How long does your school day last?

[mamatanya]

I was reading another thread which prompted me to wonder not only how long your day lasts but what subjects you do in that day. I saw several posts with the timeline of their school day but not so many with what is done during that day. I plan for the days to be kind of light with my younger two schooled children but for my going to be sixth grader, I am curious as to how long it could take. We plan to do daily pre-algebra (chalk dust), Noeo science, history which in our case will mostly involve grade level reading that should not take him long at all, wordly wise, latin (beginning) language arts. Does anyone have a schedule similar to this? I am just curious because my children are currently in public school and I know that there is alot of wasted time so to read that I might be schooling from 8-3ish comes as a surprise.

 

Tanya

[prairiegirl]

I have 3 kids (10,9,7) and it takes us about 4--5 hours to do school. That time is for the oldest. The younger two don't take as long. The time includes lots of read alouds (Bible, poetry, Shakespeare, Greek Myths--we don't do all of this everyday, though,) latin, math, grammar, spelling, writing, independent reading, writing summaries of reading, and history (we do block studies for history and science. We do history daily for a month, then a month of science.) We also do cursive copywork twice a week.

[mcconnellboys]

Sixth grade, this year:

 

Approximate plan for the day, which gets interrupted regularly by outside classes, but we generally still get all the work caught up:

 

8-8:30 Bible

8:30-9 Math

9-9:30 Spelling/word study/outlining and notetaking

9:30-10 Grammar

10-10:30 Handwriting/writing

10:30-11 Literature study

11-11:30 alternate geography and logic

11:30-12 alternate Spanish and Latin/Greek

12-1 lunch

1-1:30 read alone time

1:30-3:30 alternate history and earth science

[Tree House Academy]

My 6y/o takes 2-2.5 hours each day and we do:

 

HOD Bible/History/Read Aloud

R&S Math

R&S Phonics

R&S Reading

Pentime Handwriting

Thinking Skills

CLE Science (2 days a week), CLE Social Studies (2 day a week)

Elective (Electives rotate each day, 4 days a week) and include: ETC online, Geography, French, and Draw Write Now.

 

My 10 y/o takes 4.5-5 hours and he does the following:

 

CLE Math

R&S Remedial Phonics (3 days a week) or R&S Science (2 days a week)

R&S History

CLE Bible

R&S Spelling

HOD BHFHG Poetry/copywork

Elective (rotate daily 4 days a week: Typing, Draw Write Now, Music, States and Capitals study)

R&S Reading

R&S English

HOD BHFHG Read Aloud

Edited March 21, 2010 by Tree House Academy

[mom4him]

We try to get going no later than 10 a.m. and finish by 12. In that time we do Bible, LA, Math and Reading. We then break for 2-2 1/2 hrs and come back between 2:30 and 3. We do Science and SS and finish when we are finished except for Mondays as they have their only outside class at 4. Fridays we only do the morning subjects.

[Lightly Salted]

"School" takes about 2.5 hours. We spend the afternoon in an unschooly manner and since I have to log 180 days consisting of 4.5 hours each, I figure it all counts. After seatwork and read-alouds, people are free to:

 

go outside, of course

practice an instrument

play age-appropriate games, view youtube videos, or look up internet links from the Usborne books

play board games

prepare snacks

read anything

do arts and crafts

watch educational tv

play educational Leapster games

play Wii (sports, it's p.e. right?!)

engage in creative play with toys

 

Our "official" schedule is as follows (we're not rigid on times, it's more of a routine, but it works out roughly this way each day):

 

prior to 10 am: Magic School Bus video, breakfast, chores

10 am Circle Time (Bible, patriotic songs and pledge, Bible songs, Bible story, literature, science and history readings)

10:45 am Language Arts/Handwriting/reading

12:00 pm Lunch, recess outside

1:00 pm Math

Afternoons science experiments, art/music, unschooly activities

 

(we're doing Kindergarten and First Grade)

Edited March 21, 2010 by Lightly Salted

[coffeegal]

We plan to do daily pre-algebra (chalk dust), Noeo science, history which in our case will mostly involve grade level reading that should not take him long at all, wordly wise, latin (beginning) language arts. Does anyone have a schedule similar to this?

