# hours for your school day - 7th/8th grades???

[ncmom2dawters]

On average, how many hours a day does your 7th/8th grader spend working on school assignments (with you and doing independent work)? 

[8filltheheart]

on avg 8 hrs

[thowell]

Yep, I agree 8 hrs.

[Coffeemama]

I'm planning on 6 hours for: science, history, literature, writing, math (1 hour each) plus vocabulary, piano, and Spanish (at 20 mins each). she'll be doing logic and a few other electives once a week at co-op which I didn't count.

 

**8 hour comments give me the feeling that I'm missing something important. If I am, please let me know! I'm aware that that grammar isn't listed; we are taking a break, since my DD seems to have better grammar than most educated adults ( including me). She also asked to stop Latin.

[8filltheheart]

My kids are doing---

Science, history, lit each 1 hr

Latin and French each around 45 mins

Math for about 1 1/2 hrs

Writing about 45 mins

Religion, spelling, vocab, and grammar each about 15 mins

And the last hr is real life bc nothing ever fits neatly into tightly timed boxes.....so the above are approximates. Some days may be longer, some shorter, but realistically my 8th graders rarely finish under 7 1/2 hrs and I would guess that 8 is more real.

[regentrude]

Five hours in 8th grade.

6 hours in 9th. This has been sufficient for rigorous work in the five core subjects plus some extra time for electives.

(I orient myself on the fact that my home country, students in a college prep high school would have about 34 periods a 45 minutes per week, resulting in a strong, well balanced education. Homeschooling is more effective.)

[5LittleMonkeys]

My 7th finished in about 6 last year but it will be about 7 this year for 8th. This is just for T - F. Mondays are co-op days so she only gets about 3 hours of work done that day.

 

Math

Japanese

Korean

Am. History

Health and Nutrition

Windows to the World

EiL Introduction (only 3 or 4 units)

Writing With Skill

Book of Roots

3rd season of AG then Killgallon

Art

 

Everything isn't done daily.

[Melissa B]

We average 8 hours.  Dd has seven credits at approximately 1 hour each.  However, history and math generally take longer.

[ncmom2dawters]

Thanks for the replies!!!  I was talking to a friend whose 7th grader averages 2-3 hours a day...some days 1-2 hours.  I've heard others say school only takes a few hours a day for their middle school age students.  My 7th/8th graders average 5-8 hours with most days being 6-7.  We do have one day a week that is only 3-3.5 because of extracurricular activities.  I was beginning to wonder if I was expecting to much while also feeling there are a few more things I would like to fit in.

[Lori D.]

For 7th/8th grades, covering about 5-6 subjects, our very average, non-rigorous DSs here could only handle 5-6 hours a day for Mon-Thurs, and only about 2 hours on Fridays to allow for involvement with homeschool group youth. A little bit of reading was done 1-2 evenings a week. PE type of activities were done in the late afternoons (i.e., after school), weekends, and summers.

 

It was very important to me to have a balanced schedule -- academics as best we can do them, yes, but also with time to explore with extracurriculars, AND "down time" for DSs to fiddle about with interests, hobbies, projects, etc. So, an average of 20-24 hours of academics per week was what we could do well and still have a balanced lifestyle. If you have more motivated DC, you can definitely increase the hours per week.

 

LOL -- Guess we were slackers. ;) :D

[ncmom2dawters]

Certainly one has to keep in mind that some students do work faster.  One of my children is an *avid* reader and can zip through assignments where as the other is a slower reader.

[Laura Corin]

Calvin did 9-5, with a half hour break mid-morning and an hour for lunch.  This didn't include exercise or free reading, but did include music practice.

 

L

[~Anna~]

For 7th (our first year) we did about 4 hours, sometimes 5. That is about all my DD can stay focused for, so that's what we did. We will do the same for 8th. We are doing year round though, so I figure we can have lighter days because of that.

[Coffeemama]

Thanks for the replies!!! I was talking to a friend whose 7th grader averages 2-3 hours a day...some days 1-2 hours. I've heard others say school only takes a few hours a day for their middle school age students. My 7th/8th graders average 5-8 hours with most days being 6-7. We do have one day a week that is only 3-3.5 because of extracurricular activities. I was beginning to wonder if I was expecting to much while also feeling there are a few more things I would like to fit in.

I've heard this from quite a few friends as well. One thing (in their defense?) is that some of their children take multiple outsourced classes which I don't think they count when describing a typical day.

