There’s a particular kind of overwhelm that shows up this time of year. You know homeschool is starting back up soon, and somewhere in the back of your mind a little countdown has started, but every time you sit down to actually do some homeschool prep, you’re not sure where to even begin.
Do you start with curriculum? A schedule? Do you need to reorganize the whole house first?
I’ve been homeschooling long enough to know the answer isn’t “all of it, all at once.” It’s one piece at a time, in an order that actually makes sense. You need a homeschool prep list.
So whether you’re reading this in July with a stack of curriculum already on the counter, or you’re finding this post in October, here’s the homeschool prep list steps I walk through every single year before we begin.
Be sure to read to the end, cause there’s a special huge homeschool giveaway you definitely want to be a part of!
1. Think through needs and wants
Before you shop for a single thing, take a little time to just notice.
- What didn’t work last year?
- Where does your child need more support, or maybe more challenge?
- Is there a season your family is heading into that changes what you need?
- Maybe more independence, more margin, more consistency in a subject you let slide?
And of course, also remember what you are legally supposed to cover.
But these don’t have to be formal goals. They’re just observations.
But they matter more than we tend to think, because it’s tempting to skip straight to “what curriculum should I buy?” without asking what you actually need that curriculum to do. Skip this step, and you’re far more likely to end up second-guessing your choices by October.
Want some more detailed help in prepping for your homeschool year? Check out my Homeschool Luminary Guidebook!
2. Choose curriculum and resources
Once you know what you’re working with, curriculum decisions get a lot easier. And here’s something that takes the pressure off: you don’t have to find one perfect curriculum that does everything. You’re not building a boxed school, you’re building something for your family.
Mix a math program that stretches your child with a writing curriculum that meets them where they are. Use books for one subject and hands-on projects for another. It doesn’t all have to match. It just has to work. Instead of asking “what’s the best curriculum,” ask “what will work best for this subject, for this child, in this season.”
Stop wondering if you chose the right curriculum and resources for your homeschool year. Work your way through From Chaos to Curriculum and choose right the first time.
3. Pick start date and end date goal
You don’t have to follow the local school district’s calendar. Some families start a little early on purpose, to build in room for breaks throughout the year. Others go year-round, or do six weeks on and one week off, or school four days a week instead of five.
There are a lot of ways to structure a homeschool calendar! It’s worth looking at a few options before you land on one.
Whatever you choose, go ahead and pencil in a last day. Just hold it loosely. Life happens, and giving yourself permission to shift that end date if you need to takes a surprising amount of pressure off the whole year.
Check out this list of ways others structure their homeschool calendars to find what might work for you!
4. Think through what your day will look like
It’s tempting to plan your homeschool day the way a school schedules its classes. Math at 9:00, reading at 9:30, science at 9:45. But that kind of minute-by-minute planning tends to leave everyone feeling behind before 10 a.m.
Instead, think in blocks. A morning routine. A homeschool block where you move through your core subjects together. An afternoon that has room to breathe.
And the same idea applies to your whole year, not just your day: build in margin on purpose, before you need it, so one sick day or one slow week doesn’t throw everything off.
Ready to plan what your day will look like? Read about creating your own daily homeschool schedule here.
5. Decide when you’ll have prep time
This is the behind-the-scenes homeschool prep list piece that’s easy to forget until you’re in the middle of the year, wondering how you’re supposed to check over and plan anything.
As your kids get older, there will be work to check, things to plan, records to keep, small adjustments to make along the way.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. A weekly prep time on Sunday. A nightly ten minutes to set up tomorrow. A couple of hours once a month.
If you get your curriculum set up well before you start (more on that next), this shouldn’t take much time at all. But it’s worth deciding in advance when and how it’ll happen, rather than figuring it out when you’re in the thick of it.
6. Prep your curriculum
This is where you actually sit down with the teacher’s manuals and student workbooks and get familiar with what you’re working with.
Save the links you’ll need. Print the worksheets. Gather supply lists for projects. Basically, get everything ready on your end, so when the year starts, you’re not figuring things out while your kids wait on you.
Part of this is also deciding your pacing: how much of each subject you’ll aim to cover each day or week. Some curriculum has this built in already; others leave it up to you.
Either way, don’t aim for exact. It’s genuinely hard to finish a 180-day curriculum in exactly 180 days, and that’s fine. Plan to finish a little early, or be willing to carry something into next year. Less pressure, more flexibility.
If you always feel pressure to finish everything every year, you may enjoy reading this post. Do we have to finish our homeschool curriculum this year?
7. Set up your student’s work plans
Here’s a piece of a homeschool prep list that doesn’t get talked about much. Making sure your plan doesn’t only live in your head.
