Are you worried you don’t have enough time to homeshool? Or are you a homeschooling family and you feel like all you do is homeschool and are looking for a new homeschool schedule? I find many parents wonder how many hours a day do you homeschool. Although there are variety of contributing factors such as a child’s grade, whether you are including extra curricular, and your state requirements, let me give you a glimpse at our homeschool day. Here is how we homeschool in only 15 hours a week!
How Does Homeschooling Work
First of all I want to preface this by saying no two homeschooling families are alike. We have different teaching styles, different learning styles, different likes/dislikes, and home schedules. Answering how many hours a day do you homeschool has many answers depending on state requirements, students grade, how quick your children grasp a new concept, and your relationship with your kids.
This post was written when all my kids were in elementary school. Now that my oldest is in high school, things have changed for him (and me), but my other 5 kiddos are still done with their core work by lunch. Again, this is meant to help you streamline your homeschool by getting an idea of what works really well for us so you can tailor it to fit your specific family. I encourage you to tweak this to fit your individual family.
How to Homeschool
We all “do school” together at our dining room table; we start at 8am (my crazy kids are up by 6:30 every morning).
- My 3rd grader starts by practicing piano while I go through my 5th graders work for the day (that includes presenting new information and how much work they need to do today), then he plows through asking me any questions as he goes. My Kindergartner starts by playing with an education toy or app.
- Then my 5th grader practices piano and I go through my 3rd graders work for the day. My Kindergartner continues with an educational toy while she waits.
- It is about 8:40 and my 3rd grade and 5th grader are hard at work. Now it is my Kindergartner’s turn. I sit with her for the next 45 minutes give or take until she is done. (I think it is SO IMPORTANT to be there with K and 1st graders to make sure they get things right the first time)
- At 9:30 the kids have a snack and take the dog out for 15 minutes or so. The kids continue working on their seat work, typing, and Rosetta stone, and reading if they have time. My Kindergartner is now done for the day and she likes to play. I pay some bills, put dinner in the crockpot, plan our together lesson for the day, etc.
- By about 10:30 we all come together to tackle our together subject. Once a week we spend an hour exploring science, art, social studies, or music together.
- 11:30 or so we have lunch and are done for the day! The kids play, read some more, or we head to a park to play during the afternoon.
- NOTE: We do not do school on Fridays (or weekends). If for some reason the kids had a hard week and did not get their work done they do have to finish it on Friday, but I think that’s only happen 1-2 times. Fridays are dedicated to doing fun things together, building memories, forming strong relationships, and expanding our learning with some amazing field trips.
Am I doing Enough Homeschool
Many parents wonder if they are doing enough when it comes to their homeschools. Like us, you may find you can homeschool 3 days a week, homeschool in 4 days a week, or homeschool in just 4 hours a day. Which probably leaves you worried – what am I missing! The public schools take a full 8 hour day. I MUST be missing something!
Homeschooling and Classroom learning are VERY different! Classroom teachers have to get groups of kids to line up, open their book, be quiet, wait for one another, talk about appropriate classroom behavior, have scheduled bathroom breaks, etc. That all takes time — more time than you realize! With your own child or children you can go at their pace and not dawdle on a concept they grasp (or slow down and keep exploring a concept until they understand it).
On average, most will say how long homeschooling takes every day:
- K-3rd grade – takes less than 2 hours a day
- 4th – 6th grade – takes 3-4 hours a day
- 7th-9th grade takes 4-5 hours a day
- 10th – 12th grade – takes about 7 hours a day
Teaching the Essentials
I consider the following to be essential in any good education (public, private, or home educated)
- Math
- Practice math facts for fluency
- Grammar
- Spelling
- Handwriting
- Writing / Composition
- Vocabulary
- Reading
- Reading Comprehension / Reports
- Bible (plus daily devotions and scripture memorization)
- Music (music education, learning about famous composers, piano)
- Art (instruction, time to create, and learning about famous artists)
- Social Studies (communities, government, US history, world history, and geography)
- Science (biology, zoology, chemistry, inventors, lots of hands on experiments, etc.)
