I know the fun of hs'ing is that you can make your own yearly schedule. So far we've been doing the traditional Aug-June with summer off. But I read in a book about different schedules and one that I hadn't thought of before. It's a 3 week on 1 week off schedule and it looks interesting. I guess I'm just sick of the traditional because anytime we're off for summer or Christmas break, when we come back it's as if we've not learned anything. Anyhow...wondering if anyone does anything similar to this and how it's working out for you.
My nephew used to be in year-round school in NV. They did 6 weeks on, 1 week off. I think it worked out that they had 2 weeks around Christmas. They loved it. I've debated about that for us. We will still continue with Math and Reading through the summer. And of course, sports. My evaluator told me I could count a day for each 5 they do them. I plan on doing that. I find Math is the only thing that if we take too long of a break on ends up being a problem.
I've heard of MANY different kinds of schedules! I've heard the 4 weeks on, one week off, the ones you guys mentioned, and 4 weeks on 2 weeks off, etc. Can't remember them all. Some people do school in the summer, since it's too hot where they live for the kids to be outside anyway, then they take more time off in the winter, when the kids can be out more. I'd certainly experiment if I were you! For one thing, unless you're a farmer and need those summer months off to work with your crops, you can school whenever is best! You could figure out how many weeks you want/need to homeschool per year, then play with the weeks on and off 'til you find something that works for you!
We had a different schedule before the foster kids came - we hs'd Sat-Wednesday with Thurs & Friday off. Now DH's schedule has changed again and now I WISH we could do Sat-Tuesday with Wed-Friday off which is the schedule he has - but with 2 on the local PS schedule - bleh
I might do that, just play around until I find what I like. I do raise a garden but not enough to be considered a farmer, and not enough that it couldn't be done before or after school. Thanks for the input ladies!
Or garden AS PART OF school, Autumn! Anybody who gardens can attest to what an education it is! Study the seed catalogs and the Farmer's Almanac for reading, watch the weather for science, figure how much each tomato cost you (considering your labor as well as the cost of the seeds, soil amendments, cages, tie-ups, various sprays/powders, the applicators for said products, the tools that got left outside and rusted in the rain......) for math, the "heritage" varieties of various plants (and who grew them first and where) and the map skills for the "climate zone" you live in compared with the zone the plant grows best in for social studies, and researching all the Bible verses that pertain to growing/harvesting and all the prayers offered up for that one weak cucumber plant for Bible class, and you have an entire curriculum in a relatively small plot of land..... Not to mention the life science in the classification of each plant you want to grow, the scientific name of every bug that eats it, and chemistry in the formulae of fertilizers that grow it and pesticides that protect it .... and PE in all the effort it takes to do it year round.... Then there's the health/nutrition of why each vegetable is good for you, and genetics study of trying to breed a better rose....
We did a reduced schedule in the summer where I made up a "days" worth of work and if they got it done in the week then I counted a day of school. But the cool summer stuff didn't lend itself to much more than that. Summer camp and the boys were in a summer production at the University. (That was a ton of work) Because Jazz was memorizing lines and really working at that I gave him credit for it. Dutch, who was backstage help and did not spend as much time with it had to do more other things. But he is more willing to watch documentaries so I counted those too. We ended up about 10 days ahead of the public school...so not a ton. This summer I expect we will be doing somthing simmilar. I wonder a bit about counting thier days seperately?? I don't right now. If Somebody does schoolwork...then it was a schoolday. I figure I should count "absences" but we even do a bit of work when they are not feeling well...I just adjust. So long post to say, We do what we want and aren't very rigid about any sort of schedule.
Once again, the beauty of home schooling. You have the flexibility of arranging your schedule however you like, and changing it around as often as you like. Often we shorten our summer off and trade out the weeks for family trips or other events. Although our family does fine taking the summer months off, that may not be the case for everyone.
We do a year around schedule. We do school until I feel we need a break and then we take a week off. We took an entire month off for Christmas. During the summer we try to take more fun trips and have more play dates. If I know we are going to take a vacation then we will plan around that.
We always start in June. Then we try to work through August. In Sept when it cools down and public schoolers are back in their cages, we venture out and do things again and take advantage of lower prices and less busy places. Then we go light through those months. In Jan, we pick back up to normal speed until done, which is hopefully by mid-March.
We do a 3 month on, 1 month off schedule. We school Sept, Oct, Nov, and take Dec off. Then Jan, Feb, Mar, and take April off. Then May, June, and July and take August off. I love it.
We enjoyed taking two months off for summer. That way our children, especially our oldest, enjoyed exploring their own interests away from school books. This could be done during the school year but it never seemed to work. It seemed as though they needed to be bored till they would get involved into something new. I would like to do school for 4 days and have 3 days off.
Thank you for such an interesting thread! Since I grew up in Australia, we start the year at the end of January and have blocks of weeks off throughout the year and finish in December. When I moved to Canada, it took a bit to wrap my head around the school year here. Now that we plan to homeschool, I think I might like to work year round because I am more used to that and I had voluteered once in the summer with kids and I was informed by my supervisors that kids forget a lot over the summer and take a long time to get back into the swing again. I really like the idea of 3 months on, one month off. Thanks for that, I think I might use that one. This is why I love this site so much. Katrina.
I so identify with that bit about having to get really bored before getting creative!!! Problem is, as the teacher, I don't have time to get bored myself, which makes for less creativity on my part and bored kids..... >sigh< As a kid, I loved having "endless" summers. But as the teacher, the idea of year-round school is gaining appeal, with so-long on and so-long off. Problem with that is, people around here who might consider enrolling their kids with me are reallyreally entrenched with the nine-months-school-year-three-months-of-summer model of public school.
before I was a teacher at anything I wanted to be a teacher so I could still have my summers off! I have to have at least two months of HEAT, fun in thesun time1 Besides we get so busy with other educational things here in the summer and as my kids say I make everything a learning experience! lol
I'm not able to read all of the replies right now, so some of this might be a repeat of what someone else has already said... Over the years I've tried quite a wide variety of schedules. One day a month off, one day a week off, school year-round, a month off at the holidays, shorter days, all kinds of things. In WI we are accountable for a certain amount of hours, so I always scheduled that many, even tho I always ended up far beyond the minimum in actuality! Looking back over the years, I can't really pick a schedule I liked more than the others. I think what I liked was the freedom and flexibility to do what we needed/wanted to do! Like take a few months of reduced schooling when my mom was sick and lived with us. Like allow my oldest to go stay with her for a month when she went home (and ultimately passed) and let her make it up in the summer - like taking a week off when we just felt "burned out". Or when the garden got ahead of us. I always had a schedule, but it was never cast in stone and it changed over the years to meet our needs (babies, toddlers, babysitting, whatever! ) I think this was one of the greatest advantages of homeschooling!
The problem for me is that I often feel like if we're not doing "school" then it doesn't count towards education. But my kids have quickly shown me that they are ALWAYS learning!! So no matter the schedule, children are natural learners. Encourage that curiosity and look at breaks as "less formal schooling". They are still learning... and they are maybe learning things that are more meaningful than traditional academics.
