C.M.
Homeschooling is all about finding what works for you. However, this is what we do.
We homeschool 5 days a week, but we homeschool Tues-Sat. Dad has Sundays and Mondays off (those are his "weekend" days) so we do the same so we can have two family days. It's nice to do things together on a Monday when it's not so crowded!
We have a very set schedule, we homeschool from 10:00am to between 2:00 and 3:00pm. She is in 4th grade so we do about 4 hours. Not all 4 hours are seatwork, we're often doing experiments in the kitchen or playing learning games in the living room. Sometimes we go on field trips alone or with our homeschooling group.
I tried a more relaxed attitude about homeschooling, such as doing it at night or relaxing in the morning but that did not work with my daughter's personality. If she got playtime in the morning before homeschool then she didn't want to stop and it was a battle. So we cut out TV, video games and playtime before homeschool. Those are the treats for after! We get up, get ready and the homeschool "bell" goes off at 10:00am. I hope that this teaches her to be on time if she ever chooses to go to public school or for a job in her future.
We do math, language arts, handwriting, spelling etc. every day. We trade off between science and social studies, I found for us doing a social studies unit then doing a science unit worked well for us. We also do health units, art and of course PE.
I mix in my household duties while she's doing seatwork. I'll clean up breakfast dishes while she's doing her math worksheets. I pay bills and take care of emails and computer work while she's doing worksheets as well. She's older, so I can do that. When she was younger I had to sit right there, but then we did less time as well.
Downsides--just the fact that you might clash heads once in a while. Plus, I know my daughter so I know when she's faking (or usually when she's faking) and I don't let her get away with it! All of a sudden you have a hand cramp when it's handwriting time? I don't buy it!
Upsides--too many! You can mix in your religious beliefs in with school. You can go at their pace. You can spend a long time on something if they don't get it. You can follow their interests. You can move fast through the things they do get. You even learn things along with them or remember things you forgot!
For us a very structured time frame works the best, but being flexible with what we study in that time is a good balance. Some days we do 4 hours of science! Some days we relax and read books and act out plays.
I hope you enjoy your journey and find what works for you!