How long is your school day?

[Embassy]

How long is your school day per grade? Also, what method of homeschooling do you use?

[Laura Corin]

9-5, including PE and music practice but not assigned reading. Calvin does Monday-Friday; Hobbes usually finishes his list by sometime on Thursday, or sometimes Wednesday. We are eclectic structured home educators with a particular interest in languages and a commitment to exercising for an hour a day.

 

Laura

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

My kids have actually been doing great lately! My 2nd grader has been taking between 4-5 hours and my 6th grader right around 4 recently. Before this spurt of good they were doing a spurt of bad and it would last 8 hours or more. I guess they realized they get their work done and the rest of the day is theirs! Im so happy about this change though!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

We are a mix of Eclectic,Charlotte Mason and classical. I would say more eclectic than anything else

Edited April 7, 2010 by wy_kid_wrangler04

[patchfire]

We're pretty close to WTM. 7am - 1pm, some times longer; we have a lot of outside activities so this is an approximation removing those. That includes 1 hour of meals, 30 min of piano practice, and half an hour outside in the morning. Dd is 9 and would be in fourth grade. If we don't have other activities, her afternoons include 30-60 min of reading, more time outdoors, and 30 minutes of trumpet practice.

[Guest mrsjamiesouth]

9-2, lunch break from 1130-1230 with my 4th grader

9-1130 with my K son

[hlee]

Schooltime for my 2nd grade son is about 3.5 hours total, plus 45 minutes for piano, four days a week. Then once per week he goes to a homeschool co-op for 3 hours, on top of which he'll do quiet reading time and typing or other work for another 1.5 hours.

 

We use My Father's World, plus Singapore Math, First Language Lessons, Prima Latina...I guess you could say we're a mix of MFW and WTM. =)

 

We start with piano at 8:30 a.m. By the time you add in lunch and breaks, we're done by no later than 3 p.m. HTH!

[elegantlion]

Usually it run from 10-2:30 or 3, our method is LCC.

[8filltheheart]

My kids work approx. 1 hr per grade level until late middle/high school and then it can range from 7-9 hrs/day.

 

We are CMish in the younger yrs and transition to more classical for the older grades for some of the kids or more traditional high school type courses for others.

[Tree House Academy]

My 6.5 year old (1st grader) works from around 9:30 to around 12:00 (2.5 hrs). My 10.5 year old (5th grader) works from around 9:00 to around 2:00 (5 hrs).

 

We do some classical, some WTM. My older son likes textbooks and workbooks. My younger son does some workbooks but lots of reading and living books. Ecclectic is what you would call us, I guess.

Edited April 7, 2010 by Tree House Academy

[FairProspects]

I like to think we are classical :) and we are running about 30-45 min per day, not including read-alouds and hands-on activities like science experiments and messy art projects. If you add those in, we are at about an 1 1/2 to 2 hours (of course, I have boys, so this time is actually spread out anywhere from 9am-1pm, with snack, lego, run around the house, kick a soccer ball, and wrestling breaks).

[Halcyon]

We tend towards classical model, and my 7 yo schools for 3-4 hours a day.

[2_girls_mommy]

My 2nd grader worked from 11-6 today. Lunch was about an hour in there somewhere. She spent some time in time out and lots of dawdling today. It was not her finest day :) So 6 hrs today (but plenty of that time was staring into space..) Usually it is closer to 4 hrs. not including reading time, extra curricular activities or playing outside. We pretty much follow WTM, although not exactly.

 

My Ker/almost 1st grader worked from 11-2 w/a 1 hour lunch break. So 2 hrs. Then she played starfall online for awhile, then sat in on a 1 hr science reading & narrating session. So around 3 hrs today. You can see what she is doing in my sig. They will both hear some additional read alouds at bed time that pertain to our science or history.

 

Typical day, except for dd7's dragg-g-g-g-g-ging it out. That luckily is not every day!

[charlotteb]

We usually go from 9:30 to 4:00, so 6 1/2 hours.

[Reya]

4 hours currently.

 

4.5 hours, max, next year. DS wants to add piano and Mandarin.

 

I can't wait until handwriting, grammar, and spelling are no longer separate subjects! That'll free up some time.

[Melissa B]

We consider ourselves to be classical homeschoolers.

 

9 hours for dds 12 and 10

7am-1pm and 3:30pm-6:30pm. We have a 15 minute break around 11:00.

