How much school for our children

[Leigh]

My younger child is in 5th grade. He does the basics well enough, although his writing still needs improvement. His schooling does not take a huge amount of time each day. I don't require much memorization of facts for tests, because we don't DO a lot of tests. (We work more along the lines of Charlotte Mason-style schooling, and also Dr. Moore's "better late than early" approach.)

Recently I have heard from parents of other fifth graders, one from a private school, and one from a public school, about the HUGE amounts of work required of their children, not only during the school day, but also hours of homework throughout the week.

We saw some friends last night and the father told me his child was doing the level of work that he (the dad) did in HIGH SCHOOL. (Apparently it is only his child's teacher that does this in that particular school - the other fifth grade teachers don't have the same requirements. She is trying to prep them for middle school.) Both parents were writing out stacks of flash cards to prepare their child for a QUIZ -- not even a test -- and tests cover 20 or more pages of typewritten material from the teacher!!

This seems extreme to me and I worry that my son won't be adequately prepared to compete in college some day -- but at the same time I can't even imagine trying to do that level of intense work with him each day.

What do you all think? I am especially interested in Bookworm1711's opinion! My computer battery is about to die so I have to run! Thanks!

[Leigh]

What do you all think? I am especially interested in Bookworm1711's opinion!

(Computer charged!)

Just to clarify - I appreciate ANY of your opinions! I specified Bookworm because it's nice to have a public school teacher's viewpoint.

Thanks to anyone who answers.

[lisaann]

Remember our children don't have to compete with the discipline issues of 15-20 other kids in a classroom. Plus, they are learning on the exact level they are ready for, not held back by the lowest common denominator (or pushed beyond what they can do). Just these two things alone free up quite a bit of our time. It's all about quality of work, not quantity of work.

I babysit a little 6th grade girl who is at the "head" of her class. She was telling me recently about how she has been moved up to the "advanced" math class. Seeing she is in 6th grade and in "advanced" math I quizzed her on some of her math facts. She flat out did not know them! If this is what passes for "advanced 6th grade math" in public school I hate to see what they are calling "average" students. I tell that to say that things aren't always what they seem.

edit to add: I am schooling a 3rd and a 6th grader. We get started around 9:30am and are usually done by 1:30pm. That is including several breaks and an hour for lunch.

[Lucy]

More is not better. We finish what we are working on and then have time for things that interest us and will enrich our lives such as: golf, karate, art, gardening, animal husbandry, 4H, shooting sports, sewing, photography...You get the idea.

[Lucy]

More is not better. We finish what we are working on and then have time for things that interest us and will enrich our lives such as: golf, karate, art, gardening, animal husbandry, 4H, shooting sports, sewing, photography...You get the idea.

I have a 10th grader and 2, 8th graders...just fyi

[House of Light]

We get done with our day rather quickly as well. I have a 5th grader....and I don't have him do alot of busy work. He completes a math assignment everyday. About every two months I will quizz him to make sure we are going at the right pace. He is reading The Hobbit for literature, and is reading "Heroes of the Holocaust" for Biography. We are using the Abeka Science...and I have him read, and then we will go over the comprehesion questions together. History....he is reading a 5th grade history text...and I will add if I see fit. Social studies/Geography...depends....this week we read a book about Vetrans Day...and looked up countries like Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, ect on a globe. For Penmanship, he writes two proverbs out as neatly as he can everyday....i pull his spelling words from what he is currently working on. It seems like alot...but it really isn't....and it does not take him all day. He has time for band instrument, piano and Tae Kwon Do later in the day.

[Reason&Hope]

A few points about keeping up with the Joneses.

Some schools give a lot of homework because the teachers are spending so much time keeping order in class that they don't have time to really go over the subject, so they depend on homework. Some give it because parents demand it because they're anxious about their kid getting ahead.

Homeschoolers can be more well-rounded in their education because they don't spend hours in class rooms every day. It's one of the benefits of homeschooling. Kids can get burned out from too much academic work (it's ironic me saying this because all my children do very well academically, but it's true). I've seen it in friends at college and in some other people's kids. They can also begin to feel like they only matter to their parents when they get A's. (I know; I was one of those kids. And I think my nephew and niece are like that.

On the other hand, how do you know if you're teaching them enough? There are books like "What Your 5th Grader Should Know" and online guides. My kids take a yearly test - the Iowa test - to help me know how they're doing.

Know this also, that all kids are unique. My youngest son is zooming ahead in math (he's in 7th grade and high school algebra is 'way easy' for him), but his handwriting is terrible - working on it. And while he reads at a high level, he doesn't like to write. On the other hand, his older sister is the opposite, gritting her teeth through algebra but writing all sorts of things. My job is to help them develop their talents and to help them learn how to improve their weak areas.

[CircleSlide]

Hey I just want to echo what everyone else is saying. Our "school" time is from 9 am to around 1:30 (with lunch thrown in), but we do so much more than that with field trips, lessons, and church events that I feel our kids are busy enough, one great thing is our evenings are our own!!

We have a 16, 13, 11 year old.

[Lucy]

We have always said that homeschooling is not something we do, but rather, the way that we live.
We homeschool 24/7, 365 days a year.

[BHuskey]

My son is in 8th grade. We begin school at about 9am each day. We take a 10-15 minute break at 10:30am. We take 30-60 minute break for lunch around noon and then we're typically done by 2-3pm. Sometimes he is actually finished before lunch time. I do make him spend 30-60 minutes before bed either studying for upcoming tests, reviewing materials we covered that he was interested in and/or reading his Bible, a book or magazine or whatever he feels like reading.

My son just received his scores from the PSAT that our umbrella school encourages students to take beginning in 7th grade to get them accustomed to standardized, timed tests. He scored better than 30-40% of SOPHOMORES nationwide. I'd say he's doing quite fine. Not to mention there is rarely ever anything we come across that he does not learn right away. The only area he really struggles with is reading comprehension, because he does not like to read, but we're working on it and working on finding books that he enjoys. He was very proud of how well he did on the test and seeing his weakest area was reading and that the test suggested reading more books to improve his score, helped to back up what I was saying all along, that he really needs to read more to get better at it. He ended up spending an extra 10 minutes last night reading because he just had to finish the chapter he was on in "Prince Caspian."

[Lucy]

My sons liked the Left Behind, for kids, Louis l'Amour western novels, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit. They love golf, karate, and fishing magazines..
I started them on the A Beka Literature series this year which has chapters of timed readings. They love to see their reading speed increase....

[BHuskey]

I just want to add that included in our "school" time is also art, music, typing lessons and PE, not just the core subjects. I also did not mention the doggy breaks, when he has to take the dog outside to relieve himself.