How much time per day should you home-school? How is it possible when formal school runs for seven hours a day, five days a week?

 Are you a new home-schooler?  Often newbies try to replicate a seven-hour school day!  They are operating under the premise that a standard school day requires seven full hours of instruction.  In another life I taught professionally—mainly at the high school level.  Now I teach high school subjects for the local Co-op twice a week.  How much time do you need? Very young children might only work for an hour and a half. Younger children, 9-12, can complete their lessons in two to three hours, especially if they work five days a week.  Teens may need three or four hours.  Families often have a reading hour after lunch.  (Yes, listening to a fun audio book counts!)  Families feel they must somehow be short-changing their children.  After all instruction doesn’t take all day.

Not all the class time in public or private schools is well spent.  It’s better in private schools with small classes.  Usually, there are fewer disruptions.  In a public school, there are many, many sources of lost instructional time.  The first week, teachers seldom teach much.  

The first few days are spent with homeroom for hours to allow time for all of the kids to complete forms. Teachers were expected to show these students their lockers and complete a host of forms.  Hours.  The first day, all of the teachers literally took each class outside to show them where their line was for a fire drill.  Teachers show students where their lockers are. I can’t make this up.  

Another huge loss of instruction is the review period.  I can’t tell you how many teachers persist in weeks and weeks of review of previously taught material before they begin teaching their core subject.  For example, students have learned metrics and conversions repeatedly.  Still, chem teachers spend weeks in review.  

 Another time loss is home-room or the announcement period, which can cut short the first class of the day.  At the high school level, there is five minutes of passing time between classes.  Teachers must take attendance for each class—which must be recorded into the computer, along with grades.  Many teachers use ‘bell-ringers’ to allow time to post attendance.  

Every month there is at least one fire drill.  There can be more!  There can be tornado and shooter drills, too.  Every drill means twenty to thirty minutes lost.  Additionally, there are field trips, assemblies, and pep rallies.  If a team goes to a championship, the entire school might go outside to cheer them on to the bus.  There are special announcements during the day and final announcements at the end of the day.  Time is spent on periodic homeroom meetings or clubs.  Don’t ask about Fridays or holidays.  Movie madness reigns the week or so before any break.  

What happens when there is a substitute teacher?  The teacher might leave an assignment.  However, it is much more likely the instructor left a movie to watch—preferably from his or her discipline.  I taught at a school where the televisions had been donated.  Students watched a mandatory program daily at lunch time.  During the first week of school, the science department broadcast the same safety film to watch every year.

Did I mention testing?  I don’t mean tests teachers assign; there are federal tests and state tests.  If the state requires a standardized test in May, teachers in that subject need to complete their regular instruction by April in order to review the year’s material for the May test.  After the test?  There is little instruction. Teens play games, chat, and watch films.  Few teachers continue instruction after the exams.  

When I taught professionally, I did everything possible to combat the loss of instructional time.  It was still significant.  Whenever a teen is disruptive in class, there is time lost.  Be aware that not every class in any school setting is academic.  There are art, music, library, band, gym, cooking, computer, marketing,  and language classes.  Yes, you can confine formal instruction to the morning when you home-school and still give your child an excellent education—free from many common interruptions.

 High school students may need more time for math and science, especially labs. Teens tend to take courses remotely, which require more time.  Often Co-ops meet once a week, from 9 AM to 2 PM with classes.  Our math and science Co-op classes meet form 90 minutes twice a week and have reading, homework, and tests outside of class.  Literature and History classes meets once a week for 90 minutes with outside work.  Home-school teens seldom require seven hours every day to complete their work because there are many, many fewer disruptions. 

History of Science Unit Study!

The History of Science is one way to combine two seemingly disparate subjects.  They aren’t!  History frequently influences science and vice versa.  My Chem students create Atomic Theory Timelines to add a little scientific history to Chemistry.  Here is a project guide. But I do want to add more history of science and famous scientists next year, when I teach General Science.  Grades 6-8 seem like the perfect time for some old-school research and biographies.

 Apologia’s General Science Module 1 has an introduction to the history of science.  Here and here are samples of module 1.  Both samples have study guide questions.  Use them with this study guide sample, which has a timeline to complete.  Module 1 is already a good unit study—especially with the questions and timeline.

Online are children’s books: Children’s Stories of The Great Scientists, Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Scientists, Stories of Great Inventors,   Stories of Great Scientists, and Famous Scientists. The next stop is the library.  Good Reads Picture Books Biographies of Scientists is a good place to start.  Be selective: Audubon, Mendel, or da Vinci.  

How can you turn stories into a unit study?  You can summarize biographies of three or four scientists with this Famous Scientist Project Worksheet or this simple flap book.   Famous Scientist ‘Wanted’ Poster looks fun.  Go old school and write a report.  Who was the scientist? When did he live?   What were his contributions to science?  What are some interesting facts about the scientist?  You can select one period of time and create timelines.  Let’s go deeper in science and add a bit of history.

Join a Co-op!

