Wisconsin Homeschool Schedule: Meeting 875 Hours Across 6 Required Subjects

Wisconsin's homeschool law is short. Wis. Stat. § 118.165 requires that a home-based private educational program provide at least 875 hours of instruction annually, delivered through a "sequentially progressive curriculum" in six subjects: reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, and health. That is the full extent of the state's scheduling requirements.

The state does not specify when you teach, for how long each session runs, which days you take off, or how you distribute hours across the six subjects. That flexibility is genuine — but it also means you have to build the structure yourself. Here is how to do it practically.

Breaking Down 875 Hours

875 hours over a school year sounds like a lot until you do the math. A standard public school year runs approximately 180 days. At 875 hours, you need an average of about 4.86 hours of instruction per school day over 180 days.

Most Wisconsin homeschool families find that four to five focused hours of academics per day are sufficient, and many complete the requirement in fewer calendar days because home instruction without transitions, lunch periods, administrative time, and class-switching is more efficient than institutional schooling.

If you school 36 weeks per year (the same as most Wisconsin public schools), you need about 24.3 instructional hours per week, or roughly 4.9 hours per day across a five-day week. If you school four days per week, you need about 6 hours per day.

You do not need to hit 875 hours in a specific number of weeks. Families who take longer summer breaks, winter breaks, or who school year-round on a lighter schedule all meet the 875-hour requirement — they just distribute it differently across the calendar.

What Counts as Instructional Time

Wisconsin does not define instructional hours narrowly. The state does not require formal sit-down academic work to the exclusion of other learning activities. The following all count toward your 875 hours:

• Direct instruction by the parent (reading aloud, explaining concepts, reviewing work)
• Independent reading and writing practice
• Math drills, problem sets, and workbook exercises
• Hands-on science experiments and nature study
• Educational documentaries and structured video lessons
• Field trips to museums, historical sites, and nature centers
• Educational software and online courses
• Practical skills instruction with deliberate educational intent (cooking, budgeting, home maintenance mapped to math or life skills)
• Physical education and health activities

The broad definition works in your favor. A day that includes two hours of formal academics, an hour of independent reading, a 90-minute field trip, and a 30-minute PE session has easily covered five hours of instruction.

Distributing Hours Across the Six Required Subjects

The law requires your curriculum to be "sequentially progressive" in six specific subjects. That means the learning must build on itself — not that you must spend equal time on each subject or follow a specific progression schedule.

There is no prescribed minimum for any individual subject. A rough allocation that many Wisconsin homeschool families use looks like this:

• Reading and language arts: 1.5–2 hours daily (combined)
• Mathematics: 45–60 minutes daily
• Science: 3–4 hours per week
• Social studies: 3–4 hours per week
• Health: 1–2 hours per week (can include PE, nutrition, wellness topics)

This allocation accounts for the reality that reading and language arts permeate nearly every subject — history reading, science writing, literature analysis — so formal time allocated to reading overlaps with social studies and science naturally.

A Sample Weekly Schedule (Elementary, Grades 2–5)

The following is a sample structure — not a prescription. Adjust for your child's pace and your family's rhythms.

Monday / Wednesday / Friday — Core academic mornings

8:30 – 9:15: Independent reading (45 minutes) 9:15 – 10:00: Math instruction and practice (45 minutes) 10:00 – 10:15: Break 10:15 – 11:15: Language arts — writing, grammar, spelling (60 minutes) 11:15 – 12:00: Science unit study or experiment (45 minutes) 12:00 – 1:00: Lunch and free time 1:00 – 2:00: Read-aloud, history, or project work (60 minutes)

Daily total: approximately 4.5–5 hours

Tuesday / Thursday — Lighter academic days with activities

9:00 – 10:00: Math review and practice (60 minutes) 10:00 – 10:30: Language arts (30 minutes) 10:30 – 12:00: Co-op, museum visit, field trip, or PE (90 minutes) 12:00 – 1:00: Lunch 1:00 – 2:00: Free reading, project, or art (60 minutes)

Daily total: approximately 3.5–4 hours

Weekly total across five days: approximately 22–25 hours, meeting the 875-hour annual target across 36–38 weeks.

A Sample Weekly Schedule (High School, Grades 9–12)

High school homeschoolers in Wisconsin need a schedule that covers the six required subjects while also building the credit accumulation and course documentation that college admissions requires.

Daily core block (approximately 5 hours)

Block 1 (90 minutes): English — literature analysis, essay writing, grammar Block 2 (60 minutes): Mathematics — Algebra II, Pre-Calculus, or Calculus Block 3 (60 minutes): Science — Biology, Chemistry, or Physics (lab days count as full sessions) Block 4 (45 minutes): Social studies — History, Government, or Economics Block 5 (45 minutes): Health, electives, or independent research

This 5-hour core block produces approximately 25 hours per week, reaching 875 hours in 35 weeks — before counting any dual enrollment coursework, co-op classes, or supplemental activities.

Dual enrollment integration. Under Wis. Stat. § 118.53, your high schooler can take up to two courses per semester at the local public high school at no cost. These courses count both toward your 875 hours and toward the student's high school transcript. Adding two dual enrollment courses per semester (typically 1.5–3 hours of instruction per week each) can reduce your home instruction burden while simultaneously strengthening the transcript.

Tracking and Record-Keeping

Wisconsin does not require you to submit attendance logs or hour-tracking records to any government agency. But the state requires 875 hours, and if a question ever arises — from a custody dispute, a school re-enrollment attempt, or a truancy investigation — the burden of demonstrating compliance falls on you.

Most Wisconsin homeschool families use one of three approaches:

A simple spreadsheet tracking date, subject, activity, and time. This takes about two minutes per day to maintain and creates an irrefutable record over time.

A lesson planner or printed scheduling template checked off daily. Physical records are easy to maintain without technology and simple to produce if documentation is ever needed.

A homeschool management app that tracks hours by subject automatically. Several apps exist specifically for homeschoolers; choose one that exports data in a readable format in case you need to produce records.

Whatever system you use, maintain it from the first day of your homeschool year. Reconstructing records from memory six months later is both unreliable and more stressful than it needs to be.

The Foundation Under the Schedule

All of the above assumes your home-based private educational program is legally registered with the DPI. The PI-1206 filing through the HOMER system is what makes your child's absence from public school legally sanctioned. Without it, a well-organized 875-hour schedule does not protect you from a truancy finding.

The Wisconsin Legal Withdrawal Blueprint covers the PI-1206 filing, the correct sequence for mid-year and start-of-year withdrawals, and the record-keeping system you need to maintain from day one. The schedule comes second. The legal foundation comes first.

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