For others (who complain when we can't go to the museum/park/beach AGAIN) they literally are done with school by 10am...I don't understand it...

[Luckymama]

For seventh grade (last year):

 

maths-----1.5 hr (on average)

English/language arts------1 hr

history------1 hr

world geography (her elective of choice)------1 hr

science-------1 hr

 

so 5.5 hours each day.

 

I did not count the time she spent on academic[\i] extracurricular activities. Science Olympiad consumed an average of 5 hours each week from September-March. She spent 2 hr/week at home on robotics from August-January (FLL season) plus the twice-weekly team meetings.

 

 

Eighth grade looks like:

 

maths-----1.5 hr

English/language arts-----1 hr

American history-----1 hr

physics----1.5 hr (average---2 days will be longer w labs)

electronics/programming----.5-1 hr (one-semester electives)

 

so 5.5-6 hours each day on average.

 

I may count Science Olympiad as a second science elective, depending on her events and how much time/studying they require.

[KellyMama]

This makes me feel better! I was feeling like our day was dragging last year when my 7th grader worked from 9 - 4ish with a 45min break for lunch and often had corrections, reading, piano, dance etc in the afternoons. Looks like our 6-7 hour day is right on target. I'd always heard to guesstimate around an hour per grade level - it has worked like that here, with the exception of my 3rd grader last year who could zip through his work in 2 hours or draw it out for 5 - depending on his mood. ;) LOL

[5LittleMonkeys]

I just felt I should come back and clarify.

 

My dd "could" get done with the work "I" require in about 5 or so hours a day, so, in about 22-25 hours a week.  Her art, Japanese, and Korean are "her" requirements and are her passions\interests and what bump her time up to a little over 30 hours a week. 

 

 

[foxbridgeacademy]

I just finished a tentative schedule that includes:(Mon-Thurs.) Math (1hr), Language Arts (1 1/2 -2 hours), Science(1/2hr), and Spanish (1/2hr. Plus History 3 times a week for about 1/2 hr. So somewhere between 4-5 hours per day max. It could be much less if he's quick about it. I don't believe in busy work and he is Dyslexic (maybe dysgraphia too) so I do a lot of the reading to him and do some of the handwriting for him.... most work is oral though. Fridays are for review/quiz and discussion.

[happymomofboys]

I've heard this from quite a few friends as well. One thing (in their defense?) is that some of their children take multiple outsourced classes which I don't think they count when describing a typical day.

For others (who complain when we can't go to the museum/park/beach AGAIN) they literally are done with school by 10am...I don't understand it...

 

I would want to ask them what their curriculum looks like.  When I was in middle school we used textbooks for every class.  If I had been allowed to skip the lecture (which was nearly always simply a repeat of what was stated in the text) and learn it on my own, I could have easily finished all of the reading and questions in a couple of hours a day.  That was one of the reasons I chose to homeschool in the first place.  School for me was a massive waste of perfectly good time I could have been spending in the library.  Now that I'm homeschooling, I look at all the reading my kids are doing and realize that yes, our school day looks full, but half of it is spent in our "library."

[Mandy in TN]

It has been awhile since I had 7th and 8th graders, but I wanted to point out that several of you who say that school takes 7 or more hours also say that you have one light day each week. So, 4 days are longer in order for the 5th to be shorter. So, it would be more accurate to say how many hours/ wk your child spends on school.

 

Also, we would need to define what counts as school. Some people include the time a child spends reading literature for LA in the hours spent on school that day and some do not. Some people include music practice, 4H, and sports in their hour count and some do not. Some people even count hours on chores as life skills. (if you have chickens, sheep, and horses, this can be time consuming. Don't get me started on dairy cows.) Some people count field trips to an art museum but not field trips to pick strawberries. Some people count them all and some people count none.

 

Additionally, we would need to figure the number of days each year that are school days. A family that schools on a traditional school calendar and takes summers off will need to spend more time each day than a family who schools year round.

 

When families tell me the length of their school day, I try to take it with a grain of salt and move on unless they are concerned and asking for help. There are just too many factors that go into how long a school day lasts. :)

Mandy

[8filltheheart]

It has been awhile since I had 7th and 8th graders, but I wanted to point out that several of you who say that school takes 7 or more hours also say that you have one light day each week. So, 4 days are longer in order for the 5th to be shorter. So, it would be more accurate to say how many hours/ wk your child spends on school.

