Scheduling Time for Creative Pursuits While Homeschooling High School

This particular year our creative girl was in tenth grade. Homeschooling High school credits beckoned to be earned and she really felt the pinch that year of putting the time in to her course studies. This post comes out of what happens when a creative soul tries to buckle down academically and save the creativity till last after the other work is done. So let’s learn about Scheduling Time for Creative Pursuits.

This post contains affiliate links. Thanks for your support.

Time for Creativity is Not Optional

What did she find out? Something I already knew. Time for creative activities is NOT OPTIONAL for this girl. She thought the way to go was to finish all her academic work before allowing herself to work on her art and sewing. She kept this pace for the first six weeks of the school year. The result? A disaster.

• She was irritable.
• Her academic work became a chore.
• She had trouble concentrating on the most difficult work.
• She was losing stamina for doing hard work.

The lesson learned here was that creative work could not be regarded as a “treat” which would come after the real work was done. Rebecca requires creative pursuits as part of who she is. Once she was convinced, we set about working in the time.

Scheduling Time for Creative Pursuits

My job in this was to help her see that she needed to assimilate these courses in among her other high school work. We went into the scheduling with the goal that art and sewing should not be left until last. Here’s what we did. It should be noted that her grid does not have to be done in order. It’s just a timeline for how many days each subject needs and for roughly how long each day. With the classes spread throughout the week, she has more time for art and sewing daily.

• Made a grid- to sketch out a week including the weekends
• Filled in the essentials- things that were on her schedule like youth group, the sewing class she teaches, FLL (LEGO Robotics), choir practice, and her work with MOPS.
• Determined how often she would do the various subjects- based on how the curriculum was written and how much time per week would make up her high school credit by year’s end. This was especially helpful for her because she now understood how often she needed to be working on each subject and it’s not everyday.
• Alternated days that would include art and sewing- to make sure she evened out her time in each. She does one or the other the first four days of the week.
• Scheduled art and sewing time on Fridays- Given the rest of her schedule, Friday is a lighter day and she’s able to have a large block in the afternoon.

Scheduling Creative Time is a Win

Rebecca uses this schedule to populate her student planner. She knows what assignments are coming and she can fill in her planner with the subjects she doing on that day. Once a week on Monday morning, Rebecca plans out her week. Much of her work is self-paced and she is free to fill in what needs to be done. I will add assignments for biology and generally make sure we are discussing things and that she is keeping up with challenges in her project areas. Once we implemented this schedule there was marked improvement in her demeanor and all around academic success!

• Her cheerful disposition returned.
• Work is done on time and is done well.
• Her determination to complete difficult assignments increased.
• She has plenty of time to immerse herself in creative projects without guilt.
• With allotted time, she is more creative than ever!

If you have a creative child, make sure they have time to be creative. It makes a world of difference!

Creative Challenges for 10th Grade

Rebecca had multiple projects going. That year we tried out some new resources and got further along in older ones. Among her personal challenges from other resources were these Craftsy classes. Each one is separate and there are always sales.

Below are the classes she’s taking and a glimpse of her work.

Other Thoughts on Creativity in Homeschooling High School

Here at Blog, She Wrote I write often about Rebecca’s work in the world of design and sewing along with art. She is an avid nature journaler and loves to design patterns.

If you asked her about her dream job, she will tell you she wants to be a pattern designer.

She loves costuming best. In addition to her own work, she plans for and teaches sewing classes to groups of kids.

That summer she is planned on hosting a sewing camp for those who could not sew with her year-round.

10 Best Things about Teaching an Artist– How do you know you have an artist in your midst? We’ve known this about Rebecca since she was very young.

The Making of a Wizard & the Crafty Side of Math– How to incorporate creativity into math work regularly. This is a confidence booster for creative kids doing math!

Sewing & Design Projects– This is a landing spot for her design projects. We add more all the time.

Subscribe to Learn More about Homeschooling High School with Creative Teens