Is home education time consuming?

[amanda0]

Many people  assume that home education is extremely time consuming for the parents.

What do you think of that?

Any comment will be appreciated.

Edited November 2, 2017 by amanda0

[Melissa in Australia]

It depends on how many children and what ages. For me it is a full time job.

[Elizabeth86]

It consumes my thoughts at least.

[CAJinBE]

I find it to be very time and energy consuming. There is planning, purchasing, looking at what you've purchased, then more detailed planning. Then there is teaching, organizing, monitoring, correcting, and encouraging. As the children get older there is more record keeping and college counseling and advising. Keeping up with the higher level maths and sciences is also very time consuming if you're own skills are not up to date. Of course, one could outsource parts.

[HomeAgain]

It's a job, of course it's time consuming.

 

Our active school time is roughly 24 hours a week, or 100 hours a month/900 hours a year.  I spend another 1-3 hours a week gathering supplies, finishing lesson plans, and setting up for the next week, and that is short because I spent the summer making sure everything was researched, supply lists were laid out, and organizing things like field trips, library books needed, and so on.

[Ausmumof3]

I would say yes. That said there are different philosophies of home education. This is a classical home education forum which is probably one of the more time consuming styles.

[Mommyof1]

It consumes my thoughts. I am planning out the first 4 years already.

 

I have only 1 kid and she is prek so it's super short at this time just a couple of minutes here and there. Her time will increase when necessary.

[8filltheheart]

It has been a full-time job for me. I can't imagine taking on the responsibility of my children's education and their adult futures and not committing myself to providing the best educational opportunities for them possible. That means thoroughly researching curriculum, being familiar with what they are studying, creating plans with clear objectives, and being active in what they are learning every single day.

[emzhengjiu]

Are you homeschooling now? How old are your children? I've been home educating for 16 years. So, yes It's time consuming.

[RoundAbout]

For ages K-2, not too much more than normal parenting. We mostly did math and reading with a little WWE (which has short lessons). For grades 3+ I would say very time consuming. More direct instruction, more driving to outside activities, more research about curriculum and opportunities, and more subjects/coursework.

[Insertcreativenamehere]

There are different philosophies and methods of home education and some are more time consuming for parents than others. 

 

Some people buy a whole grade-level box of school books for each child from a single publisher; DVD or online lessons are also available. 

 

Others choose to mix and match materials for each subject and child according to their needs and interests. This would likely be more time consuming than the first option.

 

Obviously, it depends on how many children you have and whether they have special learning needs. It would also depend on what subjects you teach and how familiar you are with the subject matter. 

 

I choose for it to be more time consuming than it could be. I enjoy the research and being able to customize my children's experience. I am trying to give them a fairly rigorous classical education. It's definitely a full-time job for me with kids in grades 2, 5 and 7 (plus a preschooler tagging along.) When I just had one first grader and was using an online virtual school, the time commitment was far less. 

Edited September 29, 2017 by insertcreativenamehere

[happypamama]

I find it to be at least a full time job if not more. I spend several hours a day directly teaching, guiding, explaining, discussing, plus time to correct and critique work, prep and reading time, etc. I'm schooling a bunch of kids though. Maybe with just one or two very independent workers it wouldn't be such a full time job for me, but even my most independent worker needs some time with me every day.

[Sneezyone]

It has been very time consuming for me. After three years, I feel like I'm just now finding the confidence to stray from the beaten path and get creative in how we do our lessons. I spend several hours each week prepping, previewing, researching and thinking through our plans. That is in addition to the 4-4.5 hrs a day we spend doing school.

[mytwomonkeys]

Yes. I wouldn’t say it’s life consuming (at least not for me), but it is definitely time consuming, thought consuming, and an expense (And I only homeschool my son & he's 13). When my kids were smaller it involved a lot more from me, now my role has shifted, in terms of what is now needed from me. But it’s all still time consuming (and totally worth it).

Edited September 29, 2017 by mytwomonkeys

[Shoes+Ships+SealingWax]

Yes. I am homeschooling because I want a better (deeper, broader, more hands-on) education Than I can provide elsewhere. That requires time, energy, & a lot of research!

[Guest]

If you want to do it well, then yes.

 

BUT---

 

It depends on how many kids you have. I have six, and it consumes a lot of my time.

 

It depends on if you have a child with special needs. I have one, and his needs consume a lot of my time.

 

It depends on grade level. High school takes a lot of time. Kindergarten, not so much.

 

It depends on your educational goals. Some people go for the minimum standards, others go toward college prep or even college during high school.

