Considering a year round schedule...what does that look like for those of you who do?

[cheryl h]

We are considering switching to a year round schedule instead of the traditional 9 months on, 3 off. What do your year round schedules look like and if you wouldn't mind sharing your reasons for using a year round schedule. I am considering it for these reasons now: prevent burnout with more frequent breaks, to be able to do certain lessons during a more appropriate time of year (i.e. insects and botany during later spring and summer rather than in fall when these things are winding down), also maybe eliminating the need for so much review every year, letting us accomplish more...any insights are greatly appreciated.

[TxMama]

I do a year round schedule for many of the reasons you mentioned.....prevent burnout, eliminates the need to relearn something after a long break, etc. My kids are happier when we stay in our routine and keeping the daily routine consistant really helps out with behavior.

 

My goal is to do 9 weeks of school each season. This gives us 4 weeks to flex every 13 weeks. We have very few preplanned breaks (Christmas week, family vacation, etc) so we have a lot of flexibity to take off when grandma decides to visit, the kids get sick, mama needs a break, etc.

[Cranberry]

I'm not sure I've made the decision to do year round school, but I have decided that there are some subjects that we will do through the summer more intensely so that we can go slower during the other months.

 

I plan to do plant studies starting in March and going through the summer, to coincide with our garden schedule. As well, we are doing SOTW, and sometimes we take more than a week to go through a chapter, because I plan to keep going through the summer, do some projects we don't get to and then just right away start with volume 2. That way we get some almost daily handwriting practice and literature as well.

 

I would love to hear others thoughts on this as my kids are still little, though. I'm wondering specifically what you mean by it preventing burn-out. I would think it would lead to it as you never get that long break, but maybe it's just me! :001_smile: I loved the summer last year to spend my time getting ready and planning and mentally preparing before having to DO. Just thinking out loud!

[NCJessieRN]

I've thought about schooling year round also so I'll be listening :bigear:

[Guest RecumbentHeart]

We're just starting out but year 'round schooling was my default choice because that's how I was schooled - (besides a bunch of public holidays here and there) term 1, 1 week off (over Easter), term 2, 2 weeks off, term 3, 2 weeks off, term 4, 6ish weeks off (over Christmas/Summer .. different hemisphere obviously). I still remember those 6 weeks being the longest 6 weeks of my life each year lol. I can't even fathom taking off twice as much.

 

In homeschooling I like the flexibility of going year round and being able to break as needed which fits our whole family better than the children having a whole 3 month break. That just doesn't make sense for us personally. I would share all yours and Wendy's reasons as well.

 

I can't share what our schedule looks like though because a) we just recently started and b) I haven't planned it :D

 

 

eta, a friend of ours does 4 weeks on, one off with several weeks off in the Summer and that works well for her family and her own personal responsibilities besides homeschooling.

Edited November 10, 2009 by RecumbentHeart

[Woodland_Mom]

:bigear:

I have my ears pressed hard against this thread, too! We did a fair amount of reading and math over the summer, but Latin was left to gather dust on a shelf. We had to do a considerable amount of Latin review to make up for what was lost.

[2_girls_mommy]

We basically have been doing a year round schedule although the kids don't know it:) Our neighborhood elem is a year round school, so the neighborhood kids are doing the same thing. They (us and the school) do get a slightly longer summer break than any other break during the year, but it still feels like summer to them, and we still do work, just less work.

 

Our schedule goes like this: We start the first Mon. in Aug. We do 4 day weeks (used to have a 5th free day for field trips, projects, or errands. Now we do co-op) We go until the last of May usually. We do not take any long breaks during the year. Maybe 2 days off in the fall for fall break, a few days off around Christmas. We also take off a day whenever we need to throughout the year for field trips, or whatever. We are able to finish our core subjects in the Aug. to May time period this way. The girls feel like they are on summer break like their neighborhood and church friends.

