How Long Should Homeschool Take?

How long should homeschool take each day?

It seems like more and more families are giving the homeschool life a try these days. There are SO many questions when figuring out how to get started homeschooling. How long should homeschool take each day is probably one of the most thought about questions when starting out as a first time homeschooling family.

While it’s a valid question, the answer is going to be different for everyone. Below are a few helpful tips to guide you to feeling confident with planning your homeschool day!

Forget what school “should” look like

First and foremost, something pretty much every homeschooling family does in the beginning, don’t try to recreate a traditional “school” setting at home! When trying to figure out how long homeschooling should take each day, a lot of parents feel the 8am-4pm pressure. Guess what…you don’t need to! 

The beauty of the flexibility of your days as a homeschooling family is perhaps one of the biggest perks. Some people do better with a schedule and like to map out their days, and you can do this and still enjoy that flexibility.

Knowing what you’ll cover each day/week with your children is important. Keeping in mind that you don’t need to be seated and working during set hours, is where I’m going with this idea.

A typical classroom setting is 20+ children, with bathroom breaks, various interruptions, moving from classroom to classroom for specials, etc.

The actual teaching/working portion of the school day is not the full 6-8 hours children are in school. Because it’s what most of us were raised doing and we have come to expect as the norm school-wise. It can be hard to shake that notion.

Learning at home

Learning at home, even if there are multiple siblings involved, will not take nearly as long as a typical public/private school day would.

Where you decide on setting up your learning space can also be big concern with trying to recreate a typical school. A beautiful, Instagram-worthy designated schoolroom in your house is great but honestly not necessary.

Realizing you can teach your kids anywhere, the kitchen table, sprawled out on the carpet in the living room, on your back porch, at a local park, etc. (all while storing what books and supplies you need in a closet or some cabinets in your laundry room) will hopefully take some pressure off you. Try to make your learning space comfortable and cozy and a place (or places) you and your kids will want to be.

Legal requirements

As I mentioned in a previous post make sure to read up on all of the legal requirements for your state when thinking about how long should homeschool take each day. Most states require a full 180 days of learning. Also, documentation to prove the requirement is met.

Some states also have an “hours per day” requirement. Again, make sure to do your research and follow whatever guidelines your state has for homeschooling. Once those questions are figured out, you will be ready to think about what you’d like your days to look like.

Timeline examples & difference in ages/learning styles

If you google “how long should homeschool take” more likely than not, you will find a chart showing suggested seat work time for each grade level. The idea behind this chart, which surfaces a LOT as you delve further into homeschooling research, is that you can calculate how long your child will need to complete their work at their grade level.

I know some people think they need suggestions like this to plan their days, but honestly you do not need a chart telling how long to work. That is defeating one big reason a lot of families choose homeschool – the freedom to individualize your child’s learning experience.

Some children work at a faster pace than others, some need more time. Some days even the kids who stay on task while completing their school work and like to check the boxes needed to move on to the next subject, will need more time.

Allowing your child extra time if needed, or finishing up early is again a homeschooling perk. The ebb and flow of your days as a homeschooling family can change day-to-day and that’s ok!

All siblings will not be finished with their work at the same time, and that’s ok! Younger children, preschool/kindergarten aged, will most likely be finished with their learning earlier than an upper elementary aged child. Just like a high school level student may have their workload spread out in fewer days during the week than younger students. It will all vary, and that’s ok!

Finding the flow that works for you

If you do like an example to go from, most work can be completed within 3-4 hours a day with a school week ranging from 3-5 days. Again this is just an example.

Choosing how your day will flow homeschooling your children is a gift. Boxing yourself into what an online chart suggests is really not necessary. Give yourself some grace when planning your days.

This was a big learning curve for me when we first started homeschooling. I not only made the common mistake (mentioned above) of trying to recreate what I thought school “should” look like, I also had us scheduled and planned out with no wiggle room.

Not fun for mama or kiddos. Stressing over finishing by a certain time of day, unless of course you have an appointment or class that you need to leave for, is miserable.

If you feel like you do better with a timeline, more structure, by all means set up a plan. In a previous post on how to effectively homeschool multiple ages, I mentioned the idea of block scheduling.

Giving yourself a guideline and knowing that when you reach a certain time, you move on, regardless of finishing up a page or lesson, is one way to plan if you need some structure.

Whatever you choose to do, start first thing in the morning, after lunch, or even if you don’t have a set start time for each day, just focus on what you want your days to look like. Focus on your homeschooling “why”. Focus on what you want your children to be learning. The rest will fall into place over time.

Learning all the time

From infancy our children are learning simply by being their sweet little selves. Absorbing the world around them, mimicking what they see and hear. Recreating (or trying to ha!) things they witnessed (like daddy shaving his face, or a beloved pet drinking from bowl) is a huge part of their younger years of learning. As they get older kids are still learning, through book work but also in many different ways.

Meeting with other homeschool families for classes or field trips obviously provides great chances to learn alongside others. Especially to learn how to work well with other kids of varying ages. But there are so many more places our kids are learning every day.

Interacting with people on trips to the grocery store provides a great learning experience. Casually learning about budgets and costs, maybe keeping track of spending with a calculator. Write letters to a pen pal (kids love getting mail!). This provides a great chance to make sure their handwriting and spelling are on point.

Gardening, nature walks around your own neighborhood, bird watching in your backyard all provide great science “lessons” without the structure of a “lesson.” Audio books or podcasts in the car are a great way to have a captured audience for learning some history or helping classic literature come to life.

Games (in fact there is a type of schooling coined gameschooling!) are another great way to learn together while having fun!

There are so many opportunities to tie in day to day experiences to your homeschooling day. One more reason to take the pressure off yourself when trying to figure out how long homeschooling should take each day.

There is no “right” way

Realizing that there is no “right” way to homeschool your kids, comes with experience, just like parenting! Get your ducks in a row legal-wise. Don’t try to recreate/force a school setting and find what schedule or timeline works for your family. But don’t obsess over how long homeschooling should take each day.

Enjoy your kids, and the incredible amount of time you get to spend together. Although some days you’ll be questioning this I’m sure haha! All in all though, I hope these suggestions help you to realize that you’ve got this. And to help you focus on what a great gift you’re giving your kids by choosing to homeschool.