My kids have done a minimum of 5 to 6 hours of schooling per day, since 5th grade. Now they are 9th and 11th grades and do 6+ hours of schooling per day, with 30 min off for lunch. If they are done with actual school work and still have time remaining, then they are expected to study.
I don't have a set number of clock hours established to work. We're done when we're done. This year I'll have a fifth grader and a kindy/first, and while I'll prefer we get started at a specific time, we'll work til we get done, whenever that is.
Same as Lindina. It usually takes my 7th grader all day because he has a lot of work, but it usually takes my 4th grader all day because he has a lot of dislike for anything that requires more effort than xbox. Hahaha Seriously, though ... it's usually approximately 9 a.m. until approximately 3-4 p.m., with breaks.
My kids have always spent about an hour or two per day on structured academics, no matter what grade. We keep it light and easy and still manage to cover everything required and more. I'll admit we are 99% unschoolers so the kids spend a lot more time on field trips, cultural outings (restaurants, theater, etc), and interests rather than academic book work. But if you count everything as "school work" (as I do), then you could say we spend upwards of 12 hours a day on it, lol. Here in NY the kids have to take standardized tests. The last one ds took (7th grade) he scored in the 99th percentile, so we must be doing something right.
It really depends on dd and the particular day, she should be able to get all her work done within 4-5 hours (7th grade) but she has a tendency to drag things out so that it can be up to 8 hrs depending on how much stalling ,playing with the cat... that she does.
We are also done when we are done, but I don't like doing school more then a hour or two a day either. I like them to have a lot of time to explore their passions.
We hold "school hours" for Phillip from 8:30 until 3:00, with an hour off at lunch. But the only reason we have set hours is because if I didn't, he'd push them. It's easier for me to say that THIS is the starting time, and he needs to have breakfast, bed made, etc. before then. Any social media he wants to do in the AM must be finished by then, too. (I'd prefer 8:00, but Faythe needs to be at work at 8, and I have to drive her there!). The 3:00 time again is because he'd push it. He'd rush through to get his work done and then thought he'd just get on the computer and play. So no matter what time he finishes, he can't get on the computer until 3:00 (unless I say otherwise!).
Funny how kids are so different. I tell my boys - especially my younger one - that when x, y, and z are done, he can play xbox the rest of the day. Still, he rarely gets to play. He'd rather get distracted, whine, procrastinate, and/or annoy his big brother than put in 1-2 hours of work so that he can have unlimited screen time afterwards. Someday, maybe he'll catch on, and I'll have to enforce school hours for him. LOL! For now, I'm just letting him be a little boy and hoping he'll become more responsible someday. The personalities and work ethics of my two boys are opposites! When he's in the mood, my younger one can blow through his school work in an hour. When he's not in the mood, it takes all day to do one page of handwriting. Ugh!
LOL, I remember when Rachael was giving me grief about something, I think writing. She was taking FOREVER on it!!! Finally I told her we were going to need to move on, but it was OK, she didn't have to do it now, she could do it tonight when Daddy got home, at 6:00. (I was very specific about the time!!!). Big smile on her face as she went to put her stuff away. Then, "But, Mommy, I have soccer practice tonight at 6:00!" "REALLY? Well, I guess you'll have to call Coach and explain to him why you won't make it...." And it was done in 15 minutes, lol!
We have three boys, and this is EXACTLY how two of them are. It can be really frustrating, but I also figure there isn't really someplace else they want to be (because if there is somewhere they REALLY want to go, they're READY).
Jackie - that trick doesn't work for my little procrastinator! Hahaha! He brought his handwriting work with him to bowling practice yesterday and had to watch everyone else play. He didn't care. *Ugh!*
Today was typical of him - he messed around all morning, took THREE HOURS to do one page from Pentime, and then in the afternoon, finished every bit of today's school work and part of yesterday's in only about 90 minutes. Hahaha!
In some ways I am so glad I sent my son to elementary school - and allowed the teacher to deal with all that whining. Now that my son is in high school, (he was pulled out of grade 9 to be homeschooled) he knows he has to do a minimum of 3 hours worth of lessons every day from his distance education provider, before he can get onto his video games. He is surprisingly quite mature about doing it too. So lessons from 9 am to 12 noon works well for us.