How long is your school day?

[Erica in PA]

My kids are in grades 7th, 2nd, and 1st. Next week we are starting our first full week of this school year, with all the "extras" added in, and I'm working on planning our schedule. It looks like our school days are going to be LONG!!! I'm used to having the kids pretty much done by lunchtime, with just a couple of subjects to do after lunch. That doesn't appear to be doable, this year, with my youngest now doing real, official, scheduled schoolwork for the first time, and with my oldest in 7th grade and with a more demanding schedule. It looks like our day might have to be from about 8:30am to 2:30-3:00pm, with me working with at least one of the kids for most of that time.

 

So how long is your school day? Please include the ages of your kids, and also how much of the time you are working with them. Thanks!

 

Erica

[Aggie]

My 6th and 7th graders are in school from 8-3 with 30 min for lunch. But they usually don't have any work left to do after 3, which is good.

 

The mornings I work with them on every subject...math, Latin, English, Greek, and history. The afternoons are independent work so I can work with the youngest and get some housework done.

 

Hope this helps a bit!

 

Aggie

[abbeyej]

Those hours sound about like ours doing 5th and 2nd. I figure that since, unlike traditional school, my kids are done for the day with no homework (except *maybe* some additional reading) by that time, it's really not as bad as it sounds at first... But it does mean I can't do *other* things during the day any more (except our one day a week at home school classes).

[Stacey in MA]

4-6hrs for DS9 4th grade and 3+hrs for DD6 2nd grade. We are in the school room from 8am - 12pm, then lunch in the kitchen, (DD6 is usually done by then), back in the school room after lunch w/ DS9 for another 1-2 hours.

 

Here's a simplified breakdown for my 4th grader. Not quite exact on times, and a few other misc. subjects added here and there, but easier to write this way:

30 min. Bible

30 min. Math

30 min. fun reading

30 min. assigned reading

20 min. writing penmanship

20 min. typing

20 min. Geography

60 min. History or 45 min. Language Lessons

60 min. Science or 45 min. Latin

 

I wouldn't say it's ALL completely concentrated. Part of their time is divided b/c I have to alternate between the 2 of them, PLUS I have to juggle the 4yo and baby with some attention.

 

DS9 is especially sensitive to how much work he has to get done. (He longs for the K, 1st and 2nd grade days when he had to put in fewer hours! Though much of the extra time is reading....) He can be overwhelmed if he starts school too late. He wants to be free in the afternoon for our activities and/or for playing with the neighborhood kids when they get home from school. So the best setup for him is to start in on his required reading first thing in the morning, even if I'm not available, or "requiring" him to start so early. That way, he can get done earlier and not feel so backed up with work.

 

Let me say that we needed to RAMP UP. I tried to hit it all the first week and there were lots of tears and frustration. I say 1/2 days the first week, not matter what. Then, add things in one at a time. By the 4th or 5th week, you're doing a full schedule and they're more "into" the groove of things and not so blindsided.

 

HTH and GL! - Stacey in MA

[Melissa in Australia]

our school day starts at 8.30, and finishes around 4.

I am homeschooling 5 this year, the oldest is 14 and in 8th grade, the youngest is 4 and begging to do school, and badly wants to read.

this is how my schedule looks ( not the children's)

I help the 8 & 10 year old with their math and grammar, help 14 year old with grammar, find where 12 year old has got to ( yes he disappears every day, mostly into the shed). go back to the 8&10 year old and help with spelling. do some OPGTTR and explode the code with 4 year old. instruct 12 year old what to do in writing strands. go over the 10 ds & 8 dd math, and listen to them read. do 12 year old grammar with him and check that he has done his math. correct 14 year old math, and make sure everyone has finished all of their morning school work. in between all of this I run out to the clothes line and hang the laundry, and tidy the kitchen, make beds and grab something to eat.

when everyone is eating lunch I run around vacuuming the floors etc. then at 1.00 we start afternoon school work which is science Latin and logic on Mondays and Fridays and history and Latin the other days. this takes it up to 3.30 - 4. then I grab who ever it is that has basketball that day and drive them into town for basketball. in the evening I help 14 year old with any school work he hasn't got done during the day.

