If you school year-round

[Mommy22alyns]

Do you school more than 180 days? How do you have to report the number of days you've done school? Do you tell them 180 days and just keep going, or do you tell them the exact number of days you've done?

[brehon]

I do school year round, but don't need to report to anyone at any time.

 

If I did need to report the number of days, I'd probably just list 180 (or whatever the required number was) and keep going. I wouldn't want to confuse the poor beaurocrats. Besides I wouldn't want to get into what could be a reporting nightmare for the next year (i.e., which days counted for this year and which days counted for next year).

 

Then again, I tend toward the minimalist side and would only report exactly what the state (or whatever) required and not one bit more.

 

Thank goodness I live in Texas...

[I talk to the trees]

We have hour requirements as well as day requirements. I think the required number of hours is 225, so I always just list "225+" on my quarter reports. I don't bother keeping exact records of how long we "do school" each day. It varies, and there are plenty of things like free reading time, dance lessons, etc... that could be considered "school" that I'd go batty trying to list an exact number of hours each quarter.

 

-Robin

[jonesloonybin]

I just mark out the 180 days. I don't have to send in my attendance here but I do have to keep a copy. In fact, I don't keep it everyday. At the end of the year I just mark the calendar until I get 180 and that's it.

[Pamela H in Texas]

I don't have to report...honestly, I never even KNOW how many days we do. Also, my kids, in high school, had it where they could finish their work in any number of days. There were ultimate due dates, but when they got it done before that was their business. So some weeks, if they were diligent, were only 3 days. Most still were 4-4.5 though.

 

I'm glad I don't have to worry about the state. My kids are educated which I find much more important than how many days they do schoolwork.

[Night Elf]

I live in GA and we are required to school 180 days. I report only what I need to report and never anything more.

[AmyP]

I send in my attendance reports until I get to 180 days, then I stop sending them in until next year. I report pretty much Monday through Friday (except big holiday times, like the week between Christmas and New Year's Day), no matter when we do school.

 

Amy

[specialmama]

Also, for those that school year round, do you tend to keep the same subjects in circulation year round? I only ask because I was thinking of keeping up with math this summer so we don't experience brain block in September, and have to spend months on review! :glare: So... is it better to keep all subjects in circulation or can one just keep on with math? :bigear:

[tricia]

We school year round as well but we don't report to anyone. Then this way we can take off whenever we want and not worry.

[Night Elf]

Also, for those that school year round, do you tend to keep the same subjects in circulation year round? I only ask because I was thinking of keeping up with math this summer so we don't experience brain block in September, and have to spend months on review! :glare: So... is it better to keep all subjects in circulation or can one just keep on with math? :bigear:

 

In our family, we take vacation days here and there due to various reasons. That is why we school year round. So we do stay with our full program throughout the year.

 

If I were to school during the public school schedule and take a full two months off during the summer, I would have the children continue to do some math and grammar to keep them fresh in their minds I suppose. Anything else would seem like a regular program.

[Tree House Academy]

Do you school more than 180 days? How do you have to report the number of days you've done school? Do you tell them 180 days and just keep going, or do you tell them the exact number of days you've done?

 

I live in TN and register through a private category IV school. I count my (4 hour +) days to 180 and those are days that we do "full school" as I call it. Once we hit our 180 days for the year, we start "light school" - we do two-four subjects a day (depending) and no more than an hour at a time in the summer. I don't really "count" those days. Those are the days I do what I want to do. If we miss them, oh well. If we have them, yay.

 

Now, if I come up on the end of my school year and there were some unforseen circumstances and we had to miss, say, an unplanned 2 weeks of "full school" through the year, then I start counting some of my summer days. 4 summer days is like 1 full school day, so I count accordingly (and this is really ONLY in case of an emergency). Otherwise I just do school in a very relaxed non-committed sort of way in the summer (mostly to keep them sharp in the basics so we don't have to review for the first 2 mos of the next school year!).

[Tree House Academy]

Also, for those that school year round, do you tend to keep the same subjects in circulation year round? I only ask because I was thinking of keeping up with math this summer so we don't experience brain block in September, and have to spend months on review! :glare: So... is it better to keep all subjects in circulation or can one just keep on with math? :bigear:

You can absolutely just keep on with math. My younger son learned to read this year, so we are continuing phonics, reading, math, language arts (more reading at his age), and handwriting. My older son is continuing pretty much the same subjects. We do 2 a day. Older ds' schedule looks like this:

 

Monday: Math, Pentime

 

Tuesday: Language Arts, Explode the Code

 

Wednesday: Writing with Ease (Days 1 & 2), Math

 

Thursday: Language Arts, Pentime

 

Friday: Writing with Ease (Days 3 & 4), Explode the Code, Math

 

We do not do formal Science, History, Foreign Language, or any electives in the summer. They get lots of Science from gardening with dh, but that isn't "school"...around here, that is LIFE.

