Plan for a smooth homeschool year by pacing it all out using printable pacing guides!
Homeschool Planning
Learning how to prepare for homeschooling can feel like a daunting task!
However, if you lean on simple lesson-planning tactics and learn how to pace out your homeschool curriculum from the get-go, it won’t feel quite so overwhelming.
Planning is my jam and pacing guides are a huge part of that, you guys!
Homeschool Pacing Guides
Pacing guides for lesson-planning purposes have been around for a very long time and most teachers and homeschool parents already utilize these amazing tools!
With that said, if you are preparing for your very first homeschool year and you are completely lost on how to pace it all out, I’ve totally got you!
While most curriculum comes with their own schedule or pacing guide, I rarely ever lean on those for my own homeschool planning purposes.
They simply aren’t one size fits all.
We homeschool with a slightly backward homeschool schedule by doing the bulk of our learning over the summer months.
As year-round homeschoolers that travel part-time, this just works for us.
So, leaning on a customizable pacing guide that I can easily tweak as our travel plans change is the perfect option for our road schooling family!
With that said, pacing guides are a great option for all homeschool families that prefer a semi-structured (or very structured) homeschool style.
Plus, they can easily be adapted for teaching in the classroom as well.
How to Use Pacing Guides
While I like to say that we are part-time structured homeschoolers and part-time unschoolers, that structured part is definitely where we thrive the most.
Don’t get me wrong, the months when my youngest mainly learns through exploring, traveling, and child-led play are essential and she definitely flourishes in that element.
However, she tends to get relaxed and behind in her book studies leaving us in catch-up mode while we are stationary over the summer months — with math specifically.
With that said, that is why I love utilizing a customizable printable pacing guide for our homeschool!
If you are new to pacing guides, these are the simple steps you need to know.
- Go through all curricula for the upcoming year
- Catalog how many lessons there are for each subject
- Create your homeschool calendar complete with days/weeks off
- Pace your lessons out by week
For example, if child A has 100 math lessons to complete and your homeschool year is 36 weeks, they will need to complete 2-3 lessons of math per week to finish their curriculum by the end of the year.
This is a mock-up that is loosely based on my 10-year-old daughter’s pacing guide, using our FREE printable pacing guide template! We do 1 lesson of science per week and read books for history. However, we do drawing and typing instead of art/extras.
Pacing guides are just a simple way to set goals and track progress in your homeschool.
With that said, they are not meant to be set in stone!
If you can stick to the original pacing guide you create at the beginning of the year, then kudos to you! I, however, tweak our personal pacing guides multiple times a year.
While, yes, pacing guides are meant to be a projected goal for the year, they simply don’t always line up with reality.
Life is filled with mishaps and unexpected trials and when those wrenches get thrown into the mix, our pacing guide has to adjust accordingly.
Free Printable Pacing Guides
This is the good stuff, you guys!
While I can easily throw together a cute printable for the kids, I’m not exactly an Excel genius.
So, I left this freebie up to my husband and he totally delivered, you guys!
Our free printable pacing guides include 2-25 week semesters & 9 subject lines per semester — making them perfect for both year-round homeschoolers and traditional 36-week schoolers.
While we have had pacing guides available on our website for a number of years, this specific printable has been newly updated and it is now editable and more customizable than ever before!
I use this exact pacing guide in my very own homeschool and it’s the glue that holds everything together!
With that said, check out these 2 ways to use your editable pacing guides!
- Plan for a 36-week school year
If you follow a traditional 36-week school year, simply pace out your learning weeks as well as your off weeks.
Typically this means you will plan for 18 on weeks and 7 off weeks per semester — utilizing your pacing guide as both a plan and a school calendar!
- Plan for year-round school
If you plan to homeschool year-round, taking little to no time off, this pacing guide can help you plan a full 50 weeks of learning!
While yes, the calendar year is technically 52 weeks, there is no year-rounder that is doing lessons every single week of the year.
Utilizing a 5o week pacing guide allows for time off to prep for your upcoming year.
Get Your Pacing Guides
If you are already a part of the Life + Homeschool community, you can get your hands on our updated pacing guides by visiting our free printables library and entering the passcode.
If you would like to join our community and get your hands on all our free printables, simply sign up for our monthly newsletter below and check your email for all the details!
Other Free Homeschool Resources
If you are new to homeschooling and need more free resources for your child, check out our full lineup of free resources for homeschoolers and educators!
From online learning websites to printable resources.
While I’m an introverted homeschool mom, I still love connecting with and helping other homeschool moms! Join me in the Life + Homeschool Facebook community, check out the homeschool mom helps page on the blog, or follow our journey on Instagram!
Love this freebie? Share this post on social media, then check out some of our other free printables for homeschool planning below!
Happy planning, you guys!
