Schooling with a traditional schedule vs year round

[Annie Laurie]

I have always schooled year round, the summers are long and hot here anyway, and I worried about them forgetting things and needing a lot of review after a long summer break. But, the older my kids get, the more upset they are that they don't get summers off. And I'm burned out on homeschooling, so I was thinking that maybe if we had summers off, that would help me to feel more refreshed for the new year.

 

Do you find that you need to review a lot after a summer break? If you take a summer break, do you follow your local PS's calendar, or just count out 180 days, or what do you do? We just school 6 weeks on/1 week off year round, and I'm used to just doing the next thing, so I guess I would have to plot out how long it would take us to complete something in a regular school year and be a little more structured. Any thoughts on one method vs the other?

[My3girls]

When in Public School, my kids did forget things over the summer.  The first 4-6 weeks were spent reviewing before they learned anything new.  Then the last 4-6 weeks were spent reviewing before testing.  Then they had 6 weeks off throughout the year in addition to 2 weeks of 1/2 days for parent-teacher conferences, and some other random days off here and there for various things.  They typically spent close to a week getting ready for each break and a week recovering.  I really don't know how they had time to get anything done and is one of the reasons we went to homeschooling.

 

If you want to do a summer break.  I would probably pick a start date, count out 36 weeks and don't forget to include any breaks you are going to take for holidays or vacations, and then I might add in another week as a buffer for sick days if you take them.  The only issue with this is yes, you are going to have to be structured to fit everything in or be ok with not finishing curriculum.  The idea of not finishing or being so stressed about finishing by a specific date keeps me on the year round schedule.  We'll priobably end up with some time off during the summer but that will be a pleasant surprise not something planned for the girls.

 

Good luck with your decision and planning, and I can totally understand why you are considering it!  Cause I could use a break myself!! lol

[TracyP]

I schooled year round for a couple years, but it was a recipe for burn-out for me. Now my years have what is, for me, a very natural flow. I start slowly in the beginning of August. By slowly, I mean that we do math only at first and slowly add subjects in over the next 3 weeks. I then do 6 weeks on/1 off through the rest of the year - with a light school period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Next week is our last official week of the year. We will have an off week and then have 4 more weeks of light school. That leaves 5-6 weeks completely off until August. What I end up with is 30 full weeks, 10 light weeks, and 12 weeks off.

 

For us, this is the best of all worlds. The light weeks allow us to keep up on core subjects (like learning to read, piano practice, and math), yet still have most of our day free for other things. The 6 week stretch completely off isn't long enough for the kids to forget too much (I do continue reading lessons if needed), but it is long enough where I feel ready to go again.

[In2why]

We take the month of July off, but not the entire summer.   Almost all math and grammar curricula has built in review, so when we start new materials we have review whether we take time off or not.  

[ondreeuh]

I haven't done a true year-round schedule yet, but it makes so much sense. If you buy 36-week programs, start everything on day 1, stick with your original choices all year long, and don't add anything new, then a traditional year is fine. Due to changes in curriculum or scheduling issues during the year, I am never on track to finish everything by week 36. Then I have to decide whether to finish the subject in the summer, rush through an overview, or just skip it. If I'm halfway through something, then it's hard to continue after a break because there is no built in review to make up for the time off.

 

This year I am so proud of myself because I have stuck with my kindergartener's main math, LA, and 2 sciences all year so those are totally set to finish in 3 weeks. I doubled up on geography when I started it, so that is on track to finish too. My binder system worlked like a charm to keep us on schedule. We finished one math and his spelling early and moved on to the next level, so I feel like I should do those during the summer.

 

My 6th grader is a jumble. Math is on track, science finished way early so we are filling in with an online program, we switched history in October so we will take the summer to finish, and we just started a couple writing things that are working nicely. At the minimum we will do history, spelling, writing, and free reading this summer.

 

Due to dh's schedule, we will have about 3 weeks off in May, school through June and July, and then take off August and maybe into September, depending on travel plans.

[Sunshine State Sue]

But, the older my kids get, the more upset they are that they don't get summers off. And I'm burned out on homeschooling, so I was thinking that maybe if we had summers off, that would help me to feel more refreshed for the new year.

We schooled year round until sometime in junior high.  You describe perfectly why we stopped.

 

We transitioned to June/July off instead.  It was fine.  We generally started back August 1 but eased into various classes, especially once outsourcing began.  In 10th grade, ds started a mix of CC, PS, and online, and they all had their own schedules.

