School Times?

[IATeachingMom]

When does everyone do school and what type of schedule. I'm am confident that this has been discussed many many times and probably beaten to death...so if anyone has a link to a thread that would be great too. I tried to search some things and nothing good came up. Help?! Specifically, I'm looking for for insight on those that school all year, or school 4 months on-1 month off. Or school through the summer and have a November, December and January off....any "out of the norm" type schedule. TIA

[myfunnybunch]

We follow the public school schedule because we have two children in public school. However, we school M-Th and take Fridays for nature outings and field trips.

 

We also do light schoolwork (math, reading, language arts) a few mornings a week in the summer.

 

Cat

[Chris in VA]

We are going to a 4 day regular schedule, with the 5th day very light so dd can go to my babysitting job with me for part of the day.

 

But we will still do about 32 weeks a year, give or take.

 

I should add that we do lots of learning at other times that some would consider school.

Edited June 15, 2009 by Chris in VA
added more info

[Ohio12]

I only have one year under my belt, and I only have two little ones. But we school 5 days a week, year round, taking days off when we want to for play dates, museum trips, company and illness.

 

After breakfast we do an hour or two and after lunch another hour (mostly reading). I only have K and preschoolers though.

 

I like the idea that any day we are home (except Saturday when DH is home), we do this school schedule. Then we don't ever have to start up and stop or have issues with whether this is a school day or not. They expect it, and it keeps me from getting lazy.

[Cheryl in NM]

This year we are trying something new. I only have the one so it might not work for those with more chitlins.

 

We schooled 2 week of August, then 2 weeks off for hunting. 2 weeks in September, then 2 weeks off in October for family reuinion, then a month off for a death in the family. 3 weeks in November, 1 week at Thanksgiving. 2 weeks in December, then 2 weeks off. All of January and February, 1 week sanity break in March, 2 weeks on in April, 2 weeks off in April. 3 weeks of May, 1 week in remembrance of dss, June will be 3 weeks. Okay, those are the days. As far as times, usually ds starts on his own by 10 am. He's allowed to check his email and watch 1/2 hour of TV. Then it's chores and schoolwork until done with ocassional breaks as he needs them. We've done school this way for 3 years and it's worked pretty well.

 

This year I am added summer work. He has a list of things that need to be complete weekly. They are: 5 chapters of SOTW 4, 2 math worksheets or 1 worksheet and 1 game, 1 non-fiction writing assignment.

 

This summer work is to be completed every week during his summer "break". Then we'll start formal lessons Aug. 10. We are required 180 days of instruction per year so I make sure I hit that, but I count life skills day also.

 

We take breaks when we need them and change curriculum when we need to. Ds continues through sickness with some amount of schoolwork unless he's in bed knocked out or running to the bathroom every hour. I figure it's good work ethic for when he has a job.

[mom4him]

When does everyone do school and what type of schedule. I'm am confident that this has been discussed many many times and probably beaten to death...so if anyone has a link to a thread that would be great too. I tried to search some things and nothing good came up. Help?! Specifically, I'm looking for for insight on those that school all year, or school 4 months on-1 month off. Or school through the summer and have a November, December and January off....any "out of the norm" type schedule. TIA

We will be finishing this year on July 10th. We will start up again on Aug. 10th(provided I have it all together by then). We will take the first full week off in Sept, the second full week off in October, Thanks Giving week off in November, 21st through the 2nd off in Dec/Jan, first week off in February, 2nd week in March, 28th of March through 9th of April for Easter, Last week of May, and finish up on the 9th of July.

Basically I try to do 5 wks on 1 wk off with longer vacation during Christmas and Easter. With this schedule I will have 38 wks of school scheduled. I will be taking a couple of days here and there this fall for canning and can use up those extra days pretty easy.

I don't like taking more than 4 wks in the summer at one time as it seems like the dc struggle to get back into the routine. I do need that block of time to get everything in order for the up coming year though.

This is the first year I have tried this. In the past I have done a 4 day week with the 5th day to do catchup around the house. I started it in April and so far it has been working.

I like year around schooling but there aren't very many in our area that do it. Most get to the summer and it seems like they spiral out.