 Do you have a Co-op locally?  They vary widely.  Some groups just to field trips together.  Others are dedicated to science labs.  Parents might band together, meet in a church’s religious ed classrooms, and offer a variety of classes for kiddos K-8.  Families pay for insurance or rent the space.  Moms usually do the instruction according to their background or interests.  Our Co-op offers classes to the Middle School and High School students.  Classes vary.  This fall we’re offering Young Explorers Chemistry and Physics and Apologetics to the Middle School.  The high school classes include British Literature, Chemistry, and Personal Finance.  (Brit Lit meets Wednesdays.)  Our Co-op determines classes based on student need.  The greatest need is in math and science; however, we’ve offered composition and literature classes regularly, based on need.

Why should you join a Co-op?  Moms can answer your questions, especially about their experiences with different programs.  You’ll be amazed at the variety of curricula families use.  Some enroll in online schools and others don’t.  Your family will form friendships.  Most of all, Co-op can keep you accountable.  Seeing a family with eleven children manage to arrive at Co-op on time is pretty motivating. (This family’s children finish all of their work on time, too!  Moreover, when they need help, mom packs lunches and drops them off.  Rob and I support them however we can.  The children elevate any class we teach.) Trust me, you’ll up your game when you see the quality of work other families produce. (Alternatively, you might join another, less demanding  Co-op.  I’ve been told I require a lot of work.)  

If you are going it alone, consider a Co-op—even just for field trips or visits to the playground.  Yes, families with Littles meet to play and chat.  You need encouragement.  You need resources.  You need support!  Join a Co-op!

Here’s a little heresy.

 I don’t mean theological heresy—but, educational heresy.  I mainly teach science classes to Co-op.  However, I don’t mind teaching literature or composition classes, too. For the past three years, the Composition and Lit classes have had teens with learning differences.  Here’s the heresy; we read abridged books.  I even assigned four abridged books as summer reading: Frankenstein, Romeo and Juliet, A Tale of Two Cities, and Pride and Prejudice. I use Longman simplified books and Illustrated Classics books.

I let one student with dyslexia use Grammarly to write papers. She had so much trouble spelling, Grammarly was a life saver.  Fine.  Usually, my students use Google Docs and we edit.  If a kiddo struggles with reading and writing, he or she watches the movie before reading the book to get the gist of the plot.  One of my favorite assignments is to compare a book and the film.  Does the Lion King capture Hamlet?  Does West Side Story retell Romeo and Juliet?  A few years ago, I had two young women in Brit Lit.  Anna’s favorite novel was Pride and Prejudice.  Angel couldn’t stomach the novel; she read the version with zombies.  (We all agreed that the film version with zombies didn’t resemble Pride and Prejudice at all.). 

BTW I love classics.  I do enjoy teaching a traditional, literature curriculum.  But, sometimes the teens have learning differences.  I want them exposed to literature, too, as part of their overall education.  Sometimes, the slang in Huckleberry Finn or Old English in Shakespeare deters kiddos from reading classics.  I don’t hesitate to pull out an abridged copy of the novel.  

Museum in a Box or Traveling Trunks

Does your museum have trunks or boxes your Co-op could borrow?   Look at the assortment available at the Las Vegas Museum.  Look for Traveling Trunks, too, such as these Revolutionary War or Civil War trunks.  Look at all of the histiry trunks at Prince William Historic Preservation or Gettysburg.  Be sure to look at the Gettysburg Curriculum Guide, too.  You can use the image and worksheet independently from the trunk.  For example, download Lincoln at Gettysburg along with the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address to use with the worksheet—another instant lesson!  See if your local museum has the trunk or museum in a box program.  You can pack in a ton of history in a few lessons.

Here is an overview to create your own museum in a box diorama—a mini museum.  Look at this article for ideas.  Mini Museums has templates.  How about a Mini Art Museum?  Your family is going to have so much fun!

NASA’s Museum in a Box

 NASA’s Museum in a Box lessons are for educators.  They combine activities and history.  Look at First Flyers.  The lesson begins with a list of materials for the Museum Box.  There is a bit of history and a series of activities—all related to flight.  Part of the lesson is scripted.  There is vocabulary, a series of images and templates, essentially an instant unit study.  Remember these lessons are from NASA and largely relate to aeronautics.  As instant lessons go these are fantastic!

Instant Unit Study!

 How do you create an instant unit study?  Start with a theme.  Pick up a pile of books at the library.  Do a huge number of related activities.  Plan a culminating project.  Document the process.  I like unit studies the whole family can do. The theme is Construction.  Why?  Your four-year old already has a complete collection of trucks.  The concrete blocks can serve a presents.  The topic is cement.  The youngest kiddo has his cement mixer truck ready.

 Here are 20 children’s books about construction.

IWhat about older kiddos?  One construction topic is cement.  Read The Case of the Flaking Floor, which is about cement.  Here, here, and here are fact sheets about cement.  

Are there activities? Try Flour Concrete and Composites (newspaper and ice).  NASA has this unit, Museum in a Box: Composites.  The pix and information is excellent.  But it’s based on a kit with carbon fibers, Nitinol, and density cubes.  Here are simple instructions for Nitinol or memory wire.  

Take pix!  What is your final project? Make Concrete Blocks or Engineered Concrete.  Make Stepping Stones as presents.  Think Engineering has Handcraft Cement Shape. Summarize your findings: slide deck, video, lapbook, or list.  Look at you creating your own unit study!