What can I do with my non core 400 hours?

New homeschooling families who are learning the ropes often have the same questions. “Now that I’m homeschooling what do I do with those 400 non core hours?” Those 400 hours fall into the area of elective subjects.

Here is a short list of everything those non core hours could contain.

1. Foreign Language
2. Arts & Crafts
3. Music
4. Woodworking
5. Home Economics
6. Computers
7. Scrapbooking
8. Photography
9. Physical Education
10. Bible Study
11. Gardening (although this could easily go under science)
12. Household Management
13. Work Skills/Ethics
14. Animal Husbandry (another one that could easily go under science)
15. Learning a trade

Some of these are a little redundant but it is enough to give you an idea. Any hobby that you love and do on a frequent basis can fall into non core hours. When my daughter was younger she spent A LOT of time learning sign language as it was her new interest. I marked her time spent doing that under non core hours. My son has spent much time taking care of our chickens and overseeing the flock and learning what their needs are – this is animal husbandry.

A Daily Schedule is not your enemy

The more a family grows the more the need for a schedule becomes apparent. Daily schedules are one of the key components to having a successful homeschool day with your children.  It sure would have been helpful knowing this little bit of information back when I first started homeschooling.  It seemed like such an unimportant detail until I constantly found myself behind with housework/chores or behind with teaching. I spent several grumpy years fluttering like a butterfly from flower to flower – always in a hurry but never feeling like I was accomplishing very much.

Then one day I came across this awesome website called Flylady. It was an eye opener for me.  Daily school teaching was easy because I knew that I could just open my curriculum and do what was lined out for me to do that day but housework was a different story. I was a terrible housekeeper especially trying to focus on homeschooling and taking care of small children’s needs.  There just never seemed to be the time to clean up.  Until Flylady! When I ran across her website I got so excited.  It was like a curriculum book for cleaning your house and it didn’t take much time everyday. Granted there is a lot of stuff to wade through on the website but her daily email reminders got me on the right track for scheduling my housework. I don’t use her daily routines anymore because she taught me how to take care of my home. 

Most of all I learned at this time that a schedule is the key to a successful and pleasant day. When I schedule school I make sure to schedule my housework as well and I make sure that I am not responsible for all of it – every child helps with some task. Now I’m not embarrassed if someone pops in unexpectedly because I know that everything is tidy and dusted.

Integrity & Logging the Hours

Logging hours has definitely sparked the conversation over at the Well Trained Mind Forum.  A few of them actually referenced my blog on logging the hours either by actual hours spent or by the credit hour method.  

One of the main issues that I saw arise regarding the hours was the issue of integrity. Some were dismayed with the credit hour system; seeing it as an easy way to get an hour out of five minutes of instruction.  However, a closer investigation of the definition of the phrase “credit hour” might be in order for those who have issues with this method or are abusing it.  

I hate to track back to public school since the reason so many of us are homeschooling is for the lack of education received there.  However, during my public school career I remember two things very clearly.  During the hour allotted for us to learn a particular subject some of us where faster than others in our assignments. Some of us got to take out our colors or library books as others still pressed their way through the assignment hour. Everyone learned the allotted lesson for that day, the teacher fulfilled her duty, and the students worked with their assignments until completed.  Some had to take it home and finish it and some got to go home and play instead.

Regarding credit hours in the homeschool we may find similiar logic being followed. The days lesson is presented, the child excels and completes the lesson.  It took 30 minutes all together even though you have an hour of  time allotted.  The “hour” is marked. However, the next day, the lesson is presented. The child lacks understanding – you work together; extra problems are added for demonstration, a different approach to the method is tried and success attained. You look at the clock and it has been 1 and a half hours. You pick up the log book and the “hour” is marked. At least, this is how I do it.  When the lesson runs short as it does sometimes than extra practice or review is added to the days lesson.  Most of the time, however, as many homeschooling families can tell you that time gets made up for.  Why do I use credit hours??? Because I’m TERRIBLE at keeping track of minutes, I’m homeschooling 4 children and taking care of a toddler and I’m expecting again.  I would literally drive myself insane trying to log in and log off time for each one of my children as I teach. This way I KNOW this is the hour for language, this is the hour for math, this is the hour for reading….you get the picture.

The debate between actual hours recorded and the credit hour method in this instance isn’t actually the issue.  The issue lay with the integrity of the homeschooling parent.  It would be just as easy for me to cheat writing down my minutes as it would be for writing down credit hours.  If you are interested in credit hours simply because you want more on the logs  for less work than your child may be better off not to be homeschooled.  However, most homeschooling families I know want to give their children the best education possible.  Each of us have our own theories on how we do that, we each have our personalities, and each of us have different family situations and demands on our time.  

Let each of us remember our reason for homeschooling is the EDUCATION of our children and act with integrity as we teach.

Missouri Homeschool Daily Log

Now available on LULU is this valuable time saving book providing you with 25 pages of hour tracking forms for 8 subjects. Complete with 52 weeks, 4 semester hour summary pages, and one yearly total sheet.  Available as a coil bound book or ebook download.