[Soliloquy]

The take-away for me is when I meet new homeschooling moms. I actually had one friend who had her kids sitting at the kitchen table for 7 straight hours (doing conventional academics) for the first few weeks because she thought that was necessary. I used to teach PS so I know how much of a 55 minute period is spent on logistical and "housekeeping" type things vs academic content. So, for new homeschooling moms who think they need to keep up with what kids are learning in PS, they need to be reassured that 7 hours of conventional academics is a total overload. Not only is that not what is happening in schools, I think there are extremely few brains that can retain that much content day in and day out when learned in that format.

My younger kids get 15-60 minutes a day of conventional, focused academics. My high schooler gets quite a bit more. And it won't be the same for every family or child.

It can also be important when people, organizations, or agencies get the idea in their heads that homeschoolers aren't actually educating their kids if they see them out and about during typical school hours. It doesn't happen where I live now but we used to get, "why aren't you in school?" as if there's something really wrong about a child playing outside or being in a grocery store Sept-May during the hours of 8-3.