Teaching three kids, yet school is always done in 2-3 hours.

[rafiki]

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[Ummto4]

That's GREAT !! I envy you.

 

I have a first grader and a pre-K who wants to learn, and it takes 3 hours daily (this includes Arabic and my son's home speech& language therapy, though. If I substract those, we're done in just over 2 hours).

Edited February 11, 2009 by mom2moon2

[hsmomof2boys]

Don't feel guilty for having this much free time! It sounds like you are very efficient at what you do, and that your sons are doing what you want them to do, not dallying, etc.

 

My sister homeschooled her children until noon everyday--about 3 hours. Her children are very successful adults now with only these few hours per day being taught. Of course, in high school they had more work. One is getting her doctorate in mathematics, one is getting his master's in engineering, and one is getting her bachelor's degree.

 

My son is very hard to teach, it takes him forever to do just one math lesson! He gets distracted easily.

 

Congratulations on your great work!

[Mama Lynx]

When my kids were the ages of your kids, school certainly took us no more time than that.

 

Now, with four kids in grades 7, 5, 2 and 1, we usually start around 10:30 (lately) and are still finished by 2 - the 7th grader will have some independent work to do outside of that, and that doesn't count their reading; *my* time with everyone is usually over by 2.

 

My 1st and 2nd graders take an hour.

[ummof3]

This is a really inspiring post - sounds great! x

[Mrs. Frankweiler]

I'm teaching a 3rd, 1st, and pker, and I finish in about the same amount of time. We're covering all the subject areas. I'm sure as they get a little older things will start to take longer, but at this age, the little kids especially aren't able to sit for too long doing any one thing.

 

Thanks for helping me feel a little more confident that I'm not missing anything.

 

-Mrs. F

[Chloe]

I think you're doing great! I don't ever remember my homeschooling days being that smooth. It seems I've always had a toddler or preschooler to work around. I know they grow up so fast, so I don't want to wish the time away with my 2yo, BUT boy will it be easier when she has her own work to do and can entertain herself for a few hours afterwards.

[Annabel Lee]

Congratulations! You've accomplished what I am striving for (and I assume anyone else who hasn't yet mastered time efficiency). It's a blessing, really. These are the "freedom years" when they are young. If they were in school, they would be lucky if they actually got 2 or 3 solid hours of instruction (and you're able to focus only on them, not a whole room-full of others). It sounds like a wonderful situation and I am reading your post to my 2nd grade ds who dawdles so much that our school days have been taking 4-6 hours (uggggh). Hopefully it will hold some inspiration for him. :)

[Annie Laurie]

One thought is that it looks like you've got them doing a lot of independent work (workbooks and worksheets) and that is always faster here than teacher intensive things, which is why I'm reevaluating some of my own resources; so many require one-on-one time with me and that takes a long time with multiple children. Anyway, you said they're progressing so it sounds like you've just hit on the right resources for everyone and developed some good habits. Enjoy it!

[Myrrh]

I'm just getting started homeschooling and only with one child, who is in first grade. I'm trying to squeeze it in in 3 hours a day (9-12), but feel like I need 4 hours. I'm only teaching 4 days (have a Bible Study on the 5th day) so that may be why.

 

I also think perhaps the literature-based curriculums take longer--I'm finding I can't get all the reading in.

 

We're also making up for starting halfway through the school year (she was in public school till 2 weeks ago), so I'm trying to get us through all the TWTM curriculum (language arts, history, math, science) in half the usual time we would have.

 

I think if we had started at the beginning of the school year and I could teach 5 mornings a week, it might only take us 3 hours...although, when I add up the time estimates she gives in TWTM, it seems more like 3.5...I'm not sure how that would be affected by schooling other kids (right now my 4 year old is in preschool most mornings so I'm only fielding my 2 year-old and not teaching anyone else yet).

[runamuk]

I've got a pre-k and 3rd grader and we're usually finished for the day in about 3 1/2 hours (not including family reading time). I'm fortunate that there is enough independent work for Elle to do while I work with Mac.

 

The key for us was finding things that worked for us, even though it meant switching curriculm mid-year. Everyone is happier and our day goes much more smoothly.

[Caroline4kids]

We are very similar to you:

 

Wake up

Breakfast (20 minutes)

A Reason for Handwriting (15 minutes)

Math u see (15-30 min)

dd plays with math while her brothers work

Latina Christiana--copywork, cards, or worksheet (20 minutes)

SL LA Dictation/Grammar younger (20 minutes)

SL LA Dictation/Grammar older (20 minutes)

alternately working on ETC or readers while other group is working

Work on writing projects --IEW or mini-report, (15 minutes)

Read alouds before lunch (30-45 minutes)

 

then...more read alouds after supper for an hour.

 

This is while doing two Sonlight cores too.

 

So that is a total of 3 1/2 to 4 hours including extensive read aloud periods.

 

I don't anticipate it taking too much longer until they are more independent with things like science labs or research papers.

[tristangrace]

Now I'm fantasizing that when I'm teaching all three of my kids, I'll be just like you!

 

I'm teaching a first grader while "just" parenting her siblings (ages four and two). It takes us the whoooooooooooole morning to do what is really only an hour and a half's worth of work! My first grader stays reasonably focused--I'm the one that has trouble focusing while interacting with the other kiddos. My 4YO is not too terribly distracting, but my little 2YO can be a whirlwind of activity, and I haven't settled on a really good strategy yet.

 

In any case, good for you!

[PollyOR]

Michele, are you still doing the loop?

[rafiki]

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[Laura Corin]

That sounds fine to me. I have found our days getting much longer as Calvin has got older. When the boys were younger, we worked mornings only.

 

Laura

[prairiegirl]

I have 3 children--K to Grade 4. We get done our work in 3 hours. I, too, always feel that we are doing something wrong to get done this quickly.

[Karen sn]

What time do you get up?!

[Emmy]

Well I'll be the token voice of dissent and say I am NEVER done in 3 hours and I have kids similar ages to the OP. :tongue_smilie: All I can say is "I wish!". Good for you, really, that's awesome if you can do it. No idea why it doesn't happen here but it's working out fine anyway. :)

[VanessaS]

I'm only teaching 4 days (have a Bible Study on the 5th day) so that may be why.

That's definitely why. We're doing 4 days a week here, too. Fifth day is playgroup and visit Grandma.

 

2-3 hours a day sounds right to me. After all, they're small children. You don't want to chain them to their studies all day. Not like at school. ;-)

 

We're just doing K-4 stuff right now with my oldest and it's only 30 minutes a day and he's progressing quickly.

 

I like what Charlotte Mason has to say about habit-forming (in this case, dawdling and procrastinating). But I must say that my DS LOVES his "school-stuff" so dawdling isn't really a problem here. I find that with young children CM's short lessons are a lifesaver, though. If you keep them moving then they don't hang over one assignment as long. I think sometimes children are a bit overwhelmed by the shear amount of work ahead of them. If you start of with short assignments you could just lengthen them from year to year.

Edited February 12, 2009 by VanessaS

[rafiki]

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[mnllj7]

I think you are doing something right. I wish I could finish all that I have a dawdler. nancyt.