Oh, I do take a day here and there for sanity reasons during the year also. There are just times when I can't stand the house, laundry, need for baking etc and I take a day and catch up on the catch up.

[lisasaysto]

This is our first summer that we will not take a long break, so it's pretty much the start of our schooling year-round.

 

I work nights, so we don't get up until about 10:30 a.m. We have a good breakfast and I give the kids time to wake up. We do school work on M-W-F from about noon to 4 p.m. My kids take art lessons outside the home on Thursday afternoons. We sometimes do activities with our homeschool group that I count as a school day, but it's not every week. We try to read a little bit every day.

 

ETA: We don't have to report how many days we school in Mississippi, so we just take breaks for vacations or other projects as needed. For example, my son was in bike camp last week, so no school work done.

Edited June 15, 2009 by lisasaysto

[Loupelou]

During the regular school year we have 4 days on and the 5th as a field trip, light work day. In the summer we do what we want in the morning- garden, park, read, etc. It gets really hot here so we have school in the afternoon.

[TravelingChris]

We don't have a schedule. We do schoolwork most days although tomorrow, for example, my youngest has to go to another city for a lengthy doctor's appointment and so she will not do much work that day. We also take vacations when we can. Neither girl is finished with her work but we hope to be done by our mid August vacation.

[Dirtroad]

Labor Day to Memorial Day... normally. I really like my summers & feel kids need a break to get dirty and just be kids. I need a break to plan for next year, sleep (haha), and sit on my front porch to read (ahhh). I loved summer break as a kid & think the brain needs downtime.

 

Many of our PS use year round or 10 month years.... I can't trust their example.:rant:

 

However, we have a baby coming in October. I am starting back to school in Mid July this year... .taking October off (maybe a bit more) and resuming in November (worse case, after Christmas). As long as I have 90 days under our belt by Christmas... that is my goal. (1/2 way mark). We just have to do what we can - she is suprise and not best time of year to bring in a new baby.

 

We tend to start around 9/9:30 am and work until lunch... take a break for about 1 hour... and resume if needed. WE work our lessons & sports into the afternoon & try to get several on one day. The less outings, the less time in the van... the smoother our school work can go!

 

After the baby is toddling everywhere.... I may move to a bit longer year but with only 4 days per week. I have to cross that bridge when I get there.

 

Hope something was useful.

[DawnM]

We school year round.

 

I was a ps teacher and counselor in year round schools most of my career and I can't imagine sticking to the ps traditional calendar. We have too much fun when the kids around her go back to school!

 

In fact, we do things a bit heavier over the summer just so we can play in the fall.

 

We are NOT rigid about certain numbers of weeks on and certain off. We school most of the year and then take off when DH can. If my husband is home, we don't school! They seem to get so little time with him anyway.

 

Now, my schedule when I worked was 4 months on, 2 months off. We had only 163 school days a year because the schools were over-crowded and we could only have 2/3 of the student body there at a time, so we schooled 2/3 of the year. I was typically on the track that was off Sept/Oct and then again March/April.

 

Dawn

[mazakaal]

I like the British school schedule, but we alter it to suit our needs. Their schedule is 6-7 weeks of school, one week off in October, 6-7 weeks of school, two weeks off at Christmas, 6-7 weeks of school, one week off in February, 6-7 weeks of school, two weeks off at Easter, 6-7 weeks of school, one week off in May, 6-7 weeks of school, then a summer break of 6-7 weeks. It totals 38-39 weeks of lessons. I work our breaks around when we have trips and often take a month at Christmas instead of two weeks. But, generally, I think the British school schedule is pretty good.

[Quiver0f10]

With having older kids in college we now follow the college/public school schedule. Before we used to go the day after Labor Day until the end of May.

[lionfamily1999]

Officially, we follow the local ps routine, because we are required to by law.

 

We have decided to add in additional classes throughout the year to supplement and use various weeks during the school year for outside learning. (See also, we decided to take off one week a month, lol).

 

I don't have a hard and fast schedule, I tried to do that, and then had things pop up. Now, I just pick a random week a month, when we have nothing else, or something big, going on and we take it off, er um uh, use it for outside learning (I guess I could say cleaning and enrichment).