Do you take summers off?

[Sasha]

Do you take summers off from homeschooling? Do you do a lighter schedule? If so, what subjects do you continue?

[praisefor3]

This summer I plan to do music, art, science, Bible and history because those are subjects we didn't do enough of this year but are still fun for ds10. We will do them more relaxed and more like activity than "school." I will also continue to throw in math review as he forgets a lot if he does no math over the summer and then we start the next year with him feeling very frustrated and overwhelmed as he doesn't really like math anyway. For my dd16 she will only do what she hasn't finished for 11th grade which will hopefully be nothing but we'll see!

[Sweetpeach]

Yes -- the whole summer! We beach, picnic, play, vacation, read, bake and hang-out. I can't wait. Three more months.

 

Granted, lots of learning takes place over the summer months -- but we won't look at our formal curr. until September.

 

I have littles, remember . . . early elementary kids. I can absolutely see why some families, especially with older children, need to press into the summer months as they prepare for higher education. I revel in the freedom to be relaxed, and I enjoy it immensely because I know it won't always be this way.

 

Have a great Friday,

Tricia

[hana]

Not here.

 

We both teach university through the year, so the summer gives us some of our best learning time. That's not to say we don't also vacation, but the two are often combined. :)

[HollyDay]

We do much more fun stuff and I cant wait! We do reading everyday and some math drills during the week. But other than that, we do art and home-ec (mainly cooking and sewing). We spend a lot of time swimming and playing.

[momofkhm]

The summer gives me and the kids a break. I try to use the time to re-establish routines like sweeping the floors and wiping down bathrooms daily. We'll get 2 1/2 months off but that will start mid-April. We'll start back in early July. (No one wants to go outside anyway so why not have school?)

[Jennefer@SSA]

I have to have a month to decompress, relax and plan or just lay around. I don't allow myself that luxury during the year. This summer we will take mid-June to mid July to go to the beach weekly, the pool daily, play play-dough, paint...all the things that don't happen in the school year. We will continue to read daily but that will be it for one month. Then we will phase back into second grade adding math and spelling for 2 weeks then back in the full swing by early August.

[Chez J]

Our summers are so wonderful. We moved here last year and schooled in the summer because that's what we did in Texas. I regretted that all summer. We wanted to be going to the beach all day or hanging out at the big festivals. So, this year I planned for summer break.

 

We will do art and any random science experiments/nature stuff my dd wants to do. But, that's really it.

 

Lesley

[Sasha]

Now that I've asked this question we're getting a lot of snowfall, ironically enough. Will it ever be warm?

 

There are subjects that I'd like to continue doing--history, for example, with my daughter. She's on SOTW 2 and I'd like to get her moving through SOTW 3 over the summer. We expiremented with a few grammar programs before settling into FLL 3rd level so I'd like to finish it. We did the same with Math and I'd like to have her through Saxon 3 before fall (this shouldn't be hard as I think a lot of it will be review for her).

 

I have to find a balance, as nobody wants to do a lot of academic work when the weather is gorgeous. Still, if it's too hot and humid to play outside between 3-5 during the day why not do some learning? Also I have a baby due in mid-August and part of me is worried that we'll take the summer off and then, when it's time to get back into the swing of things, I'll be tied up in new baby things until October or so.

[HootyTooty]

We keep it very light during summer time. Reading is an everyday thing here and we do the review book to our math program 2x a week. We spend most of our time at the pool, museums, and doing day camps.

[Elisabeth in IL]

We work whenever dad works so we do school during the summer. Although during the summer, we do take a lot of field trips and cut it down to the basics.

[mcconnellboys]

We do take summers off, but those few weeks are filled with horseback riding, summer swim teams, library and other reading contests, and theatre camps..... So by the time I turn around, summer's over and I've got to get back to work again, LOL......

 

Regena

[mrscopterdoc]

Usually dd has training for TKD Jr Olympics in June, then the big tournaments in July so we tend to take those 2 months off for sure. Plus we came into homeschooling 'late' and it's hard to shake that public school mold of having summers off. Now this summer we are moving so I will take June and July off still, and start back up again in August.

