Free time

[Embassy]

How much free time do you have in a typical school day from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed? By free time I am referring to time where you can sit and relax and not have to do anything or a time where you can do something you find fun.

[swellmomma]

My freetime through out the day M-F comes usually in snips of 5-15 minutes for a grand total of 1-1.5 hours. Then after the kids are in bed, after the chores are done etc I get all the freetime I want until I must sleep. So I guess anywhere from 2-4 hours a day our of 24. I sacrifice sleep in order to eek out more freetime.

 

That said I spend a lot of time driving my kids to extra currics and work, as each of those things are 20 minutes away, and I stay at the dance studio when dd is there, so that takes up several hours at a time that could be used at home as freetime, I use those hours to lesson plan, mark things, teach ds etc.

 

I also count my 1.5 hour a week bible study free time even if it is not doing nothing, because I feel so calm and relaxed afterwards.

 

Weekends I have slightly more time, for example, Sundays I usually have a 1 hour soak in the tub. The kids know they will die if they interupt my bath, that adds an hour of scheduled me time that could be thought of as freetime.

[KRG]

Right now is my free time. Dh has the little one in the bath. Other than that there really is no free time when I can just do whatever I want. By this time I am completely exhausted and ready for bed myself.

[NotSoObvious]

A lot now that my kids do so much independently and we live in a super tiny house.

[Parrothead]

I'm a chronic insomniac. I have much more free time than I really want.

 

Seriously, I'm pretty free from 3p to 11p. I do most nights take charge of dinner. it might take an hour of my time.

[Pawz4me]

I voted three to hour hours. A large chunk of it is because I get up early to create more free time --

 

An hour to 90 minutes in the early morning before anybody else is up

30 minutes or so for our lunch break.

An hour or two in the evening.

A few 10 to 15-minute breaks during the day.

 

Note that my kids are older, so don't need me following them around/supervising them all the time.

[Sasharowan]

I voted three to hour hours. A large chunk of it is because I get up early to create more free time --

 

An hour to 90 minutes in the early morning before anybody else is up

30 minutes or so for our lunch break.

An hour or two in the evening.

A few 10 to 15-minute breaks during the day.

 

Note that my kids are older, so don't need me following them around/supervising them all the time.

Same here, older kids, but I take mine at night when everyone is in bed.

[Farrar]

There's no typical day. Today, none yet. I'm typing while waiting for the kids to get dressed for bed. Sigh. But some days, we do school and then I tidy and then the rest of the day is mine. I can manage it however I want. So our crazy slate of activities makes it hard to say.

[Desert Rat]

I typically have 1 hour at night after the kids are in bed. I usually do something that needs to be taken care of while watching TV. But I still count that as down time. I have shows that I DVR so I watch one of those and work on grading, outlining, writing out Christmas cards, etc.

I had much more free time before I had to go back to work in the afternoons. I still miss those days!

[Dory]

I have 3-4 hours but most of that is at night when I would like to be sleeping so it isn't really energizing or relaxing. Sometime I have more. Once in awhile I have less, but 3-4 is average.

[Rosie_0801]

I can hide in my room whenever I want to. I was so run down I spent most of last week in bed, only coming out to feed and change kids and investigate silences. Comfortably digging into a project is not so easy because someone could start screaming or come bursting in to climb on it/me at any moment. By the time they are in bed, I'm too tired for projects. I've not really managed to work on anything like that since we moved here. I should really like to schedule my brother to babysit for a day when I am awake enough to operate heavy machinery (like sewing machines :p) when I also have the electricity to run the machines. Unfortunately sleep deprivation is hard to schedule conveniently.

[Joshin]

I didn't answer the poll because it varies, plus I'm not sure what free time really is! I don't sit and watch TV or do mindless activities because that isn't an enjoyable use of time for me, for me free time is the time I dedicate to household and professional projects that aren't a necessity for day-to-day life. I wake up early and work from home in the mornings, then we do our school work and I finish up my work as the boys do theirs. From about 1:30 on we all do our own things, so I guess you could call that free time. A few nights a week the boys have evening activities, and one day a week we have daytime activities. I have more free time in winter and am more prone to boredom then, although I do you my extra time in winter to work on my larger work projects,such as the book I am writing this year. In the summer I have our very large garden to tend to, as well as preserving, outdoor projects, and more seasonal writing projects, so you could say I have less free time but I find the work enjoyable.

 

I do make a huge list of things to do every day and tend to get them all done most days. I like to keep my free time filled, I guess!

[Night Elf]

My days are long. I have teens. One is an adult and rarely home. One is homeschooled but does a lot independently. The other is in school. I clean a little but I never need to do the whole house at one time. DH cooks all meals. I miss the days of having little ones keeping me busy all day.

[MtnMama]

What is this free time of which you speak?

[regentrude]

I have teens and work only part time - so lots of time.