 

During their 8 wks summer, we change up the way we work. They each get a workbook from the store of their choosing (something like the complete 1st grade curric. or complete book of dinosaurs, or Disney princess math workbook, etc.) that they use a few days a week for "fun" during the summer. We keep up reading by joining every summer reading program we can at the libraries and bookstores. We do P.E. in the summer w/swim lessons, and this past summer we did one day of science and history a week too. This worked out well to help us finish SOTW w/out rushing. We finished it just a few weeks before the start of our new year.

 

I like doing school this way. My main reasons are to be able to finish our books. I want to complete a math course in one year, but it is hard to do when you are doing only 4 days a week, so a longer year is required. Plus long breaks just mean re learning. But I like having an official end and start of school (even if it is really just change in routine.) We all need a break and a change, and to my girls it has been important to "fit in" w/their P.S. friends by having grade levels, summer breaks, start dates, etc.

[Ellie]

We hsed year-round because life is year-round. :-)

 

Our "school year" began January 1 (well, actually, around the middle of January, depending on if we were tired of being on vacation, lol) and ended December 31. We took off a couple of weeks in the spring around Easter, a couple of weeks in late August/early September, and Thanksgiving through January 1ish. We also took off random mental health days, such as the middle of the week in March to go to Disneyland. :-)

 

Otherwise, we just kept working on stuff, and moved on to the next thing when we were finished or we were tired of it.

 

For the sake of Sunday school teachers and grandparents, we "promoted" in September; on paper, I kept my dc the grade levels they'd have been in if they'd been in school, but they did academically what they were capable of doing, regardless of "grade level."

[kmacnchs]

We do school everyday daddy is at work. Some weeks that is 6 days. Some weeks, that is 4 days. Right now, we are getting over a cold so we only have done school 2 days of the last 7.

 

I do year round for MANY reasons but two that come to mind first are 1. my kids need and desire structure (really, they ask to do school if we haven't done it for a couple of days) and 2. It helps me be more laid back. I am type A all the way and by schooling year round, I am able to know it will get done and it doesn't have to get done by a certain time.

 

Once testing starts (in 4 years), I will need to set a time to "start" so it will line up with testing but right now, I start school when my child knows their ABCs (caps, lowercase, and sounds) and #s to 20/30 and go on to the next grade when we have finished this grade's work...

[rafiki]

.

[silvermine]

We do year-round. That way when we need to, we can miss week or even a month without feeling guilty at all. Flu? No problem. Death in the family? Drop everything and go. New baby? Mom has morning sickness? No problem, we did a semester of math over the summer. :D

[chaik76]

We school year round. We take off as needed. The month of July this past summer was rather light (we did math, reading, and penmanship daily). DS attended art camp and nature camp. I counted that as school.

 

I just like the idea of being able to not feel rushed. I also like being able to take off as things come up or just because we feel like it. :001_smile:

This is what we do, too. This past year, June was our light month. We take days (or weeks) off when we feel the need, rather than scheduling times off.

[alpidarkomama]

We *love* learning year-round. I just take my annual goals, and divide them by 12 months. Then as we go, if we finish up 1/12 of our goals that month, then we can take a few days off! I adjust it as needed, and make sure that if we do get behind one month we catch up within that quarter. It works great, and it's a nice motivation to finish our work so we can get some extra playtime.

 

We also have a dual Jewish/secular curriculum (about 50/50 in terms of time) and if we were squishing it into 35 weeks, our daily schedule would just be way too long. We do full days Monday-Thursday, Friday mornings (Jewish studies) and Sunday mornings (secular studies). The Sunday morning assignments are pulled from what I have listed on our Monday-Thursday schedule, i.e. it's like doing the work ahead of time so we have time off mid-week.

 

This schedule works great for us! And we take time off as needed for Jewish holidays, summer vacations, and just because the weather is too nice.

[Medieval Mom]

We school for 40 weeks, with one week off per month. At Christmas/New Years, the weeks are back to back (last week in Dec., first week of Jan.). I must admit, however, that some months we school straight through ;) Even our weeks "off" are rather unschoolish, for we just can't help relating our subjects to everyday life;)

 

If we need to take a day off for medical appointments or travel, we can do so without ever getting "behind". My husband travels in his work; we often come along. Also, my in-laws are from Europe; when they come, they often stay for a fortnight. It's nice to be able to take off the time when they're here.

