How many hours a day for academics?

[klmama]

A friend asked me how many hours dc spent daily on academics.  When I told her, she didn't say anything,  but clearly thought it was too much.  How many hours are in a normal academic day for your dc?  

[CAJinBE]

She starts at 8:30, works until lunch, then continues to about 5:00. So I guess it is around 8 hours, but we rarely do any school work on evenings or weekends. 

[TracyP]

My 10th grader is spending about 3-4 hrs on school this year. (This is not counting her piano or creative writing. She spends a lot of her free time on these.) I know that is going to be on the low end on this board,  but it is very typical of the homeschoolers I know IRL. My goal was for her to work 5-6 hrs a day. Days longer than that wouldn't fly in my home.

[teachermom2834]

My 10th grader has what I consider a heavy load. While not AP or technically honors classes he has seven online classes through WTMA and Memoria Press Online Academy and is doing two easy electives at a co-op. I just asked him last night how many hours a day he thinks he works and he said about 8. Honestly it doesn’t seem like he is working that much to me. He still has plenty of time for extracurriculars and video games. 

I’ve begun to think he is just a really fast worker. He is also not a perfectionist. So he’ll happily take the low A and not toil over a perfect grade. 

I have been giving a lot of thought to the time per day because my 5th grader works a solid six hours a day and it seems like she is working more than he is some days.  She is eager and really likes her school and most of it is reading which she loves so she isn’t stressed or anything. But I don’t think I’d tell anyone IRL that my 5th grader works a solid six hours five days a week.

The longer I homeschool and the older I get the more often my answer to things is “it depends” and “everyone is different”. I think you can have really good outcomes with a wide variety of approaches.

[RootAnn]

My tenth grader spends 4-5 hours on schoolwork. (9-11, 12:30--3:00) She also spends hours drawing or working on her books and photography.

My senior has 15 1/2 hours of live instruction per week between her online classes & her DE class (not including drive time to the college). On paper, I've scheduled the same # of hrs of homework for those classes. That means, on average, I think she has 6 hrs/day of wor. (She takes time okff during the day to read for fun, volunteer, and rest. Going straight through is exhausting for her.) Edited to add that she does frequently do homework at night and on weekends.

She's also working on college applications (mostly the essays). That work usually happens at night. She also volunteers 3 hrs/week or more (depending on whether her once/month activity is that week or she's running a contest like she is this month).

Next semester should be better as she will likely not have a DE class, two of her classes are this semester only, and she will hopefully be done with college applications.

Edited September 19, 2018 by RootAnn
Added after-hours work

[Pink and Green Mom]

My 9th grader spends about 6-8 hours doing schoolwork, depending on the day and how many live online classes he has.

[8filltheheart]

Depends on my high schooler, but typically 7-9 hrs with some days more and some less. Lab days can be long.

[EKS]

I would say about 35 hours per week so far this year.  I expect that to lengthen as the year goes on. 

[...................]

It never occurred to me to count it at this point because it's high school.  She has the subjects that need to be done, primarily through outsourced classes, and she has to do them.  ....

BUT since you asked ?

My dd spends about 4.5 hours per day M-F purely studying, taking/going to classes and doing her homework.  That does not include chatting, breaks, lunch, etc.  That's just the actual work.  

She spends about another 2 hours spread over the weekend, but that can also vary depending on how busy her week was.  

Hope this helps!

So she's about 25 hours per week.  This is a good college prep, all classes honors level but no AP, and no Dual Enrollment.

 

Edited September 19, 2018 by Calming Tea

[charlotteb]

My 10th grader does school from 8:00 to 3:00, so 7 hours, but maybe more like 6.5 because of lunch. 

[Arcadia]

DS12 is a slower worker than DS13 so the same thing would take about 1.5 times to 2 times longer.

For DS13, 9th grade

Fixed class time - 5.5 hrs per week (math, German, Chinese)

Homework for fixed classes - 6 hrs per week on average 

Asynchronous class time (including homework for class since it’s hard to split, including three non credit academic class taken in area of interest) = 25hrs to 35hrs per week

So 36.5 hrs per week for 3 subjects for credit and 3 non-credit subjects. He hasn’t started English (self paced class that has not started) and science yet so that would add some hours. He completed Economics and Statistics in summer so he would have 7 high school credits at the end of this academic year. 

DS13 did two lab sciences last year and each lab takes up a day for doing and writing the report because he wants it perfect. 

[Meriwether]

My oldest is a fast worker/reader and will spend 6-8 hours per day. My second is a slower worker and will work 8+ hours per day most days. Younger kids work about 6 hours (6th grade) and 4 -5 hours (3rd).

[alewife]

Mine has around 7 hours per weekday, plus about 20 hours for her main extracurricular.  She is taking 5 APs plus 2 post-AP courses.  She saves the weekends for lab work and completing any problem sets or writing assignments that she didn't get done during the week.

[MerryAtHope]

6-8 hours for all course-work (not just those that are core academics, but also elective work). An hour per credit hour, give or take (fast readers and workers might be able to get more done in less time, slower readers might need slightly more time, but this is a good bench-mark to aim for). My kids generally had 6-6.5 credits each year. 

[hollyhock2]

My high schoolers take about 4 hours a day max. Those are all home-based courses, none online.

[Kendall]

My 3 high schoolers work about 7 hours. No online classes

[skimomma]

I have a 10th grader doing about 6 hours a weekday with about another 6 hours (total) bleeding over into weekends and evenings.  I would say we are probably lighter and dd is a bit slower to process than most here.  No AP classes this year.  She has two outsourced classes but her workload is pretty on par with her schooled friends.  We are now homeschooling specifically to cut out the fluff so dd has time to pursue two of her non-academic passions so I am fine with the low hours.  

