How long is your school day?

**Michelle** · 10-07-2003, 04:22 PM

Do you have a set program? A minimum number of hours per day? Or lesson plans that dictate how long school will be that day.

I know virtually nothing about homeschooling nor do I know anyone who H.S. so pardon my ignorant question.

**homesteadmamma** · 10-07-2003, 05:43 PM

Michelle, great questions.

For us, we don't have a set time for our schooling, as do most hs. Most pretty much play it by ear when it comes to each day.

Our school starts at 9:30 and we go until the kids are finished math and language arts. Sometimes they get their work done quickly, other times it takes longer.

We have Bible, history/geography or science (depends what semester) in the afternoon and our afternoons start at 1:00 with quiet reading. At 1:30 we then do our studies and depending on what were studying can take up to 1 - 1 1/2 hrs. Sometimes if were really into a subject (such as the galaxy) we don't want to put it down and go longer.

So on average we do about 3 hours of work per day. Now you might say, wow that is nothing in compared to what my kids have. Thats right, but there is a lot of extra stuff in public school and the teacher is teaching way more kids.

Friday afternoons we have art. Thrown in there on Tues., Wed. & Thurs. are 15 minutes of typing.

We go according to the public school year so when they have a day off, Christmas holidays, etc. we do has well.

For us, even though we have a set curriculum, our kids are learning all the time. They are in the workshop learning from their dad when he is in there and dd is learning to sew and quilt when I'm quilting. They love encyclopedias and area always asking questions, so thats part of our learning as well.

We use Alpha Omega curriculum which works perfect for us. It also has a teacher's guide that helps me.

In our province we don't have any set days or hours in which we have to hs. In many States, that is a requirement.

HTH

**DawnM** · 10-08-2003, 02:18 AM

We aim for 4 hours a day. Some days it's way over, some days it's way under. Learning is constant so it's really hard to put a time frame to it. Just for my own records, and out of interest, I try. Friday is our 'light' day with art, art history, and planned life skills lessons. We start our school year around the same time as our schools here and end around the same time, but throughout the year we do what we want. If we want to take 3 or 4 days, or two weeks off for a trip we do. If DS is home from college, we take time off to spend with him. We always stop for Christmas break the middle of December and don't start back until after the new year. My DD is still learning during that break but it's not counted towards our time. She's extremely motivated, always has been even when she attended public school, so we always end up getting in more hours than are suggested/required anyway (180 days here) and that allows us to be flexible.

It's a good question Michelle.

**sherriew** · 10-08-2003, 09:19 PM

We start usually at 9:30. We can finish as early as 1 or as late as 4:30 it depends on what we are doing. I homeschool 3 ages 12, 8, and 5. Grades 8, 4, and K. So our times vary. During the early part of the week we have lessons and rehearsals to go to during the day and that is usually when we are later.