Curious - When do you start your school year?

[chereb]

Well, since this is my first year homeschooling, I'm just wondering when everyone starts their year.

 

I know BJUOnline will be available July 31st, but I don't want to start until mid-late August or maybe even after Labor Day (since that's when we used to start as kids).

 

Do you follow the public school calendar as far as holidays? If not, then what do you use as a guide. Is it something you plan before you begin the school year and then adjust as needed?

 

What do you all think? Just curious.

 

Thanks!

[Paula in PA]

We started with a half schedule on Monday, then will start our full schedule next week. We do 7 weeks on / 1 week off, with 2 weeks over the winter holidays and 4-5 weeks in June/July.

[LoveBaby]

For record-keeping purposes our school year starts july 1st and runs through june 30th.

 

For real-life purposes we school most of the time and take breaks as needed. This year, I'm being a little more particular about scheduling our breaks to help keep us on track. We don't follow the typical holiday schedule, so I schedule our schooling around our Holy Days and Feasts. This year I want to schedule/plan for about 6 weeks on, 1 week off. I think it will keep things fresh for the kids and myself, but still keep us moving forward.

[MamaSheep]

I'm trying to decide. Up until this year I've been mostly following the public school schedule since I had one at home and one in ps, and the one at home accessed special ed services through the ps. This year, though, they'll both be home and we're telling the school thanks but no thanks on the special ed stuff--he's tested out of almost everything anyway, and for what's left it's too much of a disruption to our schedule. So now I'm trying to figure out what I want to do for a school calendar. I'll be following this thread with interest. :bigear:

[Janis in DE]

We will begin July 31 and be done early May. I find she is usually bored by August and antsy to be done by May. We take three weeks off over Christmas.

Janis in DE

[Beth in Central TX]

We start on July 27th--just over a week away!

[elegantlion]

We start August 10th and mostly follow the public school schedule.

[farmmom4him]

We typically do school year around. We break when we need it--new baby, illness, burn out, etc--that said though, this year we have been off since June 1. I have a 6 mo old who I am working on some therapy with to help her meet milestones that were not expected to be met until much later, but our early intervention specialist saw her entering a mega development stage, and so we took the cue to move hard and furious with her, and she is almost crawling. :party: She was not a preemie, but was born with neonatal pneumonia. At one point when she was 1.5 hrs old her O2 saturation dropped to 26%. There was suspected brain damage, (visual, and auditory processing), but we have worked hard to redevelop neurotransmitters, and there is hardly any evidence of brain damage as far as motor development and recent visual screenings.

 

Ok, so we took time off this summer to really focus my time on her. However, I am recording any learning opprtunity that we cross or do and started July 1 with what our state.;)

[hsmamainva]

Our new school year starts on Monday! :D

 

We like to take a few weeks off during the school year (vacations, holidays, etc.), so we start school early in order to have that flexibility, and wrap up the end of the year by mid-June with standardized testing (required for our state).

[Avila]

We always start the first week of August. We do take summer off, but we start our summer in May, because the weather is nicer than in August, IMO. I do try to start slow in August at first, and we often spend late afternoons at the YMCA pool or hanging out with friends.

 

I don't worry at all about the PS calendar. We don't take holidays off unless they are holy days for church or unless my husband has them off (since it is no fun to school when he is home!). We take time off at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, but how much time depends on how well we have been following our schedule. When we end depends on what we have going on during the year. I have the year scheduled out by week, and if all goes well, we can have May off. But inevitably, we have to take time off for illness and what-have-you, so we usually have to school for part of May.

 

I try to do a four day school week, but that is getting harder to do. This year, we are doing a co-op science class and homeschool PE one day a week, and normally we would take that off, but since my oldest is going into 5th grade, I don't know if that will work this year.

[mcconnellboys]

I will be starting August 17 this year. I do not take all the miscellaneous holidays throughout the year, nor snow days, etc. This just messes up the flow of the week. I do take off an entire week at Thanksgiving and 3 weeks at Christmas. This will allow me to finish up by May 21. If my son decides he wants to take off a week for spring break, then I may allow that, as well, and finish up May 28 next year.

[brehon]

We school year-round taking breaks when needed/wanted. We don't use the public school holiday schedule (except for the obvious Christmas and Easter holidays). If anything we use the Liturgical calender as a way to schedule breaks. This way we can take field trips whenever we want and not generally be inundated with the crowds.

 

The reality is that the kids' lessons are an integral part of our life and there simply isn't a defined starting and stopping point to our year. As programs are completed, new levels are started. Now I might try to time the beginning of, say, a new math level with when we begin after a break (if they happen to coincide); but, I don't stress that part.

