What is Power Homeschooling?
Updated on July 8, 2023
Discover this unique approach to homeschooling used by families around the world, to make homeschooling faster, more fun and more effective too.
This review was written by Manisha Snoyer, the founder and CEO of Modulo, a company that provides resources and support families who are homeschooling their children. With over 20 years of experience as a teacher, Manisha has instructed over 2,000 children of all ages and abilities in three countries and 18 subjects. She has tutored at some of the best private schools in the world and throughout the NYC public school system. Manisha graduated summa cum laude from Brandeis University.
Power Homeschooling is the practice of spending 1-2 hours a day in intense study per day, typically with a focus on math and reading and leaving the rest of the week for independent study, extracurriculars and social activities.
“Research indicates that a dosage of 30-60 minutes 3-5 times a week has the most impact, but if the target grade level is elementary school or below, these younger students may benefit from shorter but more frequent sessions (i.e. 20 minutes, 5 times a week” - Annenberg Institute Brown University
“Bloom found that the average student tutored one-to-one using mastery learning techniques performed two standard deviations better than students educated in a classroom environment with one teacher to 30 students, with or without mastery learning. As quoted by Bloom: "the average tutored student was above 98% of the students in the control class.” -Bloom’s 2 Sigma Problem
A lot of families who speak to me feel overwhelmed by the idea of homeschooling. They have an idea that homeschooling is going to involve them sitting at the kitchen table six hours a day. Much of this bias is based around the 8.8 hour work day or or 9-3pm school schedule which we assume must be put in place for a good reason, but is actually a leftover of the late 19th century when reformers pushed for standardizing the school calendar across urban and rural areas Apparently a big factor is that kids in urban areas had to go to school in summer and there was no air conditioning so it was too hot. While countless studies have shown that these big gaps in learning during the summer are widening the achievement gap, it's natural to want to give kids a break from the intensity of a six hour school day.
There’s another way to homeschool that drives accelerated learning and is much more engaging for families and kids. It’s called Power Homeschooling or Power Hour Homeschooling.
Power Homeschooling
Anyone who has read and loved the 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris understands fundamentally that it’s possible to be more productive in four hour a week of work than working 9-5pm. I believe these same principles can be applied to K-12 education.
The 4-hour school week
As I began to speak to more families (primarily in the secular, urban homeschooling world), I saw most families were spending 1-2 hours a day or less in formal study and the rest of the time doing extracurriculars, field trips, meetups, self-directed learning or independent study. This arose organically from their own testing and development of what works for their own children - and influenced the last three decades of secular homeschooling, that was then adopted and iterated upon by other families in their community.
Why is this Power Homeschooling effective
Power homeschooling draws on Mastery Learning.
Mastery Learning refers to the concept of when students are learning at the ideal pace for them and moving on to the next subject in a sequence (no later or sooner) than they’ve mastered the one before it.
Effective Mastery Learning happens with 1-1 instruction using a mastery-based (sequential) approach that allows students to move forward at their own pace. So, homeschooling with mastery-based curriculum lends itself to these results.
Benjamin Bloom demonstrated that when kids learn through 1-1 instruction using a mastery-based approach they learn 2 standard deviations above their peers. (That means they are performing 98% better than a class learning in group of 30)
Since most homeschooling is 1-1 instruction, kids are learning 1-1.
Mastery-based learning materials (of which there are plenty available amplify the outcomes).
Most kids are only capable of intense, focused learning for 1-2 hours a day or less
In many companies it’s become increasingly common for designers to only work on projects 3-4 hours a day to optimize their productivity.
Research suggests the average worker is only productive for less than three hours a day.
It’s better to learn 1-2 hours a day all year round, than learn six hours a day and take huge breaks.
A study by the Annenberg institute showed that elementary students learn best with 30-45 minutes or less of tutoring. “ Research indicates that a dosage of 30-60 minutes 3-5 times a week has the most impact, but if the target grade level is elementary school or below, these younger students may benefit from shorter but more frequent sessions (i.e. 20 minutes, 5 times a week)
How to make the most of intense periods of productivity.
Generally what I’ve observed is that families spend the two hours of “power homeschooling” on math and reading. Sometimes, they will also work from a core curriculum, but we highly recommend a math and literacy supplement, since these subjects are not generally designed well as part of a bundle. Math and literacy are highly specialized field and there are only a few programs that really do a good job designing truly mastery-based curriculum that fits unique kinds of learner.
Why the focus math and reading?
Math and reading are fundamental building blocks to learning other subjects.
Math: If you know basic math, it opens the doorway to math, physics and biology. It helps you see the world in a new way if you’re balancing a budget or growing plants in the garden.
