Beginning homeschoolers are often surprised to find out how much education can be put in a small amount of time. Instead of spending eight hours per day hitting the books, they can accomplish an entire lesson plan in two or three hours. Add another hour or two for older grades and for special unit study projects. It is easy to see that home schooling can take less time than a standard public school day.

However, sitting down for four hours straight and working from textbooks, worksheets, computer programs and other interesting projects can still be tedious to your child. If your child suffers from ADD or ADHD, sessions of education that are one or two hours long can be akin to torture.

My eldest son has ADHD and has a lot of trouble focusing on schoolwork for any length of time. He is, however, very intelligent and eager to learn. Giving him an assignment that would take an hour to do would be highly frustrating for him. Instead, I’ve introduced the concept of home school bites: 15 minute teaching sessions for fast learning.

Instead of doing multiple pages in a math textbook, or spending half an hour drilling math facts with flashcards or a computer program, we start up one of these things for a mere 10 to 15 minutes. I have a graphic timer on my computer that allows him to glance up and see how much time he has left. It makes it easier for him to focus when he knows that the end of his focus. Is coming shortly.

Between each 15 minute session, I allow my homeschooled son to take a break. Since he is a very active boy, he may spend the five minute break playing with toys or even running around the house to release some pent-up energy. Now that he is older, I’ve introduced the concept of circuit training to him. After 15 minutes of sitdown schoolwork, 30 jumping jacks can help him reset his mind. Of course, it also helps keep him fit and healthy.

Any frustrated homeschooling parent who struggles to keep their child sitting down and focused on the schoolwork may consider adopting this short home school bites. It doesn’t matter after all whether your child learns math for an hour at a time or they learn math for an hour in four sessions split throughout the day. What does matter is that your child learns it. With shorter work sessions comes greater focus. Greater focus equals more learning.