Year round homeschoolers

[MellowYellow]

What is your schedule like?

[KristenR]

Very flexible. I have young children so we aren't too structured yet. I try to get all our "school" work done by lunch Mon-Fri.

We start out our morning with songs. I am doing Song School Latin so we have made up dance routines for each song so we generally do the one we are learning that week and one or two of our favorites( or review songs for extra practice). Then we dance to the ABC' song for my 2yr daughter and while she is learning the song I have my older daughter do it in sign language since she is beyond learning just the alphabets. We spend about 15 minutes dancing and singing in the morning. It's our exercise and official start to our day.

After breakfast my older LOVES workbooks so we practice writing and do some math worksheets, ETC or Logic books- pretty much on a revolving schedule or whatever she asks for. Sometimes my 2 year old likes to scribble along in her work book but more often then not she prefers Starfall.com or ABCMouse.com. They both sit at the table so I can bounce from one to the next. My 2 year old never stays as long at the table and generally just goes up and plays when she has had enough. Then I can finish up some meatier topics that demand my attention with the older.

Luckily my MIL is living with us so she has been a life-saver in keeping my 10 month old occupies while we do this. Unfortunately she will be leaving this week so I'm sure I'll have to tweak it after I have to manage all three at once.

If I miss a day or two a week I normally catch up on a weekend. Or not. My kids are young so I am really not sweating it. Technically my oldest wouldn't even be in K yet I am really laid back.

The morning works so well for us because then we have all afternoon and evening for play dates, park days, field trips, or pool time. Or if I am adding something special- like an BFSU or RSO science lesson we generally make it an afternoon thing since they take up more time and involve all kinds of fun messes and activities.

[eternalknot]

We do school four days a week, and use the fifth as a make-up or project type day (it's also the day we do the park with our homeschool group).

 

We take off from Thanksgiving through MLK Day, which is roughly two months. We also take off all of June.

 

I give them two weeks in February and two weeks in October off, to travel and vacation with my inlaws.

 

During January, February and October we start unit-studies with certain subjects -- geography, science, art, music, faith, etc. -- to best make use of that time. We spend roughly a month on those subjects, just phasing them out as we complete them. I'm really informal about those subjects, so this works works for us.

 

Every school day we do math and grammar. Every school day not in January, February, or October we also do Latin and writing. We've always completed every program well within a year's schedule. I know we end up doing more school days than our local public school, even though it seems like we take a ton of time off.

[NicA]

This is our schedule:

 

We start in late July, take a 1 week break in October, and then go until Thanksgiving. We will take from Thanksgiving until New Years off, and then take another 1 or 2 week break in March. Any of the programs we are using that are 36 weeks will end in May, but we will keep doing math, reading and maybe one other subject through the summer months. In July we will start the next "grade" and start all of the other subjects again.

 

We live in the desert, so it is actually too hot to do anything in the summer anyway. My kids can actually play outside in November and December so we take more time off then. It has worked great so far this year!

[Alison in KY]

I try to do 6 weeks on and one week off. It's been great to take that week off and clean those areas of the house that are neglected. We took a couple weeks off at Christmas also. I usually try to take all of June off and start school loosely around July 1st. We also take off here and there for holidays, sick days, or days where I just need to be off.

 

This was my first year for trying to stick to a schedule, and I've been able to get more days in on time because of it. Before I was to flexible, but with having an actual plan, it's helped me knowing that in a week (or whatever) I'll be taking off.

 

We also school lightly in the summer and do things we don't normally do.

 

Alison

[Ann.without.an.e]

We take a month off in June. Begin our school year the day after July 4th. We school 4 days/week. The fifth day is for planning or catching up if we are behind or if we were sick. We take 2 weeks off at Christmas, one week in the Fall and one in the Spring for vacation. I really love schooling year 'round.

[lulubelle]

We are also pretty flexible. We have found that 3 weeks on and 1 week off works the best for us. Sometimes we may just work on one subject during the off week or just do read alouds and history.

[ayden]

My two middle kids go to a year round public elementary school and I will pretty much follow that schedule with my homeschooler.

 

It goes:

Start the 1st Monday in August

2 week break in October

1 week break (Thanksgiving) in November

2 week break in (Winter break) December/January

1 week break in February

1 week break (Spring break) in March

Then there is a 2 week break allotted in May, but the public school's snow days are taken from this break.

End the 3rd week of June, giving them a 5 week break for summer.