[fractalgal]

How long is your school day per grade? Also, what method of homeschooling do you use?

 

My 10 y.o. works about 6 hours per day, but 1 hour of that is guided reading. In her free time she loves to write stories and illustrate them.

 

My 7 y.o. does about 3.5 hours of work, but 30 minutes of that is guided reading. He loves to build things and hunt for interesting rocks in his free time.

 

We are classical with the older and classical leaning with the younger.

[mcconnellboys]

I'm pretty close to WTM. I use a mix of classical and CM styles. I've always schooled from about 8-3 (or 3:30), but that includes outside activities, too. For younger grades, it includes a lot of outside activities and tons of reading, movies, etc.

[kalanamak]

Between 12-16 hours a week, no more than 3 hours a day, year round.

I'm following WTM fairly closely, but wonder what starting MCT will do to my brain next fall.:)

 

At this age, I stress science over history, and have a science spine. I find history either watered down or too strange for a 7 year old....

[5LittleMonkeys]

For my dd1st it is about 3 to 4 hours depending on how messy our projects get.

 

My dd5th and dd6th 5 to 6 hours.

 

Neither of those times include the myriad of other times we will watch a documentary, listen to a book on cd, read, art projects, cooking lessons, etc., etc.... isn't it great how we homeschoolers can make everything into learning. It annoys my oldest. Just the other day I was showing her how to sew on a button and started joking about giving her a grade in home-ec. She stopped me quickly and in her snide 12 year old girl voice said, "Can't it ever just be about getting a button sewn on a pair of pants...really!" I got a good laugh out of that (after she left the room).

 

I suppose we would be considered WTM\Classical.

[....]

2-3 hours a day, but longer if we do a Unit Study or Project.

 

This year, we are using a weird mixture of CLE, Sonlight and Apologia Science. :D

[Closeacademy]

We spend between 1 and 3 hours on seatwork. Charlotte Mason inspired me to do short intense lessons with my children and that schoolwork didn't need to take all day. We also spend 30 minutes at bedtime doing read alouds.

 

I use a classical framework to decide what we are going to study in a given period. But I use Montessori materials (that I make) and Waldorf methods to teach so that things are hands-on and visual. :001_smile:

[Ester Maria]

I have a 12y.o. and a 13y.o.

Sunday through Thursday 8.00-4.00, officially, but it can start a bit later and finish a bit later too. It includes lunch break, independent work and mom sessions a few times a week, but doesn't include most of the assigned reading which they can complete whenever they want and which takes, approximately, additional 5-7 hours a week outside of the "school time".

Fridays we finish about 1-2.

 

We're "Ester-style" (:p) classical. Lots of work on text and discussions.

[pamd]

We are a mix of Eclectic,Charlotte Mason and classical. I would say more eclectic than anything else

What is Eclectic?:confused:

[8filltheheart]

We are a mix of Eclectic,Charlotte Mason and classical. I would say more eclectic than anything else

What is Eclectic?:confused:

 

In educational terms, eclectic means a combination of philosophies/approaches.

[siloam]

How long is your school day per grade? Also, what method of homeschooling do you use?

 

My 1st grader does about 30-60 mins 4 days a week.

My 3rd grader does 2-3 hours 4 days a week.

My 4th grader does 3-4 hours 4 days a week (finished by lunch, usually).

My 6th grader does hs all day long :glare: but this is largely because this child can waste a lot of time on nothing. Reasons to stop her studies include, but are not limited to: wanting to comment on something I am teaching one of the other kids, listening to any stories I read the other kids, one of the cats walking by, needing to get a drink, needing to walk upstairs (which always includes a detour to pet a cat, but often also ends in a chat with a sibling as well), ect... She is very social and really needs to be in an isolated area to get hs done, but she is social and to date I can't get her to agree. She would rather do hs all day and into Friday and even the weekend some weeks. :001_huh:

 

But when she bought her DS we had a deal that she couldn't play till EVERYTHING was done, and she did manage to get it all done before lunch. For one whole day. Since it has slowly slipped back into old habits. I do allow her to go till 9:30 (let me qualify that with she has a lunch break of at least an hour to herself, and family evening time off) then she can play a half an hour of DS, but she doesn't get more unless she gets all her hs done. Now she rarely gets all of hs done in one day. :rolleyes:

 

Heather

[AngieW in Texas]

My 11th grader likes to make her work take the entire day, so she takes lots of breaks. I have no idea how long her work actually takes her to complete.