 

We're loving it!

:D

[bbsweetpea]

We do year round school. I am a manager of a twice year childrens consignment sale, so I need to do this. It requires that I take one week off prior to the sale, the week of the sale off and then the week after off to recover. So we do about 9 weeks a term. I take off 3 weeks in the fall, a week at Thanksgiving, 2 weeks around Christmas, 3 weeks in the Spring and about 4-6 weeks in the Summer.

 

Since my kids are so young this is our first full year of doing the schedule but so far it has worked. This summer we took off Mid June and Started up again the last week of July for the new year.

 

I try to not stress over our time off and if there is a death in the family (had 2 in the past 6 months) or if we are sick we just double up one week or make it up during a scheduled week off.

[MyLittleWonders]

We year round school for the same basic reasons you stated. And honestly, we do best with a consistent routine; sometimes 3-day weekends can be hard to recover from on Monday mornings. We take the last week of every other month (basically every even numbered month) off, as well as whatever holidays lay in between. We school 5 days a week.

 

In terms of not having any longer breaks, especially during the summer, we keep our summer days a bit more light than the regular school year days. We get through our core, but often history and science is more for fun (just read alouds for history and hands-on activities for science).

[cheryl h]

It is good to know that there are so many out there doing what I have been wanting to do with great success! It sounds like everyone has a schedule that works for them, no two are alike. That will be the tricky part for us, figuring out what will work for us. I do think that I will contact my sister-in- law in CA and see if she'll give me a sample of what my nephew does for a schedule in year round ps. I think I will need to start with a framework and tweak as need be from there. First to decide on a start/stop point. It sounds like some start traditionally in September, others start at the new calendar year in January. Would love to here pro's and con's of either? Thank you to everyone who has shared their experience!;)

[Dana]

Our school year goes from June - May. We aim for 16 days a month and then take most of May off. We often do 4 day weeks but sometimes we end up with half days and work 5 days with 2 of them half days.

[King Alfred Academy]

We school year round.

 

I *mainly* do it because if our days aren't structured, we ALL go crazy! (I do schedule in plenty of "free-time"!) But...there is also room for flexibility too.

 

Our summers tend to be lighter and all have looked different. I like to use that time to do unit studies on things of interest that don't really "fit" with the topics we are studying during the "school year" ie...we are doing Chemistry for science during this school year, but we'll probably do something on the Human Body or the Seashore during the summer months.

 

I don't really follow a "time on"/"time off" kind of schedule. If I feel we need a break, we'll take a break. If we need an impromptu trip to the beach, we'll go look for shells! If Dad has the day off and wants go hiking, we'll put on our boots and go! We even "school" on holidays if I feel like it...we're doing school tomorrow (Veteran's Day). We do usually take a month off in the summer though due to an extended visit with my family in IA. I am planning to take Thanksgiving and Black Friday off as well as a week around Christmas.

 

I like it because when life happens I don't feel like we are behind. We just pick right up where we left off! :001_smile:

[NancyNellen]

We follow a loose 6 weeks on/1 week off schedule year round. We do a 5 day week with Mondays being our "fun day." On Mondays we do recitations of memorized material, music and art appreciation, zoo trips, nature hikes, and keep an illustrated copybook of the Book of Proverbs. Tuesday through Friday we do all of our regular school work.

 

We chose year round schooling because we all seem to do better with structure. I also detest having to review so much. In the summer months, we tend to do 4 half days of school, always finishing by lunch time.

 

We just continue on with studies - the kids are always finishing things throughout the year. We just pick up with the next thing as needed.

 

I really like the flexibility to take off when we need to, when we have visitors, or when we just want to do something fun (such as go to Disneyland or the beach when everyone else is in school :-)

[JessMcG]

So far we're on track to finish core subjects by or before May.