 

Tanya

 

My 6th and 7th graders tend to take about 3 hours:

 

Math: 45 min

Science: 30 min

History: 30 min

Vocabulary: 15 min

English: 30 min

Latin: 20-30 min

 

Reading happens on their own time or at bedtime.

[....]

This semester (we finished a lot of our curriculum already), in a school day, we do:

 

CLE Reading

Sonlight Readers 2 Adv and 2 Int

CHOW

Apologia's Swimming Creatures

Horizons Math 1 (1st grader)

Singapore Math 2 (2nd grader)

Singapore Math Intensive Practice (2nd grader)

CLE Learn To Read (K)

Singapore Math Earlybird A (K)

MCT LA (2nd grader)

WWE 1 and WWE 2

Map Skills OR Mind Benders (if we have time)

BJU Spelling 1 and 2

 

We try to start by 9am and are usually finished by noon or 1pm. 2nd grader is able to do a lot of stuff on her own and I flip-flop with independent work/tutoring with the 1st grader and 2nd grader, so our time is used more efficiently. K-er takes about 20 minutes and then she gets tired.

 

Sometimes, we'll do Unit Studies, lapbooks, science experiments, etc and that will drag the day out to 2 or 3pm. There have been a couple of times when the kids had "homework". :tongue_smilie:

[patchfire]

We don't have a single day of the week where we are actually home all day long & not doing something outside the house at least some point in the day, but in general, dd starts work at 7:00 am, and is finished by 1 or 1:30, including two meals, 30 minutes to play outside, and 30 minutes of piano practice. Some days take longer than others, but the workload assigned is consistent with the ability to stop at that time. :)

[Cheri Warren]

Usually about 3 to 4 hours with a 6th grader

[hsbaby]

3 or 4 hours here as well. Usually depends on the day....how much are the kids dawdling, what projects we are working on, how difficult the particular lessons are, etc. It's usually the kids dawdling that extends our day (one day I hope they will realize this!):)

[melmichigan]

It's usually the kids dawdling that extends our day (one day I hope they will realize this!):)

 

:iagree:I also teach all of mine all of their subjects yet, so this will change as my oldest hits high school.

[elegantlion]

We about 4 hours/day with my 6th grader. We start at 10am and take 50 minutes for lunch. We're usually done by 3pm. We follow a Latin-Centered Curriculum so our main focus is on Latin, Composition, and Math.

 

Our regular schedule is:

 

M, T, Th, Fr

 

Read aloud 30 min

Latin

Composition (writing, R&S Grammar M,T, Th, Megawords Th, Fri)

Pre-algebra

memory work

History M,T

Anatomy Th,

Geography Fr

 

Wed is our "off" day - usually shorter

 

Read aloud 30 min

Art or Music

Science (Biology)

Megawords

memory work

Logic (just finished that for the year, starting Philosophy next week)

 

He reads on his own in the evening for 30 minutes per day.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Our schedule varies depending upon my work schedule. I work Tues. & Thurs. this semester so those days are always hectic and seem to last forever (5pm). Mon, Wed, & Fri. are more structured (kind of) and end earlier. Mon. night is Boy Scouts so school usually end early so DS can finish up any BS work and eat dinner early.

Wed. is swimming and book club so we have to be finished with school work early.

Fri. is our catch up day so we hit it hard and heavy but try to be finished by 3 or so.

[Pam B]

Wow! How do some of you get done SOO quickly?

 

We're in grades 6, 7 and 8.

 

Starting at 8am, finished around 3-3:30pm.

 

Day dreaming and plain ol' fooling around makes it SO long! I've told them until I'm blue in the face that they are just wasting away their (and my) play time.

 

WHY DON'T THEY CARE??????

