While children spend almost seven hours a day in a traditional school, imitating that schedule is not best for a home-schooled child.
Home school expert Vicki Caruana says, "From my experience, parents of children 4 to 7 who choose to home school, try to do too much. For this age group, only a couple of hours a day is necessary."
How much time should you spend on each subject? It depends on what curriculum you use, veteran home-schooler Kim Andrysczyk says. "There are hundreds of choices that fit every style. I've always used units so even little ones can participate as much as they like. Other people have textbooks for every subject."
Focus on mastery rather than time. If a child consistently finishes a lesson quickly, don't add bookwork to extend the time; instead, add enrichment activities.
- Provide videos or books on subjects you are studying.
- Visit the local museum with an exhibit that is relevant to the material.
- Find games or Internet resources that relate to the topic.
- Do simple science experiments.
These enrichment activities will challenge the quick learner and also help the struggling child.
This article first appeared in the Discovery Years edition of the August/September 2007 issue of the Focus on Your Child newsletters and was originally titled "Home-School Help". Copyright © 2007 Focus on the Family.