Year-round schedules?

[Night Elf]

We school year-round simply because most of the time we're all over the place in curriculum and also because we take random days off. My problem is that there is never a feeling of 'ending' a school year. However, when I talked to the kids about it recently, they both agreed they would rather school year-round than be on the same schedule as our school district. They like that we take random days off.

 

To compromise, I want to try something new. Up to this point, we would work at least 3 days per week, sometimes 4. We have to keep at least a 4-day week because I always have one long day at my own school.

 

For the past 4 weeks, we have successfully done 4 days of work per week because of the weekly schedule I created. I scheduled 10 weeks in advance so we would have an open-and-go schedule. It's been working great. The kids and I like having a 3-day weekend. However, I was penciling in all our various classes and events in my calendar for the rest of 2010 and it occurred to me we will be working until Thanksgiving. That just seems like such a long time! :lol: I have 1 week off for Thanksgiving and 2 weeks at Christmas/New Years.

 

My ultimate goal is to finish our school year on July 21, 2011. That will be the official end of 7th and 9th grade. We can take 2 weeks off and then start 8th and 10th grade.

 

I wanted to hear about your schedules and how long you break at various times during the year.

 

Posts like this make my head spin. Thanks for reading!

[regentrude]

We do a "regular" school year, Mid-August through end of May, and we do a "Summer school". I work during the school year and am off over the summer, and we usually travel a lot during summer.

After the regular school year ends, we take a few weeks break, and then we do several weeks of summer school, and then the kids have another two weeks off before regular school begins.

Summer school is different from regular school: we do some math (because I do not like having three months without math), many field trips (museums, national parks etc) and read a lot. I try to find books that relate to the things we see on the field trips. In addition the kids engage in self-selected reading and work on their creative writing. We also engage in PE activities such as rock climbing for which we have no opportunities close to home.

During the regular school year we do enough hours to fulfill our state requirements, anything over the summer is "extra" which feels very nice because we don't fee under pressure.

Agnes

[Closeacademy]

Ours works like this:

 

4-day weeks/Fridays off for errands & playgroup

 

January--new curriculum/youngest moves up a grade

we start the Monday after New Years

school every week

 

Feb-April

we may take 1 week off for spring break

 

May--paperwork year ends/prep new school year

we take 2-4 weeks for summer break

 

June--Oldest moves up a grade

may take 1 week for VBS

 

July

if we don't take off for VBS then we get 4th of July week off

 

Aug

we do school all month

 

Sept

we take Labor Day week off

 

Oct-Nov--finish up curriculum

we take off Thanksgiving week

 

Dec--Christmas school starts after Thanksgiving

we take 2 weeks off for Christmas

 

I hope this helps.:001_smile:

[duckens]

:bigear:

[Whereneverever]

We school year round, but the summers are distinctive from the school year in that we do fewer and different subjects. I aim to have more then 1/2 of the 180 days done before Christmas.

We do 5 days a week, which helps.

[MorganClassicalPrep]

We school year round. Our exact schedule will be different for us every year based on my class schedule, but here's what I have for now.

 

We've been sort of working since June. The only thing we've been really consistent with is reading/phonics. We are doing a math program I designed just to make sure she has a solid foundation in the basics before starting Singapore in the fall. Science, social studies, and history are all interest led and heavy in literature. French has been very informal, me speaking to her when I can, watching a few movies in French. You get the idea.

 

We will take a couple weeks off at the end of August/beginning of September for me to get settled in with my new classes. When we come back we will be doing more official days (with real curriculums for the most part). We will do school 7 days a week, but some days are really just an hour, with 30 minutes for reading aloud (which we do anyway) and 30 minutes for something fun like Art. Our longest day is 5 hours, that is Sunday, but it includes 2 hours to watch a movie in French. I find it easier to do 2 hours or so a day (and this includes reading aloud, PE time, dance class, everything) than 4-5 hours a couple days a week.

 

My finals are in mid-December, so we will take the entire month of December off probably, and just do reading and light math. Start back in January. Take all of May off for my finals/end of the year. When we start back in June, it'll be our "new year" and I'll move her up a grade.

 

For my own sanity, I'd like to end our new year near the same time as public schools, as opposed to beginning at the same time. That way when we make up our portfolio, I have a full year to include and it will really be her entire year, instead of reporting (for example) half of 1st grade in one year, and half in the next. Plus, once we do our portfolio, I can pack up our first grade stuff and get it out of the way.

