Mimi Rothschild Brings You “Enjoy the Advantages of Homeschooling: More Family Time”
Author: Randall/Karen Webster

Homeschooling is an education option that is widely debated by comparing and contrasting it to public school. There are always two sides to every story, and there are many topics that always seem to come up in these discussions. This article will focus on one of the popular topics, by sharing our family’s experience as it relates to it. We hope to address more in future articles.

Debunking the Myth: Homeschooling takes a lot of time

The public schools where we live begin around 8:00 am and let out around 3:00 pm. That is 7 hours each day that the child is away from home and in the public school building. When you add the time to get to and from school its closer to 8 to 9 hours per day. This is equivalent to someone working full time. Plus the kids we know that attend public schools have homework nearly every night. This adds another hour. Then there are the extra-curricular activities that they may choose to stay late to participate in.

Our experience has been that we spend an increasing amount of time on “school” as the child gets older. One hour per day is plenty for kindergarten, two hours per day for 1st through 4th grade and about four to six hours for junior high and high school grades. This includes all homework and research papers, etc.

Our kids have done well on the standardized tests and their annual evaluations with this approach. So I’m confident that we covered everything required and more. This has allowed time for other priorities like household chores, helping with the family business, helping a friend and free time.

Homeschooling does not require as much time for the student as the public education system requires. Then there is the teacher or parent’s perspective. As homeschool parent you will need to spend the times listed above with your child daily plus about another 30-60 minutes per day to prepare, review, plan, etc. When you have clear goals and work together, it doesn’t need to take that much time. Once you get through a grade with one child it gets even less time consuming with the next.

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Randall & Karen Webster have been homeschooling their 5 children for over 10 years. They offer advice and encouragement through a Free 5-part Mini-Course at Frustration Free Homeschool.