 

So there are a lot of variables to consider when answering this question.

[Guest]

And I'd just like to add that yes, it is absolutely a full-time job for me. And yes, when the youngest graduates, I'm totally throwing myself a retirement party. By that point, I will have been homeschooling for 24 years. Seventeen down, seven more to go.

[Elizabeth86]

It consumes my thoughts. I am planning out the first 4 years already.

 

I have only 1 kid and she is prek so it's super short at this time just a couple of minutes here and there. Her time will increase when necessary.

I'm the same way.

[regentrude]

Of course it is time consuming.  Does anybody else think this is an odd question?

It is already time consuming to just provide care for children.

Add to that researching, planning, teaching, facilitating their education - how can it not be?

[Clemsondana]

When my kids were K-2, it didn't take much more time than raising them would. I chose books and crafts that fit with what we were learning in history or science, but I would have been spending time with them anyway. I spent time looking for curriculum, but if I found something that worked and we liked it, I usually stuck with the same series the next year. Around 3rd grade, school starts to take more time and when my oldest got to 5th grade it started to feel more like a job than a hobby, if that makes sense. For other people, the 'feels like a job' time was probably different, but for us it was when school started taking longer, it was the first time that I had to scramble to find a 'we need a different explanation and more practice' supplement to our math curriculum, and required writing output increased in preparation for what I wanted in middle school. It was a hard year, and I joked about 'crashing across the finish line in an ugly heap' at the end. This year I've got kids in 6th and 3rd, and while I would still equate it to having a part-time job, last year's work seems to be paying off - it's an easier 5ish hours a day.

[OneStepAtATime]

 Why do you want to know?  Since this is your first post it would be helpful to understand why you are asking this question.  

[bethben]

It depends upon your season of life. When my ds17 was starting, it took 1-2 hours per day. Add in an additional child and more subjects for the older child--more time. Add in a third child and junior high? Full time job. But now it's tapering off because ds17 is going to college full time and dd is going to school so I'm back to part time with ds13 in junior high.

 

 

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[LuvToRead]

It is very time consuming for me.  As my girls get older, they are more independent, but I still spend a lot of time planning.

[73349]

I have one child, grade 4.

 

It's less time-consuming than teaching full-time, but yes, homeschooling is the main activity of my day, ~220 days a year. If you start with preK/K, you can ease in slowly, but after several years (and especially if you have multiple kids) it's going to take quite a bit of time.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

This is one of those original posts that makes me think the OP is up to something.

 

A scammer, getting a start on the post count required for buying and selling.

A bot farmer, whose next fifty posts will include embedded garbage.

An Internet content writer, getting paid $5 to write an article about hs'ing, which is not enough money so they're getting us to do it for them.

 

On the other hand, the last few years in our state hs'ing FB group, more newbies than not have needed emergency info on how to homeschool primary students, starting tomorrow, without spending any time or money.

[StartingOver]

For 31 years! It is my full time job. I put in more hours than hubby does at his work.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Is the Pope Catholic? Of course it is time consuming. At least once you get past the very early elementary stage. But during those ages parenting is time consuming.

 

 

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[nixpix5]

Hmmm...good question. It definitely consumes my thoughts because I find it important to always be thinking of the next way to get my kids to learn the next step in their education voyage but it is fun so I see it more as a hobby.

 

As far as the day to day...no not at all. Here is a sample of this week...

 

Monday they worked from 830 and were done by noon. We had the day free.

 

Tuesday went to co-op. Did morning stuff like math and phonics and then meandered to co-op by 11am where they took theater, cooking, writing and played with their friends. We were home by 230.

 

Wednesday matched Monday

 

Thursday co-op 11am art, piano, cooking and writing. Hung out and played with other families and were home by 4pm.

 

Friday, today, just finished up and are on our way out for a nature walk with other homeschool families at 1pm.

 

It is heaven. Seriously. Yes, I have to direct the homeschool, give lessons, grade work for 3 whole students (said jokingly) but I don't find it challenging or time consuming outside of these three are my heart and I want to honor them by doing the best job I can. That ways heavy but in a good way.

[regentrude]

Hmmm...good question. It definitely consumes my thoughts because I find it important to always be thinking of the next way to get my kids to learn the next step in their education voyage but it is fun so I see it more as a hobby.

 

As far as the day to day...no not at all. Here is a sample of this week...

 

Monday they worked from 830 and were done by noon. We had the day free.

