For part of 2025, I have decided to do blog posts centering around frequently asked homeschool questions. I have been asked these questions or seen them in various online spaces. In many homeschool groups in the online space, parents are asking how long homeschooling actually takes. Just like anything, it can vary from one family to the next. Still, generally, it doesn’t and shouldn’t take all day, as traditional public school does. I have seen information like this graphic in several places. It is a good rule of thumb and guideline to try to follow (loosely) if you take less time or more time. As long as you are not being overly rigorous or skipping out on everything, you should be fine somewhere within these guidelines.
We typically do school from around 8:30/9 am to 11/12 pm daily. It honestly all depends on how many tiny human interruptions and how long the bigs take to complete their independent work. Some days, they take forever because they are working hard on something or they are taking the time to understand it better. Still, typically, all of our work is done by lunchtime. Next year, I am anticipating our days possibly becoming shorter. But I will elaborate more on that after this blog series is over. Until then, this has been our routine for the last 6 years, and it has worked really well.
Why does homeschooling not take as long as a typical public school? It all boils down to transitions and class size. At home, we do not have to take an entire class to the restroom, to specials, take attendance counts, and so on. We have the freedom to take care of personal needs as we see fit, and we typically try not to go anywhere during our “school hours.” But, even if we have to schedule appointments during school time, my girls have enough of a routine that they can still complete all of their independent work for the day, usually before we go, or have a relatively small amount of work to finish when we get back from our appointment. I am also only delaying with four children and not 25-30 at a time. That is a lot of answering questions, checking for understanding, and keeping people on task, which is a lot easier to do in homeschooling.
I have also asked about fighting in homeschooling if parents work full time or have shared custody and various other aspects that could mess with time for homeschooling. While I really can’t speak personally about those scenarios, I would like to think there are solutions and workable schedules for all situations. Some suggestions might be to do all instructing/teaching for the week on the weekends or evenings when you are all together and then let the child work independently during the week on assignments. For split custody arrangements, I would hope both parents would support each other and allow homeschooling to happen if that is their choice for the children. Still, kids could have regular “schooling” at home with one parent and assignments when they are with the other parent or just simply only school during the time they are with the teaching parents. Basically, my philosophy or suggestion for this is that if there is a will, there is a way. If you genuinely want to homeschool your children, you will find a way that works for you and your family.
I hope this post has answered any questions you may have had about how long it takes to homeschool in a day and even some considerations for non-typical school days. If not, feel free to comment under this blog post or contact me via our Facebook Page or Instagram. If you want more in-depth conversations, check out our Facebook Parent Group.
Remember that this post is part of a series of FAQ’s regarding homeschooling. This is the proposed schedule of past and future topics:
How do I start?
Am I even qualified to Teach My Child?
Who Holds You Accountable?
But What About Graduating and Issuing a Diploma?
What Should My Child Be Learning?
How Do I Choose Curriculum and What About the Cost?
How Long Does It Actually Take?
But What About Socialization?
What is the Hardest Part?
What Types of Schooling Are There?
What Do I Need to Homeschool?
How Can I Be Around My Kid All Day?
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