We are going to switch to year-round

[Cadam]

Last night dh and I were talking. I always had the impression he didn't like homeschooling in the summer because it got in the way of summer activities. Well last night he said he didn't think quitting school for 3 months was good for the kids. :D We agreed that it would be best if we did a few hours of schooling each day as long as we are not on a vacation or had other activities.

I was feeling so much pressure because my son is only with us 4 days a week and I just can't fit everything in. This will be so much nicer and keep us in a routine! I am really excited but ds will not be happy. If you switched how did you break it to your kids? Once our unit study is done (in about 12 weeks) it will just be math, writing and Latin everyday but he simply doesn't like anything to be required of him- ever. :eek:

I feel like this huge weight has been lifted and we can relax and have time for fun now! :D

[hwfquilts]

We school year-round, but don't do a full load in the summer - just 2-3 hours per day. It helps us not forget math and Latin and allows me to fit in good read-alouds that we may not have time for during the rest of the year. When we switched a couple of years ago I told the boys that we would have a 2-3 week break, then start back to school in June. Knowing that it wasn't a full load, and looking forward to the read alouds helped.

I understand the child who doesn't care to work :) I've got one of those. You will probably just have to work through it... But, perhaps you could let him choose a read aloud, or plan a fun hands-on project that will interest him in order to soften the blow.

Good luck! I know it will work well for you.

Heather

[Sue G in PA]

and I know some of my dc are going to rebel...big time! They are used to all summer off as is my dh (he was a teacher). But now, dh is going back to educational consulting and summer is a big time for him w/ planning. So...I decided to school all year. It's giving me the "breathing room" I needed in our schedule (although I'm still feeling pressured!). I plan to go light during the summer and take frequent breaks (vacation, lots of field trips, nature walks, rec. time, etc.). I'm thinking about asking each dc about topics that interest them and doing some Unit studies. It's really math I don't want them to forget.

[Stirsmommy]

We do year round. Summer is school lite though meaning that we aren't going full tilt everyday. Dd12 hit grammar and math 3-4 times a week. Ds7 hits math and phonics at the same rate. Then we add more fun classes. Either unit studies or something that there just isn't time for in the regular time. If we haven't finished something like our history we do that during the summer but usually only hitting the high points. I try to make sure that there is enough time with friends we don't get to see much of since they are in ps.
melissa

[Beth in Central TX]

I have found a great year round schedule for us. I do take an extended break in the summer and Christmas, but so far it's work very well. I schedule 36 weeks of school (a regular school year). We start the first Monday of August. I take a week off in September, October, & November. For our Christmas break, I take off 4 weeks (3 in December and 1 in January). Then I take a week off in February, March, April, & May. I don't take off any time in June, but at this point we've finished many of our books, so the days are very light. For our summer break, I take off the month of July (4 weeks). We start all over again the first Monday of August.

[5wolfcubs]

I like your schedule, Beth! We've been doing 36 weeks of planned school with 7 weeks off in the summer & 7 off in the winter...because winter in Arizona is lovely (summer not so). That leaves 2 weeks worth of sick days, family visits, etc. But I really like your set up!

Cadam -- No advice on breaking the news but if you do your 3 core subjects (math, writing, Latin) every single day that your ds is at your house...it will probably be a good rhythm. You will be more relaxed and that will make everyone happier. :D

[Cadam]

Thanks for the encouragement. I really an excited about this change. I think it will be good for my littles to just grow up with school year-round as a reality. I feel like I finally materials now that are really working for me/us too and the prep load isn't so high that I am going to burn out. It is a good idea to plan something that my ds will really be able to look forward to. I will have to think on that one.

[Beth in Central TX]

Thanks, Lee! This is our 5th year of homeschooling, and it took me some time to find a good fit. The year before last, I was taking off 7 week in the summer and at Christmas time too. However, I found that the boys were getting bored with so much time off, and the school days were getting very long between the breaks. That's when I decided to take 3 weeks from our summer break and our Christmas break and spread those 6 weeks out during the year. I really like the flexibility that homeschooling provides our family.

[GVA]

I've decided that we'll also do only 4 days a week and do something fun the other day. This will start in May and go until September. I need to do a major house clean/purge/paint, and that's the only way it will get done. I don't want to take completely off because we still have some things to finish.

My almost-6th grader will do Latin, Math, and Handwriting every day. My almost-3rd grader will do Math and Handwriting every day. Both will do light Spanish, light History/Lit, and Science (probably will finish in June) every day. I figure that's about 2-3 hours max, and then I'll have 3-4 hours to do my thing with time for family in the evening.