 

Also, we would need to define what counts as school. Some people include the time a child spends reading literature for LA in the hours spent on school that day and some do not. Some people include music practice, 4H, and sports in their hour count and some do not. Some people even count hours on chores as life skills. (if you have chickens, sheep, and horses, this can be time consuming. Don't get me started on dairy cows.) Some people count field trips to an art museum but not field trips to pick strawberries. Some people count them all and some people count none.

 

Additionally, we would need to figure the number of days each year that are school days. A family that schools on a traditional school calendar and takes summers off will need to spend more time each day than a family who schools year round.

 

When families tell me the length of their school day, I try to take it with a grain of salt and move on unless they are concerned and asking for help. There are just too many factors that go into how long a school day lasts. :)

Mandy

 

I agree.    I was also confused b/c it looks like one poster has an 11 yo and in our homeschool, an 11 yr old would not be in 7th or 8th grade.   My kids are also studying foreign language in middle school which adds more time to their days. 

 

FWIW, our academic calendar is 175 full school days.   So when I post that my 8th graders avg around 8 hrs per day that would be x 175.   Another fwiw, I don't personally believe that an avg of 7-8 hrs is too long for a 13 yr old.  My 7th graders are avging 6-8 hrs with 7 being closer to the avg.    But by 9th-12th grade, days can be anywhere from 7-10 hrs.  (my rising 9th grader wants to study 4 foreign languages this yr, so that is going to consume a lot of her day.)

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

Certainly one has to keep in mind that some students do work faster.  One of my children is an *avid* reader and can zip through assignments where as the other is a slower reader.

 

:iagree: 

 

This is my rising 5th grader. She can do two lessons of grammar in about 10-15 minutes, math takes her about an hour now that she is doing more multiplication and division, and she spends about an hour each day on either history or science. Writing is done WTM-style through her history summaries, and then science summaries when we get started with her ES Biology in a few weeks. She reads a LOT on her own, so doing formal literature with her is hit and miss. When I have her doing literature as an assignment, it only takes her about a half hour to read and do the required activities that go with it. We will be adding in logic and probably continuing Latin at home since no one signed up for the co-op class for level 2. But even then, it looks like she should probably be done in about 3-1/2 to 4 hours. It seems light for 5th grade to me, but she gets it done and is progressing, so I just go with the flow. :D

[8filltheheart]

Certainly one has to keep in mind that some students do work faster.  One of my children is an *avid* reader and can zip through assignments where as the other is a slower reader.

 

This is an area where writing your own plans makes a huge difference.   My kids' plans are written directly toward their abilities, so no one is zipping or slogging.   The subjects will take about the same amt of time regardless of the student doing them b/c I know what they are capable of achieving and the assignments reflect that.     It all balances out.   If I have student that is capable of doing more in less time, I'll add in more (foreign language, or philosophy, or some other subject that a slower student wouldn't have added at the same age.   Or I'll expect more from their writing assignments, etc.)

[Allearia]

I'm wondering when your middle and high schoolers see their friends - in the evenings or weekends? Or do you try to start earlier so you can be done earlier in the afternoon, or stop and then have homework after? If like us you prioritize academics, how do you decide how much time for friends etc.? This is sort of off topic but I'd really Like to hear from those of you who do 7-8 hours of school a day how that works out.

[BakersDozen]

"I'm wondering when your middle and high schoolers see their friends - in the evenings or weekends? Or do you try to start earlier so you can be done earlier in the afternoon, or stop and then have homework after? If like us you prioritize academics, how do you decide how much time for friends etc.? This is sort of off topic but I'd really Like to hear from those of you who do 7-8 hours of school a day how that works out."

 

My dc see their friends on Wednesday evenings when they go to Bible Quiz. They might see them on a weekend but that is rare. We're not anti-social and I don't purposefully limit time with friends, however since we started schooling our time has been prioritized as family first, school second, friends third. Thankfully, none of their friends live closer than a 30+ minute drive away so frequent get-togethers are not possible at all ("thankfully" meaning our/their time isn't stretched even thinner, not that I don't enjoy their friends).

 

By middle school my dc are doing school from 8-3:30 with some breaks, so about 6-6.5 hours/day. We school from beginning of August through the end of May (although summer is also used if things don't get done during the regular year). We stop at 3:30 so the dc can have free time then homework is done after dinner.

