Our Complete 2026–2027 Homeschool Plan: How We’re Organizing 9th Grade and 5th Grade for Our 10th Year Homeschooling

Every homeschool year has a moment when planning has to stop.

The curriculum has been researched. The books have been ordered. The planners have been printed. The calendar is full of penciled-in ideas and color-coded blocks that may or may not survive the first month.

Eventually, you have to stop tweaking and simply begin.

That’s exactly where we are.

This year marks our 10th year homeschooling, and somehow we’ve arrived at a season I honestly wasn’t prepared for. My oldest is officially entering 9th grade, and my youngest is beginning 5th grade, her final year of elementary school.

One child is stepping into high school while the other is wrapping up childhood in so many ways, and I’m feeling every bit of that transition.

As always, this plan isn’t about creating the perfect homeschool. It’s about building one that works for our family. One that’s organized enough to keep us moving forward, but flexible enough to survive real life.

If you’re planning your own homeschool year, I hope seeing how we’ve put ours together gives you ideas you can adapt to fit your family.

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Our Homeschool Philosophy Has Changed Over the Years

After nearly a decade of homeschooling, I no longer believe the curriculum itself is what determines whether a year is successful.

That’s probably the biggest shift in my thinking.

When we first started homeschooling, I spent nearly all of my energy trying to find the “perfect” curriculum. I thought if I could just pick the right books, everything else would naturally fall into place.

It turns out that’s not how it works.

The curriculum matters, of course, but what matters even more is whether your plan is realistic.

Can you maintain it for nine months?

Does it fit your family’s schedule?

Does it leave room for appointments, field trips, extracurriculars, bad days, illnesses, vacations, and life?

A beautiful curriculum that constantly overwhelms everyone isn’t actually serving your family.

So now, before I ever think about adding another resource, I ask myself one question:

Can we realistically keep doing this in February?

If the answer is no, something has to change.

Why We Planned Differently This Year

Normally, our homeschool planning is completely finished long before August arrives.

This year was different.

We intentionally started our school year later than we usually do, and because of that, our planning timeline shifted as well.

At first, I felt behind.

Then I realized something important.

The calendar isn’t a competition.

Whether you begin in July, August, September, or somewhere in between, the goal is still the same: build a homeschool that works for your family.

Once I let go of the idea that I was “late,” I was able to focus on creating a plan instead of worrying about the timing.

Our Biggest Milestone Yet: Beginning High School

I’ll be honest.

High school feels huge.

Not because I’m worried about academics—we’ve been building toward this for years—but because it makes everything suddenly feel very real.

There are only so many first days left.

Only so many years before graduation.

Only so many mornings around our kitchen table.

That realization has changed how I approach this year.

Instead of trying to make everything more rigorous simply because it’s high school, I’m trying to make it more intentional.

We’re focusing on meaningful learning, independence, and gradually preparing my oldest for the responsibilities that come with high school while still protecting the joy that homeschooling has always given us.

Homeschooling Multiple Grade Levels

One of the questions I receive most often is how we homeschool children who are in completely different grade levels.

The answer is surprisingly simple.

We don’t try to separate everything.

Whenever possible, I intentionally look for opportunities to learn together.

This year we’ll be sharing subjects like history, science discussions, and French.

The assignments might look different.

The expectations might be different.

But the conversations happen together.

Family learning has always been one of my favorite parts of homeschooling, and I think this year it’s going to become even more important.

Learning together creates shared experiences that simply wouldn’t happen if everyone worked independently all day long.

The Planning System That Keeps Me Organized

Over the years I’ve experimented with paper planners, printable planners, notebooks, spreadsheets, sticky notes, and just about everything else you can imagine.

This year, nearly everything lives inside OneNote.

My digital planner includes:

• our yearly homeschool calendar
• curriculum lists for each child
• subject frequency charts
• student planning pages
• extracurricular schedules
• future curriculum ideas
• notes throughout the school year

Having everything in one place means I’m not hunting through multiple notebooks trying to remember what I planned six weeks ago.

It also makes it much easier to adjust when life inevitably changes our plans.

Student Planners Are One of the Best Things We’ve Added

One of my goals this year is increasing independence.

Instead of constantly asking me what’s next, both kids have planners that outline their expectations.

These aren’t complicated.

They’re simply a roadmap.

Knowing what needs to happen removes a surprising amount of stress—for them and for me.

My hope is that this year, especially with a high school student, they’ll begin taking more ownership of their daily responsibilities while I transition into more of a guide than a manager.

Curriculum Isn’t Everything

Like many homeschool families, we’ve carefully selected curriculum that fits each child, but I’ve learned not to confuse buying curriculum with building an education.

The books are tools.

The education happens in the conversations.

In the projects.

In the discussions after a documentary.

In the music lessons.

In theater rehearsals.

In art classes.

In field trips.

In cooking dinner together while talking about history.

Curriculum gives us structure.

Life gives it meaning.

Making Room for Interests

One thing I never want homeschooling to lose is the ability to follow interests.

Academics matter.

But so do passions.

This year our schedule intentionally leaves room for music, theater, Girl Scouts, dance, archery, art, and creative projects.

Those experiences teach persistence, teamwork, confidence, communication, and problem-solving in ways no workbook ever could.

One resource we’re especially excited about this year is Soul Sparklettes. My youngest absolutely fell in love with their virtual art lessons, and I can already tell it’s going to become one of those resources we return to again and again simply because she enjoys creating.

When kids genuinely enjoy learning, they naturally want to keep learning.

That’s always worth making room for.

Planning for Flexibility

If ten years of homeschooling has taught me anything, it’s this:

The plan will change.

Something won’t work.

We’ll discover a curriculum we absolutely love.

We’ll quietly stop using another one.

We’ll adjust schedules.

We’ll move lessons around.

We’ll probably take an unexpected field trip because everyone needs a reset.

None of that means we’re failing.

It means we’re homeschooling.

The goal isn’t following a plan perfectly.

The goal is creating a plan that’s flexible enough to keep serving your family even when life doesn’t cooperate.

Looking Ahead

As I write this, we’ve only just begun our homeschool year.

I have no idea which curriculum will become our favorite.

I don’t know what unexpected challenges we’ll face.

I don’t know which parts of this carefully organized plan will still look the same six months from now.

But I do know this.

We’ve built a thoughtful foundation.

We’ve chosen resources intentionally.

We’ve left room to breathe.

And we’ve remembered that homeschooling isn’t about checking every box.

It’s about helping two incredible kids become curious, capable, compassionate adults.

That’s always been the goal.

Here’s to another year of learning together—and, hopefully, making everyday magic along the way.