I also do the short lessons a la Charlotte Mason, and leave most of the remaining day for free play and self-directed learning when I can. I find the short lessons help me really focus on the key points we need to cover, instead of slogging through tons of busywork. And I am also frequently amazed by how much they learn outside formal lessons. It seems to me that the formal lessons mainly plant lots of seeds, and the real digesting and internalization of the learning takes place outside the formal presentation.

Thanks for the comment!