[8filltheheart]

I'm wondering when your middle and high schoolers see their friends - in the evenings or weekends? Or do you try to start earlier so you can be done earlier in the afternoon, or stop and then have homework after? If like us you prioritize academics, how do you decide how much time for friends etc.? This is sort of off topic but I'd really Like to hear from those of you who do 7-8 hours of school a day how that works out.

When my high schoolers have plans for the afternoon, they will often get up and start working on school at 5 am. Others might stay up and work ahead at night and work until 12 or 1 am. Weekends are pretty much school free times in our home w/the odd exception. But, they can't hang out w/ friends if their work isn't done.

 

Fwiw, my kids' planners are written to tHem so they know exactly what is expected from them. So, if they know they want to do something on a certain day, they have the ability to work ahead in assignments in order to have a more flexible schedule.

 

I am actually perplexed that so many think that 7-8 hrs is unreasonable for an 8th grader. For a young child......absolutely agree. But, not at 13-14.

[Allearia]

I am actually perplexed that so many think that 7-8 hrs is unreasonable for an 8th grader. For a young child......absolutely agree. But, not at 13-14.

Just to clarify, I don't at all think that amount of time is unreasonable. As my oldest heads into these years, I am just trying to figure out how it will work, with so many homeschoolers prioritizing social time and hours everyday seeing friends or going out. I just needed to hear that it is okay not to spend three hours every day with a different friend.

[SilverMoon]

.

Edited September 17, 2023 by SilverMoon

[KarenNC]

Just to clarify, I don't at all think that amount of time is unreasonable. As my oldest heads into these years, I am just trying to figure out how it will work, with so many homeschoolers prioritizing social time and hours everyday seeing friends or going out. I just needed to hear that it is okay not to spend three hours every day with a different friend.

 

I'm coming to realize that we are at a point where we need to shift the schedule priority from social activities to academic ones (past that point, probably). With an only who loves interaction, I realize I've had a tendency to fit school around social things, which worked fine in elementary, but not so well as we get up in grades. Looking at this year's schedule, I've already warned our homeschool group that we won't be doing as many of the general field trips as we used to do. I have to fit them in around too many outside and online classes plus time for the work I assign. Since the group is fairly small and we've been members for 8 years, it's been natural to want to support all the activities, but times change and priorities have to change with them if we are going to have the kind of educational environment we want.

[Mandy in TN]

As I said earlier, it has been awhile, but 8's post rang a bell. My big boys always had weekly schedules that were written to them and I do remember them working ahead in the evenings or getting up early in the mornings (with my boys usually evening :) ) in order to have the time available for social things.

 

They mostly took summers off and they had a 36 wk schedule that needed to be completed. :) As they moved into high school, they did more in the summers. Both my big boys took at least one dual enrollment class during the summer at some point in high school. My middle ds ran through Abeka's high school economics with a few other high schoolers one summer. They got together at a friend's house and knocked it out. That mother offered to proctor and grade all the tests. It was school work and social. The family had a pool, so when they finished they could go swimming.

 

Finishing some things in the summer gave my oldest time for rabbit trails and time to wallow in fantasy literature and still finish 2 years of high school Latin and 2 years of high school Spanish without his days ever being terribly long. It allowed my middle son to take high art at a tutorial, 2 years of art history at home, and 2 semesters of humanities through dual enrollment just because he wanted to do so.

 

As a side note, my middle ds finished his freshman year as a computer science major. He chose to stay at college this summer and complete a couple of general studies requirements, because he doesn't want to take more than 16 credit hrs in a semester. He entered college with over 20 credit hrs and wants to graduate in 4 years. One general studies requirement at his college is that he needed to take either a Women's studies, Appalachain studies, or African American studies course. This summer one of the courses he took was quilting. lol It counted as both Women's and Appalachain studies and he took it with a girl he likes. He made a little quilt that he gave to my mom. He would never have had the time to put into that course with a full load of computer science courses, but he had fun doing it this summer. So, you can shorten your school days a little if you view schooling more like an adult views a job instead of viewing it as something you do for 9 months followed by a 3 month vacation.

 

My little guy has never had summers off, but we do things a little lighter in the summer. Following in his big boys footsteps, summers have been a short summer session rather than a continuation of the school year. This was the second summer that I used MBtP to drive his studies. It is different than how I approach the rest of the school year and gives us a chance to look at education from a different perspective. This summer we also have covered the astronomy chapters of his physical science text for next year, so science can be a little shorter during the school year. :)

 

HTH-

Mandy

[momto2Cs]

I'll just go ahead and say that frankly, I don't get a 7-8 hour schoolday for a homeschooler. Please understand, I am not trying to be snarky or anything like that, I just don't get it. That it is longer than the average high school day around here does make me wonder.

