I will start homeschooling my dd, 8 and in 3rd grade, and my ds, 7, and in 2nd grade, both of which have previously been in public school. While my husband and I agree this is the best option for them at this time, we differ as to how much time we should "do school" during the day. They are both very good readers, are at grade level or above for math, and are generally enthusiastic learners. I feel they can probaby complete all their work in about 4 hours, while my hubby feels they should be schooling as long as the public school students are in school (about 6 hours.) I taught in public middle and high schools and volunteered several hours a week at the kids' elementary school; I've tried to explain to him how much time is wasted there. For my own sanity and evidence of what others may do, if you have children about the age of mine, could you let me know about how long you spend each day "officially" doing school? Thanks for all your input. Carol
My kids are 7 (will be 8 in 2 weeks.) and 11. We work about 4 hours a day. This gives us more than enough time to finish everything. It really doesn't take as much time as they do in ps. Like you said, a lot of time is wasted in ps. They spend a lot of time in lines to go the the bathroom, the cafeteria, other classes, etc. They also spend time waiting for others to finish work, for the teacher to explain over and over, for the teacher to get control of the class, etc. At my kids old ps they actually put away their work 45 minutes before the bell to "prepare " for dismissal. The kids had to be sent to different areas of the school depending on how they got home. This took a while. Then they would actually dismiss at different times. First came the special ed classes, then the walkers, then the car line, then the bus riders. From 3 to 3:45 that place is a madhouse. If you add that 45 minutes to 30 minutes for reccess, 15 for potty breaks, and 30 for lunch, you get 2 hours right there! Add in all the other time I mentioned and I now understand why the kids had so much homework. They didn't have time to actually WORK at school. LOL Our school also had what they call "Fun Friday Film". If the kids are good all week they get to watch a movie on Friday afternoon. The others played in the classroom. This was a waste of a lot of time. (I won't even mention what they chose to show!)
No, Rumpledoodles, he knows how much time is wasted in school. I just think he wants to push the kids more than I do. I'm trying to convince him that shorter, more concentrated work is better than extending the day just because you can. I don't want to take my children from a situation where they were bored (ps) and then overwhelm or stress them.
I've always heard that a young child actually learns more if the "sessions" have some time lapse in between so that there are more learning encounters. As for me and my house.....I have a 9yo ds and 6yo dd. I have a certain amount of work I expect them to do in a day. Once it is done it's done. If you count only the time spent in textbooks (math and language or phonics) it usually takes them no more than an hour, but usually much less. That's not to say that we don't read alot and do other things with history and science, but that is all child led or I start them off on a topic (usually individually) and we just go with it till they get full I'm probably the exception to the rule as homeschoolers go, but it works very well for us. My ds was in public school first and I found that it took alot of his love of learning away. The last thing I wanted to do with him was be "just like school". So being relaxed works incredibly well for us, as now he is self-motivated to learn again. Hope this helps your cause!
Carol, We spent 4 hours per day when my boys were the same ages as your kids. 6 hours would have been too much and like you said, we got the work done in 4 hours. Younger kids don't have the attention span that older kids have you so have to decide depending on whether or not you lose your audience. If they start shifting around in their chair then all they hear are dolphin squeaks when you speak. Good luck!
Carol~ 3 or 4 hours should be plenty for the ages of your kids. What are you planning to use for curriculum? At those ages, you should be able to do many subjects with them together- which will take less time than working individually with each (I'm talking about things like science and history, or music and art, if you're teaching those subjects). My girls are in 6th and 1st grade this year- and we do the above mentioned subjects together- we've only been schooling (this year) for about 2 weeks, and this is our first attempt at working together- but so far, so good. When you are working one-on-one with kids, the time goes alot faster than it does when you're teaching a group of 25-30 kids. As mentioned above, in a school setting, the teacher has to wait for the slower kids to finish before moving onto a new subject or teaching point. Please tell your hubby that you won't be "slacking" at all with the kids if it only takes 3-4 hours!
