Am I the only one who schools year round and has to fight to get the kids to do their work because it's "summer"? I get so irritated sometimes and right now I feel like giving in to them. We've taken the whole month of June off and are planning on starting back with only math and Language Arts on Monday. We take breaks throughout the year and they are fine with those and actually appreciate that they are not schooling when ps kids are. But once summer comes they can't seem to get their mind on their work. It seriously only takes an hour and they are done for the day.. I don't get it! There is no interference in summer time activities and we are extremely flexible. If they want to stay the night at someones house I don't let school keep them from doing so. They get 2 weeks off for spring break. One week is scheduled with the ps break. The whole month of December is taken off for christmas and they also get the same vacation days for Thanksgiving as ps. So I don't think they are being overworked and getting burned out.
Fortunately, I just tell my kiddos that they don't get to start ___ grade until they finish the previous and that works for them
We do very minimal work in the summer. A little math review and our normal reading schedule but with none of the reading "work." I need the break! Summer has its own teachable moments. Gardening. Canning. Learning to swim. Fourth of July. Summer camp. Bike trips. Camping. Last year we did a camping "tour" of our state. This year we went to Yellowstone. Can't learn some of this stuff in books.
Kids will be kids lol. And I'm sure it does get frustrating. It sounds like you have a good plan for their little breaks, but kids can be super lazy & try to find excuses for everything
We are not year round but we do school during summer. We started our year the first week of June. Thankfully, Ems doesn't protest. Like you, she is allowed for sleep overs, camping, and other activites.
I agree.. We don't do a heavy load during summer. I absoluetly need the break as well!! We do math,grammar ,and some reading.. Things that,for some reason, never seem to get finished before summer rolls around. I couldn't handle the full load all year. My mind needs a break from the constant "what are we going to do next" thoughts that go on in my head.. LOL..
We've been homeschooling 10 years and we normally school year 'round since we like to take weeks off here and there during the 'normal' school year. This year, though, the kids mutinied! No school at all, all summer! (They still read and watch documentaries and do art just for fun).
Hi, I have only been doing HS for about a month, but I do plan to HS year round. My plan is to do 6 weeks,and then take a week off, and so on. I also plan to include holidays and the like for time off too. That way, they are getting breaks, and I am getting breaks, but it's not such a long break that they start forgetting the things that they have learned. That was one thing that I didn't like about PS. Several teachers have told me that the start of a new school year for PS children is basically 6 weeks of review. So far, my son (1st grade) doesn't mind doing school in the summer. In fact, I don't think he really has any idea that it is unusual. We were over at my sister's house yesterday, though (she is against HS, but has become less vocal about it), and I mentioned needing to get home to do some schoolwork. She made the comment (in front of my son) that, "Let the kid have a summer break! Gosh, poor kid." He listened to the whole thing. He hasn't commented on it yet, but a lot of the time he likes to digest things that people have said, and then ask questions, when he is ready. I really hope it doesn't become a "thing."
Last year was a mess for us so we're going through the summer, at least until it gets really hot. My daughter doesn't want a break from math at all though - she hates coming back to it in the fall and having to review because she's forgotten what she learned last spring.
I think I am more of the problem then the kids! I so need a mental break. But for my kids it happens at different times throughout the year. It isn't just at summer, but when we get within a week or two of a break they seem to stop working as well. We will be done early this year I planned on working until July 27th but we are going to finish on the 15th instead!!! Then we will have off until Aug 12. That is the longest summer break we have taken.
We go year round with a lighter schedule in summer, but my kids know that all those lovely breaks they get in the fall, winter and spring would not happen if they did not do some work in the summer. I usually remindthem of that exchange every time we take time off during the traditional "school year". My daughter likes it, because she admits that she gets bored after a week of no school. A little work makes the play seem more satisfying.
Come to think of it, when I was little, I would get bored after a week off from PS too. Summer break always sounded great before it started, but once I was in it, there just wasn't much to do.
My kids are getting bored too. Dd7 keeps asking "when are we going to do school?" LOL.. We have done school just not the way we do during the traditional school year.. We have read and done field trips to places we read about. We were going to start back with our math and language arts this week, but since the boys just got back from a two week trip we decided to give them a little more down time. Monday is now our offical start after "summer" break.. Dd7 is excited. Dd10 is fine with it. Ds 14 and 13 are NOT happy. Oh well, they will get over it.. An hour or two in the morning takes nothing away from their summer.
We school in the summer but it's light. This year my son decided to play around so too bad for him that he is still in the 5th grade this summer. He has a regular workload right now & complaining about not having a summer break. I don't care! I gave him 2 weeks off for summer camp and then it was back to the books.The next time he will take his schooling more serious. I told him with any luck he will be done by the end of August. Then I plan to give him a month off but don't tell him. Last year he finished 3 months early. We still had school but like I said it was very light like we would normally do in the summer.
I tell my kids they only get the summer off if they are gonna help us plant and harvest (we live in a suburban neighborhood). The younger ones don't get it and the older one doesn't find it amusing.
This was our first school year, so we all desperately needed the break. Ds had needed to deschool in the worst way (and my own insecurities meant he didn't have that time). dd wouldn't have cared either way, but toward the end there, even she was balking on me. Still, the learning goes on. There is so much math slipping into dd's everyday life that it cracks me up sometimes. And ds has an online friend, so in addition to typing skills, he's learning new vocabulary and spelling. Both are doing quite a bit of reading without realizing it. With each other, they are practicing cooperation and patience, among a host of other life skills. It willl be interesting to see how they are doing next year at this time, but I'm suspecting we'll stick with summers off. I like taking time off during the year, but we seem to have had difficulty this past year getting going again after anything longer than a few days, so we'll see.
and.... after all that, my dd (who should be sleeping) just noticed I was on this forum and tearfully asked what we were doing about school... and said she can't remember anything, can she please have some activities? LOL- guess she's ready to go back :lol:
We school year round-especially since it's so hot in AZ. Unless you have a pool, it's just too icky to enjoy being outdoors. So we do school in the summer to enjoy more time off Oct-Apr. We are very flexible in the summer. I aim for 2-3 days a week of regular curriculum. If opportunities come up we may get a week off. If nothing is going on at all we might do 4 days. The kids (11 & 8)don't balk at it too much because they know how much time they get off when their ps friends are in school and if they don't like it I remind them when school starts at the ps up the street if they'd like to attend that.:lol:
My son prefers schooling year-round. I like that we can take time off here and there. My brother lives in Germany and tries to visit a few times a year, we usually do not know too far a head of when and the times change each year. They enjoy discussing history and going to battlefields, so my son does get in lots of learning. We also usually only do lessons Monday through Thursday.
We're not exactly farmers, but we have a big garden and kids help tend it. Great for them to learn. They help with some of the preservation work after harvest as well. Cuts down on food bills.
