Homeschooling on a Public School Schedule

by Charisse Van Horn | More from this Blogger

25 May 2006 06:49 PM

Homeschooling on a Public School Schedule

One of the challenges that many homeschoolers face is whether or not to homeschool on a public school schedule. What I mean by that is that in many states (homeschooling attendance laws vary from state to state) homeschoolers are required to teach their children a certain amount of hours every day. For many families, this creates great freedom to create a homeschool schedule that is tailored for each family, one that meets that families needs, and one that is flexible enough to allow for plenty of change.

I did face a challenge in this area. I have always loved children and my children (especially when they were young) were very friendly and had lots of friends. I learned quickly that as soon as the neighborhood kids were home from school, they seemed to race to our house to play with my children. Trying to home school beyond public school hours became pointless.

Now, let's get to "teacher's day". Have you ever noticed how many days teachers have in public school? I mean no disrespect entirely, and as a homeschooling mother, I would love to have "teacher's day" for planning. It seems though that for many homeschooling mothers, teacher's day is every night and weekend.

Well, just because the neighborhood kids had the day off, my children would be distracted. They were antsy knowing that the other kids were home and wanted to play outside. My solution: ok, I confess. I totally caved in. As a homeschooler with complete liberty to set our homeschooling hours, a rebel of society who took the initiative to educate my kids at home (before it was cool) or very popular, ended up homeschooling my kids on a public school schedule. I would love to know what others have done with this dilemma: especially now that it is summer vacation.

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