We are h.s.'ing our 10 year old. PS level, she is grade 4. Our typical learning day lasts 3 1/2 to 4 hours. DH thinks this not enough time, still thinking that if it takes an 8 hour day for PS, it should take that long at home too. Even after explaining all the wasted time in a PS day, he thinks she's getting off too easy I say, we're getting everything done that is planned and she is learning, so why double up and risk burning her out on learning again. Just curious if maybe I am not spending enough time each day teaching? Any suggestions?
A good rule of thumb is appx 30 minutes per grade level. You should be spending 2-3 hours. Tell your dh to give me a call. (LOL... I'm only half kidding.) I used to teach PS, and I can guarantee I got only 2-3 hours of teaching into a day... with 5-12th graders! (I was the primary for middle school and the assistant for high school in the music/band program. They didn't even offer music before 5th grade! I was also certified to teach 4-8 science and did that for a couple of semesters as an intern. The teachers I worked with didn't get much done, either.)
I agree with 2littleboys! My dd (6) has about 1.5-2hrs. My ds (9, 3rd grade) has about 2.5-3. Both of my kids tend to gab or argue as much as they work though LOL.
It depends on the kid! LOL Our learning is set up VERY independent in this house. I'm more a facilitator and scheduler than a teacher in most of our subjects. Available for assistance and clarification. My oldest (6th Grade) takes about 4 hours to do all of her subjects, and we do everything, every day. Of course, she's extremely disciplined and focussed. My middle (4th Grade) takes about 5 to 6 hours - but more because he dawdles and drags his feet. I'm constantly refocusing him and getting him back on track. He COULD do it in about 3 1/2 to 4 hours if he stayed focused. My youngest (Kinder) has about 1 hour's worth of actual seat work a day. Other than that, she plays on Starfall, Spelling City and other educational software and books and movies, etc. She has a lot of play in her schoolwork! And, you can have your hubby call me if he likes. I've homeschooled all three from the beginning and never been in PS...but we've always taken less time. and my kids ALWAYS test at least 2 grades higher in every subject except Math (which they're only either on target, or one grade ahead). So...keep up the good work, sounds like you're doing GREAT!
I take about 3-4 hours with my second grader, but he tends to procrastinate. If he was focused, would could easily be done in 2 hours.
I'm agreeing with the procrastination! :lol: I usually plan about an hour's worth of work. Sometimes it takes 30 minutes, and sometimes it takes all day.
We spend 5-6 hours on school, but don't spend a lot of time in seatwork. 3.5 to 4 hours is fine for a 4th grader. When I was in 5th grade my teacher gave us a list of all our assignments for the day. I completed it all in a couple hours and then was able to spend time learning what I wanted to learn. Homeschooling is very efficient. It gives children more time to pursue learning about interest areas. If your husband really insists on adding time then maybe you can do what my 5th grade teacher did and have her complete the necessary subjects and then spend the rest of the time learning about something she is interested in.
I have a 9 and 10 year old and we are focusing on 4th and 5th grade. We start around 9 and end around 12 or 12:30. That is pounding the work out. With no breaks and they work really hard! So, I guess we go around 3 hours with me and then they have more work when I leave for work which I think lasts around a hour.
Thanks for all the encouragement. I really feel like we're spending adequate time with our learning and we do all subjects everyday to a certain degree. Some days Science is not too in-depth as she is not too interested in it yet. I think DH is just not sure about the easier style of homeschool yet. Our 2nd grader is still in PS, so he feels like our older one is just getting off too easy while little sister is stuck at school all day I just wanted reassurance that I was not totally off my rocker with being able to finish so quickly most days!
We spend about 2 hours a day on actual textbook/workbook type work. I don't do every subject everyday, usually only 3. The girls know there is NO lollygaging around during instructional time. It wastes my time and theirs I found when I tried to do all the subjects everyday, I would loose my kids. It didn't matter if we took small breaks in between, they still zoned out. All it did was cause fighting and frustation, not worth it. But 2 hours for us is perfect, everybody is happy
As I said in another thread recenty, back when I worked in ps, and observed in just about every classroom in the district, middle schoolers were doing good to get in 20-25 minutes per class period of actual instructional time (that would total about 120-130 minutes per day!). The rest of the 45-55 minutes of each class period was spent in taking roll, sharpening pencils, getting out books, providing excuses why they don't have their homework, finding the right page, and reviewing said homework, and at the end of the period when they were supposed to be getting a start on the homework, they did nothing, brushed their hair, wrote notes, talked to each other, read a library book, and in general looked busy but they weren't.
We spend 3.5 to 4 hours a day learning with my 4th grader. We have a set schedule of 10:00 to 2:00 or so with 30 minutes for lunch. We vary the subjects, sometimes we do art, sometimes we watch a movie, sometimes we spend the whole day on a science experiment! Sometimes we do learning outside the home on field trips. Hope that helps!
we work until it gets done! I start between 8 and 9, give them 1.5 for lunch (so we can cook together, clean, and relax) than finish up. I mostly depends on my girls, if they play around or get to it! Some days we are done before lunch, so it all depends.
I have a 6th and 8th grader. They learn all day, but have about 4 hours worth of "assignments" and that includes a short break and their piano practice time.
would it be possible to schedule a "school day" on dad's day off? then let him in on your typical school day so he can see what you actually get done in a day. Sometimes actually observing a school day in progress can be a real eye opener. or you could schedule an "open house" night with all the work on display and invite family and friends to see what is going on in your school. your dh will probably be impressed with how much your getting done. It could take some time for your hubby to readjust his thinking. I know my dh used to have the same concerns, but with time he came to see that with only two kids, and no attendence to take, discipline issues, or crowd control, we could do more with less time.
My dh was iffy on the homeschooling thing as well, but it didn't take long for dd's huge progress in reading to become apparent. The trick was to have him hear her doing it- so he knows how far she's come. I agree, let him hear what you are doing. My dh is less impressed when I have the kids running through the house making maps, but he mentioned how well they were doing when I had them sitting at the table reading out of our sci text :roll: (I did appreciate the compliment, but oy... they do so much learning besides that!).
Well, the kiddos' around here... 24 hours a day. Now, whether everything the kiddos learn is useful or even moral is one thing, but I'm convinced that they spend at least 24 hours a day learning. Sad they watch so much trash TV. *sigh*
I have a 6th grader, 2 4th graders, a 3rd grader and a 2nd grader with 2 new English learners this year. We spend about 4-5 hours solid a day, not including piano and PE. We could probably get away easily with 3-4 solid if it weren't for adding in English learning and slower progress on certain subjects due to explaining word meanings. We started homeschooling this last year and I was STUNNED to discover how much more we get done than was done in the public school classroom. On a standard day we do 5 pages plus of phonics, 2-3 grammar lessons, 1 math lesson but today was 2 for 3 kids, 2 spelling lessons usually each week, etc. Sort of double the work that school gets done. I had no idea how much time was truly wasted each day until I saw how much could get accomplished with focused one on one education. It is no wonder your hubby questions it, even I did and I am teaching it! hahaha!
