The holiday season is one of my favorites—cozy cuddles, twinkling lights, and family traditions fill our home with joy, but as soon as Christmas ends, my mind naturally turns to homeschool planning made simple for the new year. I’ve found that thoughtful planning makes our year feel calm, purposeful, and full of meaningful learning.
In this post, I’ll share the homeschool planning process we use, including goal-setting, family vision, and tools to help you plan your most peaceful and joyful year yet.
Homeschool Planning Made Simple: Create a Calm Connected Year
Before setting specific goals, we reflect on our family essentials—the core values and activities that bring connection and happiness to our home. Examples include:
- Travel and shared adventures
- Quiet reflection and reading time
- Debt-free living
- Acts of kindness and service
- Time spent outdoors
- Deepening our spiritual lives
We discovered our family essentials by making a list of everything we love to do together. Over time, patterns emerged, and these essentials became the foundation of our homeschool and family planning.
Tip: Writing down your family vision is powerful. It helps you focus on what truly matters and keeps your goals aligned with your values.
You can download our free Family Vision Planner to help create your own vision or sign up for our January 6, 2026 planning workshop.
Brainstorm Goals as a Family
Once our vision is clear, we brainstorm ideas together:
- What do we want to learn this year?
- What books, projects, or experiences excite us?
- What new skills or activities would bring joy?
- What places do we want to go?
- What is your word for the year?
This collaborative process uncovers shared dreams and sparks enthusiasm for the year ahead. Using a worksheet from our homeschool planner makes brainstorming interactive and fun for children of all ages.
Get the #1 Homeschool Planner Here
Set Concrete Family Goals
After brainstorming, we set specific goals in 10 key categories:
1. Home Environment
Examples: Simplify spaces, learn bread making, start a garden, or implement better home care routines.
2. Homeschool Learning
Set goals around academics, creative projects, or skill mastery. Ideas include memorizing poetry, mastering math facts, accomplishing a new level in piano or scouting, or completing a hands-on project.
3. Spiritual Health
Include goals like daily devotional reading, fasting, giving, or family prayer rituals.
4. Financial Health
Plan goals for paying off debt, saving, or starting investments.
5. Professional Growth
Set intentions for work, personal enrichment, or parental development and training.
6. Personal Growth
Include reading lists, new hobbies, or self-development projects.
7. Family and Friend Relationships
Set goals to deepen connections: eye contact, scheduled family nights, or intentional acts of kindness.
8. Play
Include fun, restorative activities like nature walks, beach trips, or family game nights.
9. Physical Health
Focus on exercise routines, nutrition, or seasonal wellness practices.
10. Reflection and Adjustments
At the end of each month, revisit your goals and your calendar to ensure balance and avoid overscheduling. This step preserves the time and energy for your family essentials.
Reflect on Being and Doing
As I plan a new year, I also take time to reflect on what kind of homeschool mom I want to be, and what I want to do. This helps me clarify my priorities as I mother my children.
This looks like this-
I want to be; a good friend, loving, a happy wife, a faithful Christian, a present and loving mom, a peaceful person, a diligent teacher, relaxed, happy, a good steward, generous, etc.
I want to do; help people love homeschooling, launch my children into adult life, teach my youngest son math, plant an herb garden, read through the Bible this year, exercise every day, pray every day, take my family on a mission trip, etc.
I want my children to remember; a happy home, learning was fun, a loving family, Jesus was with us, praying as a family, caring for each other, parents as safe listeners, fun times in nature, etc.
I'll pick a few from each list to prioritize each quarter so I don't overwhelm myself with too many goals at once.
The Actual Homeschool Subject Planning
Setting goals for the kind of person you want to be, the kind of home you want to cultivate, and the activities your family will focus on is foundational for the success of your day to day homeschooling.
There are so many choices for homeschool curriculum, and your family goals will determine which is a better fit for you.
For example, if you want your children to be well read, cultural leaders, you will choose a curriculum like the Peaceful Press because we incorporate classic books that highlight our history and culture.
If you want your children to be creative, innovators, you will choose a curriculum like the Peaceful Press because we highlight hands on science and engineering skills for young children through making simple machines, crafting, baking, and nature study.
If you want your children to be confident communicators, you will choose the Peaceful Press because we read and discuss great books which helps your children develop critical thinking skills, oral narration competency, and a wide vocabulary.
Interest Led Learning Creates Happy Homeschools
Still you have to choose which level to start with, and which history cycle to begin.
This is another reason it was important to ask your children what they are excited about learning this year.
If they are interested in pioneers, start with Playful Pioneers Volume 1.
If they love science and art, and are ready for the Narnia books start with Kind Kingdom.
If they are in first through third grade and want to learn about countries around the world, start with Precious People Year One World Geography.
If they love ancient cultures, start with Precious People.
If they love natural history, use Playful Pioneers Volume 2.
If they want more in depth European history, move on to Kind Kingdom Volume 2.
If they are in preschool or kindergarten, choose one of our early years resources.
If you are using a Peaceful Press curriculum, the day to day planning is done for you. You simply need to order library books or look the books up on Youtube, and gather your math and language arts supplements.
For math, most families in our community use Math With Confidence, Right Start Math, or Good and Beautiful Math
For grades 1-3 add phonics or spelling. We love All About Reading and Explode the Code for supplementing the phonics in Peaceful Preschool and Nourishing Nature Kindergarten.
For grades 4-6 add grammar or composition. Our favorite is IEW. If you use a cycle of their writing lessons that corresponds with your history cycle, they will get some extra history reading as well.
Daily Plans
You also need to fit your homeschool plans into your day to day life. With the Peaceful Press parent guides we include four day a week homeschool plans so you can have one day free for a co-op, field trip, or house cleaning.
A day in the life of our homeschool went like this-
7-9 chores and breakfast
9-10- morning time- this is where I read the chapter of the day, Bible verses, poetry, science or history books, and review memory work. My children do Peaceful Press copywork or draw in their notebooks during this time.
10-11- math
11-12 language arts
12-1 lunch
1-2 rest time
2-3 projects
3-5 free play/chores
A simple daily routine like this one will give you time to reset after homeschooling, and engaging homeschool curriculum like the Peaceful Press will give you time to pursue other goals and interests.
Tools to Support Your Homeschool Planning
Taking time for reflection and intentional planning helps families build a sustainable and peaceful homeschool routine. Some tools we recommend:
Peaceful Press Parent Guides-Our homeschool bundles include every subject except math, grammar, and spelling to help you create a life giving homeschool year with your children.
The Peaceful Press Planner – Monthly goal worksheets, weekly planning pages, and prompts to align your homeschool with family values.
Restoration Home Daily Journal-The daily journal has space for recording daily priorities, thankfulness, a Bible verse for the day, as well as evening reflection prompts.
Restoration Home Community- Ongoing weekly themed lessons, monthly online workshops, and habit challenges to nurture a peaceful home. Try a free lesson here.
Why Homeschool Planning Matters
Thoughtful planning after a holiday is a habit that produces great results:
- Reduce stress and prevent burnout
- Keep learning meaningful and connected to your family’s values
- Foster joyful, engaged learning experiences for your children
- Preserve time for quiet reflection, creativity, and family connection
When planning is intentional, homeschool becomes less about schedules and more about learning with purpose and presence.
Takeaway: Begin your homeschool planning by clarifying your family vision, brainstorming together, and setting actionable goals. The result? A calm, joyful, and connected year of learning and growth.
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