74Heaven Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 THis is one of those questions I struggle with. My two high school age dtrs have a solid "B" or better average. Our courseload is moderately rigorous. (oh to define that word!!!) Including Bible and homework (i.e. work that is not corrected (if necess) and completed during school hours), we spend 10-12 hours a day (5 days a week) doing school for roughly 6 credits a year. (If I counted piano, AWANA and extracurriculars, it would be more credits). What I always wonder is if school could be done more quickly. I wonder "what are we doing wrong?" I wonder why everything "takes soooo long". (esp writing :) Our sked is Bible (1hr), Latin (1hr), Spanish(1), History(2), Lit/English (2), Apologia Adv Bio (1.5hrs); Algebra (Geometry for the other) (1.5). IRL, it is 10 hours a day. (8a-12N; 1-5p; 2-3 hours at night.) I am starting to think about choosing curriculum based on how long it will take us rather then the "breadth/depth" of education we desire to have. Does anyone else feel this way? LMK thoughts, ideas, etc. (btw, the schedule is *firm*; the curriculum is up for discussion (except for Latin/Spanish - those currics are set). Lisaj, hsing 5 kids Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyinNNV Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 My two high school age dtrs have a solid "B" or better average. Our courseload is moderately rigorous. (oh to define that word!!!) Including Bible and homework (i.e. work that is not corrected (if necess) and completed during school hours), we spend 10-12 hours a day (5 days a week) doing school for roughly 6 credits a year. (If I counted piano, AWANA and extracurriculars, it would be more credits). What I always wonder is if school could be done more quickly. I wonder "what are we doing wrong?" I wonder why everything "takes soooo long". (esp writing :) Our sked is Bible (1hr), Latin (1hr), Spanish(1), History(2), Lit/English (2), Algebra (Geometry for the other) (2-3). IRL, it is 10 hours a day. (8a-12N; 1-5p; 2-3 hours at night. I am starting to think about choosing curriculum based on how long it will take us rather then the "breadth/depth" of education we desire to have. Does anyone else feel this way? LMK thoughts, ideas, etc. (btw, the schedule is *firm*; the curriculum is up for discussion (except for Latin/Spanish - those currics are set). Lisaj, hsing 5 kids Yes, we have had many 8-10 hour days! I don't think you are doing anything "wrong" however, maybe you could think about things differently. Instead of thinking about your curriculum in terms of how long it takes, think about how long you want it to take and then use that much of the curriculum to satisfy your time requirements. In other words, in my case, I want my dd to use Spielvogel's West Civ. However, I really only want her to be reading it 45 min - 1 hour a day. So, we will obviously cut out portions of the book in order to complete my goal of making it through western civ in one year. Looking at your schedule, there are a few subjects which seem to take a lot of time! The ones that stand out to me are 2 foreign languages at 2 hours a day, 1 hour of Bible a day and 2 hours of history. Maybe this is typical for most high schoolers. Yikes! Is your composition/writing within the English time? Or are they writing for all classes? Did you forget to list your science program? If this were my kid (YMMV) I'd cut Bible to 30-45min. (Actually I'd cut it completely-sorry;)) I'd cut foreign language to 45 min per language. I'd cut history to 1 hour and have them use it as a subject to write about within composition class. OH-WOW, I just reread your post! My reading comprehension is poor! Your schedule is firm! Oops. Now, I wonder why.....I thought you felt it took too long?:) I apologize. This has been extremely disorganized and stream of conscious. But, now that I've come this far, I'll post it anyways. Peace, Holly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
74Heaven Posted June 25, 2008 Author Share Posted June 25, 2008 nt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrea in Dutchess Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Maybe you can cut somethings done like bible for 20 min, I do bible also so I am not trying to minimize this, Spanish and Latin depending on the program you use can take about 30 min, history about 1 to 1 1/2 hrs, English Lit/ 1hr, Math 1 hr to 1 1/2 hrs, I know my kids gets crosseyed about an hour in. I have shortened my childrens' lunch to about 30 min, why do they need an hour, as long as lunch is prepared, with 30 min they have enough time to eat and run around outside a bit. Of course no schedule should be too rigid, you should always have flexibility, because some things may need extra or less time. also you didn't say if you do all subjects every day, because you could lighten up a bit by not scheduling everyday but doing some every subject every day, it is okay to schedule let's say Spanish 3 days a week etc. Give the kids time to be kids after all life will get very serious and bogged down when they are adults, let them have some "child time" Only my opinion, good luck on choosing the right time schedule Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwen in VA Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Another way of looking at time -- What would your child be doing if he were NOT doing schoolwork? If he would spend the non-cacdemic time playing video games, I see no problem with 12 hours of schoolwork! :D If he would spend the non-academic time developing his soccer-coaching skills or taking apart a car or some other activity in which he has a passion/interest/skill, then I might reconsider how much school he is doing. What is your child planning on doing after high school? He should be spending some time developing that interest/passion/skill. (For college-bound kids, that means more academics; for film-makers or electricians or clothing designers, that probably means something different!) Best wishes! I think the question of how to divide up our time is a HUGE issue for homeschoolers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cedarmom Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 First off, yes high school I think just takes time,especially if you are doing advanced classes. One way to cut down is maybe combining history/english/lit. For example we use Omnibus, which is the great books. We read the book, he timelines important dates, and reads from Western Civilization about that time period, then he does his essays on the book.That does still take 2 hours, but I think it is a little less time then doing all seperate. If your Bible is taking an hour, you must be doing some indepth studying ,and you could probably count some of that as your english and literature time too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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