Homeschooling Support Group

I certainly agree about being able to take the pressure off by homeschooling. A big plus for me was to be able to work the routine to fit the child. Not the other way around.

I think the number of hours required would vary a LOT dependent upon a lot of things. First and foremost - what type of "school work" is it? Is it bookwork? Seat work? Reading? Unit studies? Hands-on work? A combination of all of the above?

Another big variable would be the cognitive ability of the child. And the age. Also, what the long-range plans for the child are. Is he/she high enough functioning to some day be on their own? If so, then five hours may not be too much, especially by the time they reach the middle school years.

Also, some might depend upon the state you live in. My state requires attendance by hours which equals something like 25 hours per week if you have school 36 weeks out of the year. (850 hours of instruction). Now, as homeschoolers we can include any time they are being taught or mastering a new skill. So I could count learning to knit, or learning to cook, or building with an erector set if it had purpose and direction. Some weeks I actually showed 100 hours on the books, but we did things like 12 hours of field trips, 4 hours of church on Sunday and 3 hours on Wed night, part time "work study" jobs that improved their employment skills and knowledge, town meetings attended, 4-H meetings and workshops - just a myriad of things. Including PE. lol.

I guess what I'm getting at is that it's impossible to say whether 5 hours a week is too little or too much. Each situation is so different! Without knowing the exact situation, I couldn't make a call like that.

If it is someone you know well, and you have a concern, I think it might be best if you talked to them about it. Perhaps the two of you can share ideas and give each other some support! :)

oops! Typo above - that was 100 hours for TWO weeks - sorry! *blush*

The amount of time is actually 5 hours per day.

I understood that - another typo! So sorry. It was later last night than I usually am online. Long day. Sorry for all the typos! Sure makes it hard to make any sense out of a post, doesn't it. But like I said....that's what our state requires of homeschoolers. They make no exceptions for any children, disabled or not, to my knowledge. So you get creative in how you spend the five hours of learning time. If it is five hours of sitting still and trying to work in a book - it is probably too much. But if it includes the other things I mentioned, like living skills, well.... it might not be. That's all I was trying to get at.

Again, I apologize for the typos. DUH!

Thank you grannyske. It's fine about the typos. I just wanted to clarify that it was 5 hours each day and not week. I actually read the article again and it is 5 hours in front of books. I really think this is far too much for a child with the problems he has. I know with my son,his concentration plays a big part. We are lucky that we do not have a number of hours put on us. As long as we cover numeracy and literacy which are compulsory. Other things are left up to each family. I appreciate your input.

Five hours in front of books is hard on any child, let alone one with the problems you mention. I know my ADHD son couldn't do it. He had to have frequent breaks and we had to be really creative in how we held school. Again, Panadeine, as you and I have both said, the emphasis should be on learning, not on the number of hours or teaching out of books that are approved by "X", "Y" or "Z". You can teach a child til the arctic melts, but if he isn't learning, it doesn't do any good, IMO.