The 12 and 14 year old do their hour of assigned reading in the evening.

the younger children have play time as soon as they have finished their morning school work, which depends on how fast they want to work. the 14 year old seems to be at his desk for the whole time.

basically all my time is teaching the kids.I don't have time for anything much else until the weekend, and then it is housework and gardening all Saturday, and baking all Sunday

[newlifemom]

Well, I am schooling 3 this year. 2 in 1st and 1 in 5th. I also have a 2 1/2 yr old. We start at 7:45 for oral/memory/singing and then dd 5th goes upstairs to work independently. I then school the 2 1st graders with lots of breaks until about 3-4pm. I really mean lots of breaks. I then spend any break time with dd 5th grade rew. work.

 

ETA: Sorry, guess I am tired. Forgot to end my post. Hope this helps and yeah I wasted by the end of the day.

[SABE]

So far I'm spending about 45-60 minutes with my K son and about 15 minutes with my Pre-K son. All of this time is 1 on 1 work at the table. The time I spend reading to all the kids is in addition to the above.

[VaKim]

We are finished by lunchtime, except for assigned independent reading, which they do whenever they want in the afternoons.

 

Edited to add that we start at 7:30 or 8 each morning, and do year round school.

[cricket1178]

I am so encouraged by this thread. I was at our local homeschool meeting and the veteran mom who runs it said not to do school longer than 3 hrs! She said she read a report somewhere that stated kids can't learn more than 3 hrs. a day. Anything over that is waste. Well, it takes us an average of 4 hrs. Here lately, it has been taking 6. If I am to only school for 3 hrs. dd would only finish 1/2 of 7th grade this year.:lol:

[JudoMom]

We school from 9-12, with an hour of independent work in the afternoon. The ages/grades are listed in my signature.

 

We're doing a loop schedule and it's working wonderfully. All of boys are making progress in all subjects (for example, last year we got to history often enough to make it through 6 chapters, and this year we're already through 7 additional chapters). I still have a kink or two to work out (the main one is that I've got to figure out how to work writing into the loop without disruption our flow). We hit all of our subjects 3-4 times a week (we have co-op one day a week and do none of our regular school work on that day).

 

Honestly, I am worthless toast after lunch. I'm out of patience and the thought of teaching anything else makes me want to cry. I use the afternoons to do co-op work, check the boys' work, clean the house, make phone calls, get dinner ready, etc. But I realized this spring that I'm just being delusional if I think I'll actually gather the boys to teach something else.

[curtisandsheri]

I have a 4th and 7th grader. We start and 9:00 and my 4th grader finishes around 3 and my 7th grader around 4. We take about an hour total for mid-morning snack and lunch.

[elegantlion]

We start school at 10am. We are done between 2:30 and 3:00 each day. We take two thirty minute breaks. So about 4 hours each day.

[8filltheheart]

THe length of the day varies by child. MY day is long!

 

1st grader: approx. 8-9 (~1-1 1/2 hrs)

 

4th grader: approx. 7-12 (~5 hrs, she does more than any of my other 4th graders has b/c she wants to do French)

 

7th grader: approx. 630-2:00 (includes lunch break of ~45 mins. ~6-7 hrs/day)

 

9th grader: she is taking several online classes, so her day is partially dictated by those times, so her schedule changes day to day (approx. 6-8 hrs/day)

[Sanguine]

Mine are grades 5 and 7. We start at 9, take a break from 11:30-1:00, and are done for the day by 2:30-3:00.:)

[Peela]

We start at 8.30 and go till around one, with very little in the way of breaks- or, if that is too long a stretch, we have a lunch break and go till 2 or so. But we tend to work not much more than a 4 day week. And, that is purely academics- doesn't include extra curricula activities.

The kids are ages 12 and 14.

[Laura Corin]

Nine to four/five for Calvin, with a total of two hours of breaks, and one to two hours of PE. 9 to 1 for Hobbes, with one 45 minute break, and PE in the afternoon.

 

Laura

[Erica in PA]

Thanks everybody. I guess we're all pretty much in the same boat, then. I realized that in the hours I posted, 8:30-2:00, I hadn't even included any reading for my oldest ds! So it will be more like 3:00, I guess. The thing that's going to be hard for me to get used to is not being able to go out and get things done outside the house during the day. I'm used to being able to go run errands, do shopping, even go to a friend's house for a visit when we're done with our school day, before starting dinner. I think those days are over! :crying:

 

It also stands to reason that I will have less time to relax here at the computer, which is probably a good thing, though I will miss it terribly!!!

 

Okay, time to be a big girl and commit to this homeschooling lifestyle completely. After 7 years, I guess it's time! :auto:

 

Erica

[Michelle T]

We spend around 3.0-3.5 hours on academics four days per week.

Michelle T