Heidi: I plan to teach them together for everything except language arts. They are only 12 months apart in age, and my son (7) is actually quicker at math than his sister (8), so we can do math together also. I'm using an eclectic mix of sources for them. Since we are also new to this, I didn't want to purchase a curriculum and realize afterward it is too hard or too easy. We need some time to determine exactly where they are at academically before we make a big purchase like that. Between what I can find at the library, second-hand book stores, the internet, and general store workbooks, I've been able to put together a decent set of lesson plans. (10 years of teaching at the public schools and 6 years of tutoring also give me some confidence.) Thanks for the support. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't being to "easy" on the kids. Carol
Here in Ga we have to hs for 4.5 hrs a day. I feel that is enough time to do the actual work planned. Our actual school day is from 8:45 to 2:30 though. Part of that time is recess and lunch.
For me, it varies from day to day. We usually start about 7:30, and go strong until about 10:30, then break until around 1:00 and go until 3:00. But we have piano lessons and our homeschool group on Wednesdays, we go hiking once a month and are planning on going swimming once a month this year, we have our trips to the library and to the store, etc., etc., etc.
Hi, Carol. I hs my son (7), who is in 2nd grade. If he doesn't dawdle, we can finish all the "book work" in less than 3 hours. Of course, we also read a lot to him and try to find all the "teachable moments" in our day, so he gets more informal learning as well. Blessings,
When I started hsing my boys were in 6th and 3rd grades. It took us about 5 hours a day because they worked on totally different levels and each needed individual instruction from me. We are required to do a 6 hour day, but as far as I am concerned when they're done with the day's work that's it. I just log a full day in the attendance record. Last year my oldest was in 10th grade and it usually took him 7-8 hours each day to get his work done. His work was much more advanced and besides that, he dawdles. If he could be done in less time, great. If not, the assignments had to get done before he could call it a day. Even so, I know that it still less time than he would be putting in if he were in ps and doing homework every night. I always think there is more that they could be doing. They think I push too hard and expect them to be learning something every minute. It's sometimes hard to find the right balance. I'm sure you will find your footing as you work your way through this first year. It sounds like you have a lot of experience to draw on and this is a great place to find support.
I read somewhere . . . that ps kids only get 15 minutes of true learning each day. Other than that, it is repeating something they already know, busy work, lining up, waiting, lunch, recess, or goofing off. I told dh when we first started - Sure as the sun I can do more than 15 minutes a day! I also break it up a lot - we do "School" for 2-3 hours in the morning (depending on how long it takes), then break, then pick up after lunch for another hour or so. Then we will have after dinner or before bed work (depending on the season). Usually this is extra-curricular stuff like music, spanish, art, or religious reading. We also permit the kids to read in bed for 1/2 hour to an hour after their bedtime to encourage silent reading. Add that onto what we do, hour-wise, in a day, and even on a "wasted day" where we don't really get a lot done or aren't home much of the day, we still to a lot of "Schooling." I think it's all in how you look at it. Also, sometimes I feel like I'm not doing it "right" or long enough or whatever, then I get comments like the ones from some friends last night. They were griping about the local ps and I asked if they were looking at private school and the dad joked, "We were looking at hiring you!" That is one of the best compliments our family could have received.
We start at 9:00 and we are usally done by 12-12:30. But, they help fix lunch and clean up and that kind of stuff that I have labeled life skills. So, I guess really we are never done. But, the book work takes about 3 1/2 hours.
When I was younger we did the same as bpolin. Start at 9:00 and end by 12-12:30. At first my parents stressed the importance of a schedule and then when they felt like we had grasped that concept well enough (which was around the start of high school) they shifted more toward daily and weekly deadlines to prepare us for the workplace. I myself am not a real fan of pushing kids too hard to learn because when I was learning I tended to resist school with the same force as it was presented to me. That meant that the harder my parents set me down to do school, the harder I tried to get out of it all together. I did way better later when I was left to go at my own pace. Some days when I struggled with a lesson I could take the whole day working on one subject. I remember even taking two or three days on occasion. My parents didn’t like that to happen very often but our whole focus was on learning so it didn't really matter to us how long it took.
