How many hours do you spend at school with your 1st Grader?

[Mom2J112903]

Another Mom I talk to mentioned that her two boys have *six* hours of school a day! I personally feel this is way too much for a child of 1st and 2nd Grade levels.

 

J does Handwritting, Reading, Math, Grammar and Spelling every school day. Some days we also add in Religion (which right now is just learning his prayers-one at a time of course), Spanish (maybe 10minutes), ASL (again, maybe 10minutes), American History (I read outloud to him about a famous American and do comprehension checks then, maybe 15 minutes at most), Science-ok this is fun stuff, it can last all afternoon ;-) State History/Geography, I want him to know where the state is and the capitol city.

 

Some days we sit down at 830a and are done by 10a, with *everything*, other days it can be much closer to 1130. I do not count Science in, because like I said, that can last all afternoon.

 

I feel and J is showing me, that he is learning. Is this "normal" or am I really not giving him enough and should be "pushing" more?

[kalanamak]

I said 1, but it was 7 days a week, year round, only off for sickness and travel. Field trips (many) were additional, as was reading aloud to him.

[myfatherslily]

I chose 3 hours, but it's often 2. Probably 2.5 on average:) That's schooling just one. I'm guessing that it will take longer to get through once I add my son into the routine in the fall.

[K&Rs Mom]

Most days we *could* be done in an hour, if there's no complaining or procrastination or interruption. Some days there's a bigger project or experiment, so it might go as long as two hours, rarely three but that's if she gets really involved in a craft or book. Average is somewhere between there, 4 days a week, year-round. There's no way I could fill 6 hours with school.

Edited February 10, 2011 by K&Rs Mom

[JudoMom]

My first grader does about 2-3 hours of work a day, including about 45-60 minutes of history/literature readings that we do as a group.

[Cindyz]

My first grader does about 2-3 hours of work a day, including about 45-60 minutes of history/literature readings that we do as a group.

 

 

Same here. I didn't count our piano practice and all of our fun reading time. Does that count? :D

[laughing lioness]

I voted 2 but that doesn't count the hours of CD listening or read-alouds.

[akmommy]

I voted 2 hours but most days it was probably closer 1.5. I liked to keep things short and relaxed for k-2. My primary goals for those grades were getting them reading, developing handwriting skills, and laying the foundation for math. Everything else was just gravy. Oh and lots of read aloads, but I never really counted those as school time.

[Farrar]

I voted 2. It's usually between 1-2. However, that doesn't include our outside activities or evening read alouds. If you included our co-ops and things like that, then I don't know. Then again, that's usually about an hour or two of structured activity and then 3 or 4 hours of the kids playing and playing and playing while the adults hang out and eat fancy cheese if we have some.

[Embassy]

My first grader typically does between 5-6 hours a day although today he did 6.5 hours. Compare that to the standard public school student he still has much more free time. I count everything in the 5-6 hours and we spend a lot of time in read alouds and hands-on activities. Seat work probably takes 1-2 hours a day. For instance today I counted an hour for PE (sledding), 1/2 hour for dancing around to praise and worship music, 1 hour toward read alouds, 1/2 hour for a math DVD he wanted to watch, 1/2 hour toward a Math computer game, and 1/2 hour for a science project with Play-Doh.

Edited February 10, 2011 by Wehomeschool

[Mynyel]

I chose 2 and 3 because it fell in between. That seemed to be good enough. Too much more and a glaze would form on the eyes :)

[bcnlvr]

We are 2-3 hours per day (M-F, 9a-12p), but that is everything but community service and sports (so music, art, etc are included in the time.)

 

Baconlover

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I chose 3, because I'd say that's about average, but some days it's much less and some days a little more. Depends what's going on.

[Dmmetler]

1-2 hours of work with mommy. However, that doesn't count dance, music, science class, our once-a week co-op (which is somewhat educational, but I consider social), free reading, reading before bed, building with legos, scratch programming, or a lot of the other stuff DD does. I can easily get to the 4 hours a day my state expects homeschooled kids to have if I needed to, and I suspect I could make an equally good case for 6 hours a day or even more.

[In the Rain]

I voted 2, but that would be the upper end. That doesn't count read alouds, books on CD, devotional, or activities outside the home.

[SnowWhite]

I voted 3, but that DOES include project and read aloud time. His personal book work is more like 1-1.5.

[Veritaserum]

Seat work = 1-1.5 hours most days. Sometimes it's longer, but it's generally still less than 2 hours.

[angela in ohio]

it probably depends somewhat on what she considers "school." Some people count read-alouds, art time, singing, games and outside play, etc. That would make a lot more hours. I just count seatwork, and I voted 2 hours. We did many other educational activities, though.

[milovany]

Other: Zero.

 

(Focusing on the phrase "have school.")

Edited February 10, 2011 by milovaný

[Whereneverever]

About 2 hours, unless we get really into something or major procrastination hits.

[catz]

Seatwork - maybe an hour. But we have out loud reading time, she takes dance, circus, violin (practices 6 days for that), Spanish, and we do many, many hands on field trips. My first grader also reads probably 4th - 5th grade level so she reads independently as well.

[Mommy22alyns]

I voted 2 hours. I do a little more than that with Becca (2nd) and a little less with Sylvia (K). This is strictly school work time; they have additional reading time before bed.

[alpidarkomama]

When DD7 was 6, we spent about 1 hour per day on secular studies, and 1 hour per day on Jewish studies. Now, in 2nd grade, it's up to 2/secular and 2/religious.

[happypamama]

An hour or so, plus other reading time, art projects, etc. I can't imagine a first grader really needing more than an hour or two of focused seatwork a day.

[Dinsfamily]

About 3 here but that includes numerous interruptions from little brothers, short breaks to play with said brothers, and snack time. It doesn't count read alouds...that's a min of another hour.

 

I recently did a trial run with my middle guy to see how it's going to work with two students and it was a lot longer because ds6 wanted to teach his brother instead of doing his own work. It was cute but resulted in a long day. We're back to the drawing board on doing K and 2nd together. Hopefully, I'll get it figured out before the baby comes (soon) and our new school year (June). 6 hour days won't work around here.

[Kim in Appalachia]

Those hours are spread out. I always do a bit in the morning, then a little more before lunch, and again after lunch. The total time depends on my day, how the child is responding, and if I'm having any issues with other children.

[Joyofsixreboot]

I voted 2 but it is often times less. She does her CLE math, reading and LA every day which only takes her about an hour. She listens in on science, Latin, Spanish and history. I don't count piano or the hours she spend pretending with her little sister, or play practice or Daisy Scouts and all the other places she is learning.

[Chris in VA]

I said two, but it was spread out, and I didn't count read aloud time.

We did Saxon 2, some reading games, SOTW 1 and nature journaling from time to time. We also did Spelling Workout, and Leading Little Ones to God first thing in the am.

 

I honestly didn't keep track very well.

 

Haven't read the other replies, so maybe someone brought this up--sometimes people count the breaks and lunch as part of the school day, like they do in public school.

[Georgiana Daniels]

I voted 4, but I just realized that's the total amount of time we do school for both kids. So that number includes breaks while little sis does her reading and phonics. Plus, we often skip school on Fridays, so when we do work we try to work to the max of their attention spans.

[Mom2J112903]

I hate posting and then falling asleep way too early! This is what happend last night.

 

This is strictly book work that is being counted into a school day. I could never imagine making J, or any child sit and do book work for 6hrs a day.

 

I feel better knowing that the amt of time we do spend on school a day is *very* typical!

[Desert Rat]

Last year, I spent about 1 hour with my 1st grader. That doesn't include read aloud time or fun school like activities. That's the actual sit down and work stuff.

[Parrothead]

I voted one. Seems it took one hour per grade level up 'til last year. We seemed to have leveled out at 5 hours.

[Britomart]

I voted two hours, but that's just for hard-core seat-work (math, reading, religion, Spanish, history, science, grammar, writing). There are lots of extras: classes outside the home, independent reading, fun reading, supplemental (to science, history and Spanish) reading, music, physical activity, crafts, art, field tries, etc. that aren't included in there. But the seat-work takes about two hours.

[Mrs Mungo]

Probably an hour and a half to two hours of seat-work.

[Caitilin]

I said 3 hours, but that time is spread out a great deal, and is shared with her brother in 2nd grade, so it's probably somewhat less. She is very good at getting her stuff done, and the shared work is usually RAs/narrations. I am comfortable with the amount of work she does.:)

[teachmejoy]

I voted 3 hours, but it really depends on my ds's attention span that day. Sometimes it takes us all day because we have to keep having "breaks". I think between 2-3 hours is the actual sit-down time we have.

[Laura Corin]

I said one hour. On top of seat work for an hour we used to read aloud a lot and make sure to get an hour of exercise.

 

Laura

[SevenDaisies]

We do our lessons in 1 to 1.5 hours while my 2YO is asleep. DD then has 30-45 minutes of work she does with her dad after dinner. I tried to do more last year, and quickly realized simple was better.

[Ohdanigirl]

Ds does about 2-3 hours. We also do read aloud time, but that is just extra. ^ hours, yikes. I don't think he could sit still that long. :001_huh:

 

 

Danielle