Starting Homeschool - How Many Hours a Day Do You Have to Homeschool?

Since we began home education, I've found that people always assume you have to recreate the same sort of day as school. 6 hours or so.

Do you need to sit down at 9am and carry on until 3pm?

Do you need to follow a school timetable?

The good news is that home education doesn't have set school hours. But what does that actually look like in real life?

How many hours do you need to homeschool?

In England, there's no legally required number of hours that home-educating families must teach each day. The requirement is to provide an efficient, full-time education that's suitable for your child's age, ability and any special educational needs.

Some families spend a few hours each morning on more formal, sit-down learning. Others follow a traditional 9am–3pm routine on certain days, with a more relaxed approach the rest of the week. Some families prioritise outdoor learning and forest school. Others spend a lot of time at home education groups, museums, clubs and educational outings. Plenty combine several approaches, depending on the day and what their children need.

It's the quality and suitability of the education that matter, not simply how many hours you spend sitting at a table.

But surely children need 6 hours of learning a day?

Not necessarily. It's easy to look at the length of a school day and assume that home education should take just as long, but the two aren't the same. In a home education setting, you can work at your child's pace, give them individual attention and move on once they've understood something. You can also learn in all sorts of ways that don't involve formal lessons.

I came across an interesting post by Monkey Mum which looks at how much of a typical school day is spent on formal curriculum learning. Drawing on her own experience as a teacher, she breaks down the time taken up by school routines, transitions and other activities. Her calculations are her own estimate, rather than an official figure, but it's an interesting read if you're worried that you need to recreate a full school day at home. She came to the conclusion that the average time spent learning is 100 minutes a day! That's less than 2 hours!

How many hours do we homeschool?

In our house, we generally do sit-down learning from 9:30am until midday, four days a week. That's our usual routine, not a rule that I think every family should follow. It gives us time to work on our main subjects without taking up the entire day, leaving plenty of room for other activities and interests. Some weeks look different, of course.

Also, just because our more formal learning finishes at midday doesn't mean nobody learns anything afterwards! We might read, cook, explore nature, work on projects or visit somewhere interesting. I don't need to turn every activity into a lesson, but I recognise that learning happens in lots of different ways.

Another family's routine might look completely different from ours, and that doesn't automatically make either approach better.

So, what should your homeschool day look like?

My advice would be to start with what your child needs to learn, rather than deciding how many hours you think you ought to fill. Think about their age, their current abilities, the subjects and skills they need to develop, and the way they learn best. Build a routine around those things, then adjust it as you go. You might find that a few focused hours in the morning work brilliantly. You might prefer a more structured day, or discover that your family thrives on a mixture of formal lessons, outdoor activities and group sessions.

Just remember that a shorter day doesn't automatically mean a poor education, and a longer day doesn't automatically mean a better one.

You are responsible for providing a suitable, full-time education, so you do need to think carefully about whether your approach is meeting your child's needs. But you don't have to copy school hours to achieve that.

That's one of the freedoms of home education: you can build a routine around your child, rather than trying to make your child fit a timetable.

Where to go next -

I've broken the rest of this guide into smaller, practical posts so you can work through one question at a time.

My Child Has Never Started School — How Do I Homeschool From the Beginning?

What to do if you're choosing home education instead of sending your child to school, including compulsory school age, Reception, early learning and getting started. 

 → Read: Home Educating a Child Who Has Never Started School 

How to Deregister Your Child From School for Homeschooling

Exactly what to do if your child is already at school, including a copy-and-paste deregistration letter and what happens after you send it.

→ Read: How to Deregister Your Child From School for Homeschooling

Does the Council Check Homeschoolers?

What happens after you start home educating, including council contact, informal enquiries, reports, home visits and the new legislation.

→ Read: Does the Council Check Homeschoolers?

What Do You Actually Have to Teach When Homeschooling?

What "suitable education" means and how to make sure you're providing a genuine education without recreating school at home.

→ Read: What Do You Actually Have to Teach When Homeschooling?

Do Homeschoolers Have to Follow the National Curriculum?

No — but what can you do instead? 

 → Read: Do Homeschoolers Have to Follow the National Curriculum?

How Many Hours a Day Do You Have to Homeschool?

What "full-time education" actually means and why home education doesn't need to look like the school day. 

 → Read: How Many Hours a Day Do You Have to Homeschool?

How to Plan Your Homeschool

Curriculums, resources, routines, timetables and actually putting your first few weeks together. 

 → Read: How to Plan Your Homeschool -🍁 Coming Soon 🌿

Or find the full 'Starting Homeschool' series here.

Welcome to home education!

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