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Quaere_Verum
Guest
How many hours per day does your family spend homeschooling? If you indicate your children’s grade level it would also be helpful.
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James_Carson
Guest
I was a homeschooler in 4th through 8th grade. I voted for 5-6 hours and quite honestly I got more done (even with the lazyness) then I do in public school now.
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leonie
Guest
This was hard because my kids spread their work out throughout the day.
My first grader does a hour most days.
My fourth, sixth and seventh graders do two hours, but I would like them to do more. I think by sixth and seventh grades, kids should probably be doing more like three or four. But, I recently had them tested and they all scored in the ninety percentile. They were a little weak on grammar and math computation–so we are going to spend time on drills.
The two reasons we are not doing better on time are age 2 and age 5. My preschoolers have to have a big sibling playing with them most of the time to keep them out of mischief, so we do our schooling in shifts. Plus, in between, there’s meals and meal cleanups and all the housework of a family of eight.
They are big readers. So, that factor covers a multitude of curriculum weaknesses
. But, a great many schools have a fifty minute period of free reading built into their day–so, maybe I should count all the reading time, too!
They spread their work out all day. It would be nice if they just sat down and did it!!! We are usually done by 2pm or 3pm, though.
My first grader does a hour most days.
My fourth, sixth and seventh graders do two hours, but I would like them to do more. I think by sixth and seventh grades, kids should probably be doing more like three or four. But, I recently had them tested and they all scored in the ninety percentile. They were a little weak on grammar and math computation–so we are going to spend time on drills.
The two reasons we are not doing better on time are age 2 and age 5. My preschoolers have to have a big sibling playing with them most of the time to keep them out of mischief, so we do our schooling in shifts. Plus, in between, there’s meals and meal cleanups and all the housework of a family of eight.
They are big readers. So, that factor covers a multitude of curriculum weaknesses
. But, a great many schools have a fifty minute period of free reading built into their day–so, maybe I should count all the reading time, too!They spread their work out all day. It would be nice if they just sat down and did it!!! We are usually done by 2pm or 3pm, though.
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bjj
Guest
We are more structured in that we start our day at around 8:15 - 8:30 and work on 4 subjects, take a break, have a snack, to part of our rosary and continue with our remaining subjects (5-6 more subjects). We almost always finish before lunch time (1:00). I find the organized environment to work better for Mom and the kids. I do know that if the kids really want to get done to do something real important, they can normally be done with everything within 3 - 3 1/2 hours.
We use the Seton curriculum.
We use the Seton curriculum.
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susie_g
Guest
1st grader – around 1 to 1.5 hours a day
3rd grader – around 3 to 3.5 hours a day
5th grader – around 4.5 to 5 hours a day
6th grader – around 5 to 5.5 hours a day
This is just on average. Each day is different and a lot depends on how much writing is on that day or how hard the math is. (Writing long essays in combination with long division all in one day can really stretch the day out!) And, I am trying to just count actual work/teaching time, not breaks or piano practice, etc.
3rd grader – around 3 to 3.5 hours a day
5th grader – around 4.5 to 5 hours a day
6th grader – around 5 to 5.5 hours a day
This is just on average. Each day is different and a lot depends on how much writing is on that day or how hard the math is. (Writing long essays in combination with long division all in one day can really stretch the day out!) And, I am trying to just count actual work/teaching time, not breaks or piano practice, etc.
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OutinChgoburbs
Guest
Some states (Illinois) say all students must be taught a minimum numberof hours per day; 5 hours a day, 176 days a year. However- how one spends those 5 hours of “the branches of education in English”, and which 5 hours they happen to be, fall on the home school.
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AquinaSavio
Guest
In Colorado, we have to complete four hours. However, this isn’t a problem because I always go from 8 am until 3 pm, and then some in the evening. (I’m a junior) 
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Quaere_Verum
Guest
We use Seton & our 3rd & 5th grader will take any where from 5-6 hours to complete their work. We know others whose children in similar grades take 2-3 hours. I just can’t figure out why. It may be that Seton is more intense and requires more subjects, but it may also be that I have stop and smell the flowers kind of children.