 

I think you'll find your own rhythm to fit your family's unique needs and wants. :)

[KrissiK]

We're starting August 10 and will be doing a 6 or 7 weeks on, 1 week off schedule, with 2 weeks off at Christmas, and all the regular holidays - Thanksgiving, Presidents Day, etc.

[Bokons]

so we'll start school the day after Labour Day. Plus my oldest will be in school this year, so it makes sense for us to all start school at the same time.

[2_girls_mommy]

We are starting Aug. 3rd. I always start the first of Aug. It gives us a good month to get used to our new stuff before the business of all of our activities start back up in Sept. We "finished" the last day of May. That means we finished our core subjects and are taking a break from that. DDs are doing "fun" workbooks that they picked out at a bookstore whenever they want, and we are still doing a lesson of Science and a lesson of History each week over the summer. (just finished SOTW1 today:001_smile:) and they read for reading programs at the library and other places.

 

We are lucky that our neighborhood elem. school is a year round school, so they go back 1st of Aug. too, so dd's best friend goes back to her school the same time as us. We take less breaks than they do during the year though. They get several weeks off at Christmas and a couple off for fall and spring. We just keep on working, and take days of from curric when we have field trips and the like. I set goals for how many lessons of each subjects I want to accomplish each mo. as a guideline to keep us on track. This year due to their snow and ice days we finished 2 full weeks before dd's friend's school ended.

Edited July 16, 2009 by 2_girls_mommy

[Heather in OK]

It varies. This year our first day will be August 31.

 

We do not follow the public school schedule. We usually go from August to the end of June (our start and end dates just vary). And like the others have already said, we take breaks when needed. Our scheduled breaks are a week for Fall Break, a week for Thanksgiving, three weeks for Christmas, Spring Break, and a Mother's Day break (;)).

[AnneGabe]

I started in May this year and I think it was perfect. We live in Arizona where we get 110 degree temps during summer so we're stuck inside. Summer days are our busiest school days.

 

That said, we do school year round. I like to have an official start day because my kids like that, but we don't stop at any point.

[nukeswife]

We start on July 27th--just over a week away!

 

Us Too. This way we're usually done by early May before my oldest sons birthday.

[PeterPan]

I've always started our new year right after 4th of July. We try to wrap up our work by the beginning of May, do oddball stuff (I call it May Term) for a month, test/assessments for the state, and have the month of June off.

[Julieann]

We usually start in early August and go through mid to late June. I like to take a few weeks off in December as well as a couple weeks for spring break. When my kids were little I found it too hard to follow the PS calendar because it took my kids a while to get back in the groove.

[Brindee]

We used to start the beginning of August. When we moved to this neighborhood and the kids made lots of public school friends, we started school later (near the end of August), and took some of the main ps holidays off. If there was a snow day I let my kids go play with their friends---that's always fun, and I like seeing them out getting good exercise like that! But, we ran our schedule differently enough that certain days we had to ask the neighborhood kids not to come to our house until after a certain time, so that we could get our work done. They were good about it, but it was hard for my kids to concentrate when they knew their friends were out playing! :) This year will be different: ds15 is going to a Christian Boarding School because they have a great program and mission trips. He will leave in mid-August. Then our oldest, ds18, is heading off to college and doesn't go 'til mid-September. That leaves dd12 for my only one left to homeschool! (My how time has flown! I remember wondering how on earth I'd homeschool more than one. Now I'm wondering how I'll homeschool ONLY one! :lol: ) I'm not sure exactly when we'll start dd. DS18 has some Spanish studies he needs to do to CLEP the College Spanish, so I'm thinking we'll start dd after ds15 heads off to school. That way ds18 can help her with her math and things like that, study his Spanish, and get ready for college, and she can get going with her school year.

 

I have a couple little things I'd like ds15 to do though, so I MAY start dd lightly at first--with, say, math and English/Grammar, then just keep building up from there as the boys head off to school.

 

It's definitely more disruptive having two of them packing and leaving, so this will be interesting!

[kewb]

We follow the public school for our start date. If I tried to start school while all their friends were off in the summer I believe it would be a full fledged mutiny.

[jjcmehl]

We will be starting Sept. 14....I want the children to enjoy the nice weather as much as possible, before the cold arrives here (North Dakota).

 

Christine

respectful wife to DH

mom to 4 AP kids

[NavyWifeandMommy]

we have unoffically started. I was going to summit to the state that we start the first week of august but I haven't gotten my test scores back. Once I get that I will add our offical start date. I am glad that I have until Sept. to send in my notice.