 

We're going to do science (R.E.A.L. Life 1), Singapore's Challenging Word Problems, and CCC's Cycle 1 Bible memory work over the summer. That's what I've got so far... I wouldn't be surprised if I add more.

[Capt_Uhura]

For those that do Xweeks on 1 week off - do you find it's hard to get back into the groove? Or do you just hit the road running?

 

Capt_Uhura

[angela in ohio]

We school year-round, six days a week. I want dc to know that learing is a daily occupation.

 

We take off a few weeks in December, two weeks for Easter, and a few weeks in the summer for vacation (we have in-laws here.)

[nd293]

My main reason for switching to the year-round schedule was burnout. I found that after 4 weeks we were flagging in enthusiasm. Or, to be more accurate, I was. We tried 6 weeks on, 1 week off, then 5 weeks, and eventually settled (very happily) on 4 weeks on, 1 week off. That gives us 10 blocks, plus an extra 2 weeks to use as vacation time when we need / want it.

 

A friend also tried the 4 week schedule, and when it worked for her we decided to co-ordinate our schedules. This works really well, as we have someone to do fun stuff with in the break.

 

My only hesitation with this system would be if I had strong ties to schooled children. If that is the case, then there is pressure to socialise during the school holidays when you should really be schooling. This is easy to get around, of course, but it's just something to consider. My friend's children have many schooled friends, and they are very busy during the school holidays, which often puts pressure on homeschool-time.

[Amber in AUS]

We school year round too :) For the most part it provides a rhythm to our day which is very necessary for both my kids and myself. We all drive each other nuts when there is nothing constructive to take up our energy. I would rather school than deal with the super challenging behaviors of very bright kids ;)

 

We do 4 full days of school and for the 5th day (Friday) DS has Free School Friday which means he has nothing formal to do and DD has Fine Arts Friday where she does math plus art/craft, music appreciation etc. DS is welcome to join in but it is his free day.

 

We take breaks as and when required. 6 weeks ago we took a week off for an international holiday. We schooled solidly for the next 5 weeks and we have this week off to get everything ready for Christmas, all our gift shopping etc. We will then school solidly until DH goes on annual leave a few days before Christmas.

 

Basically we follow a similar line to other posters. If DH is at work we are at school. If DH is home then we are on break. We even followed this earlier in the year when DH was working 3 weeks on, 1 week off although we still did reading and math when he was home.

 

We also begin a new level when the child is ready and don't feel the need to stretch a curric until the end of the year. It is fun to begin new things all of the time. It keeps the energy levels of the kids up too.

[FO4UR]

I school 6 weeks on/1 week off year round. I do it for many of the same reasons already mentioned; mainly so we maintain a healthy structure to our days, reduce the amount of info forgotten over breaks, give me some leeway for normal life disruptions (like moving...) and so I can plan things during the ideal time of year.

 

We school M-F, but Fridays are light on academics and we take the afternoon for fun things with Daddy.

 

We just moved in Oct, and we took more than the regularly scheduled week off ...it was nice to console dh that ds6 schooled through the summer so he isn't "behind" at all.

[LisaKinVA]

We school year-round, 6 days a week. We take time off as needed (dh is off every other Friday, so we try to take a field trip or do more experiments, etc.)

 

It's just easier to stay on track if we don't go into a complete "vacation" status. We do not stop doing math (which saves having to review), we do not stop reading, Latin, and add health, and work on scouting badges.

 

School days for the younger two (1st & 2nd grades) is really done by lunch time. My oldest, when he's focused can finish by about 1-2pm. So there is plenty of time for play year round.

[MyLittleWonders]

For those that do Xweeks on 1 week off - do you find it's hard to get back into the groove? Or do you just hit the road running?

 

Capt_Uhura

It's hard for us to get back in the groove, and I always forget, so I try to hit the ground running, which tends to be met with a wee bit of resistance. ;) I think I need to write down somewhere to take the first day back a little lighter or something. Or, it might just be my kids (because heck, a weekend can be enough for them to make Mondays hard!).