[momtoamiracle]

From about 10:30pm to 1 am.

[besroma]

We have a large family withpots of littles, so less than one hour.

 

I am happy if I get to use the bathroom without someone coming in! ; )

[Durriyyah]

I put 3-4 hours because I do have some good time chunks that I just waste away, but I don't really have any time that can go undisturbed. Other than during DD2's naptime, I typically get 30 minutes MAX at any one given time, and that's when she is eating breakfast, and then watching a show. I feel like I should have less free time and get more done, but on the other hand I feel pulled in so many directions, I feel like I need more time than I normally would just to wrap my mind around all the disconnected projects I'm working on.

[KrissiK]

Free time? What's that? I don't count those few minutes that I check my e-mail because I can't leave the room or the boys will start clobbering each other, but they don't need me at that particular minute. I would count free time as some actual time that I can do something leisure related that's not schooling, cleaning or cooking. And that would be less than an hour. That would probably be no time at all.

[KungFuPanda]

I put 3-4 hours. I didn't used to have that much, but my oldest is in public high school and my only homeschooled child is 12. It helps that my daughter is walking distance to school, so I'm off the hook with chauffeuring duties. Also, I tend to kick it into overdrive and run around like a hyper squirrel to get everything done before the sun goes down. Once it's dark I'm either in a dance class (7 per week) or on the couch. I don't seem to have a middle speed. I'm not ashamed to admit that when I crash,I crash HARD and have been known to watch several episodes of one show without moving except to get some cookies and milk. I enjoy mindless TV late at night. It helps shut my brain down so I can sleep without spinning up.

[Heather in Neverland]

Well, let's see. I get up at 6:30am, off to work at 7:45am. Home from work by 5:30pm. Dinner, homework with the kiddos, spend time with the princess, do misc. other things that need to be done, get everyone off to bed... usually I am in my bed with a book by about 9:30pm and I go to sleep around 11pm. So I guess only 1.5 hours right before bed.

[2squared]

I have five kids aged 10yo & under. My toddler is up at 5:30-6:00 and goes to bed at 9:00. We school during his naptime. The rest of my day is packed with schooling, cooking, cleaning, running around, and taking care of the kids. Any true free time I get is after 9:00, but it comes at the expense of sleep.

 

I do get some free time on the weekends when my toddler is with dh and during his naptime. I let the other kids watch a movie, and I have two hours mostly to myself. It's heavenly.

[nono]

I voted 1-2 hrs. a day. Currently, most of that time is spent learning new software which is helping me become billable in our family's fledgling company. So, this endeavor will eat up my "free" time, but I'll be getting paid. Nothing is more fun that that! (for me) So, while I probably will have no more time to myself, I'm happier than I've been in a long time.

[Coffeemama]

I'd say anywhere from 1-3 hours depending on how much (or how little) housework i decide to do. :)

 

[DawnM]

That all depends on what you call free time. I am not a loner or an introvert, so those activities where my kids are involved, I have mom friends that I love to talk to and enjoy. I would much rather meet you for coffee than sew or scrapbook.

 

So, to me, most of my day is free time.....yes, it is an activity I need to be at for my kids, but I make it MY enjoyment.

 

Dawn

[elegantlion]

I have lots of disposable time during the day. I get up earlier than ds, we do school together, we cook dinner together and after that I do what I want. Dh is usually watching TV, ds is usually in his room working on some project. However, we don't have a car during the day and it's driving me insane. I'm an introvert and can go days without leaving the house, but driving is one of my freedoms and I don't have that right now.By the time dh gets home and we cook dinner, I too tired to do anything. All that to say I waste some of my free time pondering what not being trapped during the day would feel like. (only partially kidding)

[TheReader]

I probably have 5 to 6 hours of free time each day. We are night owls (well, DH & the boys are night owls, and I'm a morning person), so the boys sleep late and we start school around lunch-ish. DH isn't home until 6:30 or later, so that still allows a lot of time to get a full day of school in, even for the highschool freshman (he usually starts around 11).

 

So, I am up at 7 with DH as he gets ready to go to work; he's out the door by 8 at the latest, and I have until 10 or 10:30 before all the kids are up; that's my usual computer time. Then eat, lunch, school the littlest, be available to the oldest for geometry and the middle for English, (both older boys are doing an on-line school this year) and use the daytime hours to do chores and such -- laundry, dishes, etc. and regular mom duties. I can usually snatch an hour or two during the day as well for free time.

 

Once DH is home, we cook and eat dinner, then generally watch something on TV for about an hour. That is family time but is leisure/fun time; if I want to read or sew while they watch something I don't like, I can do that. So, all total -- about 5 or 6 hours. But then, I'm up from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. most days; that's a lot of hours to fill. School, chores & meals only takes up so much time, especially now that the oldest is 90% independent.