 

Tuesday went to co-op. Did morning stuff like math and phonics and then meandered to co-op by 11am where they took theater, cooking, writing and played with their friends. We were home by 230.

 

Wednesday matched Monday

 

Thursday co-op 11am art, piano, cooking and writing. Hung out and played with other families and were home by 4pm.

 

Friday, today, just finished up and are on our way out for a nature walk with other homeschool families at 1pm.

 

It is heaven. Seriously. Yes, I have to direct the homeschool, give lessons, grade work for 3 whole students (said jokingly) but I don't find it challenging or time consuming outside of these three are my heart and I want to honor them by doing the best job I can. That ways heavy but in a good way.

 

The fact that it is fun or a hobby does not mean it does not take time. Judging from what you write, it does consume quite a bit of your time, several hours each day; it consumes your mornings and sometimes part of the afternoons. That presumably does not include the time you spend to research and select materials.

I also assume your kids are still little.

 

Edited September 29, 2017 by regentrude

[Jean in Newcastle]

I can't imagine any one who is homeschooling high school saying that it's a hobby.

 

 

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[freesia]

Without any background info I can't answer this seriously. But it's been making me chuckle all day as I run from place to place and child to child teaching math and reading, working on all subjects with dd8, checking work, logging in for their online classes, reading with my youngest, sending middle to redo his math, out for one hour park day, oldest to work, back to proctor dd's French test for her online class, read her history paragraph, proof oldest's English paper, put dinner in the crockpot, answer homeschool related e-mail, make sure that I've checked up on my older's independent work, pick up books for next week at the library, start the next book for the junior high book club I run, make sure the blog posts are up to date for the high school lit class I teach, help dd with a write up for the chem lab she is doing at co-op, make sure ds writes his paragraph for lego club, grade geometry and chem tests,  realize we didn't get to art today and that dd still needs to do piano (and did other dd practice piano and organ today? did ds do guitar--whoops), and sigh in relief that a birthday party scheduled for tonight is cancelled.

 

Yeah, it takes a lot of time when you have 4 kids elementary-high school. It is absolutely a full time job (and I can now say it takes more work than when I taught elementary school).  And it should be treated as such in the home.

[Another Lynn]

Without any background info I can't answer this seriously. But it's been making me chuckle all day as I run from place to place and child to child teaching math and reading, working on all subjects with dd8, checking work, logging in for their online classes, reading with my youngest, sending middle to redo his math, out for one hour park day, oldest to work, back to proctor dd's French test for her online class, read her history paragraph, proof oldest's English paper, put dinner in the crockpot, answer homeschool related e-mail, make sure that I've checked up on my older's independent work, pick up books for next week at the library, start the next book for the junior high book club I run, make sure the blog posts are up to date for the high school lit class I teach, help dd with a write up for the chem lab she is doing at co-op, make sure ds writes his paragraph for lego club, grade geometry and chem tests,  realize we didn't get to art today and that dd still needs to do piano (and did other dd practice piano and organ today? did ds do guitar--whoops), and sigh in relief that a birthday party scheduled for tonight is cancelled.

 

Yeah, it takes a lot of time when you have 4 kids elementary-high school. It is absolutely a full time job (and I can now say it takes more work than when I taught elementary school).  And it should be treated as such in the home.

 

Yes, I chuckle every time I see the thread title.  

 

 

Um.... yes.  

[Farrar]

This question is hilarious.

 

I mean, the amount of time has ebbed and flowed at different ages, but overall, duh.

[2_girls_mommy]

Yes, it is extremely time consuming. I teach middle school, high school, and preschool at home. Being a part of homeschool groups increases my workload so that my kids' experiences there are educational and fun. I use my talents there (for me teaching,) while other moms do other things to make the experience good. Some clean, some shop, some mind little ones. I lesson plan and teach. I do that out of the house at kid activities anywhere from 2-4 times a week at different homeschool events. So yes, between planning, implementing the plans, gathering supplies, studying and reading, and then just the added kid care- meals and clean up, meal planning and shopping, driving kids to all of their activities (teens have a LOT of outside activities and social things going on,) etc etc. Yes, it is VERY time consuming. But I can't imagine doing anything else. 

 

 

[nixpix5]

The fact that it is fun or a hobby does not mean it does not take time. Judging from what you write, it does consume quite a bit of your time, several hours each day; it consumes your mornings and sometimes part of the afternoons. That presumably does not include the time you spend to research and select materials.

I also assume your kids are still little.