 

I am aiming for about 4-5 hours a day with a 7th grader.

[happymomofboys]

I'll just go ahead and say that frankly, I don't get a 7-8 hour schoolday for a homeschooler. Please understand, I am not trying to be snarky or anything like that, I just don't get it. That it is longer than the average high school day around here does make me wonder.

 

I am aiming for about 4-5 hours a day with a 7th grader.

 

Are you counting homework for the high school students?  My son is in 6th and we're still tweaking his schedule to get him down to 7 hours of school a day, but that's not 7 hours of instruction or even time on task.  It's 7 hours to get him to sit down, pay attention, and get his assignments completed.  He only has about 4 hours of instruction per day.  The rest of the day is spent reading or working on what would be homework if he were in public school.  Some kids are just slower at finishing their work than others.  Certainly there are kids in public school who waste time shuffling papers, pretending to read, and staring at their homework because they'd just rather not do it?

[Trish]

For 7th/8th grades, covering about 5-6 subjects, our very average, non-rigorous DSs here could only handle 5-6 hours a day for Mon-Thurs, and only about 2 hours on Fridays to allow for involvement with homeschool group youth. A little bit of reading was done 1-2 evenings a week. PE type of activities were done in the late afternoons (i.e., after school), weekends, and summers.

 

It was very important to me to have a balanced schedule -- academics as best we can do them, yes, but also with time to explore with extracurriculars, AND "down time" for DSs to fiddle about with interests, hobbies, projects, etc. So, an average of 20-24 hours of academics per week was what we could do well and still have a balanced lifestyle. If you have more motivated DC, you can definitely increase the hours per week.

 

LOL -- Guess we were slackers. ;) :D

 

We're more like this. Eight hours is longer than a school day, including lunch, recess and changing classes!

 

:unsure:

[Guest Havecutekids]

Mine did about 3 hours in 7th.

[nandmsmom]

I'm glad to see others chiming in with lower numbers.  Last year for 6th, DS averaged 3-4 hours a day.  That was with a very complete and rigorous schedule.  He is able to stay on task and complete things in a timely manner.  I would never dream of adding to his schedule just to make it all even out to 8 hours.  In my mind the beauty of homeschooling is that it doesn't take nearly as long as public school.  They waste more time on changing classes, getting everyone under control and busy work and then send them home with a few hours of homework.  If my kids can finish in less time, then better for all of us.  It doesn't mean we're doing any less than those who take 8 hours.  But my goodness, bless you all that have to deal with keeping kids on task for that long.

[Mandy in TN]

I'm glad to see others chiming in with lower numbers.  Last year for 6th, DS averaged 3-4 hours a day.  That was with a very complete and rigorous schedule.  He is able to stay on task and complete things in a timely manner.  I would never dream of adding to his schedule just to make it all even out to 8 hours.  In my mind the beauty of homeschooling is that it doesn't take nearly as long as public school.  They waste more time on changing classes, getting everyone under control and busy work and then send them home with a few hours of homework.  If my kids can finish in less time, then better for all of us.  It doesn't mean we're doing any less than those who take 8 hours.  But my goodness, bless you all that have to deal with keeping kids on task for that long.

 

N rising 6th grader  GWG6, WWW 6, SOTW3 with his sister plus extra reading, NOEO chemistry 2 with his sister, Singapore 6a, 6b , piano and clarinet lessons

 

Complete and rigorous mean different things to different people. Looking at your signature your son didn't do logic or foreign language. I see no vocabulary program or formal literature program. The science and social studies are both at the very low end of what is accepted as 6th grade. GWG6 and WWW are listed as 6th grade, but they are gentle and not as time consuming as many other 6th grade grammar and composition programs.

 

To clarify- I am not advocating longer days or more rigorous curriculum. Every child is different. There is no point in using curriculum that is above a child's ability level or adding more subjects that push the day longer than a child's attention span. If you do so, the child will zone out or burn out, and you will have wasted your time and his. However, if you look at what you are doing and what these other posters say they are doing, then you are indeed doing less and also using less rigorous materials than those whose days are longer.

 

If your ds used more than what is in your signature, please disregard this post.

Mandy

 

[Alte Veste Academy]

I'll just go ahead and say that frankly, I don't get a 7-8 hour schoolday for a homeschooler. Please understand, I am not trying to be snarky or anything like that, I just don't get it. That it is longer than the average high school day around here does make me wonder.

