Spryte Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 We've generally followed a loose year by year approach, and curriculum has matched up fairly closely to a regular academic school year. But we're doing it differently now, and I have a question. We've just finished a level of a subject that would normally signal the start of a new academic year here, and we'd have scheduled in a long (summer) break. If you school year round, do you mark those milestones, or schedule a short break before starting the next level, or do you just start up again the next day, with the following level? This isn't a terribly pressing question, I'm just curious about other families. Do you give your kids a week off? Any acknowledgement that they've finished a level? Or just keep plugging along? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondbutterandjelly Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 Just keep going. However, we school only sort of year round. Math is definitely year round. We do officially move up a grade in June, generally. I do report cards and pass out ribbons and certificates. Cuz it's fun. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 We start up again the next day, with the following level and just keep plugging along? We do academics seven days a week year round. My youngest has a hard time restarting if we take a day’s break so we do minimum an hour daily on weekends and on vacations. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 Well, we sort of school year round too. We take certain weeks off completely in the summer, certain weeks are part time. We finish some subjects in a school year (like a science text that we are doing with co-op.) others I use just ongoing and finish when we finish. So right now in October, we are still finishing up a couple of programs that were officially last school year's work. Once those are done, the next day we will pick up the next books that are waiting on the shelf. For us these are things we use mainly as spines. So rabbit trails or working on the subject in another way would have caused us to set the main spine aside, but we always pick it back up when not doing other things for that subject. So those things tend to take us longer than a year to finish. When we have weeks off for Christmas or otherwise, we put everything away and then pick up where we were in them wherever that may be. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertstrawberry5 Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 (edited) I give them the option to start right away or take a week off, or do something else (a week or a month or whatever of Khan for math or an independent study of some other subject before the next chapter of writing, or whatever). If I don't have the next book, they have to take a break until I order it and it comes in. We work in months, not years, so changing subject or levels mid year is not a big deal. Edit: We take breaks of a few weeks throughout the year, with the longest break May-July to allow my kids to attend day camp and take advantage of community events planned around public school. But we just pick up where we left off. Edited October 16, 2017 by desertstrawberry5 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 Whatever suits you and yours. Sometimes I'll take a little break to rest, sometimes we just go on. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CadenceSophia Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 We start right up the next day, maybe skip a day or two (not for math) if there is a good reason. If it was a half year or year long length curriculum, we throw a "book party" to celebrate. Sometimes that is ice cream, sometimes hot chocolate and a dance party. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrganicJen Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 It depends, our schedule constantly changes. There are times we are near full time RV people and so school happens basically any time we aren't on adventures so evenings and travel days in the car etc. So when things are like that we just keep on going without breaks because we aren't doing a typical M-F full school day each day schedule. But when our life is in periods of being more traditional we would usually schedule a break after finishing something big. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 It depends on the subject and what is scheduled during that time. For instance, if several things are finishing up close to each other, I try to schedule it out ahead of time so those things complete at about the same time then we take a week for games and movies and maybe visiting family, etc. before starting the next thing. If it is only one thing we usually make note of it, maybe have a day off from that subject (or two days) then start the next thing. Or if we finished a more formally organized content subject like science or history we may take time for rabbit trails and you tube videos and free reading, sometimes for weeks, before we start anything else more formally structured. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raifta Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 It's really variable for us, depending on the subject and what else is going on. We almost never 'finish' anything at the typical time, so we usually just keep on going, but sometimes we'll take a break of a week from that so we can fit in some other things (eg. math - we'll play games or do some fun math like The Number Devil or Penrose's Mathematical Adventures for a week), sometimes we might take a break from that particular program for a month or even two and try a different one that covers some of the same material (eg. different writing programs). If it's history or science we are usually doing those more as unit studies than anything else, so if we don't have anything else lined up, we spend some time thinking about what we want to do next and exploring things through books and videos and any other things we can find. But we usually have some new interests to explore so we typically start those right away. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 We've generally followed a loose year by year approach, and curriculum has matched up fairly closely to a regular academic school year. But we're doing it differently now, and I have a question. We've just finished a level of a subject that would normally signal the start of a new academic year here, and we'd have scheduled in a long (summer) break. If you school year round, do you mark those milestones, or schedule a short break before starting the next level, or do you just start up again the next day, with the following level? This isn't a terribly pressing question, I'm just curious about other families. Do you give your kids a week off? Any acknowledgement that they've finished a level? Or just keep plugging along? We just kept going, although maybe not the next day. :-) Our breaks were about two weeks in the spring around Easter; a couple of weeks in late August/early September, and Thanksgiving through about the middle of January (our Official School Year started in January). There were also random breaks as needed for grandparents or midweek trips to Disneyland or mental health. :-) So when we finished something, we just started the next thing...whenever it felt right. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beka87 Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 We start as long as have the next level here and ready. We school six weeks on and one week off all year, plus some time off for family stuff and for holidays. They get plenty of time away from their work, so I don't feel a need to stop after each level. Also - I hate grades, in general. Just doing math, without ever saying "This is 3rd grade math", leaves everyone mental breathing room to not feel behind (or too proud when one gets ahead). Math is just....Math. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 Depends on what the subject is. I think you can innovate there based on your own situation. If you find yourself finishing up most of your things, I'd let that dwindle into its natural conclusion and then do something else for a month. When I had those transition times with my dd, I would do a unit study or pick a subject we hadn't been hitting and do it intensively, in an uber fun way, like maybe 3-4 times a day. So we did a month of art doing 3-4 projects a day, that kind of thing. With the holidays coming up, it would be a really natural time to let things dwindle, do something special, then get back to your more typical routine in January. My personal advice on that would be to weave in some daily writing and math (small but potent) so you don't get really far off the reservation. Like you could find a book of holiday writing prompts so they're writing every day and print the math pages onto candy cane paper or something. If your dc is younger, you can go to Enchanted Learning and find cool stuff to digress and pursue a theme for a while. We did that around Groundhog Day one year, hehe. I think it's really good to take breaks and do other things. It lets you hit things you weren't getting to in your normal routine, and it makes them fresh and eager to get back to it. The only exception would be math. I would not take a significant break from math. But to do living books and fun math for a couple weeks, sure, that's fine. Maybe find some holiday themed math daily warm-up pages on TeachersPayTeachers to pair with it. Takes little time but just keeps things perking. Congrats on finishing material! It's a good thing! :) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainbowmama Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 It depends. Core subjects we just finish. Generally, if we wrap up a content subject, we take a break. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homemommy83 Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 At our house we treat each child for a completed workbook, we decide together at the beginning of the book, and write it on the back page of the workbook. It is just fun to grab a burger or a candy bar or 30 minutes alone a grandmas (with 6 kids in the house it is rare to go there alone-lol). We school year around, and I love so many different curriculum as they all have their own strengths, so we tend to switch things up after each book is completed- unless a child isn't where we want them in a particular subject, and in that case we would just plug along. I like to follow up a reading intensive program with a grammar intensive program, followed by a writing/narration intensive program. Who can just pick one English, Reading, or Math program- I love them all-lol. Please ignore my grammar as I am typing one handed (babies are wonderful), and sleep deprived. I also think it is great to reevaluate after each book on what they need the most work on, or on what would be a fun book for them to do before moving forward; sometimes the "next" book isn't what would fill your need. Obviously sometimes it is the next book that is needed-lol. For example: If your child is struggling in Reading, and you finish you English book, it may be good to spend a few weeks focusing more on reading before beginning another program. ElizabethB, she is on these forums, has a nice syllable program for older children who need more work on decoding skills for multisyllable words and only takes a few weeks to get through, so it would make a nice filler for that sort of situation. You could also do a 2 month jaunt through a Critical Thinking company book if reading comprehension is an issue. I hope you find a groove for how you transition after books. You are doing a great job, mama! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbgrace Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 (edited) We take breaks as needed in the year, going on 9 years now, never related to when we finished a particular subject or grade. Subject end and begin points or switches in curriculum are happening at varied times throughout the year anyway (example: I slowed one kid down in his primary Algebra program about a month ago, and added an additional Algebra resource to his schedule. The other kid started a new grade level of his grammar program today. I'm probably going to add a new composition program to both kids, probably in November). I always adjusted to the kid and situation as we went, and felt the year round schedule made that easier. As we hit the teen years, a lot of group and team stuff involving travel happens in the summers--we've ended up with about 3 consecutive weeks off in summer, maybe closer to 4, the last couple of years. They just aren't home for most of one month. I don't think the break all bunched up like that helps, maybe because they are so busy. It makes me glad we haven't had a traditional summer break all along. edited to add: I re-read your OP. I think it if feels good to celebrate an end point, I'd do that! Edited October 17, 2017 by sbgrace 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misty.warden Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 We school all year and take breaks based on family needs and activities (holidays, new baby, etc.) rather than when we finish a book. WA doesn't require you to assign a grade, just to declare intent to homeschool during that academic year, so we don't change grades or have a vacation or ceremony at the end of a year. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetpea3829 Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 We have a modified year round schedule as well, but I'm not sure for how much longer. I make sure that we finish our core subjects in a typical school year. So math and language arts will start the next grade level at the "official" start of our new school year (which is usually the 3rd week of September) and I try to have them done by the last week of May. History is run from October through March, and Science is from April through August. Electives, depending on what it is, I usually try to space it out over the school year. This leaves summer for math review, summer reading, and whatever other electives I wanted to get to, but can't squeeze into our 4-day school week during the formal year. Last summer, that included health for my Bigs, and cursive for all four. Next summer will again be Health for the Bigs, but we'll be learning keyboarding for the group. I try to make sure our summer schedule is very light. For the most part, curriculum kind of just gets "done" around late April to late May and that's that. No big to-do. As we draw closer to summer, the days get a little easier (this is totally by design, lol). The last week of May, I take it completely off, we "celebrate" and the first week of June...summer school begins...and they lament. As the kids have gotten older, it's becoming more and more difficult to school year round. Summer is just so.stinkin.busy. And if they land on a travel team, forget it. And I have to be honest...I miss lazy quiet summers with very little to do. Every summer, I'm more and more tempted to just chuck summer school out the window and chillax for as long as I can. But then I'd probably have to give up my 4-day week and I love my 4-day week, lol. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 Depends on the subject. If spelling gets finished early we'll drop it until fall. Math, writing, lit, Spanish, those just get the next level book the next day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cupcake333 Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 We go on. We might get a day or two off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 I promote DS on Labor Day, with a picture on the porch and all that. We continue through the end of June (except breaks) and then switch gears for different stuff for July and August. This time, we took a week off before starting the new grade, and it worked out well. I usually stretch or condense materials to align and end pretty much all at once; I wouldn't like to be finishing everything at different times. So this year, we should finish grammar, science, Spanish and history all around June 22. (I'm deliberately stretching spelling and math through the summer, but we'll be doing different things for science and social studies.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 We school year round. We don't take breaks between levels. But for math only (I don't really know why except the levels are just better defined), I printed out certificates and hung them on the wall as we finished each level. There are lots of websites offering free printable certificates. It's a nice way to acknowledge their progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knitgrl Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 We take July off, and start in August. We'll try to finish things by the end of June - especially history. With most other subjects, we just move on to the next thing. Since dd is not a natural speller, I make more of a big deal when she finishes a spelling book - it is usually accompanied by the gift of some small spelling or word-based game. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest2 Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 We plan a treat of some kind when the accademic year for a subject is complete, usually a lunch out with Mom and Dad at their choice. That way we mark the hard work of all of us( serves as a teacher appreciation lunch as well). Next day, we keep going. It is a little weird now with so many classes online for my high schooler as they will all end at the same time...we may just do something in May for her unless she finishes her Algebra sequence earlier. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 (edited) We've just finished a level of a subject that would normally signal the start of a new academic year here, and we'd have scheduled in a long (summer) break. If you school year round, do you mark those milestones, or schedule a short break before starting the next level, or do you just start up again the next day, with the following level? If it's just one subject that we finished, I won't add another to fill its place. So, eventually, by the end of our school year, we will only be working on a couple of subjects. That way, the school year becomes easier time-wise as we go along and it gives you a lot of time to spend on that last couple of subjects. For example, my high schoolers finished Health last week. I didn't find something to add to their schedule. I gave them an A and put it in their transcript. Now they have more time to work on the rest of our stuff. When we finish everything I had planned for that school year, then I declare it over and we take a break for 2-4 weeks (depending on how burned out we are). This usually occurs sometime between February and April. So, it's October right now and we are actually on Week 16 or something. And I'll do special stuff for them on the first day of our new school year - even if it's in March. Edited October 18, 2017 by Evanthe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted October 18, 2017 Share Posted October 18, 2017 As the kids have gotten older, it's becoming more and more difficult to school year round. Summer is just so.stinkin.busy. Yeah, I agree! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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