How does everyone schedule their yearly time off?

[cakemom]

We have tried so many different ways of taking time off; following the regular school calendar, taking a week off each month, taking every Friday off during the year as well as a couple of other weeks as well. I just wondered how others scheduled their off time or vacation time throughout the year? :)

[MamaT]

I usually schedule around 1 week for Thanksgiving, 3 weeks for C-mas (we have to visit family for a week), 1 week for spring break, and 1 week for a family vacation (usually in the fall). We start school the first week in August and usually end the end of May, making sure we get 36 weeks. If something unforeseen happens that we have to take more time, we just end our school year later than planned. This year I am having to start later because one son is coming home from Japan around the first of August and my oldest is getting married in August, so we'll probably go into June.

Edited June 9, 2010 by MamaT
typo

[Parrothead]

We have 1/4 days on Fridays, take off the traditional holidays (a week at Thanksgiving, 2 at Christmas and Holy Week), and are off for the summer.

[babysparkler]

We basically schedule a fall break & spring break when grandparents can visit, and take time off at Thanksgiving,Christmas, and Easter. The three weeks between those holidays we are trying something new and will be doing our annual ITBS testing in early December. The kids LOVE testing, so this will give us a creative way to use the time never seems to be productive (with all of the holiday festivities around it). We do Friday co-ops, so we have a 4-day schedule. The kids like to start in August and we end the first week of May so that we can enjoy the nice weather before the summer HOT starts. We do lots of activities throughout the summer months, but we try to continue light schooling.

Edited June 9, 2010 by babysparkler

[patchfire]

I look first at when the schools around us are starting. Not because we have to follow their schedule, but summer camps will end then, the pools will close except for weekends, et cetera. I also plan out any trips and vacations before I do any further scheduling. Once I have that rough idea, I do look at when outside activities might be busiest or not meeting at all. I don't like to take a full week at Thanksgiving but we do like to take a mini-break or a vacation in February plus spring break according to the schedule of outside activities. Once I've considered all of that, it usually works out so that we start the end of July or beginning of August, can take time in September for the beach, can work a little less some days to enjoy the nice fall weather, take our trips, take time around Christmas, and still finish up by early or mid-May. :)

[mereminerals]

My oldest is in PS, so we tend to follow the school calendar here. It is much easier for my other two to concentrate if we school while big brother is at school. He tends to be a distraction for them when he is home.

[Dayle in Guatemala]

I like the flexibility of being able to work with teams that come down when we want to, so we school year round. Here's our basic schedule:

 

If the kids get all their assigned work done during the week, they have Friday off. If not, Friday is a school day. I still assign 5 days of work,but, they can take Friday off by working ahead a little each day to get done on Thursday.

 

We take about 6 weeks off in the summer usually late June through July. We start back up the first part of August.

 

We take about 3 weeks to a month off for Christmas. Usually right after Thanksgiving until New Years depending on how hard we've worked during the fall quarter.

 

We take Thursday and Good Friday off on Holy Week and Thanksgiving and the next Friday off as well.

 

That's it in a nutshell. Of course, it varies depending on other things, but, this is the basic structure of our year.

[elegantlion]

We traditionally followed the public school calendar. This coming year we're doing it more like English school terms, although we'll take a longer summer break. It's basically 6-9 weeks on and then a week off. We'll take off 2 1/2 weeks at Christmas, two weeks for spring break for longer breaks and summer will be an 8 week break.

 

We've homeschooled for six years and I've finally figured out that after six or eight weeks together, we need a break.

[K&Rs Mom]

I schedule it based on what's going on at the time - sometimes not much in advance. I don't plan a whole 9 or 12 month calendar of breaks at once, because I don't know when other things are going to happen. We do year-round, 4 day weeks, and take off a week or two for travel, day camp, holidays, or the end of mom's patience. We took off a week in May, when I realized we hadn't had a break since late February and I was getting cranky. We'll work now through July, be off 3/4 of August for family trips and kids' camps, then back on from late August until probably October when I'll want a break again, then work until Christmas....

[m0mmaBuck]

I have one who is PS so this year I scheduled around the PS schedule. It is too distracting (and somewhat unfair) for the youngers to have school while the elder lounges about. Depending on what he does this next year (work? military? community college? who knows?), I will work out a schedule that works for our family but will most likely take a week or two at Christmas and summer off. I love my summer.

