Homeschool Hours & Outdoor Time

I found this information from Cindy Downes very interesting. If you are wondering how much time to spend teaching your child(ren) or are worried you can't spend as much time teaching your child(ren) as a public school would, then this information is for you.

Public schools meet for five hours a day to allow time for students to earn the required number of Carnegie Units for graduation. A Carnegie Unit is the amount of credit given for successful completion of a course which meets 40 minutes per day, five days per week, for at least 36 weeks or the equivalent time within the school year.

This amounts to 900 hours per year. It has been estimated by some educational professionals that out of that 900 hours, approximately 200 hours are spent on one-on-one or on-task teaching. The remainder is spent on all the other things that happen in schools such as correcting papers, recess, lunch breaks, managing classrooms, etc. That is the equivalent of 66 minutes per day!

Considering that the average homeschool family teaches one on one approximately 1-1/2 to 3 hours per day, it's no wonder they are scoring better on standardized testing! See Sample Homeschool Schedule.

You can find this quote at http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/getstart.html#plan

You might think of homeschooling as the opportunity to use time more efficiently. How you use this time is up to you and the method you choose. Some methods encourage homeschoolers to spend their free time learning in a natural way. I really like the Charlotte Mason approach.

She believed children should spend most of their time outdoors, which, of course, is not always possible in a city or suburb. The main idea, however, is that children learn about the natural world they live in. Aside from learning their local flowers, trees, borders, directions, etc., children develop their observational skills and their ability to focus their attention. I am reading about this in a Modern English translation of the Charlotte Mason Series. Here's the relevant part...http://amblesideonline.org/CMM/M1_2.html

I learned in my first attempt at homeschooling that I am too new to this to have firm beliefs so even though I am focusing on the Charlotte Mason Method, I am not trying to say this is THE best method. You are free to compare information and form your own beliefs. I cannot fully subscribe to the CM method anyway. At least, not yet. And after this year, I may not want to. Who knows?

For instance, as much as I would love for my children to run and play and explore outdoors for hours a day, it just isn't feasible for us. For one, I do not tolerate heat very well and neither do my children. For two, we live in good sized suburb where there is high traffic and too great an opportunity for contact with strangers. Once the school year begins, I will jot down how we do spend our time.

I hope you find this information helpful. Please feel free to discuss in comments. :D