How many hours a day do you home school your child?

Answer 1

Kindergarten Schedule

I'm always interested in what other homeschoolers try to fit into the day too!

We officially homeschool my 6 year old son. He is technically in Kindergarten (I would have held him back a year if he went to public school), but the work he does is more of a first grade level.

Our learning weeks run from Friday through Tuesday, as I work Wednesdays and Thursdays. I (try to) plan for each week on Tuesday or Wednesday. I make copies of worksheets, pull out others from books, note sections to read in other books, decide on projects to do. I combine all the work for each day and paper clip it together. Sometimes, we don't get to something and I move it over to the next day's paperclip. Sometimes we miss days all together (like yesterday). Sometimes, projects or assignments just never get done, but that's ok.



We learn, and that is what is important.
Morning: Play, TV time (I know - Bad bad bad), breakfast. Sometimes we manage picking up, mostly not.

9 ish: READ EVERYDAY Start the day in our "play room". The three boys share a room so we can have a place for the enormous amount of learning things. My son likes to "warm up". We read a story. Sometimes something from the library which goes with what we study in History, Science or of special interest. (It's pirates now.) Sometimes, its a book from our shelves. I try to make this "on level reading". He earns "Ice Cream Outing" Points for reading "on level" material.

MATH (everyday) - This takes about 45 minutes. We use Saxon 1. We DON'T do everything. We do calendar work, practice writing full name and date. Do the "lesson" in the book, some of the fact problems and one page of the two daily assignments. We are "behind" in Math and only at lesson 40. I don't mind. We take it slow and easy and don't miss a critical point by rushing to "catch up". This "behind-ness" is more my fault than anything.

Phonics/Spelling/Writing (4 days a week) - (15 - 45 minutes) We use MCP Phonics 2nd Grade (Only because I bought the wrong version for Kindergarten! *oops*) and MCP 1st Grade Spelling. We do one side of the phonics page a day and don't do any "write a story" pages. We do spelling a few times a week. We have "tests". We haven't quite figured out how to get on a good schedule with spelling though having the tests every Tuesday for instance.

History (3 days a week) - (30 minutes to all day) We use The Story of the World (Well Trained Mind). We read a section. Answer the questions. Do map work or color pages, projects, literature etc. until we want to move on. I have found he remembers more about the things we do "memorable" projects on or he finds the story interesting.

Science (2 days a week) - We are working through the body systems. I bought a book from the Schoolbox. The reading material is way above him and I have stopped trying to read it all to him. We are just getting a "taste" of it. We read out of the children's encyclopedia, get books from the library and do some of the color/labeling pages together. He likes doing the experiements more than anything, so we do lots of those.

Special Projects: Right now its Pirates. We do craft projects and I'm reading a few chapters a day from Treasure Island aloud. This is much more "child-led" than the other parts of our schedule. We might do "stars" next. Whatever he decideds he wants to learn about.

Nature Study: We are just starting this. We have a journal for watching anything "natural". We love to camp and hike as a family, so this will be so much fun as a family project.

Homeschool Group: Our group meets twice a month for classes and clubs. Generally, the classes and clubs are taught by member moms. Coming up, our son will take Science (matter - gas, liquid, solid) and Drama. He is also in the Flat Stanley Club (geography).

I also have a 3 and 4 year old. I've just started doing MCP Phonics for Kindergartners the Saxon K book with them. The four year old wanted learning work like his older brother. Yes, the three year old is really too young, but I CANT seperate these two!! They are glued together. They absorb all the reading aloud from history and science, etc. Sometimes they even answer the questions from the History lessons. I do some reading just for them too. I include them in as many of the projects as I can, or make special projects for them when I have to.

There it is...more than you wanted to know probably *laugh*

Answer 2

I personally do not have a set amount of hours that I teach my daughter. She is a junior in high school, and I let her choose her own hours for learning and studying. I would venture to say that on average she spends about four or five hours each day on her school work. However, some days are longer than others depending upon her assignments. If she is doing a research paper, engrossed in a new book, or doing a science experiment, she may study for eight or nine hours continuously. Therefore, I agree with most of the people that said that learning is constant and throughout each and every day. It really doesn't matter if it occurs at eight in the morning or at midnight... Monday or Saturday... the important thing is that it is occuring and enjoyable.

Answer 3

People have gotten the idea that schooling, or learning, has to be done by doing lots of worksheets and reading boring textbooks. Children can learn in a way that is not "work", but more like activities and listening to interesting information. A young child usually does about 2 hours of organized homeschool each day. Then he continues to learn in other ways throughout the day.

Answer 4

That's kind of like asking me how many hours a day do I parent my children. All day, every day. How many hours of more formal school work? We have 3 hours set aside a day, M-F. Those 3 hours don't usually include music, free reading, playing outside, swimming or skating lessons, art activities, field trips, etc. (My kids are 6 and 9.)

ADDED: At a young age, you don't really need to follow a school schedule. It can be very intense to be one-on-one with your kids, doing school work all that time. Kids in school do NOT spend all that time working. You could end up causing burnout in a young child if you forced them to spend each minute of a school schedule doing academic work.

Answer 5

4 to 5 hours

Answer 6

I would say that you use the same amount of time that the public or private schools would use.... 7:30am to 11:30am with a few short breaks in between. Lunch from 11:30am to 12:30pm with a short time for physical activities, and then back to studying till about 2:30pm and finish with the child doing chores after that. then let them have their free time till dinner and bedtime.

Answer 7

Hello,
For a simple, step-by-step program that can help your child learn to read visit this site: http://readingprogram.toptips.org

Learning to read at a young age is important for the development of the child. It helps them develop a better understand of their surroundings, allows them to gather information from printed materials, and provides them with a wonderful source of entertainment when they read stories and rhymes. Children develop at different rates, and some children will develop reading skills quicker than other children; however, what's important is that as the parent, you are keenly aware of your child's maturity and reading level to provide them with appropriate books and activities to help them improve.

As parents, you are the most important teacher for your children.

Also Watch this video of a 2 year old child reading http://readingprogram.toptips.org
Bye

Answer 8

about 5 to 7 hours a day, but the learning never stops you are always teaching your child something..

Answer 9

We like unschooling...which means every waking hour is an oppotunity to learn. Whether we are counting the number of beautiful red leaves that have fallen from our maple tree, drawing scribbles on sheets of paper, or reading a bedtime story...we are learning about the world. Authentic learning means you learn without boundaries...you learn all the time :)

-mom of 2-year-old dd

Answer 10

On average 4-5 hours! : )