Hello all. I haven't posted on here in probably a year. But now I would like to get back into it! I've got a question about your school year. I've been pretty much doing a "traditional" school year with my boys for the past few years but this year I realized it really wasn't working for us. Its so hot in the summer here that they couldn't spend much time outside and were stuck indoors most of the summer. We ended up watching entirely too many videos and it just didn't work for me. So what I am thinking is we'll take a long break over Thanksgiving and Christmas, maybe take the whole time between the two off, and then start back to school after the New Year. Maybe we'll take a couple of weeks off at Easter as well and then a couple more weeks off in June or July and then start back to school. So I guess my question is, will it mess anything up to have such a long break in the middle of the school year? And is there anything wrong with only taking a couple of weeks break between grades? Has anyone else done a year similar to what I have in mind?
This is our first year homeschooling and we started on August 8th, so that when Thanksgiving/Christmas break rolls around, we could take the entire time off and not have to worry about schooling. In the Spring, we plan to take a couple weeks off at Easter and then Summer break will be about a month or so. I think it will work out well with us and the kids decided all of this, so they are happy!
We have had long breaks around Thanksgiving/Christmas time (6-8 weeks off) the past 2 years due to moving and it has worked out fine. We usually end the school year later than most people.
We school year round, taking small breaks (2-5 days) when we need them, we take a long break the week of thanksgiving - January (we go back just after new years), we also take a couple of weeks off during 'spring' when the weather here is cool enough to play outside.
I think it can work and may even be better. I am hoping my son will want to do something like this next year. I would like to start at the beginning of August and take a month off for Christmas instead of August. I know he would like the Christmas part of it, but I don't know if I can convince him to start early. It may depend on how this year goes.
We school year around... about four weeks on and one off, sometimes two off. It just depends on how all the weeks fall in place.
We started Aug 2nd. We'll just take off as we need to. It's been so hot, we started school cause there was nothing else to do-too hot outside. Temps dropped last week so we took some time off, we went fishing like 3 days last week, went out and about and enjoyed the nicer weather. I figure we'll probably go steady from now til Thanksgiving then take some time off, then go until about mid Dec, take some more time off... Then we'll just see fromt here. We don't do a lot of formal school though so I can work outside playtime into 'school'
I agree with Sonita take the time when you need to. So long as studies and learning are progressing throughout the year it's ok. Being a Canadian I think Thanksgiving to Christmas would be a bit long lol. Almost three months! But we will likely have a break when needed for holidays and to recharge.
We usually homeschool from the first week of July until Thanksgiving, take off until New Years, then go the rest of the year. We might take off time here and there but we do not take off most holidays. This year we started in June instead of July. We have no problems getting back on track.
As long as your state allows the more flexible scheduling, I say do it however works for you. I've found that with us more than a 4-5 week break is too much, so we have a short "summer" break for swimming and such, then we do a 6-wks on 1-wk off kind of schedule, though not that strict... we actually just schooled for 7 weeks, and we're taking this week off, save for 2 educational field trips we're going on. It may take a little time to figure out what works best for your family, but that's a joy of HS-ing... you can actually DO what is best for your family!
Thanks for all of the replies. I do think it will take some time to figure out what works best. We live in Georgia and as long as we accomplish 180 days of school per 12 months we are free to make our own schedule.
This is my first year homeschooling (my kids are 4 & 2) and we aren't at the age where school is mandatory yet. I plan on schooling year round, taking breaks as necessary. One thing I dislike about public schools is the long summer breaks because I feel like you can forget sooo much during that time. I prefer (and I hope my children do too) smaller frequent breaks throughout the year. I will of course reevaluate as necessary!