[Melinda]

Here is what we are planning to do this school year:

 

Start: August 24

Session 1: 8/24-11/25 (65 days, after subtracting days off)

Winter Vacation: 11/26-1/3/10

Session 2: 1/4/10-3/26 (58 days, after subtracting days off)

Spring Break: 3/27-4/11

Session 3: 4/12-7/2 (59 days, after subtracting days off)

Total: 182 planned days

[anissa]

We follow the ps schedule. My husband teaches at a University and my oldest son will start ps this year. That leaves me with 3 at home. I need a summer break as much as the kids do!

[cslbda]

We start our regular school year the 1st week of September. We normally do about 40 weeks of school broken up by holidays and then do a very light schedule during the summer.

[prairiegirl]

We school year round but summer is more like 'school lite.' We usually vamp up to our regular schedule either the last week of Aug. or the first week of Sept. I don't know what we are going to do this year, though, as we are planning a road trip (just the kids and I) for the month of Sept. I am hoping to get some schooling done during the trip but we won't get back to our regular schedule until sometime in October.

[SquirrellyMama]

We do some things in the summer like math and science but our new school year will start on Aug. 24th. I want to now but my dh says school shouldn't start until after the State Fair. He'd like it if I started in September but I can't wait that long!

[Jolash]

We're kicking off grade four on the third... of August! We've been doing school "lite" for the last two weeks because he's just getting bored now. PS/and the academies start 8/10. We'll take a week off for vacation, a week for fall break, a week at Thanksgiving, and 3 weeks at Christmas/New Year and still be finished by the first week of May.

[mycalling]

We start next Monday. We were going to start this Monday but RR has something in my order on back order so some of their books haven't arrived. The kids sure didn't complain.

[chereb]

Wow! This is so interesting. I am enjoying reading the various schedules you all have. It's helping me understand how to better plan my year! Keep em' coming!

[Manamana]

We follow the public school schedule for the most part. This year we will start Aug. 31 and should finish up the first week of June with a week off at Thanksgiving, two weeks at Christmas/New Years and a spring break.

 

I like the summer break and getting to be a mom for several weeks (in contrast to the "teachermom" hybrid person I am during the school year). Last year DD was excited to start school after the summer break. Our RR order arrived the other day and she was excited to look at the new books. We'll all be ready to start school after we return from vacation in August.

[Narrow Gate Academy]

We start in August as well. I'm aiming for the first week of August this year if I can get everything pulled together. This let's us take time off for vacation and holidays while still finishing by early to mid May when it's usually so nice outside the kids can't focus on schoolwork anyway.

[Kristiana]

If I post a date, I'm committed to it, right? :D

 

My original plan was to start July 20th because we like to take time off for Thanksgiving, Christmas/New Year's, and usually 2 or 3 weeks in the spring some time. But there is no way I'll be ready to start next Monday! We were also supposed to move to a new house this summer and then start in our new space with everything set up and perfectly organized. At this point, I don't even know if we'll move until September or later so we'll need some time off to accomplish that. I'm also expecting a baby at New Year's so that will require time off which all leads me to think I need to start going again as soon as possible!

 

So probably Aug. 3 will be the official start date for this year. We'll also be travelling Aug. 24-28 so I'd like to get at least 3 weeks in before we take a week off...but I still have so much to do to get ready! The last two months have consisted of the worst morning sickness I've ever had and then the 8yo got swine flu and ended up in the hospital with pneumonia last week so I have a lot of work to catch up in order to be ready for August. Wish me luck!

Edited July 17, 2009 by Kristiana

[KnightMaiden]

you will get as many answers as there are people to answer. I would say to you do what feels right. We have home schooled for 8 years and we've NEVER done it the same way. We have followed the local public school schedule, we have taken every Friday off, we have taken LONG breaks and schooled all through the year...we just do what best suits our situation. That's the beauty of home school!:001_smile:

[JudoMom]

Our school year runs from July 1-June 30.

 

Our first day back was yesterday.

[TMarie]

We start the first Monday after July 4th and finish by the end of May.

 

We started this back in the states when it was too hot to be outside in July & August anyway.

I continue because it gives us plenty of time off during the year, yet the kids get a real summer break, the whole month of June.

[Moni]

We don't do school years, we do school decade I suppose.

 

I start when the kids turn 4, and my youngest here is 14, so I suppose we have had School Decade. :lol:

[Aurelia]

We do year-round with 4-day school weeks. We also reduce our load in summer to just the basics ~ 3 times a week and whatever we haven't finished yet, and take off the week of Thanksgiving and 2 weeks at Christmas.

