Our Daily Homeschool Routine {Kindergarten and Toddler}

I love teaching my children at home. It’s a gift and one that I hope to steward well. But I have to admit, I don’t always love it in the moment.

My boys are four and a half and almost two years old. The oldest is doing kindergarten work and the youngest thinks he is. This means that I have to be really intentional with our time.

By the way, I’ll be sharing more about our decision to start kindergarten as well as our curriculum choices soon.

We started “light” school in July and officially started August 3rd. The single best thing I have learned over the last month is ROUTINE, ROUTINE, ROUTINE! Routines work really well when teaching little children who are on different levels.

The first couple of weeks were really hard for us. My oldest was reluctant to “do school” and little brother was a toddler tornado trying to grab markers, scissors, and glue all at once. It was chaos to say the least! I spent many mornings locked in my husband’s office begging him to just “fix it all.” The joys of working from home, right? Poor guy!

But we stuck to our routine and now I can say that the days are still hard, but we’re moving along nicely and there is much more peace in our days.

The thing with homeschool is that it’s really hard to tell where your regular day begins and where your homeschool day begins. So I’m just going to share our new family routine with our homeschool routine built in.

The boys get up anywhere from 6:15 to 8:00 in the morning.

Update: We’ve added an extra step into our morning routines and we love it! It’s how my kids stopped driving me crazy in the mornings.

It really depends on how well they are sleeping, if they slept in their own beds or sneaked into ours, etc.

They aren’t always predictable, but we’re praying for more rhythm as we stick to our routine and life continues to normalize for them. It’s not like we didn’t move them across the country, move them in with grandparents, and then out again into our own home. They are still adjusting! Plus little brother just moved into a big boy bed and is determined to potty train. Enough said.

Mom and Dad get up anywhere from 6:00 to 8:00 in the morning.

Our goal is to get up before the children and have our time in the Word and prepare for the day. But again, it depends on how the night went and in this season, we’re willing to give ourselves a lot of grace!

Regardless of when we rise, we start our day in the Word.

We start our morning with Bible time for Mommy and video time for the boys. You can read about my favorite quiet time resources for children here.

We’re currently working through the What’s in the Bible series right now, and it is going really, really well. This gives us all time to wake up and be in the Word before diving head first into the day. Sometimes my littlest will just read his Bible beside me which is okay too.

8:00 am – Breakfast

We eat breakfast as a family and do family devotions.

After breakfast we start our morning routine.

Morning Routine

• Clean up kitchen
• Get dressed
• Make beds
• Brush teeth
• Start laundry
• Think about dinner

9:00 am – Morning School Time

Bible (5-15 minutes)

We start with Bible time. I usually do a Bible story and activity. This usually takes about 5-15 minutes depending on what we’re learning at the time.

Calendar time (5-15 minutes)

Then, we pull out our calendar notebook and work our way through it. Now that we have a system worked out, I plan on sharing about it soon.

Math (15-20 minutes)

Right now we’re working through learning numbers 0-9 and all our shapes.

My oldest knows these, but I use this time to expand and reinforce what he knows while allowing the work to introduce my youngest to these math concepts for the first time.

I have found math easy to tailor to each of their needs while teaching it at the same time. Plus little guy is just so very proud of himself!

10:00 am – Snack & Outside

By 10:00 am we’re done with our morning school time and we grab a snack. While the boys eat their snack, I clean up the school room and put everything back to “start.” Then, we all head outside for play time.

I usually work in my garden or do outside cleaning. I use this time to let the boys work alongside me if they want, but mostly I encourage them to go play wild and free!

If it is a particularly hot day, we’ll use this time to go visit grandparents or go to the library. But mostly we spend it outside playing.

It has made a world of difference in our days to get the boys outside as often as we can. Even if my oldest does complain the entire time. He’s in a stage… it’s worth it and I know it’s important to persevere through the tough spots because nature is a lost part of our children’s education.

11:30 – Prepare Lunch

I usually let the boys come inside if they want while I prepare lunch and switch the laundry.

12:00pm – Lunch & “Specials”

While the boys eat lunch, a few days a week we do “specials.” I’m sure there’s a better name for it, but that’s what I came up with and it stuck.

• Monday and Thursday – Art study
• Tuesday – Music study
• Wednesday – Geography

After lunch, the boys are free to play however they want while I clean up and do some house work.

1:00pm – Nap time and Reading Lessons

I put the youngest down for a nap around 1:00pm. Then, my oldest and I go to the school room for some reading lessons.

I have found that reading is a personal thing, and it really needs focused, undistracted time to teach. So we save these lessons for when little brother is taking his afternoon nap.

I try to vary the lessons from day-to-day because my oldest does get a little tired in the afternoons from time-to-time. Our lessons usually last 10-30 minutes depending on the day and what we need to work on.

If there is time left over, we’ll play a fun game, work a puzzle, or pull out a toddler tray (even though he’s not a toddler, the name stuck).

2:00 – 3:00 – Quiet Time

After reading lessons, it’s quiet time for everyone. I get an hour of quiet and solitude (mostly), and Sam can rest, read books, work puzzles, or some other quiet activity.

I have a quiet box for him on the days he needs some help choosing an activity, but most days he stays in the play room and finds something to do independently.

3:00pm – Read Alouds & Snacks

Once little brother gets up, it’s time for another round of snacks and some read alouds.

4:00pm – Free Time & Dinner Prep

During this time, the boys are free to do whatever they want. Sometimes they play on the screened in porch, sometimes they help me cook, sometimes they fight and squabble, and sometimes I help them put together a Green Kid Crafts activity if my dinner prep allows the margin.

5:30 pm – Dinner & Family Time

We eat dinner as a family almost every night. Mondays are the only nights that Daddy is gone and it’s just the boys and me.

7:00 pm – Bedtime Routine

This part of our day has been this way since my youngest was old enough to implement a routine. Our boys go to bed relatively early every night, and boy are we grateful! 😉

• Family clean up
• Bath
• Brush teeth
• Jammies
• Stories
• Family prayers

Goodnight!

That’s our daily homeschool routine that seems to be working really well for us right now! Of course, no day works perfectly, and I have built in a lot of margin in our schedule. We don’t always do everything on our list for lessons for the week, and sometimes cleaning projects take over and eat into our outside time. Life happens, but this is the schedule we try to keep!

What about you? Do you have a daily routine?

Other posts you might like:

• Establishing Toddler Routines
• Developing a Simple Schedule and Routine
• Our New Routine: A Daily Rhythm for a Work at Home Family
• A Grace-Filled Approach to Creating a Routine
• Implementing a Morning Routine for My Children
• How to Create a Routine that Works for You
• Why I Make My Bed {and My Cleaning Routine}

The Fruit of the Spirit Curriculum for Toddlers is designed to help you teach early learning skills to your child while instilling God’s truth. One week at a time (for 18 weeks), I will guide you through sharing the Gospel with your child through various Bible stories and learning opportunities. Click here to learn more.

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