[ThelmaLou]

Math is year round. English, vocab, spelling, writing, geography, etc... are only September through May. I do have them read during the summer, and we sometimes add in history, typing, logic, special projects, etc...

[Closeacademy]

No, there are a few weeks in the summer that we do take off. We take off 2 weeks in May and another 1 to 2 around the 4th but otherwise it is homeschool as usual for us.

 

I do have fun units planned for this summer though. We are doing a unit on time that includes math and history and another unit on money that includes math, history, art and science.

[Beth in Central TX]

We take 5 weeks off in July this year. I usually have some structured time on our break. The boys read about 1/2 hour each day, and they'll probably work on typing and Editor-in-Chief software. Computer work is not considered school work in their world.

[K&Rs Mom]

No, but mine are small enough that school only takes about an hour a day, so there's lots of time left for outside. We also try to work 4 days a week all year, though lately it's been closer to 3 days a week. It took a while for me to get my head out of the "standard" academic year (Sept-May) but I convinced myself there's no reason for us to be on an agricultural calendar. Since my kids have never been outschooled, they don't miss that break, and we take enough time off all year that we can't afford 3 months off at once. This past Christmas, I wanted to wait another week but K was asking to start again after 2 weeks off. :rolleyes:

[Lisawa]

We have schooled year round and taken summers off.... This year we will take all of July off for sure. We have our exchange student from last year coming back to stay for the month...*Ü*

 

My new plan for the upcoming year will be 6 weeks on 1 week off.... or maybe a few more weeks on and keep 1 week off. Im not sure how it will all work out and or schedule yet.... but this is my new idea after a long conversation yesterday.

 

This will be changing at Koinonia Academy...... I need to re find my groove... I lost it back in November:).... got it back in Jan and then lost it in Feb....

 

 

Originally Posted by Sasha

Do you take summers off from homeschooling? Do you do a lighter schedule? If so, what subjects do you continue?

[MomofSeven]

summer in PA is way too short not to take a break and enjoy the all-too-short season. But we do lots of "school" stuff, so the learning never stops.

[Storm Bay]

We do "school light" in the summer. This started because one of mine needed the structure, and continued because my younger two tend to forget certain basics if they take that long off and I'm not keen on spending a great deal of time in review each fall. Also, this means we're free to be more flexible during the year if family comes (they all live far away) and when other activities take a great deal of time (such as dance recital season, although that looks better this year as none of our Saturdays have any rehearsals) or if a good art workshop or something comes up in our local group.

 

We are pretty much vs here at our house, with the exception of my dh, so our daily schedule is looser than many. My girls get a list they have to accomplish by a certain time if they wish to go to their activities, etc.. that includes academics and chores, and we discuss after they've read unless there's a new concept I need to teach my 9 yo. They have to get that work done each day whether they're done in time to go or not. Ds and I work together for more things because he's 7 and needs a lot more auditory processing even though he's a visual thinker.

[nutmeg]

No summer school here, but plenty of reading, exploring, camping, 'socialization', etc.

[Wendy in ME]

We will take 2 months basically off but will continue with math and reviewing Latin chants and vocabulary.

[Jenny in Atl]

We do school during the summer but with lots of time off and only the core subjects of reading, writing, languages (Latin & Spanish), and math. We take time off from science (still do nature study but in a very relaxed way), history, logic, and extras. The girls also usually have at least one week of camp (art/drama) and a couple small family visits in the Mts. Our summers are pretty full.

[Kelli in TN]

We work whenever dad works so we do school during the summer. .

 

I like that. If Dad works we will too. Neat way to look at it.

 

However, we do take a long Christmas break, from the Monday of Thanksgiving week until the first Monday after New Year's Day. Other than little breaks here and there, we soldier on.

[...................]

yes, this will be our first official summer but we are taking off.

 

My son will do flashcards for math, handwriting (letters, numbers, and greek letters once a day every day), Summer Bridge activities, and read from McGuffey's Primer. All in all about 30 mins of school per day.