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AquinaSavio
Guest
Seton is like that…it will get harder and harder as you go along.
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gardenswithkids
Guest
I honestly don’t know how to answer the question. What counts as homeschooling time? Do you mean how many hours do we spend on planned curriculum, workbooks and textbooks? Or do you mean how many hours do they spend learning? I like to believe that our home education is about creating an atmosphere that encourages the children to enjoy learning.
We use an eclectic approach with a fair amount of the material from Catholic Heritage Curriculum. My younger children (K-2) complete the workbooks, etc. in 1-2 hours. Older children add maybe another hour. But their educational hours go beyond that.
We do lots of reading. I read stories aloud to them throughout the day, both short stories, picture books and novels. They also read aloud to to me and to each other. The independent readers read books far into the night. The younger children color educational coloring books. Rarely do I “assign” that; I just keep books readily available and pull out ones relate to our history lessons or other subjects. I encourage them to learn independently.
We try to adjust our learning to our life circumstances. Babies and toddlers present both a challenge and opportunity for our home education. I like to remember that college level child development classes give college credit for time spent observing of young children. When we plan a vacation we study the history and geography of where we will travel, and we go on several “field trips” during vacations to learn about science, history and art.
We also use everyday activities as learning opportunities, such as “table setting math” for younger children to count plates and match with silverware on left and right. I make cooking and food educational, with use of fractions and multiplication in recipe preparation. This week, we decorated a cake to look like a state map–everyone wanted to eat the “mountains” with the frosting piled high.
We have lots of educational toys and games too, and a big yard and gardens to explore too. I prefer when they play outside or with the board games, but they also watch educational tv or play educational computer games in the afternoon. (I know traditional schools use this too, but I don’t consider that “school”.) I look forward to spring and summer as I like teaching science in our garden–we “grow” butterflies.
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annb
Guest
Usually less than an hour for my Kindergartener, but sometimes more.
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sing
Guest
homeschooled all my life, once i got to high school, i would have had to work from 8 in the morning till 8 at night to keep from falling behind. Seton is evil. I never technically finished high school. Luckily I got a very high ACT score, so i was able to get into college easily.
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leonie
Guest
Seton is too much for us, too. We might take a course here and there, but we won’t do a full courseload.
But, wow, Sing, I am in awe. You are going to do great things in life with a work ethic like that.
Don’t worry about not fulfilling all of Seton’s requirements to technically graduate. I never had a course in my public high school that finished its whole textbook. In fact, I don’t know any history past WWII
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sing
Guest
oh, i didn’t work that long or hard. It’s what I would have had to do, but couldn’t. Too much mental strain, along with the pressure of being the oldest of 10, and having to do a lot of housework and surrogate parenting. Along with untreated mental illness that made waking up in the morning an accomplishment. All the punishments and restrictions my parents tried weren’t much help either, just made things worse. I truly hate Seton.
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ThyKingdomCome
Guest
1-2 hours per day, 4 days a week (usually, occasionally a fifth day). This is school for my kindergartener and preschooler combined (2 kids).
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Vanessa
Guest
I know of other hsers who couldn’t finish Seton but got straight A’s in college. It’s frustrating to have friends who use it because they rarely participate in anything because they don’t have time because of all the requirements they’re doing with Seton.
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sing
Guest
yeah. it’s not that the work was hard, but there was such an excessive amount of work. You can’t have a life. I know a few people who did eventually finish, but they all took 5 or 6 years to get through high school, just because Seton is so time consuming.
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AquinaSavio
Guest
I’ve been working two years straight. I never got a summer vacation, and I’m not totally finished with my sophomore year (I’m a junior). I’m only just doing the second quarter testing (even though I should be past the third quarter). :banghead:
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sing
Guest
yeah, my summer vacations disappeared for good around age 12.
Is there any particular reason why you couldn’t switch to a different curriculum or design your own?
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AquinaSavio
Guest
Luckily, that was the first time I had worked through tthe summer.
I don’t dislike Seton. I really do love their curriculum. It can be overwhelming, but I want to stay with them.
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