Reality: Homeschool rarely had any resemblance to a traditional school day.

I almost have to laugh when I think about the poster I put up on the first day of school. 

Opening:       8:00 

Reading:       8:15 

Math:              9:00 

Recess:        10:00  , etc. , until school was finally over at 3:00. 

That schedule barely lasted a day. Certain things took longer than I expected. Others went more quickly. I definitely didn’t factor in all the interruptions that would throw us off track. I don’t want to say that school became a free-for-all, but our day certainly ended up being way more flexible than I had imagined. 

 Schedules will vary significantly between families. Some thrive on having children gather at a set time while focusing on core subjects. Other families let their children schedule when and even where they want to get their schoolwork done. Schedules also vary greatly between children. Some like structure and regularity while some hate it. Some children work slowly while others rush through tasks. There are a few points that became clear to me early on: 

• There is a lot of wasted time in traditional school classrooms. Home schooling is often more efficient, and children can accomplish the same amount of schoolwork in an hour to two of home schooling that they can in an entire day of public school.

• Because the school schedule caters to the “average” student, some children finish way faster and are bored. Others work more slowly and are constantly struggling to not fall behind. Very rarely does a set school schedule perfectly fit the needs of more than one child.

• The idea of defining a school day as a set length of time is pointless. Once the line between life and school is erased, every waking hour becomes part of their school day. The issue is not “how many hours” are spent doing school, but how those hours are spent in a variety of balanced activities, both academic and recreational. 

School days may not be sandwiched between 8:00 and 3:00. They might not the same from day to day. Rather than worrying about what your day ought to look like, be flexible and discover what works for your family at any given point in time.