[kirag714]

I would say that my 12th grade daughter spends about 5-6 hours a day on academics, and more over the weekend. She's taking 3 AP classes, and another outside class, so I expect that this will increase somewhat as papers become due etc. She's a fast reader though, and a pretty quick worker.

[kokotg]

We start at 9 (trying to move that to 8:30, take 45 minutes or so for lunch, and usually finish around 4 or 4:30 if we're home all day. of course, we're often NOT home all day, which throws things off. And that also includes practice on two different instruments for two of my kids, one for my oldest. And they often do more math and reading in the evenings. It feels like too much a lot of the time, but I don't really know how to make it shorter....I just keep reminding myself and them that if they were in public school they'd do the same hours and still have homework and extracurriculars in the evenings. But the pre-high school years spoiled us! 

[Roadrunner]

We have extensive outside commitments, so we try to cram in 6 hours a day during weekdays and make up the rest over weekends. That’s what is most likely going to be grade 9 for us.

Edited September 21, 2018 by Roadrunner

[Alte Veste Academy]

DS15 in 10th has some intense coursework this year and is working 8-12 and 1-4 or 5ish, so 7-8 hours a day. That is a mix of desk work and relational/1-on-1 time with DD14 and me for the subjects they do together/I teach. It is our common goal to have his lunch hour, afternoons, and weekends completely free, although we don't mind some literature overflow.

That is this week though, after three weeks in. LOL The load took some adjustment, and we gave short shrift to our at-home subjects while he adjusted to his two outsourced lab sciences and one outsourced math. (I am OUT on STEM subjects in high school.)

 

Edited September 21, 2018 by Alte Veste Academy

[Garga]

Starts at 8:10 promptly.  Ends between 4:30 and 5:00, depending on the day.  

Thirty minute lunch break plus 5 10 minute breaks throughout the day, so 7.5 or so hours per day.  So far this year, no work on the weekends or on evenings.  

The work that he does in the 7.5 hours is sustained and on level for him, so he’s pretty mentally exhausted at the end of the day.  

And honestly...we have to scramble to get it done in 7.5 hours.  That’s because physics takes 2 hours per day, and Pre-calc takes 1.5 hours per day, so those are big time-sucks that cut into the other classes that we find more fun.  

[klmama]

Thanks, everyone.  I'm glad to know we aren't the only ones with longer days.  

[easypeasy]

Many, many hours. Last week was ds's first full week with "everything" on the table, and it is kicking his backside. He has a very tough schedule this year. We discussed this repeatedly. But, living it is different than talking about it...

If someone were to ask him right now how many hours a day he spends doing schoolwork, he would probably say 30. ? I am hoping it balances out soon to a more workable level.

 

[BakersDozen]

4 hours ago, klmama said:

Thanks, everyone.  I'm glad to know we aren't the only ones with longer days.  

I'm glad you asked and I'm glad there are many who have longer days! I feel like a total oddball in my home school community/circle because we start at 8 and finish at 4 (high school). Even my 3rd/4th graders have 4-5 hours of school time. I've tried to condense and finish by noon like so many others but just can't figure out how to do so.

[klmama]

I can't, either.  When I talk with them, though, I think they just don't have the same goals.  My most academically-inclined homeschooling friends all enrolled their dc in public high school so they could take free AP and DE courses.  I'm quite sure those kids have long days!   

[teachermom2834]

My high schoolers usually take about 8 credits. Maybe 7 senior year. Now, they are not all created equal- there are definitely some lighter ones in there but they also sometimes take an easy class at co-op that I don’t even grant credit for.

But my family is an anomaly in my community. I do not even tell people what we do because the answer is “that is not required”. My neighbor that has had a child graduate public school keeps telling me kids are only supposed to take four classes at a time (block scheduling).

I got a call from a lady yesterday who had been given my contact info. She is considering removing her 10th grader from the local high school due to lack of rigor. In chatting she revealed her daughter, who is a top student, is taking English, math, drivers ed, and a study hall. And never has any homework. So next semester she’ll take something like chemistry, history, study hall, and health. I keep hearing these schedules which are basically four academic credits, lots of electives, and study halls. BUT- I know plenty of smart kids that go to these schools and get decent ACT scores and go on to college. 

So, to anyone that is reading this thread thinking your 5 hour school day is too light, it may not be. I have seen successful kids from such a wide range of high school experiences. Family situations, educational and career goals, and other factors are important and you homeschool so you can make those calls.

 

[mom1720]

My 11th grade DS is at about 6-7 hours a day plus time on the weekend. He carries a lighter load in the fall due to his sport -- competition days can take 11 hours from the time he wakes up until he gets home and he's tired so no work on those days. The spring will be more.

[Alte Veste Academy]

9 hours ago, easypeasy said:

Many, many hours. Last week was ds's first full week with "everything" on the table, and it is kicking his backside. He has a very tough schedule this year. We discussed this repeatedly. But, living it is different than talking about it...

If someone were to ask him right now how many hours a day he spends doing schoolwork, he would probably say 30. ? I am hoping it balances out soon to a more workable level.

 

This was my DS at the beginning of the year! We started Tuesday after Labor Day, and the first weeks were tough, but this week has been much more manageable!

[Mom22ns]

Mine ranged from 6-9 hours/day. Dd was always toward the lower end and ds toward the high end. She worked faster and had more outside commitments. He worked slower and academics were his primary focus.