How many hours a day?

[CathyinNC]

I'm almost finished with planning for our first year of school and when I put it all down on paper, I was surprised by the number of hours a day that will be required. I started wondering if I'm being overly ambitious. After all, I thought homeschool was supposed to take less time per day than public school!

 

How many hours a day do you devote to school?

[Harriet Vane]

My dd is 12yo, starting 7th grade this fall. She spends 5-6 hours a day on schoolwork.

 

My ds is 8yo, starting 3rd grade this fall. He spends 2-3 hours a day on schoolwork, which is certainly much less than a 3rd grader at a brick and mortar school.

 

I find that as kids get older, it truly does take a LOT more time. However, for dd this is still less than a child in a brick and mortar school, who would spend from 8am-2:30pm in school (6 1/2 hours) plus homework.

[Marylou]

Yes, don't forget elementary age HS'ers usually don't have homework to do at night. One of my favorite reasons for homeschooling :001_smile:.

[kamom]

It would depend on what you figure in as "school" Schools usually have recess,lunch breaks,shuffling around in lines to go to different classes, bus rides etc. Do you figure that in as school?

We have Bible times in the morning, quiet reading in the afternoon, piano,some clean up and kitchen duties. Since they are learning during these times, would you count them as school? Or are you refering to sit down and learn from a schoolbook time?

To me that's the beauty of homeschooling. The children can be doing constructive things learning life skills and it is school.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Cathy, how old are your kids? How WTM are ya?

 

My daughter never got close to 6 hours per day, but my son did 6 hours per day the last 2 years. I would guess he'll be at 5-6 hours per day this year also. He isn't WTM-able though. My kids rarely had/have homework :)

 

My private school kids will have 6 hours per day (though lunch and recess and P.E. are in that time also). I have so much fun planned, I'm afraid we're going to run out of time! I so wish we had used these types of materials when my own kids were young. They are GREAT. These kids will have a minimal amount of homework, very little, but...

[MariannNOVA]

I am planning for my 5th grade DD and 3rd grade b/g twins. I was adding up the hours per day (yesterday, in fact) and I noticed that we will be spending between 4-6 hours a day --

Now, as a former classroom teacher, I can say with confidence, that the 4-6 hours I will be spending with my own children homeschooling is truly 4-6 hours. 4-6 hours in my classroom, at any rate, had a lot of down time simply by virture of 'specials,' admin tasks (attendance, checking uniforms, etc), transition time, etc.

I am curious to see if we truly need that number of hours to complete our lesson plans -

[2_girls_mommy]

I put 2-4, but in reality it is closer to 4 most days. Some days it is less on actual sit down work with me. But it is hard to say, because if you count read aloud time at bedtime, and out of the house activities, which I am driving them to and which are educational (and most of which I am teaching at or assisting with) we spend a lot more time. So it is pretty much a full time job.

[Country Mouse]

It really depends on the age of the student.

I have always heard you should be doing no more than an hour per grade level of focused work. So for example my ds, who would be in 3rd grade in school, will do about three hours of work per day this year.

That is what we have followed and it has worked well for us.

[mazakaal]

I voted more than 6 hours per day, but that's what I devote to homeschool. The kids don't do work the whole time. I just need to work with each independently in so many things that my day ends up being really long. I'm hoping to pare down and combine next year a little. It may end up being 5-6 hours of my time per day. The younger kids only do 1-2 hours per day each and the older kids around 4 hours per day each.

[kalanamak]

I have so much fun planned, I'm afraid we're going to run out of time!

 

I have to keep pulling back, or we'd do science at the expense of sleep. Hard to deny the squeal of delight a little kiddo has over the wonders of the world.

 

"THERE was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,

The earth, and every common sight,

To me did seem

Apparelled in celestial light,

The glory and the freshness of a dream.

It is not now as it hath been of yore;--

Turn wheresoe'er I may,

By night or day,

The things which I have seen I now can see no more."

 

But I see it again through the delight of my son.

[TammyinTN]

We usually work pretty steady from 9am to 3pm.

[hsmamainva]

My boys spend around 5 hours per day, doing school.

 

We start between 9 and 10 in the morning and wrap up between 2 and 3 in the afternoon (with a lunchbreak somewhere in the middle).

[ncmomo3]

I voted more than 6 hours per day, but that's what I devote to homeschool. The kids don't do work the whole time. I just need to work with each independently in so many things that my day ends up being really long.

 

:iagree:This is pretty much my day, and I prefer it this way. If I am devoting about 8hrs. of my time (not that the kids are working 8hrs) I find that I truly stay on top of things.

[Pamela H in Texas]

I have to keep pulling back, or we'd do science at the expense of sleep. Hard to deny the squeal of delight a little kiddo has over the wonders of the world.

 

Yeah, I have to remind myself that 6 and 7 yr olds don't have to learn EVERYTHING in one year. But it's so enjoyable!

[EKS]

I voted more than 6 hours per day, but that's what I devote to homeschool. The kids don't do work the whole time. I just need to work with each independently in so many things that my day ends up being really long.

 

Same here. I'm also including my own prep and planning.