Edited May 22, 2009 by Tree House Academy

[ElizabethB]

Also, for those that school year round, do you tend to keep the same subjects in circulation year round? I only ask because I was thinking of keeping up with math this summer so we don't experience brain block in September, and have to spend months on review! :glare: So... is it better to keep all subjects in circulation or can one just keep on with math? :bigear:

 

After forgetting half of the math facts we learned in K, I'm planning on doing the same this summer. I haven't tried it over a summer yet, but for a month when my husband was deployed and I was really busy with my remedial reading class, we just did Bible memorization and math, and usually only 2 to 3 days a week. It worked fine.

 

For this summer, I'm planning on using RS math to make it a little more fun. I'll probably do Bible reading instead of Bible memorization, or maybe mix it up a bit. I was planning on twice a week after a break during our move, but I may try to sneak a few math facts in in the car so they don't totally jump out of the brain and run off somewhere.

[Impish]

This will be the first year that we've gone through the summer. Diva's french curric just arrived today, and we're starting that tomorrow. Also, with having started SOTW about a month or so ago, we'll be continuing that through as well so we're able to do most if not all of the activities suggested.

 

I'm hoping to get to my favouritest homeschool store to exchange the math curric I already bought for next year (Horizons) to what we've decided to use instead (Saxon) soon, and if so, we'll be starting that during the summer too. :D

[Paula in PA]

This is our first official year of reporting, so I'm probably just going to put the attendance report I can print from HST+ into our portfolio and call it good. We'll have over 200 days total on it. I guess I'm not really concerned about them seeing that we had that many since I personally feel 180 is too few. :001_smile:

[SLH in ND]

Do you school more than 180 days? How do you have to report the number of days you've done school? Do you tell them 180 days and just keep going, or do you tell them the exact number of days you've done?

 

Our state requirement is 4 hours/day for 175 days. The 4 hour thing is more of a guideline, in our [area hs'ers] minds, as I don't know that it ever took that long to finish up daily work, in the early grades. We do not have to submit anything to the District with regards to attendance, but I choose to keep a record that shows the days the kids were 'in school.'

 

We get in way more than that since our school year runs July 1- June 30. Our "light schedule" is late-April through late-August and we put in 1/4 to a 1/2 day of school, 2-3 days a week.

 

To answer your last question: If I were asked or had to report to the School District the number of days I've done, I'd give them the actual number and let them know that our school year runs July-June.

 

Sheri :)

[Mrs Mungo]

We do more than 180 days but we don't have to report our attendance, hours or days to anyone.

[brehon]

Also, for those that school year round, do you tend to keep the same subjects in circulation year round? I only ask because I was thinking of keeping up with math this summer so we don't experience brain block in September, and have to spend months on review! :glare: So... is it better to keep all subjects in circulation or can one just keep on with math? :bigear:

 

 

The bolded is one of the reasons we school year round. So, we simply keep on going with our studies. If we didn't school year round I would probably set up a drill notebook with math and Latin declensions/conjugations and then have a required reading period (i.e. read silently for 20 minutes or whatever). This would be done every day.

 

So, to answer your question, yes, you could just do math review/drill without worrying about any of the other subjects.

[Closeacademy]

I school year round and for more than 180 days. We have to keep track of 180 days in my state but we are not required to ever show it to anyone. So in my files I have a piece of paper with the days of school for the year and it is more than 180.:001_smile:

[gandpsmommy]

This is the first year that we'll be going through the summer. We usually just do school from late August/early Sept. through late May/early June. Every year I have intended to keep up a few things (math fact practice, for example) just because I don't want dd to forget what she has learned over a long three month break. But this year, we have no choice. We started a new math program which required a transitions book, so we're not done with math for the year yet. And Latin has taken us longer than we had thought. So, we'll be doing math, Latin, and handwriting for dd, at least through the beginning of July, maybe longer. And ds will be doing math, handwriting, and phonics. I'd like to give them at least a month off, though, as I believe we all need a break.

 

As for reporting, I only feel it necessary to report the minimum required. If you are required to do 180 days, I wouldn't report anymore than 180 days. All they care about is knowing that you put in at least that many days.

[Marsha Lynn]

I report my 180 days and I do a limited schedule over the summer. Math review, writing and reading. We also do special activities over the summer. This summer we are going to build some boats - I hope. DS has a couple kits to build. We also tend to do more activities - Museums and stuff like that.

[sunflowerlady]

We don't have to keep attendance or a minimum number of days, so I don't count them at all. If I did have to file an attendance report, I would probably just mark off 180 days during the "traditional" school year.