[unsinkable]

We have tried so many different ways of taking time off; following the regular school calendar, taking a week off each month, taking every Friday off during the year as well as a couple of other weeks as well. I just wondered how others scheduled their off time or vacation time throughout the year? :)

 

I use the "OMGoodness I just can't take one more day of this without a break because banging my head against a brickwall would be less painful than trying to teach you kids one more thing because it feels like blood is running out of my ears so get in the car we're going to a movie" way of scheduling breaks.

 

Plus weekends off.

[JoyfulMama]

We start the beginning of July. I break our calendar into 2-month terms, and focus on one term at a time, knowing we need to get a minimum of 30 days of school in for each term, but aim for 35. Most times we have a few more than that, and sometimes we have a few less than that. We take breaks when we need to, but I do note vacation time in the calendar. This allows me flexibility for DH's schedule, impromptu vacation days, as well as sick days. In any case, the last 2 years we have met our 180 by the end of April. At that point I can then do my state reporting and end of year documentation. That doesn't mean we are "done" however, just that we have met the state requirements.

Now, we take a break from our normal routine during December, however much of what we do I still count for "school days".

[ereks mom]

Our school year always runs from June 1-May 31. We were always off from Memorial Day to July 4, which is about 6 weeks. However, during June, the dc always participated in Vacation Bible School, music camp/sports camp, and mission trips, which I counted these as "school time"--the dc were definitely learning, and for several hours a day! Because these took place during our time off, I would postpone the start of our new "academic" year by the number of weeks the dc had been involved in those activities, so instead of starting the week after July 4, it would be 3 or 4 weeks after that. So we did academics from the last week of July or the first week of August until Thanksgiving, with a one-week break somewhere in the middle. We were off from Thanksgiving until the week after New Year's, and then schooled 6 weeks on, 1 week off until Memorial Day. It has gotten a lot harder the past couple of years because I coordinate our schedule with ER's college schedule; I know we're not going to get a lot of work done when he's home for breaks because we all want to spend time with him. :001_smile:

[Desert Rat]

We take time off as follows:

 

7 weeks in winter - Thanksgiving through New Years

1 week in Feb. and 1 week in May for kids' birthdays

2 weeks in August for me to gear up for the next school year.

 

We take the bulk of our time off in winter because we live in the desert southwest and summers here are too hot to play outside anyway.

 

HTH

[Wheres Toto]

I use the "OMGoodness I just can't take one more day of this without a break because banging my head against a brickwall would be less painful than trying to teach you kids one more thing because it feels like blood is running out of my ears so get in the car we're going to a movie" way of scheduling breaks.

 

Plus weekends off.

 

:iagree: I love this and it basically is why I don't schedule our breaks exactly. I never know when I or the kids are just really going to need one. We school 4 days a week - usually its Friday that's off but if we have a field trip or something, that can change. I know we'll take a few weeks at Christmas where we do nothing but read and crafts. We take a week when oldest dd has Spring Break and a week when we have to go to her dance Nationals. There are odd weeks here and there when MIL takes ds for a week long visit.

 

I don't have to record hours, days, curriculum or anything else, and ds is already ahead of where he'd be in public school so that takes a lot of the pressure off and allows us to be a little more free-style with things.

[angela in ohio]

We take:

 

1-2 weeks at Easter

1 week at Thanksgiving (we have out-of-town family staying here)

1-2 weeks at Christmas

2-6 weeks in the summer for dh's vacation

 

We school 6 days a week year-round, but we often take days off in May, June, Sept, and Oct for family field trips and lolling in the grass drawing birds. :001_smile:

[Beth in TN]

When my dd was younger we schooled year-round for approx. 40 weeks beginning the second (or third week) of July through mid- June. We took 1 week off for dd's birthday in September. Then 6 weeks off from Thanksgiving til the new year. Then 1 week at Easter. Plus the last 2-3 weeks of June and first 1-2 weeks of July.

 

Now that she is in high school we use the public school calendar as a base, usually starting a week early. When my little one is ready for formal school we will go back to year round school.

[Beth in TN]

When my dd was younger we schooled year-round for approx. 40 weeks beginning the second (or third week) of July through mid- June. We took 1 week off for dd's birthday in September. Then 6 weeks off from Thanksgiving til the new year. Then 1 week at Easter. Plus the last 2-3 weeks of June and first 1-2 weeks of July.

 

Now that she is in high school we use the public school calendar as a base, usually starting a week early. When my little one is ready for formal school we will go back to year round school.

 

ETA: Since her birthday is in January we will probably use the calendar year for our school year but keep the same 40 week schedule.