[Georgiana Daniels]

My hs'd kids are going to be D and Pre-K, so we're in the 1-2 hour camp:001_smile:

 

When we hs'd oldest dd in middle school, we did about 4-5 hours per day, sometimes more, sometimes less. Even if we did do less I didn't stress about it because we also worked on and off all year long, not just Sept-May. No long breaks to forget all she ever knew in Math for us:D

[swimmermom3]

:iagree:This is pretty much my day, and I prefer it this way. If I am devoting about 8hrs. of my time (not that the kids are working 8hrs) I find that I truly stay on top of things.

 

:iagree:

[Tammyla]

I wish multiple choices were an option. My older student does 6 or more every day and my ds is in the 4-6 range, but when they were younger....Much...much..less time. Oh, I miss the sweet old days.

[Avila]

Mine averages an hour for each year (5 hours for 5th grade, 3 hours for 3rd grade). Some of that overlaps for me, and some doesn't. I am thinking it will take me about 6 hours for all three kids to finish this year, but I may be a little off one way or the other. We start next week!

 

And that does include art but not music or PE for us, since those are scheduled for after-school hours.

[elegantlion]

I voted 4-6 which has been true for the last couple of years. In 1st-3rd grades I would say we did 2 1/2 - 3 hours per day.

[tjo]

We do about 6 hours per day. Somedays (especially in the winter) more, and sometimes less, but that is the average.

 

The children are 6th and 9th. We did 2 or 3 hours a day when they were early elementary.

[Quad Shot Academy]

My pk'r does 15 minutes, K'r does 30 minutes, 2nd grader does 3 hours and 4th grader does 5 plus an hour of reading at night. I run my HS from 9-4 or 5 though, in order to individually teach and stay on top of things.

[MamaT]

My 4th and 5th graders will have about 4 hours of schoolwork.

 

My 7th grader will have around 6 hours, and my 10th grader will have about 7 hours of work most days, some days are a little longer.

[NancyNellen]

1st grader: 1.5 hours

4th grader: 4 hours

6th grader: 5-6 hours

7th grader: 5-6 hours

[CathyinNC]

Okay- I feel a little more at ease now. I was looking at about 6 hours a day for my 5th grader and that includes a block of time devoted to fixing his illegible handwriting. That still seems like a lot to me. I'm hoping I will find that I have allowed more than necessary time for each lesson and will be able to shorten the day a little.

[SLH in ND]

on the age of my student. I answered the poll looking at my oldest dd's schedule and said 4-6 hours. My 5th grader will finish her work in 2.5-4.5 hours, depending on if we're doing a longer hands-on science activity or not.

 

I did not count p.e., music lessons, lunch/chore break or the additional time I invest in the school day.

 

 

Sheri :)

Edited July 29, 2009 by SLH in ND
eta: 2nd paragraph

[Guest Katia]

For high school, the norm here is 6-7 hours per day. Occasionally 5 or 8. Just depends.

[Aurelia]

I said 2-4, but it's closer to 2, but Ariel insists on doing "extra" lessons like Spanish and music nearly every day, so it makes the day longer than it would be otherwise.

[DawnM]

My oldest is 5th grade this year.....we have been way too lax in the past and their recent test scores show it! Yikes!

 

So, we have hit BOOT CAMP around here. We do about 4 solid hours of school right now. This does not include the hands on supplements I have just ordered. Hands on will probably take an additonal hour or so per day.

 

So, 4-5 hours per day right now for my 5th and 4th graders.

 

Dawn

[kathymuggle]

I voted more than 6 hours per day, but that's what I devote to homeschool. The kids don't do work the whole time. I just need to work with each independently in so many things that my day ends up being really long. I'm hoping to pare down and combine next year a little. It may end up being 5-6 hours of my time per day. The younger kids only do 1-2 hours per day each and the older kids around 4 hours per day each.

 

Heck, I just realised I voted wrong.

 

I put "under 2" - that was how much my kids do per day. I am closer to 4-5 as much of their work is one on one....

 

Good luck combining stuff! Mine tend to dawdle and fuss when their siblings are nearby so I have taken to one on one.

 

Kathy

[DarlaS]

I answered 4-6 but this is an average of time I spend overseeing school type activities on a good day.

[Colleen in NS]

I voted 4-6, and that includes dd8 having free time while I work with ds11 first, and at least an hour for them to read by themselves. I am desperately hoping to keep it at 6 hours or less even in high school (of me teaching/them working/me correcting), so I am always working on streamlining things.

Edited July 30, 2009 by Colleen in NS

[Brindee]

Ooops, I voted wrong too. Somehow I clicked on 2-4, but meant to click on 4-6. My dd will be in 7th grade. On days she has piano lessons or horse riding lessons, the days will be longer. Fridays are usually shorter.

 

We did the one hour per grade up through 5th grade, then it seemed more variable, so we go with what needs to be done, and it does average to about 5-6 hours.

[Tutor]

I voted for our student average, but the number of hours increase as my kids get older.

 

Ker: maybe an hour, if that

3rd: 3 hours

6th: 5 hours

7th: 6+ hours (she tends to be a slow reader, though)

[johnandtinagilbert]

I'm almost finished with planning for our first year of school and when I put it all down on paper, I was surprised by the number of hours a day that will be required. I started wondering if I'm being overly ambitious. After all, I thought homeschool was supposed to take less time per day than public school!