You are completely right :) I was trying to convey that but failed as I was running out to go to our nature hike. What I meant was "yes it does take time, but not in the grumbly way for me. It is the fun, glorious time" not sure if that makes sense. I was also thinking from the kids perspective having to not be in school until 3pm daily. They have more time to use as their own.

 

You are also right in that I have elementary kids. All bets are off for the later grades and especially high school. That isn't for the faint of heart and does take substantial time. I was just speaking from my own perspective. Thank you though for pointing out how unclear I was. I call that rushed phone typing ;)

 

Quite honestly though, compared to all of my other jobs I have had this one, so far, is much less stressful. I don't have any deluded belief though it will always stay that way.

Edited September 29, 2017 by nixpix5

[ikslo]

What is time? I might want some.

[nixpix5]

I can't imagine any one who is homeschooling high school saying that it's a hobby.

 

 

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Me either for what it's worth ;) Not there yet. All of you who are doing it and have done it successfully get my deepest respect and admiration. Edited September 29, 2017 by nixpix5

[Arcadia]

I sent my kids to public school when I am sleep deprived so that I can sleep while public schools take care of them. So homeschooling took away the “free childcare†and we ended up paying for babysitting in the form of drop off classes at the YMCA when kids were younger so that I could nap.

 

So homeschooling was both time consuming and costly. The educating my kids portion took probably the same amount of time and money as if I had continued afterschooling my kids.

 

I could also say afterschooling in my area is very time consuming. Standardized test results are positively correlated to afterschooling done by parents and/or tutors. My local schools has a less than 50% pass rate for English and Math on my state’s annual standardized tests.

[happypamama]

What is time? I might want some.

Hahahahahaha. Yes.

 

I love homeschooling. I don't love every single thing about it, but really, there are parts I don't like about my hobbies either (weaving in ends in knitting, for instance), and while DH generally loves his (paying) job, there are aspects he doesn't like either. So I feel okay saying that every homeschooling day isn't easy or fun. But overall, I love it and find it worthwhile. Worth the time. There's really no substitute for being right there when their eyes light up at a new concept or skill.

 

I spend my day juggling a zillion things. Math with four kids. Reading. Trying to find time to read my high schooler's books. Helping my very active 4yo find suitable activities to keep his brain and body busy without destroying the house. Plus the usual household tasks that someone has to do. I have at least three fulltime jobs. When my parents were here with us for eight weeks this past winter, it took four adults and meals from friends to do what I attempt to do every day. (Granted, my husband was recovering from a serious injury, and I was recovering from a c-section, and grief is all-consuming, so we were not at full capacity, but still. That's a lot on a Mom's shoulders.)

[....]

You are completely right :) I was trying to convey that but failed as I was running out to go to our nature hike. What I meant was "yes it does take time, but not in the grumbly way for me. It is the fun, glorious time" not sure if that makes sense. I was also thinking from the kids perspective having to not be in school until 3pm daily. They have more time to use as their own.

 

You are also right in that I have elementary kids. All bets are off for the later grades and especially high school. That isn't for the faint of heart and does take substantial time. I was just speaking from my own perspective. Thank you though for pointing out how unclear I was. I call that rushed phone typing ;)

 

Quite honestly though, compared to all of my other jobs I have had this one, so far, is much less stressful. I don't have any deluded belief though it will always stay that way.

 

Homeschooling is awesome here, too.  And I have teenagers all the way down to a 2 year-old.  I can't imagine our family any other way.  We are constantly reading, talking about stuff we're reading...our house is full of projects, kids' artwork, models, little polymer clay sculptures (my girls really like polymer clay), stacks of books everywhere...  Heck, I still read books aloud to my teens.  I know what you're saying - it's not really "school" here - it's just our life!  I guess, technically, we live in a school...or it feels like we live in a school.   :tongue_smilie:

 

As far as time...in all honesty, I probably spend the same amount of time (myself - not total school time) with my high schoolers as I do with the younger kids.  I try to give everyone equal attention.  I don't always succeed in that department, but I try!

 

I notice I tend to worry a bit less than other homeschooling parents (and I probably sound like a slacker).  But, my sisters homeschooled high school, so I have already seen the process in person.  (And they turned out fine - one sister is an attorney and the other is a nurse practitioner.)  

 

Anyway, I could relate to your post!  Lol 

[LMD]

Of course it is time consuming. Does anybody else think this is an odd question?

It is already time consuming to just provide care for children.

Add to that researching, planning, teaching, facilitating their education - how can it not be?

Yes, it sounded like a fishing question to me... especially since the op hasn't been back.