Literacy (or critical reading and writing for older students): It’s obvious that knowing how to read opens an entire world to students. As soon as your child can read, they can access thousands of incredible books in a trip to the library.
Core curriculum
Some families also choose to use a core curriculum that incorporates all subjects traditionally taught in school .
How to incorporate power homeschooling into your week.
If you’re thinking about adopting power homeschooling, I recommend you look closely at your child’s biorhythms (and your own). When in the day are they most productive? Have your Power Hour when they have high energy and focus and you have a high level of patience and focus as well (this is often in the mornings). Try to structure more physically active, social activities in the afternoons. We also recommend doing power homeschooling only 4 days a week and having a free day for field trips or play
Example of a power homeschooling family’s schedule:
Here are two examples of what homeschooling can look like in practice for younger and older kids.
Remember that Power Homeschooling looks different for every family!!
You can adjust your power homeschooling schedule to fit your family’s unique needs. The beauty of power homeschooling ll you have to do is make sure they get 1-2 hours of power homeschooling a day at any time. You can travel the world, go to public school and power homeschool, or you can decide that your child enjoys longer periods of intensely focused study (or shorter ones). You can Power Homeschool at 7am or 1pm or 5pm. We do recommend that is is at the same hour every day for at least 4 hours a week.
You can choose how involved you want to be in the power homeschooling. Some kids, especially older ones learn very well independently.
In some cases, a tutor can make a big difference with a child. If your family is in a position to afford a tutor, that’s great, or there are many free tutoring options available, like our non-profit masteryhour.org
Sample schedule for K-5th grade power homeschooling
Younger children tend to wake up earlier and need a more structured schedule, but should have lots of time for independent play. To give yourself a break and also create the right environment for healthy independent play, you might want to take a look at our blog “sparking independent learning with strewing.”
Monday
8-9pm Breakfast
9-10:15am Power Homeschooling
9-9:30am Literacy or reading
9:30-9:40 Brain Break
9:40-10:15 Math
10:15-12pm
Art Project / Self-directed Play
12-12:30pm Lunch
1-4pm Free Forest school (meetup in the park)
4-6pm Wind down, self-directed learning help make dinner
6-7pm Dinner
7-9pm Get ready for bed, relax, read a book or chill out
Tuesday
8-9pm Breakfast
9-10:15am Power Homeschooling
9-9:30am Literacy or reading
9:30-9:40 Brain Break
9:40-10:15 Math
10:15-12pm
Science Project / Self-directed Play
12-12:30pm Lunch
1-4pm Homeschool Co-op (parents trade off teaching skills/leading the group focused on a curriculum ark)
4-6pm Wind down, self-directed learning help make dinner
6-7pm Dinner
7-9pm Get ready for bed, relax, watch documentary or read
Wednesday
8-9pm Breakfast
9-10:15am Power Homeschooling
9-9:30am Literacy or reading
9:30-9:40 Brain Break
9:40-10:15 Math
10:15-12pm
Science Project / Self-directed Play
12-12:30pm Lunch
1-2pm Piano Lesson
2-4pm Play outdoors
4-5pm Robotics Class
5-6pm Wind down, self-directed learning help make dinner
6-7pm Dinner
7-9pm Get ready for bed, read a story with family
Thursday
8-9pm Breakfast
9-10:15am Power Homeschooling
9-9:30am Literacy or reading
9:30-9:40 Brain Break
9:40-10:15 Math
10:15-12pm
Science Project / Self-directed Play
12-12:30pm Lunch
1-2pm Chess Club
2-4pm Play outdoors / Playdate with a friend
4-6pm Wind down, self-directed learning help make dinner
6-7pm Dinner
7-9pm Get ready for bed, read a story with family
Friday:
8-9pm Breakfast
9-12pm: Field trip to a museum or cultural organization with other homeschoolers
1-2pm Lunch
2-5pm: Homeschool meetup in the park with other families
5-6pm Wind down, self-directed learning help make dinner
6-7pm Dinner
7-9pm Get ready for bed, read a story with family
Saturday and Sunday (keep doing power homeschooling or relax and play)
Sample Schedule for 6th-12th grade power homeschooling
Older students know how to read generally and are able to initiate a lot of independent projects, so it’s good to focus on math and writing for power homeschooling and leave lots of time for them to socialize, attend classes and read & study what interests them independently. They also may like to sleep in later, which is healthy for teenagers (and not laziness as commonly assumed). They should not be enabled and invited and expected to participate in household tasks like preparing meals, helping younger siblings with power homeschooling and cleaning up.