 

How many hours a day do you devote to school?

 

The amount of time really depends on 2 things:

size of family

grade level of student.

 

K-3 was only a few hours and a few kids (at first), now 6 kids with grades 2-8 takes ALL DAY!

[Aubrey]

The amount of time really depends on 2 things:

size of family

grade level of student.

 

K-3 was only a few hours and a few kids (at first), now 6 kids with grades 2-8 takes ALL DAY!

 

I think this is really true. The amt of time I spend hs'ing vs the amt of time I'd *like* to spend...pretty different. But babies & toddlers are our reality right now, which means that sometimes a lesson goes long because of disruptions & sometimes it gets cancelled, so school is shorter.

 

It means that I can't *count* on more than 3 hrs/day, even though I think 6 sounds great. BUT if I know what I need to do & what I want to do & have a plan, it's ok-ish. Just hard to put on paper a specific number of hours, lol.

[phathui5]

However, for dd this is still less than a child in a brick and mortar school, who would spend from 8am-2:30pm in school (6 1/2 hours) plus homework.

 

While they would spend that long in the building, they don't spend 6 1/2 hours learning in school. With lunch, recess, breaks between classes, time spent passing papers, taking attendance, listening to announcements, going to their locker, going to the bathroom, waiting while teachers handle discipline issues, I would be suprised if 2 1/2 hours of the school day is spent studying.

[Katiebug_1976]

I voted 4-6 hours. This is for teaching 4 children. The plan is to begin at 8:30, take 1 1/2 hours for lunch/quiet time (this is a must for mom!) and finish up by 2:30. Of course, there will be days that we finish early, or run longer, but I hope to keep it as close to the schedule as possible.

[Ginevra]

My kids are entering 7th and 4th grade and PreK. The older two have *on paper* schedules that are 4.5-5.5 hours/day. It often is not quite as much as the paper schedule indicates; some things don't always take the whole allotted time. Still, as they get older, it's definitely more hours. It was only 2 or 3 hours back when they were 2nd or 3rd grade, but it has gotten more rigorous over time. The PreK will still not do much "serious" work.

[lauracolumbus]

I had the exact same experience. I tried to plan a schedule (unlike in the past 2 years) and after going thru TWTM and tweaking it, my kids were looking at 7 hours of school. And I knew that that was so much more than they would have in a classroom. Still I don't know what to cut out.

 

Laura

[momofkhm]

There are days when they are all finished by lunch. There are days when we are still schooling at 2 in the afternoon. Of course they all start at different times as well. DS starts by 7:30/8. The girls may not start until 9. But I have an elementary age, middle school aged and high school aged. The high schooler still needs to add in German (on-line, starts next week), writing (paid teacher, starts Aug 18), biology (co-op starts Aug 18). ONce that happens the days may go longer.

[Jill- OK]

We ended up with five hour days, last year; this year might be six.

 

My elementary kids spend nothing close to that, lol. (Maybe a couple of hours on sit down work, tops, not counting read alouds, activities, etc.)

 

But I think this has to do with your philosophy, methods, materials, and how important free time for your kids is to you. (It's very important to me, one of the reasons I like homeschooling).

[Colleen in NS]

We ended up with five hour days, last year; this year might be six.

 

My elementary kids spend nothing close to that, lol. (Maybe a couple of hours on sit down work, tops, not counting read alouds, activities, etc.)

 

But I think this has to do with your philosophy, methods, materials, and how important free time for your kids is to you. (It's very important to me, one of the reasons I like homeschooling).

 

You are one of my inspirations to keep on figuring out how to streamline! I really, really do not want to end up with 7, 8, 9 hour school days in high school. Either with my overall time spent teaching/supervising academics, or for my kids to have to spend that much time.

[tricia]

My children are grouped as follows

 

elementary--2-3 hours

junior high age--3-4

high--5-6

[Dirtroad]

Kids spend 4-6 hours on school work (4th & 5th grade).... but we do put lunch in that time line. I spend a bit more time on it & that puts "us" over 6 hours. If you add music lessons, dance, and other athletic activities or lessons... way over 6 hours.

[Jill- OK]

You are one of my inspirations to keep on figuring out how to streamline! I really, really do not want to end up with 7, 8, 9 hour school days in high school. Either with my overall time spent teaching/supervising academics, or for my kids to have to spend that much time.

 

Thanks for the encouragement, lol. :001_smile:

 

There is sooo much to be said for allowing kids time/opportunity to follow passions. I try really hard not to knock other folks' way of doing things, so I hope that my love for how short days work for us doesn't come across that way...I just know that I couldn't have the time and energy to be as encouraging in this area if we didn't have a short "must do" list, for sit down academics.

 

Doesn't mean other folks can't do it, in other words.

[Colleen in NS]

I hope that my love for how short days work for us doesn't come across that way

 

I don't think it does. I'm always relieved when you pipe up and say how shorter days are working for you, while showing how you make things (that are important to me, anyway) work in your family.