Jean in Newcastle Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 If you add up free time throughout the day, how much free time do they have? Please say if they homeschool or go to public or private school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barb_ Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 A couple of hours in the evening after dinner, maybe? But they have all weekend to do whatever they want outside of babysitting plans or community college studying. When they were in a classical charter school back about 3 years ago, they had zero free time during the week and got a lot less sleep. They also had homework on the weekends, so maybe only one day a week of free time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa B Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Dd - homeschooled + dual enrollment Approximately six hours - but that includes eating and chores 30 min - breakfast/before school 1 hour - midmorning break 1.5 hours - lunch break 4 hours between end of school and bedtime, although usually at least 1 hour is dedicated to school readings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sahm99 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 (edited) None. None at all. Ds swims competitively, which takes about 25h a week (including transport). Most week-ends are eaten up by competitions or scouts. I am a strong believer in the value of free unstructured time for both, kids and teens. In my opinion, learning how to best/smartly/intelligently use free time is an essential life skill. This absolutely includes playing in any form, just hanging out, and, yes, also (maybe most importantly) learning how to deal with boredom. Needless to say that I am feeling very uneasy about the lack of unstructured time in ds' life (and to an extent in all our kids' lives). The only way to change the current situation would be to step down from academic expectations, which I am not willing to do. We have streamlined a lot (even since the beginning of the year), but I don't see my priorities concerning a high academic standard change... On the other hand the kids are passionate about their swimming it is "their love, their life", and I certainly see the value in this! So what am I to do? I guess every good thing comes with its disadvantages, too...and we'll just deal with them when they show up.:) P.S. I forgot to mention that ds is fully homeschooled, but taking six online classes this year. Ironically, the main reason for our starting to homeschool was our unhappiness about the lack of free time for even young kids in this educational system (French). I am German, and long, free afternoons are very much part of my childhood memories... Edited November 14, 2012 by sahm99 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwen in VA Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 It depends on how you define "free time." (Honestly!) 1) If "free time" means time not given to a scheduled or academic activity, then my kids have very little. They rarely have more than an hour or two per week to hang out with friends, read a book for pleasure, or check Facebook. 2) If "free time" means doing what my kid wants to do, then my kids have many hours each day. My kids typically spend ~6-8 hours per day seven days a week doing schoolwork, they spend maybe 30 minutes per day doing random house stuff, and they sleep for ~7-8 hours per day. The rest of the time is "free". My kids have chosen to be in Civil Air Patrol, to debate competitively, to volunteer, to jog, to practice an instrument for 3+ hours per day. I am not making them do these things, so these activities do represent my student's choice of activity and therefore do count as "free time." Like I said, the answer truly does depend on your definition of "free time"! :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Private school. He has some kind of extracurricular activity (choir, show choir, jazz band, music lesson, creative writing) most days. That will be between 30 minutes and an hour. He practises the bass for at least 30 minutes - also not compulsory. Apart from that.... maybe about an hour a day? Sometimes two hours? He comes home after after-school activities at around 5.45pm. He works on homework for a couple of hours, and we also eat supper together. He goes to bed between 9.30 and 10, but often reads in bed. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sahm99 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 It depends on how you define "free time." (Honestly!) 1) If "free time" means time not given to a scheduled or academic activity, then my kids have very little. They rarely have more than an hour or two per week to hang out with friends, read a book for pleasure, or check Facebook. 2) If "free time" means doing what my kid wants to do, then my kids have many hours each day. My kids typically spend ~6-8 hours per day seven days a week doing schoolwork, they spend maybe 30 minutes per day doing random house stuff, and they sleep for ~7-8 hours per day. The rest of the time is "free". My kids have chosen to be in Civil Air Patrol, to debate competitively, to volunteer, to jog, to practice an instrument for 3+ hours per day. I am not making them do these things, so these activities do represent my student's choice of activity and therefore do count as "free time." Like I said, the answer truly does depend on your definition of "free time"! :tongue_smilie: :iagree: I had those same thoughts when first answering. It's certainly not me (or anyone else!) who "makes them" swim, or go to scouts. That's what they choose to do with the time at their disposal. Still, I wish they truly had some "free" (unstructured) time... But, then, again, if I forbid them to swim that much, their time wouldn't truly be "free" either!!:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Just about zero--private school. When we homeschooled, he usually worked for 6-8 hours and had evenings and weekends free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 If you add up free time throughout the day, how much free time do they have? Please say if they homeschool or go to public or private school. I would guess between none and an hour. Both of my older kids, doing high school level work have models and Legos that were birthday presents that haven't been put together because they don't have the free time. Rutabaga swims several days a week for 2-3 hours each practice. Cauliflower has cross country (just finished) and a volunteer position at a historic site. Both are active in Boy Scouts. Both are homeschooled. We have a two hour coop twice a month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 With no working 2nd car and no current outside activities, he has a lot of free time. He has about 30-60 minutes before school, depending on when he gets up. After school an hour or two before dinner. He helps with dinner and a few chores, he reads for 30 minutes each evening, and after that his evening is his own. He's basically unschooling computer programming and will work on that for hours at a time in spurts. It's important to him, so I will guard that free time. He's been very productive with it and learns best in an unstructured environment. On the weekends he does chores, helps around the house, runs errands with me or dh. Ideally, I'd like to have one weekly activity, but that's not an option right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenaj Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 For my 15yods (homeschool) I would say maybe an hour or two a day right now. Basketball season has started and since he plays for a school that is a 45 minute drive away, practices take 3 or more hours a day. His free time during the week is pretty much gone except for lunch breaks and maybe an hour or so in the evening. Weekends are usually pretty much free right now but as soon as his games start, he'll be busier on the weekends. It's been tough