If you do NOT school year round-

[plain jane]

I have a few questions for you.

 

1. When do you decide to stop for the year? Is it a date you chose ahead of time or do you stop when ____ curriculum is done?

 

2. If it's by date, what's your end date this school year & why did you choose it?

 

3. How do you decide what your start date for the fall will be? Do you base it on it being ___ number of weeks since your last day or do you choose it based more on date?

 

3. If you base your start date on number of weeks off- what do you feel is an ideal number of weeks for summer holidays? Do you take off your ideal number of weeks? If not, why?

 

4. If you base your start date based on specific date/time of year, please share why.

 

 

For me, I pick an ending date at the start of my school year (based on completing 36 weeks of school). I stick to this date and have the kids double up or what not so that we end on this date whether or not we have completed each and every lesson. When that date comes around we are through. I don't have to count days so this works for us. The kids know their school year will end & so do I. :D

 

I'm having a hard time choosing a start date for the fall this year, that's why I started this thread. I'm eager to hear what everyone considers to be an appropriate length for summer holidays. At this point I'm so burnt out from school that starting in after Thanksgiving sounds real good right about now. :001_huh::lol: (and I only choose that because I know that it's awful close to Christmas break :leaving:)

[AK_Mom4]

I have a few questions for you.

 

1. When do you decide to stop for the year? Is it a date you chose ahead of time or do you stop when ____ curriculum is done?

 

2. If it's by date, what's your end date this school year & why did you choose it?

 

3. How do you decide what your start date for the fall will be? Do you base it on it being ___ number of weeks since your last day or do you choose it based more on date?

 

3. If you base your start date on number of weeks off- what do you feel is an ideal number of weeks for summer holidays? Do you take off your ideal number of weeks? If not, why?

 

4. If you base your start date based on specific date/time of year, please share why.

 

I have some homeschooled and some public schooled. We start/end based on the public school calendar because it is makes the most sense for us. We even take "snow days" when the public school is out.

[Kipling]

We basically follow the public school calendar. I don't have any kids in ps, but my husband works for the system, so that makes sense for us. This year, I picked my end date before I started school, and I have really liked having an goal to work toward. I planned for 36 weeks of school with breaks built in.

1. I prefer to stop before Memorial day, so I try to aim for that.

2. This year, my end date was May 26, but due to a few things that got scheduled next week, we moved the end date to May 20. Fortunately, I live in a state with no attendance requirements, so I don't have to worry about number of days.

3. I don't think about the number of weeks off during the summer. Typically, by the time we get to August, the kids are so crazy from too much free time that I look forward to starting school up again.

4. I start within a week or two of the public school start date.

[MamaT]

I always end by Memorial Day and start August 1. I plan our year to get in 36 weeks in between those dates. By starting August 1, I can take more time off for vacation, Christmas, etc. when we need to.

[dcjlkplus3]

I plan a hard start date and get done when we have finished our 34-36 weeks.

 

We should end up with 4-6 weeks of summer vacation and several week long breaks through-out the year.

 

My oldest is a labor day baby and we start school the first full week after her birthday - so early/mid September.

[regentrude]

I teach at a university. I like to start school for the kids a week before my classes start, and end school a week after I am done with finals week.

[saraha]

We don't have to count days, so that makes a difference in how we start. Our county fair is at the end of Sept. and with 6 kids who all want to take/do multiple projects, we don't start "school" until after the fair, and take the whole month devoting ourselves to fair and fair projects. Which are almost always educational anyway:001_smile:. Then we school until our assesment date, which this year is the end of May. Last year it was the middle of June. We just school until our date, but I take care to make sure we are stopping in a logical place. If we have a subject that can't wait all summer, or someone is behind in something, I find a fun way to work it in over the summer.

[Susan C.]

We have to do 180 days (36 weeks). So, I back up from when I want to start Christmas vacation by 18 weeks (so semester break is during Christmas break), which is a start date of the first or second week of August. It is stinking hot in August, so we are stuck inside anyway. And ds goes to college locally, he starts mid August. We start second semester right after New Year's Day, take a week off for Spring Break (match ds college break), and finish mid-May. We have done a dwindling ending all past years, if math isn't finished, we will carry it a week or so into break. This year I called a stop of last Friday, if it wasn't finished, we weren't getting to it. We need the next three weeks for SAT prep. It worked great. It was a great way of weeding out things, and kept me from adding things at the last minute.

