Does Anyone Actually Take the Summer Off?

[lamamaloca]

We take the summer off. We usually have some traveling, swim lessons, day camp or other activities, vacation Bible school, etc. going on. We also enjoy the weather and the down time.

 

I don't think that formal academics are the only way to learn, so I don't worry about not doing them during the summer.

[nono]

Heck, yeah, we take the summer off. The beach is 2 blocks away. I don't pay the exorbitant insurance and associated costs of living here to lock my kids away and have them look at it through a windowpane! ;)

Edited March 2, 2011 by nono
LOL- so upset paying my taxes I'm adding letters to words!

[jenn1129]

. I'm currently schooling my students year round, and when I am headmistress of my own homeschool, I intend to school 345+ days a year and begin in January (or the First Day of Spring), not September.QUOTE]

 

 

I hope this is a typo. School year round, including most weekends? I think that would suck the life out of me. Learning is about so much more than academics. I want my kids to be passionate about all that they do... reading, math, gardening, cooking, legos, etc. Starting a garden last year is one of the best things we have done, both as a family and a school. The kids learn so much!! If I was a kid, and someone made me sit at a desk for 7 days a week, 5+ hours a day, I'd probably have hung myself by 13. Just saying. :D

Edited March 2, 2011 by jenn1129
FTR:We take June off, plus a week here and there throughout the year.

[Outdoorsy Type]

I do lighter schoolwork over the summer because it is not the time I like to take vacation. :) It's best not to be outside in the afternoon from Jul-Sept in Oklahoma. The kids have about 4-5 weeks from June-September filled with camps, VBS, family trips etc. I plan to do about 2 hours a day over the summer on the weeks they are not busy.

 

We take a few weeks off in fall and spring for camping trips. Doing school over the summer allows us to take off during the nice weather.

[Sweetpeach]

We take off the whole entire summer and some weeks on either end.

 

June is light. July + August is paddling. September is vacation and finding our way back to school.

 

Each to their own!

[missmoe]

I use to school year round, but now that I have a child in a traditional school I follow that schedule. I love having the freedom to do what ever during the summer---and my house is so much cleaner!

[MamaT]

We do Latin and math 2-3 days a week in the summer, which is June and July for us. They also have to be reading something. We take a couple of weeks to travel during those months and do no schoolwork then. We also take a week in the fall and spring for vacation and three weeks at Christmas.

[ChristusG]

Are you saying you are going to school 345+ days per year and do normal school day hours on all of those days? Wow....that's a LOT of school. How old are your children?

 

I firmly believe that kids need time to be kids. And I would most certainly count field trips and reading books as school time. They are learning when we do those things.

 

We don't actually take the summer off. We live in Florida and it's much too hot during the summer to get outside and do things. I prefer to take breaks during fall, winter, and spring. I don't even have a set schedule for vacation days. We just take them when we need them. So we will be schooling throughout the summer, but we've had lots of breaks at other times of the year.

[Ibbygirl]

We school year round, but in summer we have a light schedule. We have a lot of activities like swimming, beach, movies etc during the day and then usually work a little studying in of some sort around that like maybe practice some math facts or do some reading. :)

[Jayne J]

I am planning for the first time to do some very light school this summer. We generally take from mid May to mid August off, but this year I will have ds doing 20 min. of math daily and E.I.R. (enforced independant reading :D) daily. I don't think 40 min of school a day is too much, nor will it affect his ability to relax and enjoy his summer. We generally take a family vacation for a week, and no work will be expected then, nor during campouts, sleepovers, or camp, etc.

[SweetBean]

I think schooling 345+ days /year would sap any joy out of learning. We take 3 full months off in the summer, although my kids explore subjects of their own interest through the summer. I guess we unschool through the summer.

[Chris in VA]

We always have had one child in public school, so we've pretty much followed the schedule they do--off from the middle of June until the last week of August. We go to g'mas house for a week, and my hubby gets a month off in the summer, so we want to spend time with him.

 

I just find it refreshing--and I like starting the new year, too. :001_smile:

[astrid]

We do.

