Email of the Day:
I’m not sure I completely understand the laws concerning how many hours per day or year my child must receive instruction. Can you break that down please?
Answer:
You have to cover 1,000 hours between 15 September this year and 14 September next year. In a school, this looks like 180 days that are 5.5 hours long (approximately). This includes every recess, ever lunch, every field trip, field day, time between classes, every time the teacher bags the lesson and puts in a video, every time you have a sub with no instructions, every time Johnny can’t find his pencil, or Suzy needs more time to find her book, ever assembly, health check picture day, pep rally — all of it.
There are 5,840 waking hours in a year, assuming that you sleep 8 hours a day. There’s no way that you don’t exceed the 1,000 hours in record time.
You could work two full time jobs, homeschool, and still have 840 hours left over to eat, shower, and commute.
There is no requirement to track, record, or prove that you have done the 1,000 hours. If you’re super uptight, the NCDNPE (North Carolina Department of Non-Public Education) has a single sheet check box calendar for marking off days you “did school” (they have a recording requirement — we don’t, so WA doesn’t have a sheet).
There are no homeschooling police. (And, if there are, I’m them. I’m the person others nark do when they think you’re doing a crap job homeschooling — I tell them they’re the perfect person to pitch in and help your kids get the thing they think they’re missing).
Warmly,
~Jen GS