Is 2 hours a day really enough

[morethanpotatoprints]

Hello again, its me with the stupid questions.
I have read several posts where parents have said during 2 hours work a day their dc learns more than what they do in school.
I know that the 1-1 support would speed things up a bit, but could somebody give me an example of formal lessons. I say formal as we have no objection to the nc just the standard, and would continue to loosly follow some of the academic subjects, in greater depth.

More than enough IMO.

The friends I have who follow curricula (like the sonrise one or whatever it's called) get their formal work done within an hour or two, 5 days a week, and then have three months off for the summer :o

Yes, that's the experience of my friends who educate using a curriculum.

I have followed the NC with my DD for the last 2 years and we do 2-3 hours of 'formal' learning a day most week days. This still leaves loads of time for all other activities or just doing our own things and we still have lots of complete days out when we want to.

A typical week for us would include maths and literacy every day, then a choice of science, history, geography, spanish, RE, until lunchtime.
Then in the afternoon it can be swimming, bike ride, trip out, or home-based art and DT activities. Sometimes she works on her own 'flavour of the month' project.
All her group social activities are in the evenings so there's always plenty of time in the day to teach her and for her to follow her own interests.
Works for us,

We generally do 3 hours when we are on timetable although DS1 does a bit more (he's 14 and working towards GCSEs). The afternoons vary - we do French/Chemistry one day and a literature study one afternoon. We are currently not as structured and are working more on project-based learning but still probably spend 3 hours on stuff 4 days a week but it varies a lot.

Just to put another angle on this, morethanpotatoprints. I know you're asking about "formal lessons" and I agree that 2 hours a day doesn't sound like very much, but with children like my son two minutes a WEEK on anything defined as "homework" or where I say "we have to do this" always causes a massive eruption/rebellion/sense of overwhelming oppression and persecution.

I guess I'm saying there are plans and there are children, and sometimes the children don't fit the plans!

It would be nowhere near enough for my ds, but then he has AS, ADHD and hypermobility so most tasks take him a lot longer than you'd expect. He has issues with motivation, focus, endurance and handwriting that all hold him back. We put a lot more hours in than that as he needs a lot of encouragement, but I don't dispute that it's ample for many children.

LOL at your son's sense of oppression and persecution, Fiona! I have several young friends like that and I can just picture it.

Thank you for your responses. I can see how many subjects could be covered now. I am still seeing dd at school for 6 hours and working. Its hard to get that timetable out of my head atm, and remembering that its not 6 hours work when breaks, assemblies and other stuff is taken out.
Streakybacon, I know you must he because you want to/need to but I can't help but admire the patience you must possess. My dh is a bit worried that I may not have such patience. I am fine with other peoples kids, but expect so much from my own. Any tips on this would be helpful.

"Its hard to get that timetable out of my head"

then I'd suggest reading something about how else children learn. Not saying that structured lessons won't be for you, but I think it would be worth reading How Children Learn at Home to help move the concept of timetabled formal work is the only way to learn, out of your head.

"In his "Educating Children at Home", Alan Thomas found that many home educating families chose or gravitated towards an informal style of education, radically different from that found in schools. Such learning, also described as unschooling, natural or autonomous, takes place without most of the features considered essential for learning in school. At home there is no curriculum or sequential teaching, nor are there any lessons, textbooks, requirements for written work, practice exercises, marking or testing. But how can children who learn in this way actually achieve an education on a par with what schools offer? In this new research, Alan Thomas and Harriet Pattison seek to explain the efficacy of this alternative pedagogy through the experiences of families who have chosen to educate their children informally.Based on interviews and extended examples of learning at home the authors explore: the scope for informal learning within children's everyday lives; the informal acquisition of literacy and numeracy; the role of parents and others in informal learning; and, how children proactively develop their own learning agendas. Their investigation provides not only an insight into the powerful and effective nature of informal learning but also presents some fundamental challenges to many of the assumptions underpinning educational theory. This book will be of interest to education practitioners, researchers and all parents, whether their children are in or out of school, offering as it does fascinating insights into the nature of children's learning."

Streakybacon, I know you must he because you want to/need to but I can't help but admire the patience you must possess

Oh lord, that's funny! Ds would definitely disagree and I would certainly love to have more patience than I do have. Ds is home educated because basically we didn't have a choice. He received no meaningful help whatsoever for his diagnoses and at the age of 10 his mental health was at risk. I was definitely not very patient in those days as he was a very damaged little boy and needed huge amounts of support and guidance. Far less so these days but he is 13 now and mature enough to accept the help that's offered him.

I think when the chips are down we can all cope with far more than we imagine. In our case, if I've found something about ds's education that was too challenging for me I've found a way around it, like tutors or other angles of approach. That's the beauty of home education - you can feel your way around until you find a path that suits you and your family best. The first step is a giant leap but it does get easier once you find your feet.

The curriculum that ommward mentioned is sonlight

We take a structured morning, autonomous afternoon approach, mixed with do whatever you like (on the days when no one is in the mood!)
Id guess we do about 2 1/2 hours on our structured mornings plus an hour reading aloud.
But that often doesnt happen - Id guess on average 3-4 days a week.
And they choose to do loads of obvious educational stuff on top - ds spends hours drawing maps etc. Dd makes little books and teddy school!
A large percentage of their own choice activities, games, reading, writing and drawing are inspired from the official 'learning'

Mine are currently outside learning how to soak themselves and the neighbours kids in a paddling pool.

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for the info you have given me and for sharing your experiences. I feel a bit bad at times asking for help as I know so many of you have had to cope with really hard times for your dc's and my problems seem to be nothing in comparison. I am thinking and reading things day and night at the moment like a type of project as the decision is not easy because of the lack of any real problem at school. I am also aware of the term "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" this doesn't help either. I am hoping that the answer will come like a bolt of lightening, until then please excuse my stupid questions.

Ask away morethanpotatoprints honestly, do not worry about asking questions however foolish they may seem.

Without meaning to sound twee, we were all newbies once. I cant remember what seemingly daft questions I asked but there must have been some!

Anyway your op wasnt daft!

I agree. Besides, when you ask questions you are helping other people who are reading them and have similar concerns to yours, but might not feel able to ask or might not have the time!

Another good thing is that because you are asking your questions on a forum (rather than ringing up one friend seven times a day) you can be quite sure that the people who answer you actually want to do it! If we didn't want to, we would leave it to somebody else.

Keep asking!

We do 3-4 hours a day for GCSE years.