 

HTH!

[Ellie]

I have always schooled year round, the summers are long and hot here anyway, and I worried about them forgetting things and needing a lot of review after a long summer break. But, the older my kids get, the more upset they are that they don't get summers off. And I'm burned out on homeschooling, so I was thinking that maybe if we had summers off, that would help me to feel more refreshed for the new year.

 

Do you find that you need to review a lot after a summer break? If you take a summer break, do you follow your local PS's calendar, or just count out 180 days, or what do you do? We just school 6 weeks on/1 week off year round, and I'm used to just doing the next thing, so I guess I would have to plot out how long it would take us to complete something in a regular school year and be a little more structured. Any thoughts on one method vs the other?

 

I don't know that you'd really need to change all that much if you went to summers off. You can still do the next thing; just put all your weeks off into June and July or July and August (take a long winter break, maybe Thanksgiving through Christmas) instead of three whole months off in the summer). 

[warneral]

We have lots of neighborhood friends at PS and lots of summer activities. We take the summer off but do at least a half hour of math 4 days a week in the summer. We had a 3 week trip to NZ this February but were able to fit it into our homeschool without a problem.

 

ETA they also are required to read 30min per day though they typically read over an hour a day.

[Targhee]

We are a lot like In2why - we take off at least the month of July, and do school lite the rest of the time.  I do it mostly to keep up good routine.  But we all need a break.  Our co-op and my kids' online classes are ending in just a couple of weeks, and the sun has peaked out a few times (which is a big deal in the gray NW), so we will probably start lite schooling in June, do nothing in July, and go back to lite schooling in August, introducing an additional subject/routine every week or so.

 

This keeps me sane, allows me planning time, and it allows the kids freedom to learn on their own. We like it.

[WahM]

We do just the basics for two days a week during the summer. We mostly keep up with math and reading/grammar. Lots of living math and other fun things. Keeping the "school days" very short. The rest of the days are for going out having fun or staying in. Sometime we'll do some science since kids love it. We also take at least two weeks off at the end and beginning of our "school year"

[8filltheheart]

I have always taken at least 11weeks off in the summer and we have no problems resuming in the fall. My kids don't tend to have issues with remembering. Ironically, I am actually thinking of doing the reverse this summer and actually doing some school work over the summer. For the first time since my oldest was in 11th grade (he's 24) I do not have to run our school yr around dual enrollment schedules. That means we can take vacation days whenever we want. I am thinking that we will take off weeks in the fall and spring instead when rates are cheaper and the weather nicer.

[Walking-Iris]

I usually schedule until the end of June. July and most of August is our summer break. Although quite a bit of learning happens even then as well. (some math, read alouds, science and art projects, gardening etc).

 

My kids like a break as well. They like knowing when they are "done" for the year. 

[Soror]

I schooled year round for a couple years, but it was a recipe for burn-out for me. Now my years have what is, for me, a very natural flow. I start slowly in the beginning of August. By slowly, I mean that we do math only at first and slowly add subjects in over the next 3 weeks. I then do 6 weeks on/1 off through the rest of the year - with a light school period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Next week is our last official week of the year. We will have an off week and then have 4 more weeks of light school. That leaves 5-6 weeks completely off until August. What I end up with is 30 full weeks, 10 light weeks, and 12 weeks off.

 

For us, this is the best of all worlds. The light weeks allow us to keep up on core subjects (like learning to read, piano practice, and math), yet still have most of our day free for other things. The 6 week stretch completely off isn't long enough for the kids to forget too much (I do continue reading lessons if needed), but it is long enough where I feel ready to go again.

We've done a bit like this and I'm planning to do the same this year. I didn't like it when we completely took off the summer as it seemed we forgot too much but I also don't like schooling year round and never feeling like we get a real break. My dc's and I both need that break and I need a chance to catch up on the house and do some planning for school. We are taking our big break in the spring- summer (May-June) and then another smaller one in fall so we can enjoy the time when the weather is the nicest. Last week was our last official week of the year but ds and dd are both still finishing math and dd has reading lessons as well. Half of May and June will be completely off, then we'll start slowly in July and get back in the full swing by August. 

[hepatica]

We have always taken a full summer vacation. My DH is a teacher and we follow the same school schedule he does. We usually finish up some time in the first half of June and then resume after Labor Day.  I have no problem fitting in three 12 week terms, and still have time for a week at Thanksgiving, a couple weeks at Christmas and a week in March. I would be in a state of perpetual burnout if we schooled over the summer. I am 100% introvert and I catch up on alone time during our time off. I also review the previous year and plan for the next year. 

