CheerioKid Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 (edited) This is our first year homeschooling, and I am still reading TWTM first time through. I've peeked at the suggested schedule and laid it out based on my kids. If I follow their schedule, we will be doing school from 8:00 am to 3:30 or 4:00 pm. I don't think that is reasonable. Every homeschooler I've talked to says it takes less time, but this is a longer day than they ever had in public school. What is it like in reality? Do you set aside the time and, if they are done early, just move on? How does that work? If it helps, we are looking at the following for curriculum... 90-150m divided - Rod & Staff English/Spelling Workout/Wordly Wise 60m - Life of Fred 60m (MWF) - Story of the World 90m (TuTh) - Physics or Real Science 4 Kids/General Science (Apologia) 45m - Prima Latina 60m - Logic for ds11 and ds13/Music & Art (alternating MWF/TuTh for the same time slot) ??? - Civics/US Constitution for ds13 60m - Free reading time 20m - Family Devotional Edited July 19, 2012 by CheerioKid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily_Grace Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 For my 13yo, 8-2:30/3:00pm. The research and the writing are slow for him. Not to mention at his age the material is more hefty and just requires slowing down considerably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 We don't schedule by the clock, but we seem to average 9:30 - 3:00, with a break for lunch. But rotating through kids tends to give them each additional breaks in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Friederike in Persia Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 For my dds schooling does take that long, but mainly because they do so many languages. With only one other language than English their schooling would probably be done at around 2 o'clock with an 8 o'clock start. I know quite a few home schoolers who have shorter days, but they don't follow the WTM. We don't even follow it fully, it's just too much at times. We're trying though!:auto: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiffanieh Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Start around 8, and my 3rd grader is done by lunch, my 5th grader done by 2:00 with a lunch break thrown in there and another random 15 minute break. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheerioKid Posted July 19, 2012 Author Share Posted July 19, 2012 I'm not real big on rigid schedules, but I don't want to shortchange the kids if they really need the full allotted time and aren't getting it. My middle one has always hated writing anything...refused to do work in school many times...even just showing his work in math. This is the main reason we are homeschooling in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommee & Baba Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 We don't schedule by the clock, but we seem to average 9:30 - 3:00, with a break for lunch. But rotating through kids tends to give them each additional breaks in there. This is our homeschooling experience too. My kid prefer this type of routine because they get breaks to run off and play while I'm teaching a lesson to another child. However if they have work that can be done without me they are instructed to complete that work while I'm attending to a child that needs my undivided attention. I use to LOVE telling people that homeschooling took so much LESS time than typical school. Now that we're embarking on our 6th year of homeschooling I've come to realize we are always learning! Our "school day" really doesn't end until later in the day around the time the school bus is dropping off our neighborhood kids. I use to be bothered by this, but what else are we going to be doing besides learning in this house? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrappyhomeschooler Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Right now, we do about 3-4 hours a day. I can see that increasing to 5-6 hours a day as the kids get older. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Closeacademy Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 My oldest's schedule is 3-5 hours depending on what she has to do and how fast she is able to do it. My youngest's is 2-4 hours. I generally schedule at least 15-20 minutes for each subject but math is supposed to be around 45 min a day. Ours looks like this: 7th grade: 9:30-10:30 Algebra M, W-F 10:30-11:00 work on composition, discuss progress in Lit class, talk about what she needs to do for science, and history 11:00-11:30 work on vocabulary, spelling and/or logic 11:30-until she gets done is independent work/reading in lit, science, history and composition. Tuesdays are co-op day and she has classes for algebra, literary analysis and art. 5th grade: 9:30-10:30 working with her one-on-one for grammar, spelling, science and/or history depending on the day. 10:30-until she gets done work on own on math, reading, hieroglphys, etc. I guess I do about an hour of one-on-one instruction time wich each child. Then I assign their work and let them work on their own. At this age they should be fully capable of working off a list of things to do. If there is a science experiment, a paper to write and/or a project to do then we will add that to the one-on-one instruction time or at the end once all their other work is done. I am flexible on this because I am trying to balance things between two students. Different things work for different people. I know someone who does a full 8-3 day with her children and hour long periods for each subject and the oldest 3 have ended up at Westpoint. Others assign work at the beginning of the week for Jr. High/High school age and check it at the end and these kids do very well as well. You have to do what works best for you and your family.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelaNYC Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 My 6th grader will do about 3 hours a day, 4 days a week. Probably from about 10am to 1pm. Friday is field trip day. Our 3 hours will happen in nine 20-minute blocks. Most subjects will take only 20-minutes. Science experiments, nature study, and art projects, may use 2 blocks. Two blocks will be used for breaks. So for example a day would look like: Math (20 minutes) Spelling (20 minutes) Break (20 minutes) History (20 minutes) Literature (20 minutes) Break (20 minutes) Spanish (20 minutes) Nature Study (40 minutes) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BugsMama Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 We don't schedule by a clock- and we take breaks/run errands when we need them. It breaks down to this though: 20 min listening to SOTW Audio (in the car) 20 min german (in the car) 20 min Logic of English (spelling and phonics and reading) 30 min free reading 30 min read aloud 60 min SOTW (coloring, map work, narrating, lapbooking, history pockets, reviewing timeline, extra reading, documentaries, activities and WRITING. I do our writing instruction here, with history) 60 min Math (saxon, dreambox, xtramath) 20 min Essentials in Writing 20 min Daily 6 trait writing and Explode the code 20 min Grammar 20 min science (video or online) But it tends to last from 9 am to 5 pm between breaks and errands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 I don't schedule by time. My son has a list of assignments for each week and a plan for what he'll do each day. He gets up at a consistent time and starts school at a consistent time. He's supposed to "be productive" until 3:00. If he's not done with school by then, he keeps working until dinner. He likes to take a fairly long break for lunch. And we read aloud over breakfast, which stretches that meal a bit. He's usually sitting at his desk and starting his independent work by 9:30-ish. So, I'd say it works out to an average of about five hours of actual schoolwork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.