How long is a typical home school day and how does it compare with the hours of a day in public school? Many parents, new to homeschooling, wrongly assume that they should home school for the same length of time as their public school counterparts.
In general, a home school day is much shorter than that of a traditional school day. This shorter school day however, doesn't mean that less is getting done. In fact, often home schoolers can achieve more in less time than their public school peers.
Is There An Average School Day?
Some home schoolers like to tout the expression “done by noon” as one of the benefits of homeschooling. This may or may not be the case for your own home school depending on the number of factors like the number of children in your family, outside activities, your natural pace, and how old your children are.
The beauty of homeschooling though is that you can cater it to your routine, your curriculum, your method and to the unique needs of your kids and your family! Home school moms have the amazing advantage of being in full control of their home school schedule.
Are y'all not morning people? Then you might wait and start your home school day until the afternoon.
Are y'all diligent early birds? Do you have young children? You might get your work complete before lunch.
Some families may like to take long breaks in between each subject, taking most of the day to complete their work but in an enjoyable and leisurely fashion.
Often, students in elementary grades can get their work completed in a fairly short amount of time, more often hitting that "done by noon" standard if they start earlier in the day. Of course, workloads increase as children get older. So a middle or high schooler will have to spend more hours on school work. Outside activities such as co-ops, field trips, doctor appointments, therapy, extra curriculars and library visits can interrupt and often lengthen your home school day, as well.
The average home school day varies greatly from family to family. More often than not though, it is much shorter than the school day of a traditional classroom.
The Home school Day vs. A Typical School Day
Take a minute to consider all the classroom management teachers have to deal with! While all of these tasks are necessary to run a classroom, they aren't actually related to learning. Teachers have a lot to juggle.
20-30 kids per classroom
In older grades 4-6 different classes
Individual and unique needs for each child
Communication with lots of parents
Keeping the classroom organized
Roll call
Class disruptions
Redirecting students and keeping them on task
Bathroom breaks
Lunch break
Hand raising
Discipline issues
Standardized testing and preparations
Emergency drills
Transitions to Art, Music and P.E.
All of these tasks cause teachers to lose important teaching time. While homes choolers may have some of these issues to contend with as well, they are equipped to handle them much faster and efficiently because of the drastically lower student to teacher ratio.
As you become a more experienced home schooler, you will gain a better sense of the right amount of time for your school day. Remember your day will and should be shorter than a typical public school day. That's one of the best parts about homeschooling! Enjoy it!
The flexibility of homeschooling allows you to cater the learning experience to your child’s unique needs and interests without the loss of teaching time. Which means more time for extras that they will love! It also allows for you to customize levels based on need for your special needs child.
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