You can have the best week planned out, but if you’re the only one who knows what it looks like, you end up being the one announcing it – subject by subject, kid by kid, all day long, usually while you’re elbow-deep in a lesson with someone else!
Setting up your student work plans will help your kids (and you!) be able to look at something and know what today holds, without needing you to spell it out in the moment.
What that looks like will vary by kid and by season. A written lesson list. A checklist. A binder. Even a whiteboard with the day written out. Get a full list of ideas here!
There’s no one right way to do it, but the goal is just that you and your child can look at their work and know what comes next.
Homeschool planners can be a simple way to lay out your homeschool plans. Check out the Footpath Homeschool Planners through this link!
8. Organize learning space and storage
This isn’t about Pinterest-perfect. It’s purely practical. Where will your kids’ books live? Where does your planner and your teacher’s materials go? Where do finished papers land when they’re done?
Start with your books and materials. Think through what you’re using right now versus what you’ll need later in the year, and sort them accordingly, so you’re not digging through one overwhelming pile every time you need something.
Give your current books a home, and tuck the “later” stuff somewhere out of the way for now.
Then think through where school will actually happen. It doesn’t have to be a dedicated schoolroom. My kids do plenty of their work curled up on the couch with a clipboard.
Maybe it’s the dining room table, maybe it’s a corner of the living room. Whatever spot works for your family, just get it cleaned up and the supplies set out, ready for day one.
For more tips on organizing your stuff, check out this post: 11 Homeschooling Organization Tips for the Unorganized
9. Prepare your kids (and yourself) mentally
Once the physical pieces are in place with this homeschool prep list, there’s still the mental side to prep. Talk with your kids about what their days will look like, what you’re expecting, and what you’re planning. Let them ask questions and give input.
This isn’t the moment to lay down the law. It’s a chance to talk it through together and take some of the anxiety out of the unknown. Homeschooling works best as a joint effort. That doesn’t mean your kids run the show, but it does mean that when something feels hard, they should feel free to say so.
10. Get started
When the day comes, you don’t have to launch into every subject at full throttle.
Ease in. Start with one or two subjects for the first few days and add more as you go, or give each child their own “start day” so you’re not managing everyone at once.
It’s okay to go easy and have a little fun with it. Go into it expecting some bumps, maybe even some tears (yours or theirs, no judgment). That’s a normal part of finding a new rhythm.
A first-day treat like donuts, lunch out, or something small can take some of the weight off and make it a day everyone’s willing to do again.
For more ideas for getting back into the swing of a new homeschool year, check out this post about easing back in!
Bonus step: Adapt as you go
No plan survives first contact with real life completely intact, and that’s fine. The goal was never to build a perfect year. It’s to build something that fits your family. So it’s necessary that you be willing to adjust it when it doesn’t work, because there’s no one-size-fits-all homeschool year.
Homeschool prep list
Here’s the thing about all this prep: it was never really about getting everything perfect before you start. It’s about walking into your year knowing you’ve thought it through, that you have a plan that fits your family, and that you’re not just hoping it works out.
You’ve already done the hard part of working through this homeschool prep list. Now it’s just a matter of living it out, day by day, and adjusting as you go when real life asks you to.
And you will need to adjust. That’s not a sign the plan failed, it’s just what a homeschool year actually looks like. You’ll shift a subject, move a day, rethink something a few weeks in.
That’s not falling behind, that’s just homeschooling well.
So take a breath. You know your kids. You know your family. And you’ve put in the thought this year deserves. You can do this.
Back to Homeschool Giveaway
It’s almost time for another homeschool year, and that means many of us are making curriculum decisions, planning lessons, and preparing for everything a new school year brings.
Whether you’re homeschooling one child or several, curriculum costs can add up quickly. That’s why a group of homeschool bloggers has come together once again for our 13th Annual Back to Homeschool Giveaway!
This year, three homeschool families will each win a $200 gift card to the homeschool curriculum company of their choice. Whether your family uses The Good & the Beautiful, Gather Round, Notgrass, My Father’s World, Rainbow Resource, or another favorite publisher, you get to decide where to use your prize.
The giveaway runs July 15 through July 24, so be sure to enter before it closes.
Simply complete the entries in the SweepWidget form below. Every participating blogger has helped make this giveaway possible, and each completed entry gives you another opportunity to win.
We hope this giveaway is a blessing to your family and helps make your homeschool year a little more affordable.
Giveaway ends July 24, 2026, at 11:59 PM ET. Three winners will each receive a $200 gift card to the homeschool curriculum company of their choice. Winners will be selected and notified by email shortly after the giveaway ends and will have 48 hours to claim their prize.
By entering this giveaway, you agree to be added to the email lists of the participating homeschool bloggers. Please review the official Terms & Conditions before entering.
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