[Chloe]

We start the first week in August (always the week after our church's VBS), then we take off a week in September (beach vacation), Thanksgiving week, 3 weeks at Christmas (the week before, of and after), a week in February (cabin fever), and a week in April (spring break). We finish our regular curriculum the week before Memorial Day. Then we take off 2 weeks (the last week in May and the first week in June). During that time I plan our next "school year" and get science stuff together for the summer term. We usually do school three short days a week from the second week in June to the last week in July (math and science, along with reading, piano practice and swim team practice daily).

I can't decide if we should continue with this or try a 4-day week next year. The reason is that even when we take a week off during the regular school year, there's still so much we need to keep up with that it's not really a complete break (piano lessons, AWANA, karate class, co-op, etc) I still have to make sure my dc are keeping up with any work or practice they need to do for any outside activities. Taking off one day a week would give me a day I wouldn't have to even think about school stuff if I didn't want to. Not reading, practicing piano, etc for just one day wouldn't hurt them, right? Sorry for the rambling. LOL!

[Mel]

I enjoy a year-round schedule because it helps me relax on how much we have to get done by a certain date - This way, we can still work 2 to 3 days a week during the summer (usually just math & grammar) and the girls are not forgetting half the stuff we did the year before. It works out well. Plus, we are done by noon and the kids have all day to play outside etc... :)

[chiguirre]

I'm fortunate in that my kids think school runs all year because my oldest ds's does. We generally follow his school schedule but we do more activities in the summer. Both hsed kids have done summer school at a Montessori and that's been a blast for them and a nice break for me, but we still do a little bit of work everyday. Just a bit of reading/phonics and some math. I can't imagine not hitting the skill subjects for 3 months, we'd be in such a hole if we did that.

[Isa]

We go year round, but have a lighter schedule in the summer. It's been great for us because if we unexpectedly have to take a few days off, it doesn't bother me.

I also have periods of time when I need to have a lighter schedule due to pregnancies and having newborns, so a year round schedule creates the least amount of stress in my life.

[8FillTheHeart]

I just made the decision that we are also. We are so incredibly far behind this yr. We have only managed 6 days of school since Jan 1. We had finished 18 weeks prior to Christmas vacation. I was really starting to stress b/c it looks like it will be 2 more complete weeks before we are able to get back into a full day school routine.

What I have decided to do to catch up is Sat. morning math March and April. Then starting in June we will do math and writing on alternating days (2/3 one week and 3/2 the following). We will continue that throughout the summer except for our one week at the beach.

This is a HUGE variance in our normal routine. I normally take 11 weeks off during the summer.....but hey, we don't normally take Jan and Feb off! It makes me sick to think about losing my summer, but it is the only thing that is allowing me to maintain my equilibrium that somehow we will get back on track.

[Luanne]

So it wasn't such a shock to my daughter. We didn't do as many subjects in the summer though so she would have time to play outside and such.

[Patricia in WA]

We have always schooled year round as many others here. My only advice would be to take it easy at first and not schedule too much. Last summer was the first year my children noticed that not everyone did school in the summer.:D

They tried to rebel a little but besides the basics (languages, writing, and math) I planned fun things for us to do. We did some dissections (this is fun for my kiddos)we had not time for. We also read through the Egyptology book and handbook. They loved that. We will do Dragonology this summer.

HTHs,

[Angela in TN]

We have always schooled year round as many others here. My only advice would be to take it easy at first and not schedule too much. Last summer was the first year my children noticed that not everyone did school in the summer.:D

They tried to rebel a little but besides the basics (languages, writing, and math) I planned fun things for us to do. We did some dissections (this is fun for my kiddos)we had not time for. We also read through the Egyptology book and handbook. They loved that. We will do Dragonology this summer.

HTHs,

Dragonology sounds like fun!! Are you just going to be using the book? I'd love to hear about what you're going to do. (sorry to hijack the thread!):D

[Laura Corin]

We do 38 weeks a year (UK standard). We take a few weeks off at Christmas and Easter, plus August and any other little breaks we choose.

Laura

[Patricia in WA]

I have not planned Dragonology yet as I have a 6 week overseas trip coming and have been preparing fo that. But in my head, the plan is to follow the main book and use the supporting books that have since come out. We own some of these (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/103-6416973-4657438?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=dragonology) as my oldest boy is a huge dragon fanatic. The handbook especially is well suited to a course. That is what we followed for Egpytology. When I come up with a more concrete plan I can PM you.

[Angela in TN]

If you think of it I would love to see your plan when you pull it together! Thanks!