 

I guess that doesn't sound like we're taking off now that I write it all down, LOL! But I won't do it every day. It'll probably end up being three times per week or less, depending on how much fun we're having at the pool!

[Michelle T]

bt

[KIN]

Yes, we take the summer off. I wouldn't be able to keep going year round. My kids don't seem to loose anything over the summer and I come back refreshed and ready to "hit it" again!

[Osaubi]

I tried taking time off last year, and it doesn't work for our family. We school 4 days a week and we take a week off here and there when we need a break. I have a lighter school planned with lots of outdoor activities. I look forward to "summer" school b/c it is just the basics no frills with lots of outdoor time.

[Karen in CO]

We do math and reading everyday. In the summer, it is the only official schooling we will do. We won't do any of it when dd is in summer zoo camp or when we go off for vacation. It took us a long time to get into the habit of daily math that I don't want to have that habit slip. Reading everyday is easy and not even considered work.

[nmoira]

We school year round, but skip camp weeks and family vacations. We pretty liberal about taking days off here and there though.

[AngieW in Texas]

We keep working through the summer, but on a much lighter schedule.

 

Once we finish our science and history for the year, those things are dropped from the schedule until the fall.

 

Everything else is scheduled for either M/W/F or Tu/Th, except for reading which remains daily.

 

We take off the first week that ps is out and the last week that ps is out. We also take off one week for summer camp.

[cin]

We do reading and math daily, and I think this summer we will zoom through a heath book, and we will do some drawing/art stuff. My girls both have summer birthdays so we do have some time off to set up for parties :D.

[WTMindy]

this includes math and spanish for sure. Usually we end up doing 3-4 days a week in the mornings and are done early enough to have fun. I find my kids actually do better with some stucture in their day (and so do I!) But, we also spend a TON of time hanging out at my parents' house at the pool.

 

I also try to pick a focus to spend a little extra time on. Last summer we did a pretty history intensive summer which included a TON of me reading out loud to them, which they love. This summer I think we are going to do a crash course on the human body and maybe plants as well. I'm still toying with ideas on this.

 

We do take a week off to go to Cannon Beach (can't wait, Patty!) and I usually take a week off to deep clean the whole house before we start up the official fall schedule!

[jail warden]

I tend to do a little something in the morn for structure, but I have a big garden and large yard so it takes tons of time. I am intrigued by it, but not enough to actually do it!:p Also, whenever we take breaks, when we come back my son, has just taken leaps and bounds with his learning. So it makes me also not want to take that away.

[Chris in CA]

Absolutely, we are in California and spend the days at the beach. I love summer, we take off from July 1st till Sept. 1st. My girls are always reading, and sometimes I'll require one math lesson per week to stay fresh, but other than that we're free :)

[elegantlion]

My son had horrible retention between 2nd and 3rd grade, I vowed that would not happen again. Between 3rd and 4th we did a lighter schedule, but with great flexibility.

 

He informed me this week, he wants to do only 3 subjects over the summer. We'll see what happens there.

[Mom2boys]

We also do "school lite" over the summer. My kids lose too much ground in math and phonics (ds6) if we drop those subjects for three months.

 

This school year was so full, that I am considering also doing science this summer to free up our schedule next fall.

 

Beyond that, we are so busy with sports, swim lessons, and 4-H that I don't think we could cover any more subjects and still have downtime.

[my2kidsmom]

We take days off here and there. We take a couple of weeks for Christmas. This summer, we'll take a couple of weeks off, probably the middle of May and again early June. We'll have class until we finish science and history books, which should be mid to late July. If we finish those books before then, we'll keep doing our other subjects. Also, during the summer, we'll focus more on art, music, and other topics of interest. At the end of July, we'll take several weeks off before starting up on our "new" school year.

 

We really like having school y ear round so we can take more frequent breaks. However, this will be the first summer in our new location and our children have friends in the neighborhood that go to PS. We'll have to see how that goes.