Homeschooling questions...

[sunny-d]

Hi. I am loving having Jane home. It was definitely the right choice to pull her out. We have been doing "school" every day with an online curriculum I found. I don't love it, but she has reviewed all of 2nd grade math and Mastered it and is about 1/2 through the 3rd grade Lang Arts.... we do other stuff too, but it has been VERY low key and lovely.

I'm wondering how much time each day you spend on school. I was just reading different reviews for curriculum next fall and suddenly feel panicked that I'm not good enough at this and need to send her back to school next fall. Some days she'll do hours, some days just reading....

[miche]

To do the basics for my 1st grader (doing some 2nd grade work) we spend at the most 3 hours a day four days a week. He completes all his work and this includes supplemental "fun" activities. It does not include free reading which he does at other times, particularly in the car. He reads probably 6 hours a week at least, but he loves to read and I never have to remind him to do it. He completed all his 1st grade work over a month ago and a decent chunk of 2nd grade in some subjects.

My 4th grader is another story. We spend at least 6 hours a day on schoolwork 4 days a week and then time on Saturday and sometimes in the evenings. Even with this he's still weeks behind in some subjects. But this is because he chooses to stare into space for 30 mins instead of doing five math problems. Even when he was in school he had an issue with daydreaming and inability to stay on task and complete his work in a reasonable amount of time. It's extremely frustrating because he's a really bright kid and the work isn't hard (nor is it too easy.) He hates to read and rarely reads a book unless I make it part of his required school. He'll be doing school work all summer to finish 4th grade. At school he had the motivation of having to stay in from recess if he didn't get his work done and he still occasionally wasn't motivated enough by this. At home I have yet to find something to motivate him. He gets no snacks, no computer, video games, TV, etc and he still doesn't seem to care.

In the younger grades Tommy would run hot and cold. In first grade IF he was motivated that day he could complete in 90 mins what his brother takes 3 hours to do. We did a lot of really casual days with him and then did "marathon" days by his choice.

I think what you're doing sounds fine! If you think about all the time that class organization takes, attendance, passing out papers, calling on various kids, settling the class, etc. you can really zoom through material with a homeschooler!

[ILmomtobe]

While we don't homeschool, I also wouldn't discount the educational value of all the things you normally do in a day. Trips to the zoo, the grocery store, the post office can all turn into math and science activities. Heck, making bread from scratch with regular yeast can be a science activity.

[SusanH]

I have no answer for this since we're still more unschoolers than traditional schoolers. We spend anywhere from 0 minutes to the entire day doing educational stuff. Like Donna said, there's a whole lot of education that happens outside of sitting down with a math book or doing a spelling list.

I'm planning to add a little more structure into our school year in the fall - right now, we aim for a math lesson a day, a spelling lesson a day and reading some history each day. I'm planning to add in more formal writing exercises (her choice - stories, plays, essays, poems, journal entries, writing up science data - but some writing each day) and we're making an official Science Day because I have a bad tendency to put off doing science experiments and other potentially messy projects. I may add Art Day and Geography Quiz Day after a few months of adjusting to our new schedule.

[hapo2nd]

Both kids get everything done in under 3 hours (most days). DS is 5th grade and DD is 1st grade. We do 4 subjects a day and spend the rest of our time doing FUN stuff (art, science experiments, museums, parks, picnics etc).

They do Math, Writing and Reading daily and alternate history and science for the 4th subject 4days a week. Grammar is Friday.

Homeschooling should take no where near the hours that public schooling takes.

[ebmomma]

I don't generally look at how much time we spend, but rather what we get done. This can be because a bad or unwilling attitude can make school last 2-3x longer on a bad day than on a day when she just sits down to do what she should. I also count dance, art, soccer, and softball and any other activiites she is in as school time.

But if you want an actual answer, Em is 1st grade and about an hour and a half is a normal school day, maybe up to two if we do more indepth, and certainly longer if we do a science activity or count baking, etc into the school day.

[shortcake]

We're Unschoolers here as well, so I don't do formal lessons or keep track of time the kids are doing things that are "educational". We have memberships to the Science and History museum, the Botanical Gardens, the Zoo, the Children's Museum, etc. We do something at several of those places every week usually. We shop at the Farmer's Mkt, go to bookstores and the library, cook together, watch videos, play computer games, play outside and go on nature "hikes" or to the park, etc.

I don't do "teaching" so much as I try to facilitate the kids' learning. It's amazing the things they learn just by living!

[NanaD]

Originally Posted by ILmomtobe

While we don't homeschool, I also wouldn't discount the educational value of all the things you normally do in a day. Trips to the zoo, the grocery store, the post office can all turn into math and science activities. Heck, making bread from scratch with regular yeast can be a science activity.

Love this! It is so very true; our sons were in a good school district and advanced but......the trips to Galveston or our favorite place in the woods outside (15/mi) Traverse City, MI. were huge in their memory bank

BT and Shannon do homeschooling! They will be spending 3/weeks in the mountains of CO. with their other Nana and Papa! It is awesome, beautiful and a great teaching area