my question is how often do you break and for how long? I really wanted to go all year a few hours a day and a few breaks, but as everyone knows life never goes as planned. Due to sports, camps, family, etc. I will not be able to school the whole month of July. I am stating to overwhelm myself with the 'I have to do this and get it done now'. I know that the beauty of homeschooling is the flexibility of it. But how so you get passed the feeling of being behind?
Oh. . .you're supposed to get past that feeling? LOL I find that I always have something to do. One thing that I have found that works better for us is ditching the clock. Meals and snacks are at a certain time as are activities obviously. . .but I have no set "I have to school two hours a day type thing." Rather I look at the subjects or assignments that we have to complete. Some of them take 15 minutes (like silent reading time for my kindergartner) and others obviously longer. But that gives me a better picture bc there are days when it seems like I simply don't have a 'block of time'. But I have toddler twins and that most definitely has something to do with it. I also organize my quarters into 12 weeks for hte purposes of reporting. So in any given 12 week period. . .you technically have 3 weeks off per quarter. So if I'm coming up on something that requires time off like that, I go longer for the other 9 weeks. And I don't always take 3 weeks off per quarter. . .so really, I find that it evens out. So in the case of taking a whole month off--I would already have 3 weeks off that quarter anyways and then next quarter I would only allow myself two weeks if I needed them. But I think here's the thing is that once you've been homeschooling for awhile and have the perspective of a few years it's much easier to see. . .it doesn't really matter what you do or don't cover. Don't get me wrong. . .you obviously have to do stuff. . .but It doesn't matter if you don't finish all the books if they've really learned something. When you see that your child has mastered history or a particular subject it is much easier to forget that he was 'supposed to' have finished it last quarter! HTH and I most definitely hope it made sense. Hmmm. . .this is a good blog topic!
well said sneaky mama. Just do the best you can. We hs year around and if we will do it here and there. If we don't have time we skip it and worry about it the next day. Just relaz it will all fall together. I love hsing year around that way when I need a day off I take it.
I am attempting to HS all year but we are on a break right now. we will probably pick it back up the last week of june for a quick unit on the 4th of july, then continue for july. In august my mom is comming to visit for 10days or so, so we will lax then also. I work 3days a week so I try to be more viligant on those days because my schedule has to be followed. days off and spent outside or whatever. Tomorrow we may go to the nature center, yesterday was the zoo.
We work year round with intermittant breaks to allow for life to happen. Between my work, and health events from various family members, we never plan the breaks ahead for the most part. We just pick up where we left off. I write in a journal after the fact and constantly reevaluate where we are and what we need to do next.
We homeschool all year as well. We just focus on the basics during the summer like math, reading and writing skills. We decided to put off things like science and history and just focus on going different places and using those experiences for our lessons. We are also doing some fun activities at our local living history museum as well as the summer reading program at the library. There are so many ways to learn things, especially during the summer, that its just best to go with the flow. I am always amazed at what my kids pick up when I am not even trying!
We school all year too. I usually take breaks when we need to - like some vacation or major week of things going on. I like schooling all year b/c when we do take a break - I don't feel guilty. Also, we only do official school work 4 days a week - the extra day is extracurriculur stuff - library, stuff like that, and the almighty socialization (LOL ). So, i kind of HAVe to school all year to actually complete the curriculum. i think the hardest thing about it is learning how to think outside the box. Ya know? When we were kids we went to school from September to Mid June - you kind of live your life like that, you get into this thing where the only time you can enjoy is when you get to take off. That's wrong! We enjoy all year long!
We hs according to dh's work schedule. When he is off, we are off. It really helps us plan and work toward the goal of having time off together as a family. This also allows us to vacation at places during the off season to beat the crowds and save money. One of our favorite things to do that keeps us motivated is to study something relevant to what is going on in our lives at that time. If we are going on a trip, we will learn budgeting, geography, history of the area, etc. If we are involved with something special (like at church), we will pick a unit study that helps us delve more deeply into the topic. Dh uses the summer weather as his time to do all those science lessons that are easier to do in warm weather. We are less rigid in the summer, so it is easier to get everything done even with the typical summer interruptions. For example, we got home from church too late to get science done last night, but because of the way dh has planned the science lessons, everyone is excited about getting to do 2 science lessons tonight. Being more relaxed and flexible helps all of us have fun -but very productive- summer sessions.
Similar answer to what the others have said. Admittedly, we've just finished our very first year homeschooling. (YAY! Go us! hehehe) I did find when we took a LONG break over Christmas and a move (two months worth of not much work at all), that it was very difficult to get my kiddo back in the swing of doing work. It took almost a full month to get back into doing all of the subjects. Like sneaky_mama said, we don't have a "TIME" set to do things. We have goals per subject. We school 6 days a week, but we only do about 3 subjects each day. (We may change to a 4 day school week this fall.) Like vantage said, we dont' plan most of our breaks. If we're having an off day, we stop. If dh decides that this week he wants to go camping on his days off, we don't do school work those days. (Our one day off each week is generally on his day off also. He works nights and is off two nights weekly; our day off is the day when he's been off the night before and will be off that night also.) I do my lesson plans only one week at a time. I find that usually there is one subject or two where I have to move it forward to the next week. I've decided: SO WHAT! Also, my oldest is 8yo, a third grader. We have a chore chart which includes each subject of school work. He has a goal of number of checkmarks to get in a week. If he reaches that goal, he gets a ticket for a day of no schoolwork. He also gets one if he gets 10 checkmarks in one day. (The rules for using the tickets are that first, he has to be caught up with his school work and second, he has to give it to me the night before the day he wants off. And he can only use one per week.) This is working well in that he aims to do all of his chores to get tickets, and he often forgets to use them. All in all, counting the fact that we school 6 days a week, we probably "break" two to three days each month, sometimes more maybe.
Behind? Yeh I have one of those. ROFL I figure if ps can school the kids 9 months with all the teacher in service days off, holidays, winter break, spring break, class disruptions, etc....then we are good. lol Depending on your state requirements of course but...if you are schooling about 160-180 days a year...you are good. NOW with that said.....no one says that those "days" have to be literal "days". If I need to do double work one day or school on a weekend day because life got in the way...then so be it. BUT...there are 365 days in a year so... 160 lessons....no problem. Sometimes it is easy to forget that we shouldn't sweat the small stuff.
we are in our 3rd week of pure nothing Except a few letters. (writing) and I guess Eva needs to get back into it because she made up her own math worksheet yesterday.
We still have a few things to finish up, but are burned out with all the running around stuff we did near the end of May! Yesterday was the last piano and voice lesson until October. Today happened to be my dh's work picnic at a park. So I gave the kids the whole day off. I let them sleep in, we went to the picnic and spent time with dad and played games, etc., and now they're playing outside with neighborhood friends. It's supposed to rain this weekend, so it's good for them to have an exercise/play day! Ooops, now they're arguing, which sometimes happens on non-scheduled days! Maybe I better check on that one!
I like the idea in theory. I really do. We were a part of the ps system for 4 years before this past year which was our first year of hs'ing. I love it! BUT it is hard to break from that "cycle" of Sapetember through the end of May. This summer my oldest daughter has a lot going on so school probably would have been impossible anyway. I'd just really love to be able to do it year round and not worry about finishing something by May and taking breaks whenever! Sounds great and I hope I can "let go" soon.
Tiffany, I like the idea too! And I have managed to do it some in our 9 years of homeschooling! But I still find myself starting to hurry them along sometimes "cuz we need to get done with this!" Huh? Why? Sigh! It's quite ingrained, that old school schedule! Well, at least if we homeschool our kids as well as we can, they'll have that ingrained in them less WHEN they homeschool THEIR children!
That would be great Deena. I would be so thrilled for my children to hs my grandchildren. I think maybe I'll get around to just doing it day by day all year and not really worrying about taking off just whenever is needed. Right now I'm working on not being rigid. I'm thinking I'll be a little more relaxed with Grace than with Samantha. More time hs'ing and all.
Yep, pretty much like those before me have said. We have no set hours on when things get done in the summmer, but they do get done. A couple hours a day would be good for me, though sometimes it's just an hour then reading for an hour. Being as we are in several reading programs.
I have been homeschooling for several years now. With my dd, I HAD to school her during the traditional school year as per visitation/custody agreement with her father. UGH. That was very frustrating once I started adding other babies to the mix. Now she is in public school and lives with her father, and I'M the one who sees her during school breaks and summer. Dh is a die-hard unschooler. I can't quite....get....there.....The very best I can do for my personality and what we have compromised on, is to school year round. this means that: --our homeschooling expenses get stretched out over the year --our homeschooling curriculums last longer (I do buy non-consumables when I can) --we can really take our time in topics that the boys don't understand....like my 8 yo is struggling through multiplication....and my 6 yo is a slow reader (speech delays and issues) --we can take breaks as needed. I have been helping my dearest friend and her family, then we traveled out of state for 10 days. And here I was, hyperventilating over getting everything done in our schoolwork before January in order to start a new grade level! And then I remembered....it really doesn't matter WHEN we finish....as long as they are learning, right!!!???
The game plan is to do 10 wks of serious school work and 1 wk off. I mean is actual work that includes sitting at the table and doing work. She will still read during her off week because I am big on reading. I try to have our own story time 3 times a day. In the morning, the afternoon and at night. I also have her write daily in a journal.