 

As for our schedule, my plan is to switch things us as we go to keep it interesting. Right now, we are doing English From the Roots Up. When we get to about August, I will set that aside and do Simply Grammar and maybe Intermediate Language Lessons. I think since Simply Grammar is meant to be done once per week, it won't be overkill to add it in.

 

Also, right now dd is reading CLP Nature Reader 4 and doing oral and some written narration. When August gets here, we will set that aside and do Abeka science.

 

Also, we are not doing math right now because I have no curriculum.:001_huh:

We will start math again as soon as I get curriculum. We will probably use ACE paces.

 

We are also doing SOTW volume 1. We will continue with this all year and if we finish it early, I have volume 2 ready and waiting.

[Hen]

I stop reporting attendance once school 'ends', we are in a charter school.

 

I do keep going through summer, I lighten our schedule so as not to burn the kids out. This summer, I am planning on continuing with math for all 5 students, my oldest is plowing through a SL history core on her own-starting now till early fall, the 3 youngest will continue with SL language arts and all about spelling. My 2nd oldest will continue with Growing with grammar and Mosdos press literature program. They all have music lessons and practice still.

 

we will take some days off completely, and have some beach days.

[Ellie]

Rule of thumb: Only report what the law requires. The end. Because when hsers report more than what the law requires, it ALWAYS comes back to bite them, in ways no one even imagined.

 

For example, the law in California requires private schools to indicate when their students are absent, not when they are present, and there is no required number of days. Now, many umbrella-type schools in Calif will require the parents to use a daily calendar of some sort, and mark "P" for present, "A" for absent, field trips, holidays, everything, for 180 days. Many years ago a single mother was charged with allowing her dc to be truant. She had faithfully marked her attendance calendar as directed by her umbrella school administrator, which included marking "P" on *any* day they did Official School, even if that was a holiday or a weekend. So the District Attorney gave this woman grief because she had marked her children present on a legal holiday. [the audacity of it all--children learning on a legal holiday!!]

 

And then there's NC, which now expects hsers to volunteer to turn in test scores and provide directions to their homes and show up at meetings to have their teaching materials *and their dc* inspected, none of which is required by law, because so many people have been willing to do so.

 

The moral is: Only ever report what is required by the law. No exceptions.

 

So, if I lived in a state that required a minimum # of school days, that's all I'd report, regardless of how many days we might actually have done Official School.

[JudoMom]

Ds9 & ds8 will do 1 math lesson, 1 grammar lesson, 1 Building Thinking Skills page and 1 Latin lesson every day through the summer. Ds6 will do 1 math lesson, 1 grammar lesson, and 1 Building Thinking Skills page every day. Ds5 will do 1 math lesson, 1 Building Thinking Skills page and phonics daily.

 

They'll get approximately the last 2 weeks of July completely off, and then I think my in-laws are going to visit that first week of August. We might try to reintroduce the basics while they're here. Regardless we'll be going again at full throttle by the 2nd week of August.

 

We've got Science left over, so we might do that for fun over the summer.

[skaterbabs]

In VA we don't have to report # of days.

[Desert Rat]

In Nevada we don't have to report number of days but if we did I would probably report the minimum instead of confusing the situation.

We school for 42 weeks most years. This year will be 39. My kids get grumpy and out of sorts if we take long breaks so I just keep rolling!

[Mommy22alyns]

Rule of thumb: Only report what the law requires. The end. Because when hsers report more than what the law requires, it ALWAYS comes back to bite them, in ways no one even imagined.

 

For example, the law in California requires private schools to indicate when their students are absent, not when they are present, and there is no required number of days. Now, many umbrella-type schools in Calif will require the parents to use a daily calendar of some sort, and mark "P" for present, "A" for absent, field trips, holidays, everything, for 180 days. Many years ago a single mother was charged with allowing her dc to be truant. She had faithfully marked her attendance calendar as directed by her umbrella school administrator, which included marking "P" on *any* day they did Official School, even if that was a holiday or a weekend. So the District Attorney gave this woman grief because she had marked her children present on a legal holiday. [the audacity of it all--children learning on a legal holiday!!]

 

And then there's NC, which now expects hsers to volunteer to turn in test scores and provide directions to their homes and show up at meetings to have their teaching materials *and their dc* inspected, none of which is required by law, because so many people have been willing to do so.

 

The moral is: Only ever report what is required by the law. No exceptions.

 

So, if I lived in a state that required a minimum # of school days, that's all I'd report, regardless of how many days we might actually have done Official School.

 

 

 

*shudders* That's kind of what I was afraid of, some whacked-out crazy consequence for tormenting my child with more than 180 days of school. :glare: I think I'll just report the 180.

[rafiki]

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