And how many hours do your kids do school work each day? My boys are 12 and 14 years old. We do school work for 4-6 hours a day. On a typical full school day, we start school usually at 8:30am, sometimes earlier. The boys love having the ability to start school earlier, so they can finish school earlier. LOL. This is our schedule, although, I tell the kids "This is a tentative schedule. They need to be open to life happening, and when we finish school depends on how well they are working and what we are working on that day" So sometimes, they finish school as early as noon, and other days, they go to 3:00 or 3:30pm. It just depends. Especially my 12 yr old. Some days, he likes to play the power struggle game and say he can't write neatly for handwriting, when I know he can, so that will take him an hour alone. I don't argue with him anymore. I just tell him that he has a certain amount of work to do that day, and his day will end when his work is done. It really irritates him when his brother finishes his work early, and he is still working. So the following day, he will work extra hard. Then a week or so later, we will play this game again. MON 8:30-8:45 Handwriting Practice 8:45-9:45 History / Science 9:45-9:50 Snack Time 9:50-10:05 P.E. 10:05-10:25 Bible Study 10:25-10:45 Oral Reading 10:45-11:15 Chores 11:15-11:45 Lunch / Free Play 11:45-12:45 Total Language Plus 12:45-1:45 Math / Silent Reading 1:45-2:05 Awana Studies 2:05-2:15 Speech Homework 2:15-3:00 Free Play TUES and THURSDAY 8:30-8:45 Handwriting Practice 8:45-9:45 History / Science 9:45-9:50 Snack Time 9:50-10:05 P.E. 10:05-10:25 Bible Study 10:25-10:45 Oral Reading 10:45-11:15 Chores 11:15-11:45 Lunch / Free Play 11:45-12:45 Essay Writing or Research Paper 12:45-1:45 Math / Silent Reading 1:45-2:05 Awana Studies 2:05-2:15 Speech Homework 2:15-3:00 Free Play WED 8:30-8:45 Handwriting Practice 8:45-9:45 History / Science 9:45-9:50 Snack Time 9:50-10:05 P.E. 10:05-10:25 German / Typing (kids alternate) 10:25-10:45 German / Typing (kids alternate) 10:45-11:15 Chores 11:15-11:45 Lunch / Free Play 11:45-12:45 Speech Therapy for 12 yr old 12:45-1:45 Math / Silent Reading 1:45-2:05 Awana Studies 2:05-2:15 Speech Homework 2:15-3:00 Free Play FRI 8:30-8:45 Oral Presentations (show and tell, or reading their essays) 8:45-9:45 Speech Therapy 9:45-9:50 Snack Time 9:50-10:05 P.E 10:05-10:25 Bible Study 10:25-10:45 Oral Reading 10:45-11:15 Weekly Tests / Chores 11:15-11:45 Lunch / Free Play 11:45-12:45 Total Language Plus 12:45-1:45 German / Typing 1:45-2:05 Awana Studies 2:05-2:15 Speech Homework 2:15-3:00 Catch up on any school work or Free Play
Dd is in 4th grade and we usually spend between 5 and 6 1/2 hrs a day. 8:00 ish dd will do Math 9:00/9:30-11:00/11:30 we do our together work which includes Bible reading, history, science, poetry (1x a week), read aloud (when I get to it), Latin (1x a week), dd reading a little from her current book, going over writing assignments (usually 1-2x a week), any co-op reading and spelling. 11:00-till done (with about 1/2 - 45min break for lunch) dd does handwriting, bible, vocab (3x a week), Latin, Bible, corrections (math and spelling),writing assignments, Maps and Charts (1x a week) and grammar. Most days she is done between 2 and 3pm
There really is no typical for us anymore it seems It all depends on who works that day, who's off that day, who I need to help, how we feel, the weather, what needs cleaning, who's meds I need to fix, who needs me to take them to the doctor, if there is a free (or super cheap) field trip opp that day, if I am going to the gym that day or not, if I'm doing batch cooking that day, etc... Here is the day planner I use (mine is a bit more personalized) I try to work school in between the chores. Ideally I like to get the the 3 'morning mini lists' in the 1st column done then do school and finish the bulk of it before lunch. But ideally doesn't happen around here often anymore LOL Some days school is done before noon, other days we're still doing school just before bed, other days we only get a half day in and have to get another half day in latter to count it for attendance. It all depends. That's one of my favorite things about homeschool right now, flexibility. haha Our state only require 4.5 hours, so that's all we worry about getting in for attendance purposes. But mine are young and always learning so I don't stress about time much really...
I am like JosieB in that we don't do a certain thing at a certain time! We probably spend 5 hours a day on schoolwork, except for Tuesday (co-op day). I use a lesson planner and my kids have a planner. Dd is an early riser, so if I keep her lessons up to date, she gets all of her independent work done before ds gets out of bed! Hubby and I have coffee and breakfast before he leaves for work and they get breakfast around 9ish. We break for lunch at noon and finish up by 3. They do some chores and then are free until dad comes home. They have a history and science test at co-op tomorrow, so we spent alot of time studying today! My brain is fried!!! Module 10 in Apologia Physical science - Newton and laws!
