How many hours a day do you homeschool?

[sheryl]

I am working out my 8 year old's schedule for the coming school year and added up the time that I guessed it would take for him to get through with all of his lessons. The longest day came to 6 hours and 45 minutes. I'm thinking that that might be a little too much and he will start to hate school. About how many hours a day do your children spend on school?

 

Will he be in 2nd or 3rd grade? Truly, 6 h 45 m (almost 7 hours) is way long for this age range. But, it's good your thinking about it now. My 12 yo/7th grader works anywhere from 4-6 hours. In 8th grade next school year, she'll likely go to 6.5-7 hours or so.

[mcconnellboys]

For elementary years, we homeschooled from 8-3 (with most Fridays set aside for field trips). We always took an hour or an hour and a half for lunch....

[Ellie]

With dc that young, we would have been finished by lunch, having started around 9.

[georgialee]

That seems long to me... though from reading all of the replies it doesn't seem like there is a true 'norm'.

 

My first grader does about 1.5-2 hrs daily.

 

My Pre-k/K'er does about .5-1 hr daily.

 

This is all subjects (some 5 days/wk, some 3 days/wk, some 2 days/wk) - history, Bible, spelling/reading/phonics, grammar, science, read-alouds, math, handwriting, fine arts, journal and Spanish.

[MamaT]

When my dc were at that age, we schooled from 9-12 other than independent reading.

 

Right now our usual days are 6 hours for my two middle schoolers and 7 hours for my high schoolers. That is five days a week.

[KAM]

We do three hours for a 5th, 3rd, and 1st grader. 1st grader is usually done earlier. I had to really simplify things and cut some stuff out, but I am much happier with a shorter day. I tell myself they are learning all day anyway, not just when I am actively teaching. But maybe I'm just lazy:001_smile:

[~FireFly~]

Should be no longer than 4.5 hrs. esp. when instructing young children...if need be alternate days, give plenty of breaks between subjects -not during, unless either of you are going to melt-down. Not to say that an older student shouldn't work longer, but not all day either.

 

I think that children need bite-size pieces of information or time spent learning until they can handle two bites, then three...so on. Start with 1/2 hr. increments at age 3 or 4 then add extra time. Take a break, walk, run outside for 1/2 hour then tackle another subject. As they age add more time to classes, keep breaks -maybe decrease time. But remember you onlyhave them for a little while.

 

Over kill in the beginning is just that and not fun at all...for child or teacher.

 

Yes, to please share your schedule/curriculum...

[elegantlion]

Since the OP has 3 posts and the thread is from 2008, I doubt she's checking back. ;)

[Critterfixer]

I like the 24 hour reply. Although in our case, it might be more like 9 to 10 hours.:tongue_smilie:

 

For my twin second grade boys we start around 8:30 or 9:00 and go to noon. I will typically do about 30 min to 45 min per subject with about 15 minute breaks in between for outdoor running time and for me to change material and change the laundry.

Lunch is an hour with a sit down meal followed by outdoor play if possible, completely unstructured. I've recently set aside thirty minutes after lunch for free writing accompanied by music. Then it's back to work until about 4 pm. Sometimes we might break at two, play, and then do some more work around 4 or 5.

We are on a four day week due to my work schedule. We average around 6 to 7 hours a day. So far no complaints and no burn out, but we do take a lot of breaks during the day and no session is longer than about 45 minutes at a time. The total time includes the hour for lunch, read-aloud literature and the free-writing session. I also do several subjects with one on one instruction while the other child gets to play, so the 6-7 hours reflects the time I school more than it reflects the time they actually spend doing work.