 

My 9th grader works about 25 hours/week. She's doing 5 non-p.e. credits, so that's just about right. She works 9-5 on Mondays, 9-4 on Tu/Th, 9-3 on Wednesdays, and 9-1 on Fridays. She takes a one-hour break every day to eat lunch and to take care of a neighbor's dogs. She also takes at least one 20-minute break on M/Tu/Th, her long days.

[coffeegal]

I consider us to be Classical homeschoolers, however, we only take around 3-4 hours per day. It's a pretty intense 3-4 hours though. When they dilly-dally it can take up to 5 hours to get through school. Thankfully, that's relatively rare.

[DB in NJ]

For the most part, it goes like this:

 

2nd grade nephew:

 

1 hour

using a mixture of workbooks and textbooks. he hates read-alouds, so it's a just-the-facts type of thing with him.

 

5th grade ds:

 

2 - 3 hours, depending on what we do that day

using traditional textbooks with him (ABeka and MUS). On days when we do spelling and handwriting and a read-aloud, we spend 3 hours; otherwise, it's only 2, including Bible.

 

14 yo niece

 

2 hours

using a crappy workbook curriculum that her father insisted on. don't even get me started :glare:

 

9th grade dd

 

5 hours (sometimes 6)

using ABeka and MUS -- she's using ABeka DVD's for science and geography. Both of those classes involve homework. We're doing ABeka Language also, but she does that with me using the parent/student guide, so there's no homework. Also using MUS Algebra, which we do together.

[Shelly in the Country]

With dd 10 we do school from 8:30-3:00 each day with a 1 hour break for lunch. Sometimes she finishes early, sometimes later. Ds 6 does about 2 1/2 hours of school each day spread out over the day. I do Bible, math, spelling and handwriting with him in the mornings, and then pick up again after lunch with reading, read aloud, history, grammar, WWE and science. Dd 4 is just starting out so her school time takes less than 1 hour.

[Capt_Uhura]

For those w/ 1st graders and report 1hr/day. What does that include? If I only have my 1st grader, it will take 2hrs for the core stuff. I can't imagine being done in an hour with everything. 30min for reading and 30min for math alone is an hour, not to mention reading to him etc.

[DB in NJ]

For my 2nd grade nephew, we do

 

Bible (I read, ask questions, we talk)

Math (R&S 2 lesson & workbook)

Science (ABeka 2nd grade text -- reading and questions/discussion)

Phonics/Reading (We did ETC books 1-3; now we're doing 100 EZ Lessons before going back to ETC 4)

Spelling (SWO)

 

We work on handwriting, art, and piano every now & then (My mother mostly teaches him penmanship), and we already finished History for the year.

 

It all takes about an hour. I'd love to do read-alouds with him, but he HATES it! :(

[Embassy]

My Kindergartener does about 5 hours a day and my second grader does about 6 hours a day. We are eclectic with a lot of hands-on activities.

[Momling]

My 2nd grader usually averages about 2 hours per day -- maybe 6 days/week. That's for handwriting (30 dragged-out-minutes), math (45 minutes), Latin (15 minutes) and history (30+ minutes).

 

My kindergartner gets about 30 minutes (maybe about 15 for phonics and 15 for math).

 

My kids also do go to school from 9-12... my kindergartener does PS kindergarten and my 2nd grader pretty much has a variety of fun electives (book club, knitting, creative writing, TERC math, woodworking, etc...)

[coffeegal]

For those w/ 1st graders and report 1hr/day. What does that include? If I only have my 1st grader, it will take 2hrs for the core stuff. I can't imagine being done in an hour with everything. 30min for reading and 30min for math alone is an hour, not to mention reading to him etc.

 

My 1st grader's schedule:

1-2 lessons Queen's Language Lessons for Little Ones Vol. 3 (1-5 min)

1 page Pentime Penmanship 1 (10 min)

2 pages BJU Math 2 (10-15 min)

1 lesson of Calvert Spelling & Vocabulary Cd-rom 3 (10 min)

1 section of SOTW 1 or 1 topic from McGraw-Hill Science 1 (10 min)

(We only complete the coloring pages, discussion questions, and mapwork with SOTW 1, although I'll check out recommended books for him to read.)

 

By this point he's chomping at the bit and rearing to go. :auto: