My 12 yo ds wants to know how much free time...

[ThelmaLou]

most kids his age get. How many hours a day do your 7th graders spend on schoolwork? At what time do you call it quits? When do they start in the morning? If they participate in music lessons and sports, do these qualify as free time activities, or do you lump them in with school?

 

I just finished showing him the responses on a recent post regarding curriculum plans for 8th graders. (This was prompted by his own dismay over how much he feels he has to do for school.) Anyhow, it became evident after reading the responses that he's not alone when it comes to the number of subjects he's studying. In fact, most responses on that thread listed additional subjects that he's not even taking right now. He said, "Those kids must have almost no free time." So, I'm trying to help him wrap his brain around how much "free time" he should expect, and what other students his age are realistically doing. Any input would be appreciated.

 

Also, do your kids feel like they have too much work? Are they content with the amount of free time they have? (I know, probably a silly question. What 7th grader actually wants to do schoolwork at all?) Are you able to convice them that the work they do is reasonable and necessary? In our house, the work has to get done whether the kids think it's reasonable or not. I'd just like to see their expectations change. I think they believe they have it tougher than most kids, and I just don't believe that's true.

[Krista in LA]

She does "school" from about 9am-3pm (it varies some from day to day) with about 45 min to an hour lunch break. In addition, she has to practice piano for 45 minutes each day. On top of that, she has dance 4 days a week and karate 2 days a week where she also is a junior instructor - her choices. That means that some days she has very little free time before dinner. Besides the weekend, she really only has Fridays where she has time to play, read, do whatever she wants.

 

HTH with you ds.

[sadiegirl]

I have a 6th grader and a 5th grader. We get up between 6:45 and 7:00 so they can watch a 30 minute program and wake up a little(love Grossology and Beverly Hillbillies). We eat breakfast, chores and start school around 8:00 and finish at 3:00. We do math,bible, some type of grammar, spelling, independent reading everyday and then add in history, geography,science and art on days. We generally break for 45 minutes to an hour at lunch for outside play and eating. I think my boys feel ok with this amount of time. My main concern that I see that in the next year, I want to focus on more is their study and prep time for tests. Since we do not have homework assigned, I find that even though they know they may have a test the next day--they don't feel it necessary to study for it the night before as I did in public school. They have always done well with their tests but I see as our studies have become more advanced that it is not as easy on areas that they may struggle a little more with(for example a math concept that was not easy for them)

So, to answer your question, I feel like most homeschoolers that I know do not spend as much time outside of school hours on their studies and work. I sometimes think they could do more in the evenings on prep work for quiz or test. AND my kids never have homework unless they do not finish the assigned pages from that day.

[WTMindy]

My kids really have very little free time. We do a co-op two days a week, which means that the other days we have quite a bit of school to do. We try and do a lot of nothing on the weekends so the kids have time to play with each other. But, on the days at home, we do school 8:30-2:00 and then we often have other structured things (maybe not school) to do after that.

[ArwenA]

I find it hard to define "free time" and "school". DD12 (7th grade) will get caught up in a science book and keep reading it for hours. I'm not telling her to read it, but she's learning. DD9 (4th grade) has been working through DS10's writing curriculum for fun.

So, I'm not really sure how much free time and school time my kids get.

[Melissa in Australia]

my children can choose to work fast and have more free time or sit at their desks for a long time. we work on amount of work done, not time in each subject. This works well , one child gets up early and does everything he can do himself , then has free time until I have time to do his grammar with him, ds12 is very fast at his work, he can whizz through his math in about 15 minutes, He has time to go fishing in the middle of the day. ds14 finds it harder to go through his work fast, but he isn't all that interested in free time anyway.

mostly they spend between 4-5 hours a day doing schoolwork, 1 hour a day doing assigned chores, 1/2 hour doing extra jobs as I direct them, and the rest is their own time. ( though today it doesn't look like there will be any free time)

 

MelissaL

[Mrs Mungo]

My eldest is 12 and in sixth grade. On Monday, Wednesday and Thursday we do schoolwork from 8:30 am until 4:00 pm with an hour break for lunch. On Tuesday and Friday we do school from 8:30 until lunchtime to accommodate activities. I don't count any activities as schoolwork although I will probably add them to her high school transcripts as such when we get there. She also does homework, reading, etc that she would need to do even if she were in traditional school.

[SparrowsNest]

I can give some input from my oldest son who is in 8th grade at a private college prep school for a different point of comparison. Last year, he was at school from 8:15 to 3:00 (15m break + 45m for lunch), with 2 hours or homework a night.

[Peela]

here is another point of view...hope it doesn't sound snooty but I just thought I would share it....

I find plenty of free time is important for us, and for my 12yo son in particular, because he does not find his schoolwork enjoyable, mostly. It's not his thing! He does about 4 hours of schoolwork a day, plus an hour of reading in the afternoon. I don't count classes, because they are usually in school time anyway. He does lots of classes where he sees other kids at various times in the week...he has a full social life.

I used to push much harder, but I stopped around last November, and life became so much happier for us all. We do what we can do, and it seems like a lot. I do not keep up with the intense classical people on these boards.

My son gets up around 7am, does music practice around 7.30 and starts his schoolwork around 8am. We finish by 1, but that includes a lot of mucking around on his part, so he can finish by 12 and sometimes does.

He needs time to skateboard, to play with his friends on the street after school, and I personally feel it is essential for kids to have lots of free time to learn to deal with themselves, to be alone, to play, to just be kids. To me, 12 is too young to be putting on the thumbscrews regarding schoolwork. Well, with my non academic kid. My dd13 does at least an hour more.

I see far too many children with no free time nowadays, and adults seem to always be complaining about not enough time for themselves. I think there is a scourge of too much busyness in our society, and people don't know how to stop and just be. I love Charlotte Mason's ideas around this subject. Lots of time for nature, playing, just hanging out, plus doing non academic things..crafts etc.

Maybe my kids will end up bums because I didn't push them hard enough, but they will be bums who know how to enjoy themselves, can read poetry and classics and have a good conversation about lots of things, as well as play instruments and paint pictures...well rounded. That's my aim, anyway.

[LindaOz]

That's very cool, Peela. :iagree:

I'm really working towards that a lot more too.

[mcconnellboys]

My older son did school from about 8 am until about 4:30 pm at that age. This included all of his "homework" for the day and he was done for the night once he got to that point. Since most middle schoolers of that age here did school from 8-3 (or a similar time span) and then had about 2-3 hours of homework afterward, I didn't feel that was out of line at all.

 

Doing his work at home allowed him to make better use of his entire day and he covered much more material, and to a greater depth, than his peers in public school. The level of work he was doing at this age was at the high school level, rather than middle school level, and he was still able to accomplish it within the same timeframe as other middle schoolers. This left his entire evenings free to do other things, at a time when others were doing homework. Others were complaining throughout his daily swim practices about how much homework they had to go do afterward, when he was going home to a completely free evening.

 

This has enabled him to see the value of using one's time wisely and even though he's back in a private school this year, he has quickly learned to use free time there to get as much homework as possible accomplished so that he has less to bring home in the evenings. His grades are great and he's not stressed out with homework because he's learned to manage his time well.

 

Regena

[Kelley]

I wholeheartedly agree with Peela:iagree:

 

We start school about 8:15 and at the very latest finish about 1:00. My daughter is very determined to plow through her work and complete it prior to her busy schedule.

 

My daughter has dance 4 nights a week.

She also has a choir practice requirement at home daily for our co-op.

She has to study her ballet, for she has to take ballet exams.

She is also in another choir for "Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat"

We also attend a weekly co-op.

 

She definately needs some down time before for additional activities.

 

Kelley

[hsmom]

Ds usually start school at 8:30-9:00 and we are usually done between 12:30 - 1:30. It usually depends on if we are involved in our science projects or what not. He does all of his chores before we start school and has to have 1 hour reading somewhere in the day his choice when. Other than that the rest is his time. To go out and ride bikes with his friends or go and play something. In the spring he is in baseball and soccer so he is pretty busy there, but over all he has a lot of free time.

[Karenciavo]

My 7th grade son starts school at 8:30 and finishes around 2:30. He takes about 45 minutes around lunch. He practices music outside of school hours, piano 45 minutes a day, drums about 30 minutes.

[Tammyla]

My 13 year old, works very hard from around 8-1 daily. Tuesday she has classes outside the home and works from 8 until we leave at 10:30 am. She has reading to do as homework daily. It averages less than an hour.

 

She does have a lunch:). Thursday she also has piano lessons in the afternoon.

[mcconnellboys]

And maybe I should add, because this always gets confusing, that this time frame included all his outside classes as well as all his reading, music, etc. That was the entire kit and kaboodle......

 

Regena

[Beth in SW WA]

Schedule for ds 12

 

7:00 Get up

7:15 Bible Study & coffee w/ mom

8:00 Breakfast

8:30 Schoolwork

noon Lunch & rough-house w/ little sisters

1:00 Schoolwork

3:00 Guitar practice

3:30 Sports, play, clean room, pick up junk around house

 

Read 1 hour /night assigned reading. Free reading in bed if all is done for the day.

[Shasta Mom]

I have decided to take a more relaxed approach. My DS is 8, and in 3rd grade. What works for us is math, grammer, reading, history, some spelling (although I wonder about its merits), and some sporadic science and art. THat he can get accomplished in 2.5-3 hrs per day. He plays music for 1 1/2 hrs a day. It also takes him a while to do his school work - lots of stalling and self imposed distractions. At first, I fantasized about a rigorous academic schedule, but became more relaxed as I interacted with more hs families. Some of my parenting mentors who have kids older than mine have taken the unschooling approach with remarkable results. SEveral of these kids didn't learn to read until their own spark was ignited - around age 9 for all of them, and within 6 months they were reading advanced literature. I believe there is a reason to back off and let the child bloom naturally. Among my reasons for hs are that right now I don't have any paid work outside the home, so I feel that this is something I should do for now. If I send my kids to school, I'm not going to housekeep. So this is a challenge for me in my present stage of life. I was attracted to hs also because of learning how much the constant academic rigor may not be that beneficial in all cases. Letting the child explore and find what interests them is pretty fascinating. I realize all kids are different - for example, my dd (4) already has her lunch box packed for kindergarten next year. I would never even consider hs her at this age. We'll see a few years down the road, but for her personality - school is the answer. She wants to be in the thick of it.

I feel even with the 3 hrs per day academic that my ds has had a more rigorous academic instruction than what he got in school. I don't think it would work for him to load on more (so I'm on the fence about starting latin. I've read about the pros, but time-wise I'm wondering if it would be better to learn another romance language instead). I like the classical approach, mainly, so that my kids can grow with good literature and develop their intellectual minds.

[Angel]

First :iagree: with Peela!

 

Second, I have learned to take a more relaxed approach...I didn't always. My dd13 (8th) has AS, it took me awhile to figure out what would work best for her. This past year, and partly the year before, we have taken a more Charlotte Mason approach to our schooling. Shorter lesson times with more varied subjects, more free time to explore her interests. It works really well for her, and my younger dd7, I think, will reap the benefits of beginning this way.

 

We begin sometime between 8:30 and 9:30am. I like to be done by 1-1:30pm. We break about 30-45 min for lunch. Dd does R&S math & English, WW3000, LfC A, Jump In Writing, MFW Rome to Ref. for History & Bible, Apologia General Science and LL7th. Math is no longer than 40 min as is science (though if interested she sometimes runs over). Literature is 30 min, vocab, Latin, and writing usually 15-20, English 20-25. History we usually do until it's done. If she finishes an assignment in 5 min, we move on to the next. She has the option to work ahead, but usually doesn't. We also have co-op 1 day a week, every other week and she has children's choir at church for 1.5 hours every week.

 

I have found that since giving my dd more free time, she has found more interests. Knitting, weaving, beading, playing the piano (formal lessons to start soon...I hope), reading, drawing, and painting are just some of the things she fills her free time with. After 3:30, they are allowed computer time or tv time, but she is usually occupied elsewhere. I'm thrilled that she has had the time for these pursuits.

 

Could she be ahead and doing more in her grade, I guess she could, she's pretty smart, but I don't feel the need to push (even if she didn't have AS). I would rather her enjoy her learning and retain it. But that's just my opinion:tongue_smilie: and I'm not saying that those who do so much more than us are not enjoying it or retaining it...just for the record:)

 

Angel

[Guest Lorna]

Hello. I have a twelve year old too, who, I imagine, thinks a lot about this as well.

She starts her day at nine and then works on three subjects until 11.20am. We have a snack and a break until about 11.50am. We then work until about 1.15pm.

Then it is lunch time - until about 2.15pm.

After lunch we go to the swimming pool twice a week and three times a week we do science until about 5pm (she likes this bit especially though and so, in a way, it is her fun time).

She likes to read until dinner - but she can do anything she likes. Her brother loves to help make dinner. All her evening time is her own too.

We don't have a tv however and she can only use the computer on Fridays. She likes to go on Bella Sara and she has started a horse blog.

We all go out together at the weekends to the library, on walks, to the museum and shopping. Otherwise she likes to read and play then too.

I hope this helps.

 

:bored:

[Chris in CA]

Just wanted to say - I love the name Genevieve, I was going to name my 3rd dd that - but we didn't have a 3rd child afterall. It is such a beautiful name

[Mama Lynx]

We have lots of free time here, too. I'm on the fence right now - I think my ds 12 should be doing more schoolwork, but I so hate to take away his free time. Striving for balance. I am certain that he does no more than 4 hours of work per day - it's hard to tell exactly as he does not do it all in one sitting, but spreads it out throughout the day.

 

That free time is precious. He's learning Latin and Greek, grammar, music, math, and is reading history and excellent literature, so I feel pretty good about all the free time.

[Jenny in Atl]

We have been "schooling" more in the afternoon lately. I would say including reading, dd12, does about six hours of school (9-11 reading for history, science, and lit. Then 12-4 math, science, Latin, written history, logic, etc). But, since we school year-round, there is lots of free time spread throughout the day, weeks, months, etc. She still has far more free time then her friends who attend local middle schools (both private & public).

[Pamela H in Texas]

My 7th grader averages just over 6 hours per day not counting spiritual activities (personal reading, study, comm service, etc). He feels he works too much and would gladly not do any work. He'd rather play puzzlepirates all day every day (outside of certain spiritual activities). TOO BAD says his mom :)

 

My daughter, when she was a 7th grader did 3-4 hours per day despite being a couple levels beyond where ds is. However, she did lots of other stuff on her own that many people consider schoolwork (reading, violin, piano, etc).

 

Different kids are different. I pretty much don't worry about what anyone else is doing. When we did 2-4 hours per day and others did 7, oh well. When we do 6 and others are doing 4 still, oh well. We do what we do and other families do what is best for their families and the kids in those families.

 

EDIT: Oh, and ds gets up very early to get started so he can finish in the early afternoon. He's often done 1-2 hours before I even get up these days. The HSers down the street don't get started til 10 or so and when ds feels like spending time with them, he feels like he's waiting for them to hurry up and get school done. Again, whatever works for each family.

 

JMO

[ThelmaLou]

Thanks so much for all your responses. We've been reading them together. Ds has agreed that he wastes way too much time during the day. If he would buckle down and work more efficiently, he could get done much sooner. I like the idea of giving my boys plenty of free time, but when they choose to drag out their lessons all day, and then ask my to let them skip a subject, I just can't oblige them. My oldest 2 get up at 6:00 every morning (their idea) and read their bibles and memorize verses. Then they eat breakfast and start on their school work. They work well until the rest of the family members roll out of bed, and then it's hit and miss. I would say that including breaks and a lot of wasted time, the oldest 2 usually finish around 3-4:00. (This also includes piano practice.) Sometimes they save some math work for the evening when their dad is available to help them. They almost never do any school work on the weekends, either. Looking at most of your schedules, I don't think my boys are that unique when it comes to time spent on school.