 

That's my plan anyway... but this is our first real year, doing kindy. Who knows how things'll work out!??!

[H_Household]

We did a regular school schedule last year. This year we decided to start early and be flexible. We do school 5 days a week. We actually have 9 days done for the year already. I plan to work for 4-6 weeks and then take a week off. We are going on a trip in Sept and one in Oct....then time off for Thanksgiving and Christmas. In the Winter and Spring, planning to do a few weeks off including Spring break and be done in May. We'll take off the month of June and start back in July.....unless this plan doesn't work for us.....but I think it will. I'm excited to have more breaks so that we can love school not just try to finish our days. That is the beauty of homeschooling....you can do your own pace and schedule for what fits your family!

[dani3boys]

This is how our schedule works out.

We start the new school year the second week of June. During the summer we work four days a week and end up taking four to five weeks off for camp, vacation, company etc. By the end of August we have finished about six weeks of school work.

In September we go back to five days of school per week. Throughout the school year we take days off as we need to. My boys are in Bible Quizzing October through March, and we will take off a couple of days before each quiz meet to prepare. We take off the week of Thanksgiving and two weeks around Christmas. By the time May comes around we are done with most of our work, so they are free to be outside when the weather is perfect, not too hot and not too cold. This schedule is also helpful because they don't have a lot of time to forget what they have learned, and we don't have to do a lot of review.

We just finished our third year of using this schedule, and it has worked well for us.

[higginszoo]

Our school years vary a lot.

We finished last year on June 18. We started this year on July 12. then after a week, we were off a week for VBS. We took Tuesday of the next week off to go to Six Flags for one child's birthday (and we had free tickets). And so on. We'll be off from Thanksgiving to New Year's and Easter to Memorial Day. They go to summer camp in the middle of July, so that's when I'm hoping to have things wrapped up to submit my high schooler's portfolio.

[Night Elf]

Our school years vary a lot.

We finished last year on June 18. We started this year on July 12. then after a week, we were off a week for VBS. We took Tuesday of the next week off to go to Six Flags for one child's birthday (and we had free tickets). And so on. We'll be off from Thanksgiving to New Year's and Easter to Memorial Day. They go to summer camp in the middle of July, so that's when I'm hoping to have things wrapped up to submit my high schooler's portfolio.

 

Hi Jerin! I remember seeing you on the Sonlight boards all the time. I haven't been there in a long time though.

[robsiew]

We've schooled 3 days a week most weeks this summer only schooling about 2.5 hours a day. We will school 6 weeks on/one week off starting in Sept. with 2 weeks at Christmas. We always take bdays off (the kids bdays that is...) and about 3 weeks in June. Next summer I think we'll do full school days, but again only 3-4 days a week.

[Shelly in the Country]

We school year round, too. I generally try to "roll over" our school year in May or June. We take a week off for major holidays like Thanksgiving, Easter, and the Fourth of July. For Christmas, we usually take off a full 3 weeks. We do 5 days of school per week and I make sure we get in 180 days of school. This isn't due to a state requirement, it's just my preference. Any other days off from school are based on when we need a break or because of vacations or illness.

[coffeegal]

Our schedule changes every year. This year we were suppose to start on Aug. 9th, but 1 child needed extra work over the summer, 1 child was bored silly, and 1 child wanted computer time. ;) Everyone, except my oldest, ended up with a week off and then sporatic schooling over the summer. Ideally, we'll work until Thanksgiving week and then take 6 weeks off. Between holidays and baby's arrival I doubt we'll get much school accomplished during this time. Another break over Easter week and we'll be done towards the end of May or the beginning of June. However, between grandparents visiting, illness, life, and a few crazy days we'll be likely be finishing our school year around the beginning of July. And the children will likely request school to start up again right away, lol.

 

Last year I started soon after dd 1 was born, under the assumption that we would need the extra time during the school year. Between the swine flu, the normal crazy days, and another pregnancy we needed those extra days. Basically, I plan for a 'normal' school year, but we end up working year around. :D

[Melissa B]

I separate our school year into three terms: September to December, January to April and May to August. We school fifteen weeks each term. That gives us somewhere between two and three weeks off each term. Once we reach our fifteen weeks we take the rest of the term off (and sometimes we are working to the last day of the term because we already took all of our days off somewhere in the middle.) Our new school year officially begins with the September term. May to August (term 3) is lighter than the other two terms because we are often finishing up curriculum and have to keep in mind summer commitments, more travel and friends/relatives being out of school.