 

I am aiming for about 4-5 hours a day with a 7th grader.

 

Well, we're not there yet, but it's easy for me to imagine it for us. DS10 did about 4.5 per day in 4th grade last year and will do about 5.5 per day next year for 5th, not including literature reading. By 7th and 8th, when the work gears up, 7-8 hours doesn't seem like too much of a stretch. Sure, it's not what everyone envisions for their homeschool, and that's fine. But when I was in middle and high school, I took every honors and AP class available to me, and most of those were pretty rich. They also had some serious requirements for reading and output and, more relevant to this conversation, just loads and loads of homework. I was in school for 7-8 hours a day, and it wouldn't be unusual for me to then have 2-3 hours of homework. That could sometimes be more like 3-4 hours in high school, taking multiple simultaneous APs. What does that make? A 9-10, sometimes 11 or 12 hour day? So a 7-8 hour day? Sounds pretty mild by comparison. :lol:

 

What busywork there was in my middle/high school days will be weeded out, sure. But while I choose to homeschool K through about early middle so my kids can have shorter days and I can honor their childhoods, I am choosing to homeschool middle-high so that their just-as-long days will be richer and their time will be more efficiently used. If my kids can complete a 7-8 hour homeschool day in the later middle years without homework, leaving evenings free for personal pursuits, I will consider it a smashing success! In fact, we would still effectively be getting more done in less time, all factors considered.

[8filltheheart]

I am a huge voice for not pushing our children beyond their abilities and not overloading kids w/work and giving them lots of free time for exploring, playing, self-entertainment. For those that have been on the forum for a while......it is completely ironic for me to be arguing for a larger academic load! ;) (ETA: most high schools in the states we have lived in have a minimum college bound diploma requirement of 24 credit hrs. That means at minimum 6 credits/yr. Advanced diploma students often have 28 credit hrs which means at least 7 credits/yr. That equates to at least that number of in classroom hrs w/o outside homework.)

 

But, there is also no way I could justify a solid academic program for a 6th grader that was completed in 3-4 hrs/day. I also do not have to deal with keeping my kids on task for their school days. They grow into their days and their workloads at a completely natural pace. They have a huge amt of input into what is studied. They often ask for more than I willing to allow them to take. (I have had to tell my ds that, no, he may not add in another math class or tell my dd, no, she may not add yet another foreign lang!)

 

A good avg minimum academic load for an avg 6th grader would be an hr each of math, science, history, lit, plus writing, grammar, spelling, and vocabulary. That is at least a 5 hr day even if they only write for 30 mins and spend 10 mins on grammar, spelling, and vocab. And those are skeleton basics.

 

The only exception we had in terms of workload friction is when our oldest ds was in high school. During his 11th and 12th grade yrs, we did have huge amts of conflict caused by homeschooling friends and their parents that constantly told our ds that what I expected was unreasonable and that I did not know what was really expected from a high school level student. There was a group of them that all hung out together every Friday afternoon and he could't b/c had a full school day of work to do. Those families avg-ed 4 hrs per day. I based my expectations for him on helping him prepare for his goals (most definitely not mine. He was absolutely positive about what he wanted to pursue.) He wanted to be a chemical engineer. Dh is a chemE and we were married in college, so I knew what ds was going to need in order to make it through to college graduation. So, we simply explained to ds that what he was doing academically was ultimately going to benefit him his entire life b/c he would be well prepared for the classes he was going to have take. That learning how to manage a full workload and complete difficult assignments was what he was going to have be able to do.

 

One day during the first semester of ds's freshman yr I received a phone call. It was very brief. He simply said, "mom, I have something I want to tell you. Thank you." I knew exactly what he meant. His friends were flunking class after class. 2 never graduated. 1 did graduate after 5 yrs with a completely different major (he started off in engineering w/ds) but he still does not have a job. Ds graduated cum laude in 4 yrs (which included 12 months of co-oping), and with 4 competitive job offers to choose from. He has a wonderful job that he loves with great job security. Not all recent college grads can say the same thing. I have zero regrets about how he was educated throughout his homeschool yrs.