[RahRah]

Right now our schedule will begin to wind down around May 18th - I'll have met the hours requirement for my state, so we'll offically be done for the school year - we'll take May 19-30 off since it's a planned vacation block for DH.

 

When we get back, we'll start a lighter schedule June 1 - September 6, although we won't officially start second grade until July 1, the start of the new school year for record keeping in our state.

 

Sun-Sat:

Daily Story Reading, 30-min (we do this even on vacation)

 

Mon-Fri:

Phonics, 30-min

Math, 30-min

 

In weeks where DS has no camp scheduled we also do:

 

Tues-Thurs

SOTW 2 (CD) - we'll do just a listen through the entire story, then start again to do activities and such in September; ~30-min

 

Mon-Wed-Fri

Science, 30-min (probably more since DS loves science)

 

Summer activities this year include:

 

Memorial-Labor Day: MWF swim-stroke clinic

Memorial-Labor Day: MTWTF swim team practice or meet

 

June-August: Cub Scout den 3x a month

June-August: Cub Scout pack 1x a month

 

June: WTF 3-day Cub Scout Camp

June: FSS 3-day Cub Scout Camping

June: M-F one week Science Camp

July: M-F one week art camp

August: M-F one week Science Camp

Edited April 25, 2011 by RahRah

[sewpeaceful]

6weeks on, 1 week off, with a 6 week summer break during July and first half of August. We always start back after my son's birthday. :)

 

We take 2 weeks at Christmas, any day daddy is home for work day vacations (Good Friday, Memorial Day type stuff), and I refuse to teach on anyone's birthday in our house... too busy making cakes, wrapping gifts, and enjoying that child. :)

 

I find that by doing 6 weeks on, 1 week off, we haven't burned out the way we used to. The kids are thrilled with the breaks. I am able to cook ahead during my week off, take field trips, mini vacations to visit family, etc. It has been a great fit for us.

 

HTH.

[ChandlerMom]

Echo "flexible". We do year-round, 7 days a week, and I think it would be tough to do year round if you are very...intense...about it.

 

Kids get up at 6am, so start by 7:30a, play outside after breakfast and finish up before noon most days. We do core subjects first and EVERY DAY (math, reading, writing), and after a break most days we do one or more "electives" (latin, science, history, piano). Usually DD#1 starts with reading on her own while I do math with DD#2, then I do math with DD#1 while DD#2 plays with little brother. Then DD#1 does her writing (2-3 pages of journaling right now) while I do 100EL/funnix with DD#2. I *try* to schedule cleanup time as well...still working on that. :D

 

We have a "class meeting" every couple months to tweak the schedule, usually to adjust for the season (shift in waking time or when it's best to be outside).

 

Easter Sunday the kids made it until almost noon before saying, "I think we should do a *little* learning today, don't you?" So a quick math lesson for one and reading lesson for the other and we all felt better. :lol: Compared to Monday-morning angst when we used to do 5 days a week or worse, post-break-hangover after a holiday....we're all happy and relaxed doing it this way, and our lessons reflect that.

 

ETA: we don't plan any "breaks" during the year, and I find taking a *little* something along on road trips actually helps the kids keep some "normalcy" as bedtimes/meals get inevitably jumbled. But when one kid is sick, we all take it easy, or when I or they need a break, we take a day(s) off or just do a few super light/short days (maybe 5min of math facts, madlibs/games, and read-alouds).

As always, YMMV.

Edited April 25, 2011 by ChandlerMom

[Halcyon]

We work year-round, 2 weeks off in the summer so the boys can attend camp (they still do math and reading). We school 5 days a week, and take off when we feel like it, but not often :D Usually we take 3-4 days off around Christmas, and then a day or two here or there for a road trip or a long field trip.

 

Summer's are lighter in terms of my expectations and the amount of work we complete each day, however.

[joysworld]

This is our plan for next year. I am not scheduling weeks on or off. We will do school till until we need a break. During our 'off' weeks, we will still continue reading and math. That's our plan.

[Medieval Mom]

We school 40 weeks (M-F) in the year, taking off one week (or 5 days, if we need to separate the days) per month. At Christmas/New Year's, we take off the last week in Dec. and the first in Jan. for a two week break.

 

We love it! It allows us the flexibility to take off for holidays, when relatives stay for extended visits, when dh travels, etc.

 

This year, we have relatives from Europe coming for two weeks in May, and again for two weeks in August. So, we're not taking off a week in April, and will take off two weeks in May, etc. You get the idea :)

[joysworld]

Echo "flexible". We do year-round, 7 days a week, and I think it would be tough to do year round if you are very...intense...about it.