Learning is not Isolated I think one of the primary benefits of homeschooling is the ability to cater your teaching to your child's specific needs and interests. Therefore, I would be apprehensive about setting any specific and mandated time period, especially not the same amount for both your children. All children learn in different ways and at different paces. I truly believe that you will be successful if you tap into your children's interests and curiosity and let them explore for however long interests them and gets the job done. You can homeschool while making dinner and listening to music in the car. You can educate by taking a trip to the zoo or grocery store. Homeschooling is great because it does NOT have to happen in one place for a certain amount of time. With that said, there are a number of schools, especially online schools, made for homeschoolers that have learn at your own pace curriculum. I have found these to be especially effective, as they keep kids motivated in what they are learning so that school doesn't become a rigid chore. Just something to think about.... ________________________________ Diana M. Dahl is the Curriculum Manager at Learning by Grace, Inc., a Philadelphia based organization that runs several online K-12 Christian homeschooling academies. www.TheJubileeAcademy.org www.TheGraceAcademy.org www.TheMorningStarAcademy.org
By giving them a "schedule" then it is a class room setting with the same ps principles and not enough education. The way I see it, if you guide them on subjects that they need to read, then have them write about it in a journal. This way, they learn note taking and then give them a test every week. This way, memorization will set in and schedules will seem to disappear (Usually, the education lessons take less than the alloted time, but I make up for that at the dinner table for meals when we discuss the lessons during a meal. My kids are excited about our discussions cause they don't realize this is actually a pop quiz that they are taking, and they generally pass all the time).
I disagree that a schedule is a "bad" thing. I'm fairly laid back, and will resist "school at home", but I also feel a FLEXIBLE schedule is important for organizational purposes. Take math, for example. If a child is having trouble understanding a concept, I have been known to throw out the math book for the day and just work on that concept in a more creative way. We can either then skip that lesson altogether if I feel the understanding was there, or do it the next day. This could take an hour longer than I had "scheduled" for math, but that's OK. Understanding is more important. At the same time, however, if my daughter is playing around a taking forever to do a page she already knows, I'm a stickler for the schedule. I might set a timer, and tell her that if it isn't done she will be finishing it later that evening when Daddy is home and her siblings are watching TV. What I have done in the past is to give the kids a weekly sheet with all the subject and how many times a week I "expect" that done. For example, I will have "Journal 3-5" and "Math 4-5". Every day the kids so that subject, they color in the day. At the end of the week, I can see that we only did History 1 time instead of 3 or 4, so the next week I can purpose to concentrate on history. It's more for MY guidance than it is for the kids. And it also helps them to see they need to do some of the more "rote" things without being told, such as practicing piano, Bible reading, and journal writing.
We usually start around 8:30-9:00. We do not medicate (all boys are ADHD) and we're still done within 3-3 1/2 hours - that's taking time to get up and move around when we're in the fidget mode. I went throught the same thing with my husband (we weren't spending 6-8 hours teaching like they do in public school). The difference is that you're teaching one on one to your children and you have far less distractions that what the ps classroom has. If you try to teach the full 6-8 hours, you'll be done schooling by December (for example) and be looking for things to do to fill in the rest of the year. I tried to fill in the full days (to please my husband), but by Wednesday everything I had set out and planned to do for the week was done - and I wasn't prepared for the following week. It wasn't until Andrew went back into public school last fall that hubby realized he stressed way too much over it - Andrew was well above his classmates. Think of the teaching as mornings for formal teaching and then the remainder of the day is reality teaching - there are so many things you could be doing informally for the remainder of the day (grocery shopping - math, cooking - math (and patience), etc). When I was planning lessons, I would try to commit a specific amount of time to doing it (usually about 45 minutes). Sometimes it took the full time to complete the lesson, other times (especially with math) when Andrew was in the mode to really work hard - forget the schedule, we went with what he was willing to do (somedays we would only spend 30 minutes on text book/book math, other days he would sit for an hour or more - who was I to discourage it (because math was his most hated subject)? IMHO, home schooling is about meeting the individual learning needs of the individual child. I personally would prefer to work with the child and make many gains that way rather than to fight them all the way on it - that sounds too much like ps to me. As an after thought, we did put Andrew back into public school last fall, but we had many, many battles and took him out again - never to return...