[Joyofsixreboot]

We do year round but summers consist of reading, LA and math with interest led stuff by the kids down any rabbit trail they want. The schedule this year looks like this:

 

May: ended May 14

 

3 week break

 

6/7-6/25 (first summer term)

 

2 week break

 

7/12-8/3 (second summer term)

 

2 week break (so 7 week summer break still)

 

8/16-9/3

 

Labor Day break

 

9/7-9/23

 

break 4 days~Fall break

 

9/27-10/28

 

break 3 days~Halloween break

 

11/2-11/24

 

break 4 days~Thanksgiving break

 

12/24-12/17

 

break 2 weeks~Christmas break

 

1/3 - 2/3

break 1/17 for MLK day

 

break 2/7 -2/13~cure the mid-winter blues

 

2/14- 3/31

break for 2/21 ~President's Day

 

4/1-4/10 ~Spring Break

 

3/11-5/13

 

Homeschoolskedtrak says that is 228 days. That give us leeway for shorter days and less productive days and lots of breaks.

[Ellie]

Our school year was January 1 to December 31. :-)

 

We took off random days, too (you can't beat Disneyland in the middle of the week in March), but we also took off a couple of weeks in the spring around Easter, late August/early September, and Thanksgiving through about the middle of January. Otherwise we just kept working on stuff.

 

For the sake of Sunday school teachers and grandparents, we "promoted" in September, and when I needed to label the dc with a grade level, I used whatever they would have been if they'd been in school.

[Karen in CO]

I like to take random days off too. I love taking a day off in early spring just because the weather turned perfect. I also take off to celebrate the first time I see green grass after the winter, and we always take off for perfect sledding days which are more rare than you would think. I start my new school year calendar two weeks after the old one finished. We usually start slowly with one or two days a week then work into a more full schedule by September by which time we already have a few weeks of school completed. I just count days until we reach our 172 then I stop. If its June-ish when we get to 172 then we get July off. If it isn't, then I hustle to get done in July. This year, we had July off. We already have 10 days of school in this year and haven't moved up to a full-time schedule yet.

 

When my ds was in high school, we followed the ps calendar more closely because of his friends and then because of CC classes, but we tried to keep to 4 day school weeks because of my work schedule. It turned out fine, without me breaking out a project planner and planning every school day.

 

We always take off for Christmas from when my brother's public high school gets out until when my ds goes back to college (we have a big family ski trip). We take off for thanksgiving long enough to drive to my sister's house with a fun stop on the way and plenty of leftovers before we come back. Other than that, we don't plan school vacations, we just take what we need.

 

I simply start where I am and count until I'm done.

[5LittleMonkeys]

We started July 6th this year. We do 6 weeks on 1 week off until Nov.19, and then we take 6 weeks off for the Thanksgiving\Christmas holiday season. We start back Jan. 3 with the 6 weeks on 1 week off schedule. Our last day will be May 20. That gives us 4 one week breaks and 2 six week breaks per year, and it gives us 180 school days. We do lessons 4 1\2 days a week.

 

If something comes up we can pull a day from one of our off weeks but the plan is to only schedule appointments and all day outings for the weeks we have off. With 5 dc I find staying on a stricter schedule works out better for us. Before when I followed a very loose schedule it was just too easy for me to put off school and go do something more fun. The dc really like having definite times they can look forward to having off of school. We also have found just taking off the entire holiday season works well for us because of all the traveling, baking, making, shopping, decorating...you get the idea.

[Meriwether]

I am starting to school year round this year. We will do 42 weeks of school, starting after Labor Day. We will be on a six weeks on/1 week off (with two, two week breaks). We will have

 

A week

1-5 weeks

week off

B week

6-10 weeks

week off, etc.

 

Letter weeks are all those things that I never get to, like sewing projects and science experiments.

 

Number weeks are full academic weeks.

 

So 10 weeks off, 7 fun weeks, 35 academic weeks. We'll see how it goes.

[dcjlkplus3]

I like having a definate 1st day of school - the first Monday after Labor Day.

I like starting with a full week.

I also like having nice 5 day weeks.

We usually end up taking 2 weeks off at Thanksgiving and 2-3 weeks off at Christmas, a week or two off at Easter and random weeks here and there.

We just finished our school year on Friday (YAY!).

We will have 5 weeks off before we start again.

That way we have a "summer break", but it's not too long.

We do lighten the load a bit in the summer (alternated writing and grammar and spelling and latin - instead of doing those every day, or 3-4 days per week like during the regular year)