Could you guys tell me about your schedule. I'm having a hard time trying to decide what to do. I have really been leaning toward year round with a week long break each month. Would love to hear what you all do. Jen
I have been doing traditional school yr. but this yr. I am only going to take about 5-6 weeks for summer and then start with a schedule similar to what you mentioned.
I was leaning toward year-round, however; we just signed up for summer camp all summer the other day, so we won't have as much time as *I* wanted to get through everything I wanted to in the summer.
We don't do year round. My oldest is far too social and has way too many ps friends. She would be so mad if I had her inside doing school when she could be swimming and playing with her friends. Friday is our last day of her 5th grade year! I am going to use the rest of May to take the girls of one field trip a week. Then in June she goes to camp one week, VBS one week and my parents house for half a week. July she has another week long camp and we are going to Arkansas on a camping vacation. I will only have her do math over June and July and only enough to make sure she doesn't forget things. I think we will begin her 6th grade year and my dd4's kindergarten year the 2nd week in August. Lat year we started in September but I probably will be bored and start in August.
We sometimes do an hour a day or so over the summer. That's so easy to do, because they can get that done easily enough before friends are ready to play. We just fit it in where we can around vacations and playing and stuff like that. I feel they're at least getting something, so they won't be so far behind where they were when it gets back to school time again!
We go year round. We can then take time off as needed. Because I work from home and my business tends to come in waves, this works well for us. I also see no value in stopping for an entire summer; NONE. We do take lengthy breaks here and there. Recently we took almost two and 1/2 weeks off, just to get caught up on life and also kick back and relax for a few days. We went on many "field" trips at this time also. We will take tennis camp days off, and go on vacation and other things during the summer. I figure we will get in a bout 3 weeks out of 4.
My husband teaches for the public school, so we follow his schedule. I've tried to school year-round, but it never works for me. We're gone too much with camp, vacation, etc.
We're going to go year-round for now anyway. It gives us a lot more flexibility and we won't have to spend September reviewing.
A lot of homeschoolers seem to do year round. I wanted traditional 9-10 months of school and long summer off becuase of a few things... one was I need the break to do my writing projects, another was I need the break for fun! I love summer and love to swim and play and all that camping etc stuff, and when the weather is nice I want to be out in it not inside or not forcing my kids to work when I don't want to be working.... so ITs all about me and my personal favor I guess? lol My kids have usually had a week or two of SUmmer School in July each year. Last year we did not, I don't recall why but it just never happened. It works out good when they have neighboring friends too because they are generally out in summer here. The near by schools went to all year one summer but it did not last. Parents complained. When you have a school behind the house across the street you can hear the kids playing for recess the silence when they are out and it does things to the kids minds haha! they think they are missing some fun someplace if the other kids are not at school! ( Sorry I ramble so much! )
I am thinking we will be doing the year round thing with things toned down over the summer. Really not sure though. I'll probably keep up with the math and language arts over the summer and give the science and history a break.
Wow! I didn't expect such a huge response. I must admit I hadn't thought about camp or VBS. Now I have no clue what to do!!!
Hi, We have summer all year round...my children love to swim, play, run about and socialize also but they can't spend 24/7 with their friends. We also live in the middle of no place! We do a couple of hours first thing in the morning and we are finished. We tend to take days off as needed or wanted. Same as we do all the rest of the year. I don't see any value giving them a long break to forget half of what they have learned! Plus since we schedule our year that way, we don't have to stay glued to our books for several hours a day! Just a couple. Works well for us.
What about hours during the day? I just yanked mine out a few months ago, so I'm only spending a couple of hours or so per day (sometimes more/less) because I wanted to deschool them. I figured we'll hit it hard come fall. How many hours does it take you guys during the day? Do you guys take long breaks and homeschool in like split shifts? Do you guys homeschool more than one?
I don't school year round becuse of my dh's work schedule, but we he is done working summer camp (most likely this year is his last), I may consider a shorter break in the summer. I usually spend 4-5 hrs on school each day- sometimes less, sometimes more. My k'er usually is more like 2 hours. We try to most of our work done in one block of time. It's too hard to get going if we take a break (except for lunch). I hs 3 children. Dd3 will probably start K next year ('08). She has a late birthday, so we'll see if she's ready then. Science and History we do together and each has their level math, spelling, reading, english/grammar.
With my 5th grade dd10 it usually takes her about 4 - 5 hours to do everything in a day. Our last day for the year is Friday!!
we do more hours than nessacary because we try to stick to a school schedule of classes according to an old hourly scheduel our state used to have. I do school from 8 to 2-230 basically with an hour for lunch and half hour for recess...
We follow the public school calendar, albeit loosely. I just use it as an example. We take off some of the same days, others we don't, etc. During the summer we do a 'school day' here and there, as well as field trips. Initially, I'll take a few weeks off before we have any school days, since we all need the break.
It is interesting to see how everyone does things and what works for other families. That is one great thing about hs'ing - you can do what works for you and not what works for someone else! Schooling year round wouldn't be good for my family. Samantha would not like it at all!!! We love to spend our summer days by the pool with a picnic lunch. I am not motivated enough to come home from the pool and get to doing school work! My husband's work schedule has no bearin gon when we do school though. Since he is self employed we have a lot of freedom. Today he went to work at 6:30 and was home by 1:30 and is sleeping on the couch now! I think I need my summer break just as much as my dd does!!
This school year, I am required to complete 180 days. The hours are up to me. So we sometimes double up on work and add it to another day so we can take a day off. During our daily lives, we do things that are educational even if we do not realize it. So I add these, as well, to the time for school. It is pretty easy to get in extra days when you realize what can be used and how to use it. We take days off if we need to or want to and make it up with the extra work we put in throughout the year. Next year, we will not be under this schedule so things will be better, as far as time goes. I like to take care of errands first thing in the morning if possible. So we get up, go to the market or where ever we need to go, then we come home and do our work. It takes us about three hours. Sometimes it take more; depending on what we are working on. Our vacations are supposed to be set around the schedule of the program but we do not follow it completely. Sometimes we work through vacation and take an additional week off somewhere down the road. Patty
My twins are 8 and we do school year round except when we feel like taking a day off or a week off...We usually work for a couple of hours. We do math every day, social studies twice a week and science twice a week. Language arts is a formal class three times a week, but they also do handwriting excercises, about 10 minutes a day and they read for 1 hour a day. I feel reading is very important but they can read whenever they want, right before bed, when they get up, however it works for them. I feel they are doing quite well. We are in lifepacs 3 and Saxon 54, using Abeka for science and social studies I do my own thing. Right now we are doing the middle ages. They love the knights and castles....Plus we live right next to Ha Ha Tonka State park and take lots of nature walks. I think the quality of time spent is important, we do not to do BUSY work.
