2013 “Not” Back-to-School Blog Hop: Day-in-the-Life Week

We’re still enjoying summer as we soak in the unusually beautiful weather here in Nova Scotia! We won’t be starting back to homeschool quite yet. When we do, my 14 year old son will be working on “Grade 10” and my 9 year old daughter will be working on “Gr. 5” this year

Many people assume that a Homeschooler’s daily and yearly schedule has to be the same as the schools in the local school board. If the local public school’s day starts at 9am and ends at 2pm, and runs from September through June, they assume that homeschoolers must adhere to the same schedule.  A homeschooler’s schedule varies widely from home to home.  Some homeschoolers do homeschool work for 5-6 hours per day, while others school only in the morning, only the afternoon, or even only in the evening when their parents get home from work.  Some homeschoolers do schoolwork from Monday-Friday, some Monday-Thursday, and some include the weekends.  While a September through May or June schedule is typical, some homeschoolers opt to homeschool year-round.

Here in our homeschool, we tend to follow a September through June schedule, much like the public school schedule. However, we are flexible and often will take a week off around our own activities.  For instance, when either my children or myself, or even the whole family are involved in a stage production, such as Les Mis this past year, we usually take the performance week off.

In a typical week, we get most of our homeschool work done Monday through Thursday, with Friday being a time to relax before our generally busy weekends, or to  tie up some homeschool loose ends.  We also find that, without 20 or 30 children learning classroom style, we get a lot more done in less time per day.   As a result, our homeschooling day often runs from about 10am-2pm.  This leaves a lot of time for my children to explore their own interests, read, practice their dance, drama and music, or explore the outdoors, before heading out to extracurricular activities. It also allows my 14 year old son some flexibility – if his internal clock is waking him up at noon, that’s fine, he’s just done his homeschool work a little later.

Whatever the schedule being followed, most homeschoolers will tell you that homeschooling is a way of life.  Even when homeschooling has technically finished for the day or for the week, the children will keep on learning, and even excitedly come show me what they’ve learned in those “off hours”, something I love about homeschooling! What is your typical homeschool day like? Feel free to check out other homeschoolers’ days in the life at:

Love, Luck &
Laughter,