We do the Workbox method and my kids go pretty much at their own pace. Around 8:00 we have group time for Bible, History Read Alouds, CNN Student News, and anything else we need to cover. Then they do some warm-up activities (journal work), Math, Readers, Spelling, English, Handwriting, History & Geography worksheets, Science, Bible worksheets, then Music or Art depending on what day it is. They are normally done around 2:00 to 3:00.
Okay your schedule looks like mine used to. This year I am suffering from lack of enthusiasm for teaching due to nursing a few injuries and a frozen shoulder. Add to that taking adult s to work and back as we had a car die again and we have one eclectic home schooler ds who is a sophomore in high school. He has a lesson plan that is written up by me at least weekly. It has a list for each day that he follows somewhat like: Math- Do lesson 51 A , check corrections. Science Read and answer questions pages 45 to 48 Write answers clearly in green note book. History- today's lesson. Write grammar information in Blue notebook. English- Comp- page 78-80 odds A, evens B, all C Spanish- Listen and write lesson in notebook PE - 3 pm Basketball each day is lined out in sections and set up at the table when he gets up he is supposed to get right to it. He does not always do this if I am not on the job. Today for instance was PT day for me so I was gone for two and a half hours. UGH! came home to him on History ( catch up work in old book plus new book) And logging on to computer at the same time. Made him break for lunch after history and encouraged him to look again at the list to be sure he did the work. I believe he checked his work for math from last week and I did not print the test so thats okay he can do that tomorrow. He is not supposed to go on comptuer except for math or spanish dvds until I give him permission. He did art on computer today for a program where he gets paid in fake money for artwork he creates. I could call that economics right? Lol So usually we are done at 3pm latest as I need the break off of school time to house work and such after that he can play on computer or whatever.
I have a 2-yr old, 2nd grader, and 4th grader...the older 2 have ADHD, dyslexia, etc. so we spend more time than most of our friends, lol! Mon, Tues, Thus - 6-8 hours of schooling, including several small breaks (no screen time, so the breaks tend to be shorter on these wet, winter days; we begin around 6:30 or 7:00am) Wed, Fri - 3-4 hours of schooling, plus the 4th grader has 1 hr of OT and the 2nd grader has 1 hour of OT and 1 hour of speech therapy Because of my kiddos' *extremely* slow processing times for most subjects, everything just takes longer. We also do not have a set schedule - we have a routine in general (we tend to do 1 or 2 quicker subjects first to get them going, then we move on to math in the earlier morning...history, spelling, and science we do together later in the morning and into the afternoon.
I keep changing our days, but right now it looks something like this: 8:30-9:00 Breakfast with Bible story video 9:00-9:30 Bible - 30 minutes 9:30-10:30 Foreign Language (oldest) while middle child does exercise with sister, guitar practice, handwriting, and typing - 60 minutes 10:30-11:00 Handwriting, grammar, typing, speech or vocabulary for oldest, 1 mile run on treadmill for middle child, and youngest child does foreign language with me about 3 times a week. 11:00-11:30 Foreign language with middle child, oldest runs a mile on the treadmill 11:30-12:30 Math with two older kids. 12:30-1:00 Math, phonics, and reading with my youngest, oldest does writing, and middle child does writing and some exercise 1:00-2:00 Lunch with foreign language video and recess 2:00-2:30 Literature with middle child, oldest gets some exercise and guitar practice 2:30-3:00 Language arts with middle child, oldest finishes guitar practice and continues writing 3:00-4:30 Rotating subjects (science, history, logic/chess, geography, music, art) Science is every other day and history is more often than the rest in the list. My youngest does a unit study with me a couple times a week during this time (when the others are working independently) 4:30-5:30 Older two choose something they desire to learn or practice independently. Bedtime -Bible story and read aloud book with youngest, Oldest does literature reading in bed for about 45 minutes. On Mondays we have swim lessons which takes about 4 hours out of our day!! So the day looks quite different.
Wow I feel terrible. We start at 930 and are done by 1230 everyday. I can't imagine my kids sitting still that long or how I'd ever get housework done.
What works best for you kids My family are early rises (5.30- 6am) so we start the day early and finish early. Also the question is not so much the amount of time spent but the amount of quality time spent. I have been a special needs teacher for years + working with my own kids I have found so long as the child complete the task I set them and to the standard required if the finish the task early or quickly then they are allowed free time as a reward, if they do not then we carry on. I have a question for you. Could you integrate some activities with others e.g handwriting with bible studies. You could start by showing and practicing handwriting say for 5 mins, then teach them bible studies. Then you combine the two by getting them to write the bible studies. This way you reinforce their bible knowledge and their handwriting. Take care, I hope this helps David
This is closer to how our day goes, unless you count all the "non-school" learning activities in which we partake. Timed schedules are too restrictive and never work for our style. I know I will add more as they get older, but for now I can't imagine working in a full school day. Kids need lots of unstructured, creative play, which is one main reason why I value the ability to homeschool my children.