 

We have never had any problem with forgetting over the summer. We don't do any special review in the fall, but just start back up either where we left off or with new material. If someone forgets something like a math skill it usually only requires a 5-10 minute review and it comes back. If these skills are well mastered it doesn't seem to be a problem.

 

I also believe strongly in the importance of time off (I wrote a blog post about this). We spend tons of time outdoors, at the pool, and just hanging around with neighborhood kids. I take each of the kids on week long backpacking trips. The older children participate in summer activities like camp and Suzuki music institutes. My oldest does 8 weeks of ballet intensives so school would be impossible for her anyway. I just think of us as classical home schoolers for 9 months and unschoolers for 3 months. The weather is nice in New England in the summer, and it's much easier to stay inside and work in Jan and Feb when the temps are in the teens and single digits.

 

It's funny, but I have been on this schedule my entire life. I went to public school, then college, then grad school, then right into an academic teaching position. Even though I would "work" during the summer, it was not on the same day to day schedule. I have always wondered what it would be like to work a "real" job where you don't have summers off. It seems so endless to me. I love the rhythm of summer vacation.

[happypamama]

We do semi-year-round. We take a full break from Memorial Day until July 1, and then we will do light days during July (interspersed with tennis lessons several days a week). We'll be at full speed in early August and will take a week off at Thanksgiving, three weeks at Christmas/New Year's, and two weeks at Easter, plus all birthdays, our anniversary, and any holidays where DH is home. This also gives flexibility for sick days, or days when life happens and little work gets done.

[Connections]

We have always schooled year round and I am tired. This year, we are following a schedule similar to what soror described. We are taking off May and June (we are in the final stretch)! We do not like the dog days of summer so we are fine starting in July. Then we'll take a break in the Fall (when the weather is nice) and time off for the Holidays.

 

I am REALLY looking forward to the break (to get some house projects done and to plan the coming year) but I am not sure if we will lose ground in math. Time will tell.

 

 

[wallingjan]

We used to coordinate with the public school, but the longer we've homeschooled, the more we set our own schedule. As my daughter gets older (she's finishing grade 7), I actually let her pick which 36 weeks she want to "do school." She is motivated to be done by Memorial Day and plots the calendar backwards. She has a good sense for when she's burning out. My littles are still happy to have school every day. We'll adjust as they get older.

[Haiku]

We go year-round, taking two weeks at Christmas and two at the end of June. We go four weeks on, one week off. For me, schooling with a traditional schedule would lead to burnout because the breaks would be so far apart. Plus, I wouldn't want to have to deal with the kids forgetting things by September that we had worked on in May.

 

I have never understood how some people can school every single day of the year, though I have seen people say that the only days they take off are Christmas and Thanksgiving. I think I would poke my own eyes out with a rusty spoon.

[Lori D.]

Very hot summers here, and no way we would feel any motivation to do school while our brains were baking. ;)

 

We always did a more traditional schedule, as most of DSs' friends (whether public or homeschooled) were on that schedule and it made it easier for social stuff. Also, I think that DSs would never have felt like they were "done" with school if we had tried to go year-round. And most of all *I* would have burned out big-time without a decent summer break. ;)

 

We did a bit of a modified schedule around the traditional 2-semester schedule of:

18 weeks before Christmas break

3 to 3.5 weeks off around Christmas

18 weeks of school after Christmas

 

We took time off for holidays, and usually a full week off in October and in March, so I'd count up all of that time, which was usually a total of 2-2.5 weeks of vacation per semester, add that to the 18 weeks of school, and count backwards 20-21 weeks from when I wanted to stop for Christmas break to figure out our school year starting date, and then 20-21 weeks forward from our January new semester start date to figure out the end of our school year.

 

Like the previous posters, when we started the new school year in early August, we started slow, with just a few subjects and lots of reading aloud for the first week, added in more subjects a little at a time the second and third weeks, and by the end of week 3, we were pretty much up to full speed. At the end of the school year -- usually around the third week of May, as we finished programs, we could check off being "done", and the last two weeks were usually getting lighter, as some subjects were finished.