 

Kids get up at 6am, so start by 7:30a, play outside after breakfast and finish up before noon most days. We do core subjects first and EVERY DAY (math, reading, writing), and after a break most days we do one or more "electives" (latin, science, history, piano). Usually DD#1 starts with reading on her own while I do math with DD#2, then I do math with DD#1 while DD#2 plays with little brother. Then DD#1 does her writing (2-3 pages of journaling right now) while I do 100EL/funnix with DD#2. I *try* to schedule cleanup time as well...still working on that. :D

 

We have a "class meeting" every couple months to tweak the schedule, usually to adjust for the season (shift in waking time or when it's best to be outside).

 

Easter Sunday the kids made it until almost noon before saying, "I think we should do a *little* learning today, don't you?" So a quick math lesson for one and reading lesson for the other and we all felt better. :lol: Compared to Monday-morning angst when we used to do 5 days a week or worse, post-break-hangover after a holiday....we're all happy and relaxed doing it this way, and our lessons reflect that.

 

As always, YMMV.

 

 

This is pretty much how I see us for this next year:) My oldest is on in K, and we do unschool for K. Well, my son LOVES to do school. Last night, I printed out all of this week's math sheets for him. He found them, and did all of them!! WHILE his favorite movie was on.

[AmericanMom]

Full school days, 4-5 days a week depending on what other activities are giong on, 6 weeks on, a week off, coordinated around holidays. We take a week at Thanksgiving and 2 weeks at Christmas, regardless. We normally finish the bulk of our work by the first week of May and then do half days, filling it out with whatever we didn't get to (there is always something!). We basically take June off, though we do 1-2 subjects a day of whatever we need to keep up or work on more. Then start our "new" year right after July 4th. This schedule allows me to take an extra "mental health" week off if I need it sometime during the year.

[twoxcell]

We take June off, and start our new year in July! We also take off about 5 weeks throughout our school year, and we school 5 days a week.

[twoforjoy]

I didn't intend to be a year-round schooler, but we had a baby last March and having a newborn made being more flexible necessary. We're having another baby in August, so we're now just resigned to schooling year-round and taking a few days (or weeks) off when things get to crazy around here.

 

I plan to do four days of school a week. That way if something comes up and we miss a day, we're not behind. And, it gives DS an incentive to do his work, because he can have a day off if everything he needs to do gets done during the first four days of the week. We usually end up working 2 hours or so a day, which includes DS having some quiet reading time.

 

We took last week off. My ILs were in town. I plan on schooling straight through until I decide I need maternity leave. If I can keep schooling up until the baby comes, then take maybe 6 weeks off after, that would be great, but I'm thinking we'll probably start taking it easy 2 week or so before I'm due, so the last couple of weeks of July.

[robsiew]

We do 4 days a week with Friday being project and music/art day. We also use Fridays to catch up if we had an unexpected day off during the week.

 

We school 6 weeks on/ 1 week off for the most part. We take 2 weeks at Christmas, a week or two in June (one week is VBS), one week in July and a couple weeks in August. Then we have various days off during the school year. We had 2 weeks in Feb. this year for a family vacation.

 

The majority of our curriculum is started in August/Sept. and done in May. Over the summer we do math, reading and some latin review to keep it up. I will likely have the kids all do copywork as well. The younger in printing the older in cursive to keep up some writing skills. This year we have to do science and history through the summer to be where I want to be this fall since I will be dividing out all my kids into different levels. Otherwise, we'd take off of history and science during the summer.

 

We are really liking the 6 on/1 off schedule! It's what works now...:001_smile:

[mamachanse]

Echo "flexible". We do year-round, 7 days a week, and I think it would be tough to do year round if you are very...intense...about it.

 

Kids get up at 6am, so start by 7:30a, play outside after breakfast and finish up before noon most days. We do core subjects first and EVERY DAY (math, reading, writing), and after a break most days we do one or more "electives" (latin, science, history, piano). Usually DD#1 starts with reading on her own while I do math with DD#2, then I do math with DD#1 while DD#2 plays with little brother. Then DD#1 does her writing (2-3 pages of journaling right now) while I do 100EL/funnix with DD#2. I *try* to schedule cleanup time as well...still working on that. :D

 

We have a "class meeting" every couple months to tweak the schedule, usually to adjust for the season (shift in waking time or when it's best to be outside).