 

To ease up on my frustration, I schedule the subjects I must help them with in the morning. That way if they want to do school until bedtime, at least I can be somewhat free to do my stuff........ because I do have other things to do!

 

(Yes, as you can see, this hits home w/ me!) :tongue_smilie:

[NancyNellen]

Hi Tanya!

 

I have 4 school-aged children (7th, 6th, 4th, 1st) and a 3 year old. We usually school from 8-10:30, have outside P.E. (bike riding, scootering, games, hike) for 30-45 minutes, school from 11-1PM, break from 1-2:30PM for lunch and quiet time, and finish up school from 2:30-4:30. My 1st grader is finished with everything but history/science by lunchtime. So the actual time I am teaching is roughly 6.5 hours a day. Not everyone is actively working that whole time (except maybe the 7th grader).

 

We do memory work (IEW Poetry/Scripture), Math (Dociani Pre-Alg/ SM 6B/4B/2A), Latin (Latin for the New Millenium, LfC A), Classical Writing (Maxim/Homer B/Aesop A), SOTW 3 w/ Activities & reading, Teaching Co's High School Am. History, & My World Science, with a smattering of other things in there.

 

On average, I would say the actual time working breaks down like this:

 

1st grader: 2 hours

4th grader: 4 hours

6th grader: 5 hours (she's a super-fast worker)

7th grader: 6.5 hours

 

Hope that helps,

[raganfamily]

I have 5 kids and we usually start at 8 am and finish by noon. (This is uninterrupted school days) After lunch the kids complete their readings and we have "quiet reading time" I find that by noon I need a break and this seems to work well. I schedule 4 full days and use the fifth day as a make up.

[Closeacademy]

2nd and 4th grader. I was greatly influenced by Charlotte Mason's idea of short intense lessons that schoolwork should be finished by noon. We are usually done in 2-3 hours and our rhythm looks like this:

 

4th grade works with mom

grammar term notebook page

grammar exercises (no more than 10 sentences) or composition

a page in Lively Latin

marking spelling words or spelling test

science or history

1 lesson in Singapore

4th grader works on her own

1 notebook page of review work from Rod and Staff Math

1 piece of a lapbook

1-2 spelling worksheets

1 page of copywork

 

While 2nd grader works with mom

reading from an easy reader to mom

phonics concept and/or review

main lesson of math, science or history concept or composing a sentence about the read aloud or using words that use a certain phonics sound

a lesson in Singapore Math

some review work from Rod and Staff math

a piece of a lapbook

copywork while we listen to the read aloud

 

Any art, craft or other type of projects are generally done after lunch. We also do a read aloud at bedtime that includes a chapter from a book and maybe a picture book or a page from a non-fiction book.

 

We keep things flexible. I've found that being willing and able to change things on a whim has kept things interesting, progressing and we don't get bogged down. I like having our after noons free because then we can do a variety of things from: play, take a class, take a field trip, playdates, errands, etc.:001_smile:

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I have 5 kids and we usually start at 8 am and finish by noon. (This is uninterrupted school days) After lunch the kids complete their readings and we have "quiet reading time" I find that by noon I need a break and this seems to work well. I schedule 4 full days and use the fifth day as a make up.

 

Please tell me your children are young. I would love to be able to do junior high in 4 hours a day.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

My 6th grader can be done in anywhere from 3-4 hours to 6-8 depending on her. There are days where she just drags it out :banghead: and then there are days when she just gets it done. I have found with her, which at first was my fault, that when it took her too long I wouldnt make her finish. Shame on me. That got her into a real bad habit of TRYING for that instead of just getting it done. That is why I have her finish (because I know she can, I have seen her many times) in a timely manner. We do everything in my sig daily. (It looks like alot, but WW can take 5-10 mins, MOH 15-20) so its not a rediculous amount.

 

You may have been refering to my post im not sure, but that day was a week of the 8 hours :glare:... and I was frustrated. Since then she has been on a 3-4 hours kick... Why cant she just do it?????