Monday
8-9pm Breakfast: read and discuss New York Times articles together as a family, choose a new vocabulary word to add to vocab list.
9-11am Power Homeschooling: Independent or parent-led
9-9:50am Math (Independent or with a parent or tutor)
9:50-10am Brain Break
10-11am Writing (Independent or with a parent or tutor)
11-12pm
Independent project of student’s choice
12-12:30pm Lunch
1-4pm Internship at Marine Biology Institute
4-6pm Wind down, self-directed learning help make dinner
6-7pm Dinner
7-9pm Get ready for bed, talk, read, reflect on progress made that day.
Tuesday
8-9pm Breakfast, read and discuss New York Times articles together as a family, choose a new vocabulary word to add to vocab list.
9-11am Power Homeschooling: Independent or parent-led
9-9:50am Math (Independent or with a parent or tutor)
9:50-10am Brain Break
10-11am Writing (Independent or with a parent or tutor)
11-12pm
Independent project of student’s choice
12-12:30pm Lunch
1-2pm Political Science class at community college
2-5pm Homeschool debate club
6-7pm Dinner
7-9pm Get ready for bed, talk, read, reflect on progress made that day.
Wednesday
8-9pm Breakfast: read and discuss New York Times articles together as a family, choose a new vocabulary word to add to vocab list.
9-11am Power Homeschooling: Independent or parent-led
9-9:50am Math (Independent or with a parent or tutor)
9:50-10am Brain Break
10-11am Writing (Independent or with a parent or tutor)
11-12pm
Independent project of student’s choice
12-12:30pm Lunch
1-2pm: Piano Lesson
3-4pm: Physics class taught by a homeschool parent
4:30-6pm: yoga
6-7pm Dinner
7-9pm Get ready for bed, read a story with family
Thursday
8-9pm Breakfast: read and discuss New York Times articles together as a family, choose a new vocabulary word to add to vocab list.
9-11am Power Homeschooling: Independent or parent-led
9-9:50am Math (Independent or with a parent or tutor)
9:50-10am Brain Break
10-11am Writing (Independent or with a parent or tutor)
11-12pm
Independent project of student’s choice
12-12:30pm Lunch
1-2pm: Chess Club
2-6pm: Work on project with fellow homeschoolers (making a film, producing a play)
6-7pm Dinner
7-9pm Get ready for bed, read a story with family
Friday
8-9pm Breakfast
9-12pm: Field trip to a museum or cultural organization with other homeschoolers
1-2pm Lunch
2-5pm: Homeschool meetup in the park with other families or kids
5-6pm Wind down, self-directed learning help make dinner
6-7pm Dinner
7-9pm Watch and discuss a documentary as a family
You don’t have be a homeschooler to power homeschool!
Since power homeschooling only takes an hour a day, you can absolutely keep your child enrolled in school (and benefit from the free childcare) and advance their learning afterschool and in summer through an hour a day of instruction. Research shows that parent involvement in education makes a bigger difference than almost any other factor.
Recommended Mastery-Based Learning resources.
If you’re interested in adopting power homeschooling as an approach, here are some resources to support you. 1. Best tools to teach math
2. Best tools to teach reading
3. Curriculum Planner. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, we’ve developed a free curriculum planner to help you choose the ideal curriculum for your unique family or if you’re
4. Our Definitive Guide to Secular Homeschooling features mastery-based homeschooling materials in 38 subjects.
Power Homeschooling may feel a little daunting since we’re so often taught that more is better. However, what if less is better? And your child will learn a lot faster and be more engaged and motivated with 1-2 hours a day of focused study? In my opinion, it’s a risk worth taking to nurture a highly-educated, driven, lifelong learner who loves to learn.
Sources & Resources for Further Exploration:
Definitive Guide to Secular Homeschooling https://www.modulo.app/homeschool-curriculum-guide
Annenberg Institute: https://annenberg.brown.edu/programming/resources
Bloom’s 2 Sigma Problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_2_sigma_problem
Agrarian roots? Think again. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/debunking-myth-summer-vacation
Parent Involvement in Education: https://www.modulo.app/parent-engagement/tag/parent+engagement
Find Secular Homeschooling Curriculum: https://www.modulo.app/curriculum-for-homeschooling
Parent Engagement in Learning https://www.modulo.app/parent-engagement/tag/parent+engagement
https://www.modulo.app/all-resources/the-5-best-programs-to-teach-your-child-to-read5
Are you interested in trying Power Homeschooling? Or do you do it already?
If you are already power homeschooling, please share your experience or your schedule in the comments!
If you’re interested in power homeschooling, please let us know your questions or concerns in the comments and we’ll be sure to respond!