 

Easter Sunday the kids made it until almost noon before saying, "I think we should do a *little* learning today, don't you?" So a quick math lesson for one and reading lesson for the other and we all felt better. :lol: Compared to Monday-morning angst when we used to do 5 days a week or worse, post-break-hangover after a holiday....we're all happy and relaxed doing it this way, and our lessons reflect that.

 

ETA: we don't plan any "breaks" during the year, and I find taking a *little* something along on road trips actually helps the kids keep some "normalcy" as bedtimes/meals get inevitably jumbled. But when one kid is sick, we all take it easy, or when I or they need a break, we take a day(s) off or just do a few super light/short days (maybe 5min of math facts, madlibs/games, and read-alouds).

As always, YMMV.

 

This is basically what we do. I plan for 4 days of schoolwork each week, but realistically it takes us a little time on the other three days due to activities or tiredness of the kids. My boys prefer a little something each day. I tried to take the weekend off because of events and a visit to the grandparents and my kids were begging for school. I told them I didn't have anything scheduled. My 8 yo asked if we could, "at least play an educational game" and my 5 yo brought me a sheet of paper with blank number bonds to fill in for him. :lol:

 

We also chose the year-round schedule because we are in AZ and it's too hot to do anything in the summer. When it's nice out in the fall/winter, we love the flexibility.

[Cornerstone Classical]

We run our school year from January thru December. We have a week off after every nine weeks then we have summer break with is Memorial Day through the 4th of July and we have a winter break from Thanksgiving thru New Years.

[MellowYellow]

Thanks!

[iona]

we are finishing up our first year(started last june) and i think i'll continue doing year round for now.

i have enjoyed the flexibility to take off when we need to, and we live in a hot area so the summer months aren't the best time to be outside. i plan on taking a month or so off in may/june and doing "summer school". we'll do "math lab" with miquon...which i am still trying to figure out...and a pre sotw1 study of dinosaurs and family history. i may introduce cursive since ds1 has asked for it and also have him do free reading most days.

starting early/mid june we'll jump into sotw(we'll start it first since it will take the longest), math mammoth and copywork...within a few weeks we'll add in our other curriculum: wwe, fll, aas, science, math lab, literature, fine arts and assigned reading. I plan on taking a week off in the fall and spring as well as 2-3 weeks off for Christmas. We'll start back after epiphany though we may have had some "winter school" going on.

I plan out slots for our various subjects monday through saturday since dh's days off fall all over the place and not necessarily on the traditional weekend. We'll have the ability to take days or a week off here and there as we need or want.

[kolamum]

4 days of the "big" stuff {math, handwriting, history, memory, Bible, etc.}

5th day for Nature/Science & Art

 

6-8 weeks on 1-2 weeks off. :D

[delaney]

My oldest 2 are in PS so we also have that schedule hanging over us. This is my first full year and the plan is to go all summer on a light schedule. Regularly we do school M-TH with Friday as a lighter day with more art, projects, catch-up stuff. We took about a week around Christmas, a few days at Thanksgiving, a few snow days were light, last week we were at the beach, and now will go until mid June. Then a week off and another few days around July 4th. The girls are not happy but they also see how hard it is to be "off" for a week and get back into the swing of things. Math and reading will never stop, NEVER I tell ya!:tongue_smilie:

[Joyofsixreboot]

Loosely

June to week of July 4th then two week break

Mid July to mid Aug then two week break

Sept to Halloween then off Oct 30,31 and Nov 1

Two days off at Thanksgiving

Two weeks off at Christmas

One week off in Spring

Finish year mid-May

 

Our school day only runs about 3 or so hours /day so the kids still have all afternoon to swim and play with friends in the summer.

[Amy Jo]

We do 5 weeks on, 1 week off, 8 times (so a 40 week school year). Next year we will take a few extra weeks in both January/February and July/August. (I hope to avoid the February blues this way - last year we spread our weeks off out more, I want to try a bit longer break next year.)

 

I've discovered if I start this next year 2 weeks before the end of August, every child's birthday falls into/right after an "off" week. The week before Christmas is also off.

 

We basically moved (long story) this year so we are a bit behind where I want to be. We will be doing math on Saturday's as well, and we will work through most of July, then take a few weeks off. We will be doing just the basics and a lot of outside time this summer (based off Charlotte Mason's Attainments for a Child of Six).

 

Every year I feel like I'm closer to an optimum set-up for our family. :001_smile: