for academic success after high school.

The content of this education can be studied on our Selecting Course page. In this article, we will consider how to schedule and manage these studies.

The first thing to understand is that our focus in homeschooling should be on providing our children with the bets possible high school transcript. This summary of four years of high school study controls our children’s options after high school. Work done that does not make it onto the high school transcript will be invisible to college admission reps, and neglecting expected contents of a high school transcript will punish a homeschool student.

There are five basic subjects in a modern high school education:

Selective colleges expect to see four years of study in each of these subjects on a high school transcript. By a “year of study” in a subject, we mean 120 hours of instructional time in that subject. This is why modern high schools schedule classes for 40 minutes a day for 180 days: that’s 120 hours of instructional time. One course credit in high school is equal to 120 hours of instructional time and a high school education should consist of at least 20 credits.

This, however, is the minimum, not the goal. When we think about the calendar, however, we see that 180 “school days” covers less than half of the days of the school year. What are students doing for the other 185 days? Nothing.

This is the problem with modern schooling that homeschooling should fix. As homeschooling families, the entire calendar is open for study–and we need to seize the opportunity. We can greatly add to our children’s high school transcript by going beyond the minimum requirements in 180 days each year. If we simply studied 5 days a week and took 2 weeks off each year, we’d have 250 days of school each year. These are the numbers we need to be talking about to fulfill the potential of Catholic homeschooling. No public or private schools can compete.

It’s obvious that our families cannot study without interruption every day of the week, throughout the year: we get sick, we celebrate holidays, we have visitors, we visit relatives, we take vacations, etc. Sometimes, we just need a day at the park to get some fresh air. We simply can’t allow days off to become excessive. After all, we have decided to take direct responsibility for our children’s education and that’s serious business.

There must be a default homeschool schedule.

Most homeschool families make the mistake of trying to create a strict, activity-packed daily schedule in which they plan to do things they’re not currently doing. These families end up spending more time working on their schedule and talking about scheduling than actually studying anything. This beginner’s mistake has to be avoided.

Rather than trying to “micro-schedule” your day, be realistic. Establish the following periods of the day (examples of possible times included):

6:30-8:00 – Morning wake-up/prep block

8:00-9:30 – Daily Mass block (if attending)

9:30-12:00 – Morning study block

12:00-1:00 – Lunch break block

1:00-4:00 – Afternoon study block

4:00-6:00 – Afternoon recess block

6:00-7:00 – Dinner break block

7:00-9:30 – Evening study block

9:30-10:00 – Kids’ Bedtime block

10:00-?? – Parents’ quiet time block (leisure, work, study, etc.)

These blocks are always necessary and can be established as a default schedule with order and flexibility. The details will vary for every family and you need to work out the times for your own family. Note, however, that there are three study blocks each day–Morning, Afternoon and Evening–that provide for a total of 8 hours of possible study time. These three study blocks should be used loosely to focus on different subject areas. These subject areas can be determined with the help of our Selecting Courses page.

The key to a good schedule is that it creates order for everyone, but is flexible.

It is important to understand that for any schedule to “work”, it must be able to handle the unavoidable interruptions that arise.  To maintain an inflexible schedule unsustainable, and to have no schedule because of interruptions is irresponsible.  The schedule provides a default routine, or goal, to which everyone returns as soon as any interruption has passed.  Children in the home assume that the default schedule is to be followed everyday unless told otherwise.  The family can always maintain the schedule while individuals attend to their own tasks and appointments.  The schedule is the norm and goal, not the rule.

If homeschool parents are not sure that they are satisfying the legal requirements of schooling, they will always be distracted and anxious. When getting started, homeschool parents need to learn to cover the minimum requirements as efficiently as possible. This is NOT done by purchasing homeschool programs that only serve those minimum requirements. The goal is not to fill the day with activity but to get the required work done as efficiently as possible, so that time is available for the more important work of classical Catholic studies. Parents have to understand what the requirements actually are, check those boxes and move on to higher things.

The first goal in homeschooling is to teach your children how to study independently. They need to learn to follow the daily schedule; how to read, write and type; how to study for mastery; how to get help when they need it; how to submit assignments for grading, etc. Imprudent parents will try to rush into information-gathering before teaching children the arts needed for study. (See: What All Modern Schools Get Wrong)

Follow the advice on the How to Select Courses page and ask for help when you’re not sure about what to do.

In the Classical Liberal Arts Academy, we don’t sell books to homeschool families.  Our program is arranged to serve the true classical liberal arts curriculum and we provide all of the resources and services required to succeed in it.  The schedule we recommend is tested and proven not only effective but sustainable in real-life circumstances, where family members are busy as parishioners, relatives, neighbors and friends.  We’re not ashamed of talking about the practical details of family life and home-schooling.

Want help understanding the big picture? Enroll in our free “Understanding Classical Catholic Education” course for parents on the Academy Study Center, or simply download the free book here.

God bless your studies,

Mr. William C. Michael, O.P

Headmaster

Classical Liberal Arts Academy