Just do the math.
A jr high student goes to school 7 hours a day.
Goes to 7 classes in the day.
Spends 10 minutes transitioning to each class. that’s 70 minutes lost in a day.
Seldom do teachers dive right in.
If the first 5 minutes are spent socializing, that’s 35 minutes in a day.
We’re now at 105 minutes of unproductive time.
Lunch is one of those class periods, that’s another 45 minutes unused.
Now we’re at 150 minutes a day unused. 2-1/2 hours of a 7 hour day.
45 minutes of class time in each class.
The teacher spends 30 minutes reading out of a book and discussing the days lesson.
That leaves 15 minutes to actually work with students.
There are 25 students in a class room.
One third of the class gets some attention from the teacher, the other 2/3’s doesn’t.
8 students get to share 15 minutes of the teachers time. That’s 2 minutes per student, per class, per day.
The rest get...
2 minutes at a time, isn’t enough time for students to grasp issues.
Let’s assume ALL kids get an equal amount of time with the teachers.
25 students per class, sharing 15 minutes (900 seconds)
that’s 36 seconds per student, per class, per day.
6 of the 7 periods are actual classes.
6 x 36 seconds = 216 seconds a day of individual time.
216 seconds a day x 5 days a week = 1,080 seconds or 18 minutes a week of combined individual time.
A homeschool parent doesn’t have to split up the day into tedious little blocks.
The parent can choose how much time to spend and on which subject.
Even with multiple kids being homeschooled, the parent can still spend enough time with each child, to make sure they get what needs to be gotten, WITHOUT worrying about the clock.
At the end of the day, more is accomplished.
Homeschooling parents have a tendency to revolve family events around teaching moments.
Vacations tend to become large field trips.
Families go to a state park or national park and parents are focused on making learning opportunities.
Often times, parents of public school children, view vacation as a time to get away. And that it’s the teachers job to teach the student, so vacations aren’t viewed the same way. (this is a generalization, not a universal rule)
Years ago, when I worked with the jr high kids at my church, one particular of my students was homeschooled. They lived about 1/2 an hour from a small ski hill in the Midwest. Tuesdays there was a special. (don’t remember what it was) But the mother would take her 2 kids to the ski hill, to ski all day.
Here is the point. Who got a better physical education, the homeschoolers or public schoolers?
Students have 45 minutes of class time. They have to spend time changing, which for jr high kids is VERY uncomfortable. 30-45 minutes of “play” time, called PE.
Versus the homeschool kids, who get actual ski lessons and spend HOURS skiing.
Which one has the better benefit?
Its SO funny you mention this. My homeschool friends who "showed me the light" first intrigued me by telling me how they would get together with some other homeschool families to go skiing once a week, or more, in winter. They laid out the same time metrics you just did - and also disabused me of the ridiculous misconception that somehow homeschool kids aren't properly "socialized."