 

My 2nd grader is really good, I would say we do 3-4 hours. Again everything in my sig is our daily work (there are days when we just do half days, but the way I set my weeks up it hard to do it)

 

This is our 2nd year of homeschooling. Last year it took longer, them getting used to it. So be prepared for that. This year has been better, Im hoping next year even better yet :thumbup:

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Wow! How do some of you get done SOO quickly?

 

We're in grades 6, 7 and 8.

 

Starting at 8am, finished around 3-3:30pm.

 

Day dreaming and plain ol' fooling around makes it SO long! I've told them until I'm blue in the face that they are just wasting away their (and my) play time.

 

WHY DON'T THEY CARE??????

 

To ease up on my frustration, I schedule the subjects I must help them with in the morning. That way if they want to do school until bedtime, at least I can be somewhat free to do my stuff........ because I do have other things to do!

 

(Yes, as you can see, this hits home w/ me!) :tongue_smilie:

 

:iagree::iagree: Mine are the same way

Edited March 21, 2010 by wy_kid_wrangler04

[mamatanya]

Thanks to everyone for showing me what your schedule looks like. I was hoping to kind of be flexible with our school days (we have soccer year round except summers 5-7 days a week if weather permits) so I really wanted to be done around 2 pm to give the kids some free time. I also did not want to start until sometime between 9 and 10 am. I plan to have my eldest do his history reading independently when he has the time (he always finds time to read) so I might just be able to do this as long as he doesn't waste his own time. =D Thanks again!

[Verity]

This year I had a 5th and 2nd grader. First thing in the morning we usually do Bible study and history together (mostly read aloud and questions and answer/discussion) for about an hour. Then they start doing their separate work - Latin, Math, Copywork, Writing, Grammar, Science/Logic/Greek/Music/Art. My younger son takes about two hours total to do his school work, my older can take between 3-5 depending on the workload and how spacy he is that day (ADD unmedicated).

[Mommee & Baba]

I have 2 elementary kiddos and we spend from 9am-2pm doing school. However there are some days it goes until 1pm and days it goes til nearly 4pm..depending on our morning and how well of a start we get. We dont school solid for those hours though. We have 1 15min break and a 30min lunch in between.

[nmoira]

Three hours cumulative for an 8yo and between 30 and 60 minutes cumulative for a 5yo. Read-alouds not included except for History.

[raganfamily]

Please tell me your children are young. I would love to be able to do junior high in 4 hours a day.

 

Here are their ages: 12,10,9,6 & 4. I don't know if this will work out the same next year as my oldest will be considered 7th grade. I should also add that Art projects, Music lessons and nature study are not completed in this 4 hours.

[m0mmaBuck]

My 2nd grade son could easily be done in 3 hrs but he dawdles and daydreams. Even though he knows that the more focused he stays the faster we are done, he just doesn't seem to care. His 4yo sister has started to pick up this concept and will remind him that "you are using up all the sun time" when he doesn't stay on track. Honestly, I don't think he cares as long as he is done by 4p.m. when his friends get home from PS.

 

I try to start by 9a.m. so in theory we could be done by noon/lunch. We do Math and LA (inc. CLE LA, penmanship using copywork, reading comprehension, and independent reading) every day. We alternate Science and History as well as maps/geography and social studies. Other topics (art, music, etc) fit in with one of the above topics.

[Colleen in NS]

but what subjects you do in that day. I saw several posts with the timeline of their school day but not so many with what is done during that day. ...but for my going to be sixth grader, I am curious as to how long it could take.

 

My sixth grader does:

 

- R&S math (some orally with me) 4x/week

- R&S grammar (mostly orally with me) 4x/week

- Henle Latin (some orally with me, plus memory work) 4x/week

- VfCR 4x/week

- either a narration or an outline a day, 4x/week

- lit/sci/hist memory work 4x/week

- the 5th day is for geography, listing history facts, putting dates on timeline, science experiment/writeup, and sometimes letter writing or an art lesson

 

This takes about 3 - 3.5 hours a day, including time for corrections. He also has reading time during the day.