[Ali in OR]

We start subjects over a 2 month period starting this year July 13. We started history last week because it's our favorite and because there is so much reading in Biblioplan that it takes us a lot more than 36 weeks to do it all. We want to start math and Latin fairly early too so that we will be done in May next year (and we want to take off between Thanksgiving and Christmas if possible). We cannot really have a full schedule until my disabled dd is back in school and riding the bus which won't be until Sept. 14. We'll probably try to have most subjects going after our August vacation, so maybe the week of August 17th. So we don't really have one particular day that marks the first day of school. I don't think you could count last Monday since we're just doing history (and doing only history is just fun--doesn't feel like school!).

[Moni]

We are already in our new year, or still finishing up last year., depending on how you want to view it.

I mentioned in another post we don't do school "years" but rather are completing a school-decade ;):seeya:

[momof8]

We have followed the public school schedule for the most part to make it easier to keep track of records. Although, I am kind of interested in the few weeks on, one week off type of schedule. I am not sure if that would work for our family though because in the summer we do what I call "summer learning"...VBS, Swimming lessons, dance camp, library reading club, etc. I guess every family does what works for them.

[3byzaz]

We are starting Aug. 3rd. I always start the first of Aug. It gives us a good month to get used to our new stuff before the business of all of our activities start back up in Sept. We "finished" the last day of May.

 

Same here! I was planning on starting the 3rd, but that's my b-day, so...not so sure I will after all. We love the summer and no one is ever ready to get back to 'work'!! My boys think that school is a total interruption for whatever project or free, fun stuff they want to do! No matter how enjoyable I try to make school, it's just not what they want to do!! :>)

[Tutor]

Today!

 

For record-keeping purposes, our school year runs July-June. We take two big breaks a year: Mid-May through Mid-July and Thanksgiving through New Years.

Edited July 20, 2009 by Tutor

[elfgivas]

we live in the high desert of SoCal. its been 104 F here the past few days. so we start our school year June 1st, when it starts to really get warm, and then do school through until the Fall, take a 2-4 week break, work until Thanksgiving, take a break, restart the first week of January, and work until we're done. we often take a break in march/april when the weather is beautiful, too. i like the feeling of being "ahead of the game" right from the start.

 

hth,

ann

[TC5]

We started homeschooling July 1, 2008. Before that, my oldest was in a year-round public school with three months on one off. We liked that, so we're going year-round still. But our longest break has been two weeks (at Christmas). Usually, we just take off a day here and there or a week when we want it.

 

We finished most of "last-year's" work almost two months ago, but we've kept up a light schedule with just a few subjects about three times each week. Two weeks ago, we started a new subject, then last week another. We're going 5 days each week now but allow more interruptions. My goal is to start our full schedule again Aug. 3.

 

I like this schedule a lot, but it does mean I don't have as much of a break as the children do. I said my *goal* is to start the new year Aug. 3 because I'm not quite finished with the planning. :tongue_smilie:

 

In a nutshell, we decided to celebrate around July 1 every year that we have completed another year of homeschooling, no matter where we are in our studies. Next year, I hope to be ready to start new materials July 1 again.

[mama2cntrykids]

We will be starting the first Mon. of August. School here for PS doesn't start until Sept. 8th. We'll take one day for Thanksgiving, a week for Christmas and a few days here and there otherwise.

[rainforest mama]

We school year round, and start our new year after Labor Day. We take off all the regular Canadian holidays, plus anytime DH is on vacation. We also take mental health breaks whenever the sun shines (we live in the rainiest city in Canada, so that's not very often) to spend the day outside. We also take a week off whenever we feel we really need it.

 

I try to get in 12 weeks of school before Christmas break. We school 36 - 38 weeks a year. Right now we're just finishing up this year's work and DD10 is mainly just working on Math and Latin and reading a bit of History. Plus, DD10 is an avid reader, so she's just diving into the books.

 

I have no idea what the regular school schedule is here, so I obviously don't follow that! I don't believe in taking too long a break either because otherwise we just forget everything we learned.

[mom4him]

Well, we live in the town that has the worlds biggest motor cycle rally every years so from the last week in July through the first full week in Aug. live is lived with hundreds of thousands of extra people in town and noise 24/7.

We start our school year officially the Monday after this rally is finished and go till around the first to the middle of July, depending on how much we have taken off during the year. We are doing a 5 day week and taking off 1 wk every 5-6 weeks. We take the week of Thanks giving off, 2-3 weeks at Christmas and 2 wks at Easter. I have it honed in this year to where we won't be taking very many other days off except for possible illness and the like. I am determined that we are going to be a bit more disciplined this year.

I don't follow the ps days off at all.