You can see our homeschool curriculum choices here.
We also add to our schedule fieldtrips, playdates for “socialization” and exercise (gymnastics, sports teams, swimming, etc.)
You MUST teach kids to be independent learners
The goal of every parent is to teach and equip kids to be healthy, well-balanced, happy, productive, self sufficient adults. A good homeschooling parent will home educate with that in mind!
You will need to sit next to your kindergarten and first grade as they are learning for form letters and numbers, read words, and understand math principles. But as they master the basics (in 2nd or 3rd grade) you need to encourage them to be self motivated learners.
- teach teach the concept (usually in a 1/2 page instruction)
- try it together (to ensure they “get it”)
- allow them to complete the rest of the assignment on their own
- check back to help and correct their work as needed
Relationships Matter
I wrote about Homeschooling Parent / Child Relationships here are more length, but basically if you don’t have a great relationship it will make everything, from making their bed, clearing their dishes after dinner to homeschooling. more difficult.
If you feel like you are pulling teeth to get things done or that they aren’t listening to you I suggest you take take a peek at this article for some helpful suggestions.
Homeschooling Resources
- Should I Homeschool my child – 5 potentional homeschool pitfalls
- 25 Reasons why I LOVE Homeschooling
- How to choose the right free printable homeschool curriculum
- How does homeschooling work – how we homeschool in only 15 hours a week
- Homeschool Socialization – is it really a problem?
- How to Homeschool for FREE with free homeschool printables
- Why Homeschool – a peak at why we homeschool
- Take a peak at our Homeschool Room
- Homeschool Organization – meet our workbox system
- Homeschool Curriculum – what we choose to use each year
- Get your homeschool started right with these homeschool ideas
- Homeschool attendance sheet and other forms to help you keep organized!
- Free Printable School Memory Book
Free Homeschool Worksheets
We are here to help! We have over 1 milliion free worksheets, games, and activities for students of all ages. Click on the links below!
By Grade:
- Homeschool Preschool
- Homeschool Kindergarten
- Homeschool 1st grade
- Homeschool 2nd grade
- Homeschool 3rd grade
- Homeschool 4th grade
- Homeschool 5th grade
- Homeschool 6th grade
By Subject:
Thank you SO much for this article! We recently started homeschooling and I wondered if we were doing enough because so many people seem to spend all day homeschooling! We have 6 grade school kids at home (4 above preschool age) and we too are finished by lunch. I think what you said about teaching them to be independent learners is the key. If you can teach someone to learn, the world is theirs!
So glad this was helpful!!
Ah, this is really useful for me at the start of our home Ed life – I have 3, ages 4,2&1 and want to do the best for each of them as they grow. Seeing other more experienced people talking about setting kids off on a task (like piano) whilst tending to the others sort of give some me permission to do it too! Thank you x (also planning on having unschooly kind of afternoons following structured kind of mornings)
Glad it helped. It is always great to get a peak in others daily schedule!
As a new homeschooling mom (started our 2nd year this year) I love finding tips like this! Thank you for a great post!
I love this schedule! My only question is if you are required to do “portfolio reviews” and if they are ok with the # of hours? To me, in an average 6 hour school day there are at least 3 hours where they are not learning, but this will be our first real review in January and I look at our “attendance” record and wonder if they will say it’s not enough hours? Thank you for sharing your experiences and resources!!
You would need to follow the state requirements for sure. But think about making cookies (home economics), art class, piano lessons (music) , ballet / sport (PE), reading (literature), fieldtrips, etc. as also contributing to your time in a less structured way.
This is a great blessing resource site. May God continue to increase your territory as you have been and are blessing others.
So you’re allowed to do 15 hours each week?? Wow, go, super momma!! I was wondering if you’re allowed to do that since my state requires six hours each day.
That’s just the “core” We supplement with music lessons, sports, field trips, reading, etc =)