 

astrid

[TravelingChris]

We don't take summers off all the way. We basically school some things all year round (math, Spanish) and others come and go. This year, older dd is graduating June 3rd. In the summer before college, she will probably still be studying both math and Spanish since there are tests on those as soon as she gets to college, if not sooner, depending on her school. Younger will do some school but also go to summer school/camp for three weeks unless we are moving to England. IF that is the case, she will be finishing math to start attending private school in the fall.

[Lainey]

We take off from May to mid July so we can enjoy the spring.

[Rhonda in TX]

Yes. I need a break, an extended time when I'm just "Mom", not the teacher. We will take June and July off, then start back up with school gradually at the beginning of August. The only school we might do is something essential (like math) that didn't get finished during the year.

 

I can't wait for summer break!

[Mommy22alyns]

We took last summer totally off, unless you want to count Summer Bridge workbooks. It wasn't planned; it just kind of happened. I'm thinking we'll do the same thing this year. June is busy with library summer reading activities, then July is just gross and no one wants to do anything. By that time, it's August and school starts back up halfway in. Depending on where we are in Becca's math, we may continue that through the summer. But otherwise, it's Summer Bridge and lots of lollygagging around!

[Dolphin]

Hmmm....

 

Well, I have an issue with not counting library books as school. We focus on the basics and everything else is strongly library based. Even our " regular" school day is strongly book based. And I would argue that with the ages of my kids (5 & 7), consistent reading ( by them and to them) is crucial. Older dd reads at least an hour a day. Whether it's Flat Stanley or Pollyanna or on Egyptians, I want her reading and developing fluency.

 

And, I have an issue not counting field trips. We took our girls to DC last spring and San Francisco the fall before. I would argue those museum trips were more beneficial than a textbook.

 

Now, beyond that.....

 

By your definition, we would probably only get 180 days. We don't go the whole summer without doing math (I think a large gap is very detrimental)

but we have lots of reading days and field trip days during the year.

:iagree:

We do "school light" in the summer. Lots of reading and games. I save things like computer games (Rainbow Rock and Vroot and Vroom from Singapore Math) as summer math.

 

Also, field trips. Summer is big on field trip learning for us. Last year we did a 10 day road trip. We walked in the wagon ruts of the Oregon trail in multiple places. Took note of how long it took us to drive from A to B and talked about how long that same distance took the pioneers. We went to 3 different areas of fossil beds. We hiked and looked at fossils and different types of rocks. To me, that is some of the best school we had all year!

[mcconnellboys]

We have always followed a regular, 180 day school year. We do include field trips as they are directly related to our learning (usually science or history). Schools count school trip days as school days, too....

[Haiku]

when I am headmistress of my own homeschool, I intend to school 345+ days a year and begin in January (or the First Day of Spring), not September.

 

 

Two bits of advice from a reasonably experienced mom:

 

1) Start when your kids are ready, not at a time you've decided on pre-kids. If your kid is ready in September, start then. If she's ready in April, start then. ETA: I must have you confused with another poster, because I thought you didn't actually have any kids yet. From your signature, it appears you do. :D

 

2) Don't expect to get 345+ days of schooling done. Kids get sick, pets get sick, you get sick, someone has a tantrum, someone breaks an arm, someone has a birthday party, someone goes on vacation, someone moves, someone gets a part-time job, someone hits a wall, someone decides to take some time off just for the h*ll of it, someone wants to take advantage of unseasonable weather ... Life happens. If you are scheduling only 20 "calamity days" a year, I think you will be unpleasantly surprised. And if you try to adhere to a rigid schedule, burn-out is a huge possibility. A rigorous education happens when you make the best use of the time you have, not when you use all your time on that education.

 

Tara

Edited March 2, 2011 by TaraTheLiberator

[arghmatey]

 

Does anyone here actually take the summer off?

 

Does anyone actually do only 180-190 days of school each year?

 

 

No and no.

[Ester Maria]

Ideally, we seek to follow a 35-week yearly schedule (x 6 days a week = 210 school days). Winters vary, we take off two to three weeks; a week or two for a spring break about Pesach time; a week or two (or three) always get "lost" during the year when life kicks in, people get sick, people need a break, we have to travel, etc.; and all that still leaves a full, uninterrupted, two-month beautiful summer period.

 

We find that we need breaks and downtime for normal functioning. It's not that kids don't learn during that period - they're usually abroad so there are stuff to see, trips to have and people to visit, languages to practice and read interesting non-school books in, new people to meet, workshops to attend and activities to subscribe to, etc. In many ways, they learn more during winters and summers than during the academic year, though I still insist on a solid time spent on formal school every year.

[regentrude]

Does anyone here actually take the summer off?

 

Does anyone actually do only 180-190 days of school each year?

 

Field trips and reading library books during off periods don't count as school for this thread.

 

I dont' understand this: Why don't books and field trips count?

We do no formal school during the summer. We travel.

We learn a lot:

We visit different countries and cities (geography)

We visit lots of museums and historic places, and we certainly learn more about art and history this way than from books.

My kids get to speak German with native speakers for four weeks, and that is definitely more effective than learning a language from a book.

We visit national parks, hike and climb and experience nature, learn about botany and geology, physics of climbing...

We go see operas and plays.

And lastly: We read, read read.

 

Why should that not count for school?

[Suzanne in ABQ]

Its always seemed odd to me that my PS'ed friends took Summer off, and I mean they TOOK IT OFF. They could and did go weeks without doing anything even remotely academic.

 

They only read for "points" and what not for when they'd return to school.

 

We schooled year round when I was growing up. I'm currently schooling my students year round, and when I am headmistress of my own homeschool, I intend to school 345+ days a year and begin in January (or the First Day of Spring), not September.

 

Does anyone here actually take the summer off?

 

Does anyone actually do only 180-190 days of school each year?

 

Field trips and reading library books during off periods don't count as school for this thread.

 

 

We take off from the first week of June until the middle of August. We don't do any academics during that time, except for fun reading. We do swimming lessons, opera day camp, Christian summer camp, family vacations, organize and clean, and generally just hang around. The summer flies by, and we didn't miss school at all. But, we're ready to start back up again. And, I find that my kids have not really "lost" anything. We do very little review (maybe a couple assignments in math, but that's it).

[Heather in Neverland]

I do continue formal math year round no matter what...even if we are traveling and have done so for 7 years. Outside of that it is lots of reading!

[TammyinTN]

We take a week off each month in the summer...we actually miss our routine of school if were away to long.

 

We do 170 days of school with our DVD courses and then we travel a great deal being here in Europe.

[keptwoman]

Oh heck yes, I take summer off!

We take 6-8 weeks in December-January, plus another 6 weeks at some time during the year, in 1 and 2 week blocks.

I tried not taking summer off in Summer 09-10 and had the worst case of burn out ever by about August-September.

 

We read, play, swim, sail, swim, fish, eat, play, laugh, swim, read, eat etc. I do maybe a week of planning in that time, and the kids get time to indulge the things that interest them and they learn heaps. Formal learning is not the only kind of learning, in fact it seems to me that heaps of learning goes on when I have nothing to do with it.

[Catherine]

For several reasons: I need the break. The kids all are pretty connected with schooled kids, and I haven't succeeded in getting much formal school out of them while their friends are on vacation. Then again, for myself, I want it off too.

[Peela]

40 weeks of school (standard in Australia)

Always took summer completely off, but for us that is around 7 weeks. Holidays here are spread more evenly through the year- basically, 4 ten week terms with 2 weeks holiday between each except for the summer one.

It always seemed like a good system to me so most homeschoolers I know here tend to stick to it too.

[catz]

We take summers "off" - but I think that's important time. The kids do plenty of reading, we do lots of exploring and field trips, and the kids usually do 2-3 summer camps of a nature that would round out our curriculum (often art, science, nature, technology). The kids continue their activities and music lessons over the summer. I don't feel like it's "lost time" by any means. We just make strides in other areas. I tend to think of summer as "unschooling".

[Mommee & Baba]

We did up until this year. I used the last summer to plan the entire school year, print and file it. This year I'm going to use my weekends and spare hours to plan for next year, print and file.

 

I have the intention of doing school through-out the summer that isn't completed by June...which will be Math and I will have them continue with spelling and reading. As for handwriting, science, history & geography...we'll do them occasionally as they work into our other subjects but they won't be doing anything formal until the next school year begins which is in September. Usually I started school in August but this year I'm going to start the first Monday in Septemeber!