 

Some weeks we scrap the above, and do math, logic, art practice, and writing instead, in that same 3 hour timeframe.

 

Wow! How do some of you get done SOO quickly?

 

We're in grades 6, 7 and 8.

 

Starting at 8am, finished around 3-3:30pm.

 

Day dreaming and plain ol' fooling around makes it SO long! I've told them until I'm blue in the face that they are just wasting away their (and my) play time.

 

WHY DON'T THEY CARE??????

 

To ease up on my frustration, I schedule the subjects I must help them with in the morning. That way if they want to do school until bedtime, at least I can be somewhat free to do my stuff........ because I do have other things to do!

 

(Yes, as you can see, this hits home w/ me!) :tongue_smilie:

 

For me, it has been a process of figuring out exactly what I want my kids to learn, and what to eliminate or let them do by their own choice. Also learning how to teach things...it takes me time to figure out how to teach a new skill or set of skills.

 

For example, I use WRTR to teach how to read and spell. At first, it took me awhile to figure out the process, but now that I know how to do it, I can run through analyzing 5 or 10 spelling words a day, in 10-15 minutes. Or, once I figured out a routine for teaching Latin from Henle, I wrote down a routine and I stick with it. Writing: SWB's new writing lectures helped me to figure out a simple writing routine to progress through. R&S grammar and math: I do as much orally as possible with ds, and assign what needs to be written for any particular reason (why bother writing out sentences to prove you know punctuation? Why not just have my ds just *tell* me where all the punc. and caps go in the R&S, and then see if he puts it into practice in his daily narration/outline?)

 

I've discovered that I need a good reason to require particular written/physical output from my kids, otherwise, it's a waste of our time. Even in math - they do need to write out actual problems, but do they need to write out answers to 4 qt. = ? gal. ? Not in my opinion - so we whiz through things like that orally. They know it will take them less time to *tell* me than to have to write it out and then have to do corrections, so they cooperate better, too. I'd say most of my ds' written/physical output is in the form of narrations/outlines (in which he is practicing all sorts of skills that we have worked on orally previously), actual math problems, sentence diagrams, listing history facts, putting dates on timeline, sci. exp. writeup, and Latin translations from English to Latin (so he gets practice writing in the Latin language and spelling Latin words).

 

I have also figured out that what I care more about spending academic time on, is skills. So we concentrate on skills work during those 3 or 4 hours. I tutor one child rapid-fire through things he needs me for, then the other child, and then they finish independent work. The rest of the day is for reading (some assigned for lit/sci/hist/art/music, some free), life skills, playing, and relaxing with family.

 

The other thing I do is try to spread things out over a year, instead of trying to fit it all into 36 weeks. Some weeks are for some subjects, some weeks are for others. And some are completely free. For us, it brings life more into balance. For awhile, I was starting to feel like we would begin to drown in academic life, and I've decided in the last few months that that is NOT what I want for my family. I want them to have great thinking skills, but I do not care if they master a particular history or science "program." We read systematically through these subjects each year, but I use that reading for their writing skills and general talking, but I don't freak out anymore if they didn't study some particular topic in depth. I really want to give my kids skills to be able to learn what they want to learn later. I figure if I do that, they will be able to carry those skills into college, if they want to go, and if they choose to go, they will also choose to use their skills to study in order to complete whatever program they enroll in. The WTM book/related materials/these forums have really helped me to figure all this out for us.

 

EDIT: Oh, and they don't care (red, in reference to your above frustration) because it is boring!! LOL That's why I rapid-fire my kids through the skills work, and let them spend time on the more interesting parts of learning: reading and free choice hands-on (helping me cook, helping dh do whatever, building a fort in the woods, building things out of Legos/K'Nex/Lincoln Logs, making up dramatic plays, playing baseball in the backyard, etc..

Edited March 21, 2010 by Colleen in NS