 

Op, are you looking at homeschooling your children?

Edited September 30, 2017 by LMD

[ElizabethB]

I can't imagine any one who is homeschooling high school saying that it's a hobby.

 

 

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Some people have very time consuming hobbies!!

[ScoutTN]

Troll.

[ElizabethB]

Troll.

Yes, but it has turned into a really entertaining thread about our homeschooling hobby and how much time we spend on said hobby...

[Guest]

Troll.

Yes, probably. But I do think it is a good topic of discussion. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who has heard the argument about homeschooling being more efficient than public school, which many people then translate into homeschooling taking less time than public school. Which, in the early years, I suppose is true from the student point of view. However, the parent teacher still spends a lot of time planning, organizing, researching, purchasing, etc. So this is an important topic to discuss, and especially for newbies to hear.

Edited September 30, 2017 by Kinsa

[nixpix5]

Yes, but it has turned into a really entertaining thread about our homeschooling hobby and how much time we spend on said hobby...

Gahhh!! You guys come on now ;) So maybe hobby was the wrong choice of words. I clearly didn't think that choice through well haha! What I mean is it feels less like a job and more enjoyable...hence my "hobby" choice of wording. I really didn't mean I am just leisurely kicking back and fishing or sewing. I just mean that I find it fun :)

 

You can all make fun of this post when I get to the high school and middle school years ;)

[Jean in Newcastle]

Yes, probably. But I do think it is a good topic of discussion. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who has heard the argument about homeschooling being more efficient than public school, which many people then translate into homeschooling taking less time than public school. Which, in the early years, I suppose is true from the student point of view. However, the parent teacher still spends a lot of time planning, organizing, researching, purchasing, etc. So this is an important topic to discuss, and especially for newbies to hear.

I think that in the early years "school " in a bookish sense can be light. And I personally didn't have to plan much for the early years either. But your method of homeschooling can make a big difference when it comes to that sort of thing. But as my signature says, I agree with Charlotte Mason that "education is a life" and the early years are busy ones as far as juggling life needs go.

 

As we progressed in homeschooling the demands have grown with the child. But it is also common for many homeschooling families to outsource more in the upper grades so it can also become less time consuming for the mother -unless she has other younger children to juggle also. I only have two kids and they were conveniently spaced so that they were on the same cycle of history, but I would imagine that there is some kind of logarithmic scale that you could come up with to figure out how time consuming homeschooling is for a mother of many homeschool kids spanning different developmental stages. ;). Does anyone mathy want to take on the challenge??

[happypamama]

Yes, but it has turned into a really entertaining thread about our homeschooling hobby and how much time we spend on said hobby...

I first read this as "how much we spend on said hobby," omitting the "time."  Then I realized that that might be accurate too. ;)

[happypamama]

Yes, probably. But I do think it is a good topic of discussion. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who has heard the argument about homeschooling being more efficient than public school, which many people then translate into homeschooling taking less time than public school. Which, in the early years, I suppose is true from the student point of view. However, the parent teacher still spends a lot of time planning, organizing, researching, purchasing, etc. So this is an important topic to discuss, and especially for newbies to hear.

That's a really good point.  Efficient for the student, but still time consuming for the parent.

 

So I'm teaching a history co-op class for 7-9 year olds.  They read something on the topic at home, and in class, we do the reinforcements and fun stuff.  I try really hard to make the projects and activities meaningful.  But sheesh, it's a one hour class every two weeks, and I spend a lot of time getting it ready at home.  I do it because one, I like history and want kids to see how interesting it is and how things change (housing, food, clothing, and transportation changes are discussed every time), and two, because my own son is in the class, and so teaching means that I make sure we get to the fun stuff and don't just revert to reading the book and moving on, as is so easy to do when you're schooling a bunch of children.  I found myself feeling really sorry for public school elementary teachers.  Do they really do this for multiple subjects multiple times a week??  My hat is off to them.

[boscopup]

I'm guessing this thread is fishing for blog article content...

 

But yes, I'm engaged in educating my children from early in the morning until time to make dinner, and sometimes after dinner as well. When I had one child in first grade, it wasn't very time consuming. Now that I have 3 children ranging from grades 3-8 (and the 8th grader is doing virtual school this year, so I'm not even responsible for him nearly as much!), it takes all day. An individual child may not be schooling that long compared to public school students, but my time is spread thin. I have to sit at elbow with my 5th grader, for example, and drag him through an education that he really cares nothing about.  :tongue_smilie:

 

And that doesn't count the planning, research, and educating myself.