I've been thinking about our homeschool calendar for this coming year, and I think I am going to try year-round hs'ing based off of one of the schedules in the WTM book. I'm wondering how the kids are going to feel having to hs for 6 weeks in the summer, though. For those of you that hs year-round, do you do a modified summer schedule, or do you continue as usual? Here's what I am thinking about: 2011-2012 Homeschool Calendar (36 weeks) School: 6/27-8/5/2011 (6 weeks) Break: 8/8-9/5 (4 weeks) School: 9/6-10/14 (6 weeks) Break: 10/17-10/21 (1 week) School: 10/24-11/18 (4 weeks) Break: 11/21-11/25 (1 week) – Thanksgiving, 11/24 School: 11/28-12/16 (3 weeks) Break: 12/19-1/6/2012 (3 weeks) –Christmas and New Year’s School: 1/9-2/17 (6 weeks) Break: 2/20-3/2 (2 weeks) School: 3/5-4/13 (6 weeks) – Easter, 4/8 Break: 4/16-4/27 (2 weeks) School: 4/30-6/1 (5 weeks) – Memorial Day, 5/28 Break: 6/4-6/22 (3 weeks) - then start the next 36 week cycle
I think it is great. I actually would like to do an alternative schedule for my son and I. I just don't think I can convince him. I want to shorten our summer, so we can have a month of in December, or even have from Thanksgiving to after New Years off. He wants to keep it very similar to public schools, so he can be off when his friends are out of school.
We homeschooled year-round last year and it worked really well for us. My kids are young so keeping with our regular routine was actually easier for me! I don't have official breaks built into our calendar, but we take mini-breaks (anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks at a time) for family vacations or special outings throughout the summer. Also, I do incorporate more science, nature studies, and field trips in the summer than the rest of the year which makes for a more relaxed, hands-on approach. Best of luck!
During the elementary and middle school years I would give dk a 4-5 day mini-break at the end of May, and then continue for 6 weeks into the summer with the usual schedule. Basically these weeks were used to finish up our school work as yearly we would take a month off for travel in the fall, which put us behind for a traditional school year. Now, in high school, (we no longer take that wonderful month to travel in autumn:cry we finish the year by mid May. However, we do continue schooling in summer for about 6 weeks, but it is usually the 1/2 credit courses that we might not fit in during the year, such as Economics, Civics,Typing, Driver's Ed. etc.
We finish the "year" in early/mid May and then begin the next "year" immediately. We work through mid/late June (condensing to cover smaller subjects like health in one short trimester term), have 2 weeks of camp (an academic camp for gifted kids), a week off for 4th of July, 2 more weeks at the same camp, 2 weeks off completely with no work, a week of VBS, and then back to our regular schedule for the bulk of the year.
I just continue as usual. We take breaks when we want to or need to for whatever reason. I don't actually schedule it [of course, I'm also not required by my state to keep track of hours/days]. Honestly, in Texas, it's just too hot to want to go anywhere/do anything in the summer, and my kids have always been homeschooled and have never known the concept of 'summer break.' We usually do some different 'elective' activities in the summer--- for example, we'll be doing computer programming as part of our routine. But, otherwise, it's pretty much same-old, same-old for us.
We continue all year taking breaks when needed. I don't like to take more the 3 days off though because the kids miss it and get bored= chaos lol. In the summer we will do math etc in the house where it is cool. And we do more field trips in summer and learning through doing as well this year I am going to introduce them to scientific journaling as a way for them to take note of things of interest. I need some time off though to make a more formal plan for schooling in the fall. I broke this year into quarters and set goals for each child to 'hopefully' attain at the end of each. I would say so far they are doing really well.
I have been thinking of trying to school this summer, too. But when I brought it up to my kids today, it very nearly got ugly. I thought there was going to be a mutiny. unless I get some back-up from dh, it doesn't look like it will happen.
I LOVE year round school. We only have a three week summer. I think it's plenty. We usually do four weeks on, one off (sometimes 5-1, sometimes 3-1). We take every excuse for a holiday off and a couple weeks for Christmas and have no problem getting our 180 days in. It has really helped me to minimize burnout. Oh! And we maintain a normal schedule for all scheduled days.
I considered doing year around but I think I need the break. During the schooling year it is completely crazy for me working from 6-9 and then 1-4 then I school inbetween. It just seems that I go from one thing to the next. However, I did tell my kids that must do a math lesson and read at least a chapter a day. The summer for me is a lot of rest. My kids go to a 6 week summer camp simply because they love it. I stay home and play in my gardens and hang by the pool. I am already counting the days. We also camp a lot in the summer. So, I will be using a lot of the time getting the house in order along with thier curriculum
We start our year in July and end in May, we start the 2nd week of July and work for 9 weeks, we have a week off and then we school for 9 more weeks. That brings us up to the Friday before Thanksgiving week. We take off 6 weeks then.. so the week of Thanksgiving until the Monday following New Years (which is important to us since 3 of our 4 kids have birthdays within a week of Christmas). We then school 9 weeks, take a week off and do our last 9 weeks, which puts us about the 2nd week of May. We have an 8 week summer break. But really, just because it's not a "school day" doesn't mean we aren't learning something or doing something educational.
Thanks all! @crazymama, I do like your idea of breaking it up into four 9-week segments with long Christmas and summer breaks. I think the kids might like that, too. Hmmm... food for thought.
We homeschool all year around. I have been doing it since the beginning. We do take regular breaks. Mainly stick to a public school schedule. We do a couple subjects in the summer, like math and language.
Our school year runs July through June. We work year round taking breaks when things come up. Usually take a couple weeks at Christmas. We usually finish at end of May and take June off. That may change since dd is starting high school. May need to do an elective in June. We've done this since we started homeschooling. So, that's all they know.
We go year round but don't schedule the breaks at all. We take days off as they come up or when we feel like it. It works out great when grandparents visit. The kids are home and they don't miss out on time with our parents because of "school". My kids love "Grandma" Days. We take our vacations anytime but summer to avoid the ps summer crowds. We love it. I find that my kids forget too much with even just 1-2 weeks off so it helps keep them on track. We live in AZ so summer is just too icky to be outside unless we're near a pool So we have a shortened summer schedule in order to keep the info in their heads but also have enough time off to spend with their ps friends. We really enjoy taking more time off in the winter to enjoy our weather. I just keep track of each day we do school and when we reach 180 days we immediately move up a grade and start over. Today was day #162. We started June 29th. We should be done with this school year in mid-May.
This is a great point. I have always thought summer vacation was a ridiculous idea in AZ. It is too hot to do anything outside of the house except swim. I guess kids can handle it better. I remember playing outside in the heat of the summer. However, now, I would much prefer free time for outdoor activities in the winter (I guess you would call it winter :lol.
Thank you so much for this schedule. We are about to finish our first year HS and I wanted to switch to year round but had no clue. This is a great plan and I'm definitely going to be using it.
We school for 6 weeks, then off for 1. We have 3 weeks at Christmas/New Year's, then about 5-6 weeks for summer. So we do have a summer, but it's a bit shorter than the PS around here.
I'm going to fill is some major PS gaps this summer. I ordered some books (What your 3rd grader needs to know, What your Fifth Grader ect.......) for them to read and plan on Math everyday for one and I hope to get an American History unit in for the 2 older ones. (My 6th grader has never had American History. Or any history other then WA state history except for his Ancient Studies class this year.) I know next year late American History is the goal, so I hope to get him to the Civil War. Plus reading is required almost everyday too. And they are going to finish their Grammar and Spelling books