 

When DSs were in elementary grades, we only needed about 32-34 weeks of school, so they had longer summers -- about 12 weeks. For middle school and high school, we needed the traditional 36 weeks and spread it out as outlined in the 2 paragraphs above... So, about 43-44 weeks for a school year left us a summer of 8-9 weeks, which is just long enough to feel like a real break, without being so long that people forgot everything. 

 

Nope, never did any review during the summer; there is always built-in review of math concepts for the first 6-9 weeks of most standard math programs, so you get your review then. The only time we ever did school into the summer was the 2 years in high school where we took 3 weeks off during the school year for very special long driving trips -- one of the west coast, and one of the east coast. That just meant the school semester extended 3 weeks into the usual summer vacation, since we used those 3 weeks earlier in the year for the special trip. No big deal.

 

BEST of luck in finding the schedule that works best for YOUR family! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[MyLittleWonders]

We do a mostly traditional schedule; dh teaches and we follow his school calendar for the most part. That said, we do "school" in the summer. The boys have about 1-1.5 hours of math and copywork, and then they read something during the day and we either do an audiobook or a read aloud together. We take about 2-3 weeks off, total, in the summer. Otherwise, it's just enough to keep them fresh with pencils, paper, and numbers, without it ruling our summer vacation. 

[HS Mom in NC]

When my older girls were younger we schooled year round and took off Thanksgiving to New Year's and as needed for traveling off season to get the best deals.  It's really hot here in the summer, so taking time off when the weather was nice made sense. No one wanted to go outside much when it was really hot.  They had a bunch friends their age who homeschooled too and we got together a lot because of our flexible schedules as there were no kids in our neighborhood then to play with in the summer.

 

With my youngest, we follow the ps school year because she has 2 very close friends in the neighborhood in ps.  They're on a modified year round: 2 weeks in fall, 2 weeks in winter, 2 weeks in spring and 6 or 7 weeks in summer.  Her closer friends nearby who are homeschooled are also on that schedule for the same reasons, so it works well for us in our current situation.

When kids get older and involved in activities outside of school, those activities will likely follow the ps school year.  We have two districts that meet up right near our house and several private schools in the area in addition to public charter schools, so there are many different school schedules that affect kids and their activities.  It isn't always a perfect fit for everyone, so they do the best they can.

 

We review whenever our kids seems to need it through out the year.  I don't notice needing a lot of review for a long time when taking the summer off.

 

Two years ago I switched from a "do the next thing" approach to the 36 week file folder system.  I love it but I need to be free in the summer to do all the copying, planning, printing out and scheduling so everything is ready to go for the year by the first day of school.  I don't think I would school year round and do that system even with one kid, but never say never.  I had the older two on it the year before they went to college and my youngest is on it now. 

[abacus2]

We need summers off here. I need the break; they need the break. We do things we don't other wise get to do. They engage in more creative play. I think taking summers off and having to remember in the fall is better academically too. They are exercising their memory, and if they do need to re-learn something, I think it is more likely to stick the second time.

[kolamum]

I schooled year round for a couple years, but it was a recipe for burn-out for me. Now my years have what is, for me, a very natural flow. I start slowly in the beginning of August. By slowly, I mean that we do math only at first and slowly add subjects in over the next 3 weeks. I then do 6 weeks on/1 off through the rest of the year - with a light school period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Next week is our last official week of the year. We will have an off week and then have 4 more weeks of light school. That leaves 5-6 weeks completely off until August. What I end up with is 30 full weeks, 10 light weeks, and 12 weeks off.

 

For us, this is the best of all worlds. The light weeks allow us to keep up on core subjects (like learning to read, piano practice, and math), yet still have most of our day free for other things. The 6 week stretch completely off isn't long enough for the kids to forget too much (I do continue reading lessons if needed), but it is long enough where I feel ready to go again.

 

I really love this.

 

We use to do year round. When the kids were young we did 3 weeks on 1 week off, then advanced to six weeks on 1 week off. But a year or two ago we switched to a more traditional school schedule & this year I've been debating the wisdom of that. I originally moved away from a year round version because, like many mentioned here, I was burning out. BUT, I like the idea of the light weeks which is something we've been doing this term break. Thanks for sharing, & to the OP, thanks for posting! :D

[Annie Laurie]

Thank you for all of the replies, they've given me some different options to think about.

[CrunchyGirl]

I'm really struggling with this. On one hand we need to school year round. We need the ability to take random weeks off during the year to accommodate the realities of running a growing business and the travel it involves. I also have a child that thrives on routine, craves academics, and I most certainly am not interested in spending time catching back up in August. But here's the issue: we just bought a house. We move in several days before school let's out. Based on the number of play sets and toys in our new neighbors' yards I suspect our children are about to have lots of friends (unlike our current neighborhood with a lack of kids). On one hand I'm thrilled but it's making me rethink our summer plans. I'm considering doing math and Latin daily, 3x week writing (maybe CAP W&R) and 2x week grammar just to keep it current. Spelling is so natural for him, I feel somewhat okay on taking a break over the summer. Beyond that we read and they play outside.

[boscopup]

We school year round, but take several breaks as needed, plus we usually take off the entire month of June (3-4 weeks and I'm ready to be back to a *schedule*). I think burnout happens no matter the schedule. My friends doing traditional schedules are all freaking out that they may not "finish" by a certain point, whereas I don't have anything that needs to be finished at any particular time. I have no start/stop date on our work. We go until we finish, then start the next level. Mind you, I have all elementary kids. That will certainly change when high school hits, I'm sure. :) My friends that get stressed out also don't take as many breaks throughout the year as I do, and they seem like they really need those breaks sometimes.

 

This month, I've felt a bit "blah" about school. I looked at our attedance record (state requires attendance), and I found that we had 194 days. No wonder I was feeling "done!" So we've had a very easy last few weeks. Actually, this past week we just took completely off. Next week, I plan to do some intensive handwriting work and maybe a little math. I've also been reading good literature to them the whole time. One of those "lazy" weeks we had was very productive in the writing department, so it was a good week. :) I haven't done history or science in the last month, and I'm ok with that. I haven't done phonics/reading with my middle son, but he's been reading some real books, and sometimes a break from phonics is good for his reading development. I might pick them back up next week. He's motivated to work a little harder since his younger brother started zipping through Magic Tree House books this week. :tongue_smilie:

 

We tend to ebb and flow throughout the year with our academics. We'll start out strong in the summer (around July), when it's too hot to play outside. Fall comes along with cooler weather, and we ease up and chuck the kids outside a lot. January is usually strong again, then spring comes and I chuck them outside a lot. Our official "end" of the school year is end of May, when public schools end. We just have an earlier start date than the public schools, and I end up with usually 15-20 more days for the year than the public schools, though I only need 160 days for my cover school.

 

I couldn't school every single day of the year. I need days off, and I take plenty of them. I like the flexibility of being able to take off whenever we want without worrying about getting done in time. It also helps that some of our curriculum has levels started in the middle of the year, so I don't need to finish everything by the end of May. In fact, I can't think of anything that we're finishing at end of May this year. Some things will finish in August or Septemeber, and some not until next physical year. I usually feel renewed when we start a new level, so it's nice to have that renewal throughout the year, keeping me motivated. :)

[mommy2ella]

We finish up our history and planned literature (SL core) by the end of June, then take the 1st week of July totally off.  For the rest of July and half of August we do math and spelling half speed Monday-Thursday, taking 3 day weekends.  We then take 2 more weeks totally off and begin the next school year the day after Labor Day.  Throughout the summer we dive into the big box of read-alouds we'd like to go through, and we may do some other subjects we don't generally get to during the rest of the year (we're doing a geography unit this summer).  We also do some science experiments we may not have gotten to during the year.  Our main break is actually Thanksgiving week through DD's birthday week (2 weeks after Christmas) as we'd like to really be able to focus on the holidays.  We still do a couple of math pages per week (however she wants to split them up) and some random spelling words throughout the break.  We also take 2 weeks off at Easter and periodic 1 week breaks from tablework as seems needed.  We do both start to get cranky if we go too long without the rhythm of the school routine. 

 

Julie

[Mandy in TN]

We school lighter during the summer. However, I don't go outside much during daylight in the summer because it is just too stinkin' hot. Other than lighter school work and, therefore, a little less stress, we basically keep the same schedule. We don't go on vacations, and Doodle doesn't play with kids in the neighborhood. So- might as well keep going. :) Honestly, it is more stressful when we don't do any school, and the schedule is tossed out the window.

 

HTH-

Mandy

[momto2Cs]

We started in September this year, after July and August off, then took from Thanksgiving through New Year's off, and will finish up at the end of June with a short break here and there. For next year, I plan on tweaking this a bit, maybe start mid-August after 6 weeks off (instead of 8), then do 6 on, 1 off, but with extra time off for the winter holidays. Haven't quite decided yet.