Let’s face it – this is one of the top questions on everyone’s mind when it comes to homeschooling.

How long does it take every day?

And we have lots of reasons to ask this question. You might wonder what you are signing up for – are we really going to spend from 8am-3pm teaching our kids?? Will you have any time left in the day for all those household chores you did while the kids were off at school? You know, laundry, meal planning, relaxing on the patio?

Or if you flew through your lessons in two hours on your first few days of school, you might be second-guessing yourself and wondering if you’ve gotten something wrong. Could two hours really be enough when the public schoolers are getting so many more?

And of course we all find ourselves in comparison mode from time to time (but we shouldn’t!) and wonder what all the other families are doing.

The answer you’re looking for…

So you’re here to get some insight on how long you should be homeschooling your kids each day. Are you ready for the answer?

There is no answer.

Ugh. I know, that doesn’t help much. But here’s the thing – every family is different. We have different ages and numbers of kids. We have different KIDS. We have different learning needs and goals and lifestyles. There is no universal right answer when it comes to how long to homeschool each day.

And when I use the phrase “homeschool each day”, I’m really talking about our formal lesson work. In reality our whole day is a learning experience, whether that’s in the form of math worksheets or discovering little sea creatures in tide pools at the beach.

So when it comes to determining how much time you should be spending on formal lessons, you’ll have to do some of that evaluating yourself. Are your kids learning a new tidbit each day? Do you see progression over time? If so, you are probably spending enough time on it. On the other hand, if each day begins as a chore and feels like a burden, you might be spending too much time in the thick of things and need to back off a little.

But, to give you a little point of reference I’ll share with you our daily schedule for this year. Your day likely won’t look like mine but at least we can take a little comfort in knowing we aren’t alone!

Routines vs. Time Blocks

Over the years I’ve tried different ways to structure our day. Some people like to have time blocks that keep them on schedule. For example:

8:00 Breakfast & Chores
9:00 Math
10:00 Science or History
11:00 Language Arts
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Free Time or Nature Walk
2:00 Elective
2:30 Independent Reading
3:00 Free Time
5:00 Clean Up and Dinner
6:00 Family Time
9:00 Bed Time

With four kids and lots of outside commitments, this system usually didn’t work for me. But it could work for you!

I’m more of a routine gal. We’ll follow a flow of events every day but the clock won’t be our master. I haven’t always had a set start time for the day (we have some early risers and a very late riser), but we’re working toward that this year. School time will begin at about 9:00am and we’ll go till about 12:30pm and break for lunch. The afternoons will be mostly free time, family time, or extracurriculars. Sometimes we’ll add in things we didn’t finish in the morning. There will be a few independent activities the kids can do on their own that will add a little to this time, but I won’t have to be directing it.

What’s that you say? You only count 3 1/2 hours? Maybe a little more in the afternoon?

Well, yes. That’s about the size of it. Three, maybe four, hours a day. Oh – and just four days a week.

When it comes to homeschooling, sometimes less is more. And sometimes we have to realize that we are actually accomplishing a lot in those precious few hours! The little things each day add up to big things in the long run. One of my favorite quotes says it best:

“Success is the sum of small efforts – repeated day in and day out.”

Robert Collier

The 4-day Week

So you may have noticed I threw in a little truth bomb back there – our 4-day school week. This is actually the first year I’ve planned it this way. But every year I find that even though I didn’t PLAN a 4-day week, I NEEDED a 4-day week. If I got all five days of lessons done in any given week I felt like we had done a huge thing. So instead of always feeling behind I decided to just give ourselves a little built-in grace.

You see, life happens. We still have doctor and dentist appointments. We still need to go grocery shopping. Field trips await. The beach calls. Sometimes we just need mental breaks and family games and movie marathons. That extra day every week is a great place to fill those things in without feeling like you are neglecting something else.

And guess what? Sometimes learning happens in the most unexpected ways. When we give ourselves (and our kids) time to explore, play, think, imagine, and even “veg” out – our brains are rejoicing in the opportunity to grow and thrive without any pressure or expectation. We start to experience more of the world at a slower pace. We become accustomed to learning for the joy of learning. That open-ended 5th day can often become our most valuable learning day of the week. (And by the way – it doesn’t have to be the same day every week!)

Is a 4-day week possible?

Can you get it all done in less than 4 hours a day, 4 days a week? Well, that depends. What exactly do you want to get done? Maybe a better question is this: what is important to you? (Get a little encouragement on figuring this out here). If learning lots of detail in every subject is important, then this may not be enough time. If lots of free exploration and down time is important, than then this may be too much time.

My suggestion to you is to start somewhere in the middle of what you are comfortable with and go from there. Evaluate every few weeks to see what is working and what isn’t. Make changes as needed. Give your kids room to adjust and give yourself freedom to try something different. Every year it seems that I change, refine, or try something totally new. It’s ok. You’ll begin to narrow in on what your family needs to thrive and you’ll probably discover that it’s completely unique to you!

Your Homeschool Day

So where do you go from here in crafting your homeschool day? Take a little time to look at your calendar. What does at typical week look like? How many things outside your home are you involved in? What kinds of things does your family like to do? How many kids do you have and what does a realistic day look like?

Think about your kids and their ages and personalities. Will they need lots of one-on-on attention or are they old enough to do some (or most) of their work on their own?

Come up with an estimate of how much time in a week you can realistically devote to school. This may need to be adjusted depending on your course load, but at least you have an idea of what you can manage. If your coursework looks to need much more time than what you have, maybe you are taking on too much.

In the end, remember that nothing you plan or start at the beginning of the school year is set in stone! You are free to make changes until you find a routine that works for you and your kids.

Share with me how long your homeschool day is!