How Long Should my School Day Be?
A closer look at the Suggested Hours Chart
A Keystone School Year
Students can enroll in courses at any time throughout the year. Once you enroll in courses you have 365 days to complete them where as a traditional public school year is only 180 days.
You also have 24/7 access to your courses which allows you to finish your courses in less than 12 months. Therefore, you can still follow the traditional school schedule if you would like to do so.
Full-credit Keystone courses will take the average student approximately 180 to complete and 1/2 credit courses will take about 90 hours. Once you decide when you would like to have your courses completed by, you can use the Suggested Hours chart to figure out how long your school days need to be.
You also have 24/7 access to your courses which allows you to finish your courses in less than 12 months. Therefore, you can still follow the traditional school schedule if you would like to do so.
Full-credit Keystone courses will take the average student approximately 180 to complete and 1/2 credit courses will take about 90 hours. Once you decide when you would like to have your courses completed by, you can use the Suggested Hours chart to figure out how long your school days need to be.
Examples:
Four hours might not seem like a lot but Keisha is being realistic. She knows that there will be many days when she cannot log in at all and will therefore have to add this time onto other days.
For example, one week Keisha lands a role in a commercial and needs to be on set all day Tuesday. She knows she won't be able to work on her courses at all on Tuesday so she adds those four hours to the other days. She then works for five hours on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
For example, one week Keisha lands a role in a commercial and needs to be on set all day Tuesday. She knows she won't be able to work on her courses at all on Tuesday so she adds those four hours to the other days. She then works for five hours on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
What if I don't want to finish my courses in the months listed on the chart?
When looking at the Suggested Hours chart you may have noticed that the only months listed are 2, 6, and 10. So what do you do if you want to finish your courses in another time frame?
If you look closely at the chart you will see that there are also the number of days in parentheses after the number of months. There are usually 20 weekdays in 1 month so when figuring out the number of hours you should work on your courses, one month equals 20 school days.
Therefore, 2 months has 40 days because 2 x 20 = 40 and 5 months has 100 days because 5 x 20 = 100.
If you look closely at the chart you will see that there are also the number of days in parentheses after the number of months. There are usually 20 weekdays in 1 month so when figuring out the number of hours you should work on your courses, one month equals 20 school days.
Therefore, 2 months has 40 days because 2 x 20 = 40 and 5 months has 100 days because 5 x 20 = 100.
Example:
Isabella is enrolled in five full credit courses and plans on finishing her classes in 7 months. 20 x 7 = 140 days
Full credit courses are based on 180 hours and Isabella is enrolled in 5 of them. Therefore, she has a total of 900 hours of work to complete because 180 x 5 = 900. We are now going to divide the number of total hours (900) by the number of days (140) to get the number of hours that Isabella will need to spend on her courses each day: 6 hours, 45 minutes.
Full credit courses are based on 180 hours and Isabella is enrolled in 5 of them. Therefore, she has a total of 900 hours of work to complete because 180 x 5 = 900. We are now going to divide the number of total hours (900) by the number of days (140) to get the number of hours that Isabella will need to spend on her courses each day: 6 hours, 45 minutes.
Example:
Shawn is enrolled in four full credit courses and two half credit courses. He want to follow the traditional school schedule and finish his classes in 9 months. Since 9 x 20 = 180, he knows he has 180 days to finish his courses to stay on track with his goal.
Full credit courses are based on 180 hours each and he is enrolled in four of them: 4 x180 = 720 hours. He is also enrolled in two half credit courses are based on 90 hours each: 2 x 90 = 180. To figure out the total number of hours he has to work, he needs to add these two numbers together: 720 + 180 = 900. Shawn can then take this number (900) and divide it by the number of days he has (180) and he will get 5. Therefore, Shawn needs to spend approximately five hours a day, five days a week working on his courses.
Full credit courses are based on 180 hours each and he is enrolled in four of them: 4 x180 = 720 hours. He is also enrolled in two half credit courses are based on 90 hours each: 2 x 90 = 180. To figure out the total number of hours he has to work, he needs to add these two numbers together: 720 + 180 = 900. Shawn can then take this number (900) and divide it by the number of days he has (180) and he will get 5. Therefore, Shawn needs to spend approximately five hours a day, five days a week working on his courses.
If you have any questions about the suggested hours chart or need help coming up with a plan for your courses, please email the Student Success Advisors.
Club Spotlight: Helping Hands Club
- Club Advisor: Mrs. Elizabeth L. Jones
- Available to all Keystone students
- Meetings are held in Blackboard Collaborate on the first Wednesday of each month at 4:00pm ET
- Previous volunteer activities have included tutoring, service at soup kitchens, animal shelters, nursing homes, etc.
Have an idea for a volunteer project in your area? Sign up and share it with the club!
You can find out more by emailing Mrs. Jones at eljones@thekeystoneschool.net.
Together we are making a WORLD of difference!
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- Tuesday, Dec. 20th @ 12pm ET
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