for him to adjust to but it's his choice to play so we laid it on the line before practice started that we would not tolerate him falling behind in his school work. He's doing pretty well with the added responsibility and is even managing to work a few hours a week for our neighbor in addition to his other responsibilities. I have had to make a more conscience effort to hold him accountable during this busy season. Last year, he fell behind in a few subjects and had to work all summer so we're both determined that won't happen this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joani Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Probably 4 hours for my homeschooled 9th grader. - An hour or a little more in the morning - he goes for a run, then eats breakfast with me. - Two hours in the afternoon between schoolwork and swimming. - An hour after swimming before bed. In September and most of October, he ran cross-country three afternoons per week, and those days were pretty hectic. As it is now, he finishes his schoolwork around 2 and doesn't have to leave the house for swimming (coaching and practice) until 4. He gets home around 8:30. Weekends are completely free, except for swim practice on Saturday mornings and an hour or two of assigned reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 My 9th grade homeschooler has up to an hour of free time a day. Some days more-some less. She is involved in Girl Scouts, Church and is on a swim team. She also has one outsourced, online class. I will add that her day is primarily academics and household responsibilities. There are times that she is involved in family activites so those hours aren't exactly free. She could have more free time but can't quite get in the groove when it comes to completing her assigned work. For her sake I hope she overcomes that before too long. There have been times that I have created extra hours of free time for her as a way of relieving stress. This is usually done at the expense of something else and that usually increases my stress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 My highschooler has several hours of free time per day, every day. She is homeschooled and while she has outside activities and household responsibilities, none of them consume signficant amounts of time. She'll start dual enrolling at the local CC next semester so that will eat a bit into her free time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 Duplicate post. Sorry. Trying to get used to the new format. It's running slow and I didn't think it posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 Dd is homeschooled, and right now she has evenings and weekends free and some later afternoons if she's finished her schoolwork and any chores. Dd's outside activities are church, volunteering at the library weekly, Spanish class weekly, and co-op classes every other week. Next semester she'll have a weekly Cotillion class. Her school work can vary week to week, so she does have some assignments that she ends up finishing on the weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted November 19, 2012 Author Share Posted November 19, 2012 I'm only getting back to this thread now but I've read and appreciated all your posts. I'm thinking about having ds15 read this so he can see that he doesn't have it so bad after all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan in GE Posted November 19, 2012 Share Posted November 19, 2012 Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri - almost none - but I think she manages to get reading in somewhere as she's going through books. Wed afternoon (typical Swiss system has Wed afternoon off) she has several hours sometimes - if she's up to date on French homework... weekend - variable but a fair amount..... Joan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauracolumbus Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 My ds is in 9th grade at a private school. During football season, he'd be lucky to have a couple of hours on the weekend. Now that football season is over, he has 2-3 hours per night and a lot of time on Sunday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
partyof5 Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 Great thread, and I did relate some of your responses to dd14 today. She was not too surprised to hear others have minimal time too and I think she felt reassured in a way, so thank you for starting this conversation. I think dd has more time available to her but she is still learning time management and currently has the illusion of "no time" when in reality I think she probably has an hour or so each day tucked into the schedule but it gets lost because of her slow pace. That being said, she is also involved in a couple of intense self-chosen activities (cello & piano) that we support. She does find peace and relaxation in these and will likely pursue music in some form as a career, so these feel like free time to her on most days. Even when it's work and learning, she loves it. On average that's 2-4 hours a day between practice, orchestra, and private lessons. At this point, I see this as part of the specializing aspect of high school. I am glad that her free time is spent at the piano or studying theory "for fun" rather than being online, gaming, texting, or watching TV though those are not forbidden activities in my home. She simply doesn't choose them and I suspect that if she finished her math or writing early she would sit at the piano, by choice. Yay! On weekends, she usually has a bit of homework left over from the week, music practice, church activities, family time, and then often has time to spend with a friend too. Feels fairly balanced most weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom2boys Posted November 21, 2012 Share Posted November 21, 2012 For my 15yods (homeschool) I would say maybe an hour or two a day right now. Basketball season has started and since he plays for a school that is a 45 minute drive away, practices take 3 or more hours a day. His free time during the week is pretty much gone except for lunch breaks and maybe an hour or so in the evening. Weekends are usually pretty much free right now but as soon as his games start, he'll be busier on the weekends. It's been tough for him to adjust to but it's his choice to play so we laid it on the line before practice started that we would not tolerate him falling behind in his school work. He's doing pretty well with the added responsibility and is even managing to work a few hours a week for our neighbor in addition to his other responsibilities. I have had to make a more conscience effort to hold him accountable during this busy season. Last year, he fell behind in a few subjects and had to work all summer so we're both determined that won't happen this year. Jan, I could have written your post, except ds's extra-curriculars are music and robotics related. He is mourning the loss of his "free" time, but the only way to carve out more down time would be to do school work all summer, and we are definitely not going there again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Quite a bit. Ds is 15, fully homeschooled, 9th grade. He has an hour or two in the morning, depending on when he gets up. School starts around 10 or 11, and lasts until anywhere between 3 and 5. It depends on his assignments and if we have anything going on that day. I give him weekly assignments. As long as he's done by Friday he has the option of finishing before the week is out, which would give him even more free time. On the other end of that - if he doesn't finish, then he's doing school on the weekend. He has chores and other responsibilities at home, including sometimes being asked to do something when he thought he was going to have free time. He went from 3 outside activities last school year to none this year, which also increased his free time. 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.