 

I also do not see a 6-8 hr day in middle school or 7-10 hr days in high school interfering w/any of my kids' abilities to pursue outside interests. They don't have "homework." That 6-8 hrs or 7-10 hrs is their work day. So they have all late afternoon/evening until bedtime to pursue their interests. They don't do school work on weekends. They have 1 week off every 5-7 weeks + 11 weeks off during the summer. That is way more free time than I ever had going to school. I spent an hr on the bus each direction plus had homework at night and on weekends. I was fortunate in that I did receive a great education. I hated the amt of academic work I did in high school, but in hindsight, I wish I could thank my high school teachers. They were dedicated and expected us to work as hard as they did. I expect no more/no less from my own children.

[Bear23]

We will be schooling from 8AM to 3PM. I think last year when my oldest was in 7th grade she was doing about 5 hours a day but our days varied.

[nandmsmom]

N rising 6th grader  GWG6, WWW 6, SOTW3 with his sister plus extra reading, NOEO chemistry 2 with his sister, Singapore 6a, 6b , piano and clarinet lessons

 

Complete and rigorous mean different things to different people. Looking at your signature your son didn't do logic or foreign language. I see no vocabulary program or formal literature program. The science and social studies are both at the very low end of what is accepted as 6th grade. GWG6 and WWW are listed as 6th grade, but they are gentle and not as time consuming as many other 6th grade grammar and composition programs.

 

To clarify- I am not advocating longer days or more rigorous curriculum. Every child is different. There is no point in using curriculum that is above a child's ability level or adding more subjects that push the day longer than a child's attention span. If you do so, the child will zone out or burn out, and you will have wasted your time and his. However, if you look at what you are doing and what these other posters say they are doing, then you are indeed doing less and also using less rigorous materials than those whose days are longer.

 

If your ds used more than what is in your signature, please disregard this post.

Mandy

 

That was written a year and a half ago as a planning tool.  It's not even half of what we actually did.  I should probably erase it. 

[regentrude]

That is way more free time than I ever had going to school.   I spent an hr on the bus each direction plus had homework at night and on weekends.   I was fortunate in that I did receive a great education.   I hated the amt of academic work I did in high school, but in hindsight, I wish I could thank my high school teachers.   They were dedicated and expected us to work as hard as they did.   I expect no more/no less from my own children.

I do not mean to argue at all, I just wanted to note that I find it very interesting how our expectations for our kids are influenced by our own school experiences.

I would also say I received a great education in public school in my home country: math through calculus, two foreign languages *to fluency*, strong sciences, (only history was a bit weak for political reasons); I ended up academically well prepared for a rigorous university education that expected more than we do here from our college freshmen at the university where I teach. But up to 10th grade, that was accomplished by roughly 32-34 periods a 45 minutes each week, so about 25 hours. (And that is *still* the amount of class time in college prep schools in my home country). Homework? I finished most of that during class; the rest got done in the streetcar on the way home. I remember completely free afternoons from 2pm until bedtime.

If I can manage to educate my kids even nearly as well as I was educated, I'll be very happy.

 

(Btw, my school hours included substantial time wasted on extensive paramilitary training and communist indoctrination)

[8filltheheart]

double post

[8filltheheart]

I do not mean to argue at all, I just wanted to note that I find it very interesting how our expectations for our kids are influenced by our own school experiences.

I would also say I received a great education in public school in my home country: math through calculus, two foreign languages *to fluency*, strong sciences, (only history was a bit weak for political reasons); I ended up academically well prepared for a rigorous university education that expected more than we do here from our college freshmen at the university where I teach. But up to 10th grade, that was accomplished by roughly 32-34 periods a 45 minutes each week, so about 25 hours. (And that is *still* the amount of class time in college prep schools in my home country). Homework? I finished most of that during class; the rest got done in the streetcar on the way home. I remember completely free afternoons from 2pm until bedtime.

If I can manage to educate my kids even nearly as well as I was educated, I'll be very happy.

 

(Btw, my school hours included substantial time wasted on extensive paramilitary training and communist indoctrination)

 

But over how many weeks or days?   From what I just googled, it sounds like the avg German school is in session 220 days.   Is that correct?   If it is, that is 45 more days of school than we do.

 

But, if you are discussing 25 hrs/week for only 175 days, then no, we couldn't accomplish what we do in that amt of time.

[regentrude]

But over how many weeks or days?   From what I just googled, it sounds like the avg German school is in session 220 days.   Is that correct?   If it is, that is 45 more days of school than we do.

No, that's not correct. It is true that their summer break is shorter, but they have various short breaks throughout the school year.

In my state, they have school breaks: http://www.schulferien.org/Kalender_mit_Ferien/kalender_2013_ferien_Sachsen.html

2 weeks October

2 weeks Christmas

2 weeks February

1 week Easter (actually more like 10 days)

1 week in May (includes two holidays)

6 weeks summer break

=14 weeks breaks

 

leaves 38 weeks for school.

Makes about 190 days (minus a few odd holidays).

The Catholic states in the South have even more religious holidays which are public holidays and no school.

[Brad S]

Interesting to see what others do...always wondered.  Last year, roughly 6th grade, and what we plan for 7th, DS does about 20 hours/week not including recreational sports and a service club; about half of his academic assignments require what seems like particularly mentally tiring work, esp. writing, logic, or math.  We take about two months off and for about two months when local schools are off we spend about three hours a week.  He also does some unassigned reading completely on his own which I could count but am not here since it's 100% optional (like I placed Philosophy for Kids on his desk and he got a kick out of it and read it bit by bit).  Most math and writing wouldn't get done if it weren't assigned.

[Embassy]

7-8 hours in reasonable, IMO, for most 7th-8th graders. My 6th grader will be ramping up some next year. This year he spends about 8 hours, but that includes an hour of exercise, at least 30 minutes of reading, and an hour of independent interest-led studies (topics vary).

[LanaTron]

My 8th grader will have 30 hours a week, give or take.  That includes 3 hours of music co-op, plus 4 hours of music practice.  It also includes 3 hours of regular co-op where he'll have P.E., writing, and science labs.  That's about 6 hours of work spread over 5 days.  If we didn't do the co-ops, he would spend more time doing bookwork at home, so the hours per week wouldn't really change.

[8filltheheart]

No, that's not correct. It is true that their summer break is shorter, but they have various short breaks throughout the school year.

In my state, they have school breaks: http://www.schulferien.org/Kalender_mit_Ferien/kalender_2013_ferien_Sachsen.html

2 weeks October

2 weeks Christmas

2 weeks February

1 week Easter (actually more like 10 days)

1 week in May (includes two holidays)

6 weeks summer break

=14 weeks breaks

 

leaves 38 weeks for school.

Makes about 190 days (minus a few odd holidays).

The Catholic states in the South have even more religious holidays which are public holidays and no school.

I honestly couldn't do it then. We jam pack a lot into our days. There is no way we could cover what we do in less time and there isn't anything superfluous in their days. The only extras are subjects they have chosen for themselves like multiple sciences or multiple languages per yr. I guess if we didn't have to meet some criteria for "well-rounded" core academics we could cut some time, but it still wouldn't acct for that much time. But I know ds would be thrilled if he could drop art history as a credit this yr. ;)

 

Eta: I was thinking about it and wanted to share this as well. 12th grade ds only needs 3 credits to meet any possible criteria for admissions into almost any selective good university. That said, he will be taking 8-9 credits this yr. why? Bc he wants to. :) He can't imagine a yr w/o math and physics and is thinking about adding in computer science as well.

[Mom0012]

I'm glad to see others chiming in with lower numbers. Last year for 6th, DS averaged 3-4 hours a day. That was with a very complete and rigorous schedule. He is able to stay on task and complete things in a timely manner. I would never dream of adding to his schedule just to make it all even out to 8 hours. In my mind the beauty of homeschooling is that it doesn't take nearly as long as public school. They waste more time on changing classes, getting everyone under control and busy work and then send them home with a few hours of homework. If my kids can finish in less time, then better for all of us. It doesn't mean we're doing any less than those who take 8 hours. But my goodness, bless you all that have to deal with keeping kids on task for that long.

I love the idea of shorter days, but, wow, I just can't imagine getting it all done in 3-4 hours past 3rd or 4th grade.

 

On the other hand, I can see where homeschoolers would expect the day to be shorter because so much of the public school day (at least when I was there) is just a big waste of time. Instructional time at school can be greatly streamlined at home. My niece was in 7th at PS last year and never had more than an hour of homework, either. Then again, she's in the honors English program, but it is a tremendous struggle for her to get through the two low level books she is assigned to read over the summer.

 

We do longer days. I wish they were shorter and it seems they should be, but I haven't figured out how to make that happen.

[thowell]

I agree that there is a lot of wasted time in PS/ However, here they school from 8:00 - 3:20 and then have on average about 2 -3 hours of homework. That is 9-10 hours a day. Of course not counting time wasted but most of them do not have the academic education some have listed above, in the same amount of time.