[joannqn]

When I homeschooled independently, we started the Monday after Labor Day. I chose this date because we typically go camping over Labor Day weekend, and I need the week to get things put away and be ready to start. We school until our curriculum is done. We usually are done with somethings by March, a couple more by April, and all of it sometime in May.

 

Now that we school through a virtual academy, they determine our start date, though they are flexible enough that I could get away with doing very little (ie. watch some Animal Planet kids) until I'm ready to start.

 

This year, we moved so we're about two months behind. We are working hard to finish asap and not go through the entire summer. We like our down time. Some subjects I hadn't planned on finishing (we're stretching Early Modern and Modern history into three years) so we're just stopping earlier in the curriculum than I planned. We'll catch up over the next two years.

[SnowWhite]

1. When do you decide to stop for the year? Is it a date you chose ahead of time or do you stop when ____ curriculum is done?

We have to have 180 days, so that is requirement #1, but I also only require one Math/English lesson per day, so we go until those subjects are complete.

 

3. How do you decide what your start date for the fall will be? Do you base it on it being ___ number of weeks since your last day or do you choose it based more on date?

This is based on my desire for summer vacation to be OVER already. I try to make it earlier than PS because I like getting done before they do. I also like having pleasant spring weather for vacation and prefer to keep the kids busy with school in sultry uncomfortably hot outdoors summer days. It's also usually depending on our vacation schedule. I predict it will be the Monday after July 4 or two or three weeks into July this year (depending on my mood.)

 

3. If you base your start date on number of weeks off- what do you feel is an ideal number of weeks for summer holidays? Do you take off your ideal number of weeks? If not, why?

It's not so cut and dried as that, but I do aim for at least 6 weeks off in the summer, up to 10... depending on what we have going on.

 

I know a lot of people who don't start till after Labor Day, but I'm more comfortable being finished before Memorial Day, for sure, with plenty of nice breaks in between (we sometimes take a week at Thanksgiving, two weeks at Christmas, and so on).

[bugs]

1. When do you decide to stop for the year? Is it a date you chose ahead of time or do you stop when ____ curriculum is done?

 

I try to get 160 - 180 school days. Our days are usually pretty rigorous and full (not like the ps 1/2 days around here), so I don't mind completing in less than 180 days. But, some curriculum (math) needs to be done when it's done. The last couple of weeks will be easier. I will give my kids all of July off. However, for the rest of June and then again until we start they will be doing some math practice and spelling (our bane) - just about 30 - 60 min per day. I hate having to rehash math.

 

2. If it's by date, what's your end date this school year & why did you choose it?

 

June 17th is our end date this year. It gives us 170 days. June also tends to be depressing weather-wise around here so I'm good with it. Often "summer" weather doesn't start until July 5th and may last through September.

 

3. How do you decide what your start date for the fall will be? Do you base it on it being ___ number of weeks since your last day or do you choose it based more on date?

 

Ours is based on my whims. 90% of the time it is in September sometime. But, if we had a super busy summer with work, entertaining others, etc., I call for a longer break. Another factor would be weather (yet again). If our summer was mostly cool and raining then became nice in August-Sept, I might call a late start.

 

3. If you base your start date on number of weeks off- what do you feel is an ideal number of weeks for summer holidays? Do you take off your ideal number of weeks? If not, why?

 

I don't pay too much attention to actual summer-time weeks off (see #2). .

 

4. If you base your start date based on specific date/time of year, please share why.

 

Last year we implemented the 6 weeks on and one week off. We loved it. So I work out the dates (start and stop) with those in mind. This year we are traveling to visit my dad after Labor Day and will be gone for a bit, so I'll have to decide whether or not to start a little early. We'll be visiting Civil War battle fields, etc so I will count that :D

[TechWife]

1. When do you decide to stop for the year? Is it a date you chose ahead of time or do you stop when ____ curriculum is done?

 

It is a date we choose ahead of time.

 

2. If it's by date, what's your end date this school year & why did you choose it?

Our last day is May 27, so we can go to the beach the following week.

 

3. How do you decide what your start date for the fall will be? Do you base it on it being ___ number of weeks since your last day or do you choose it based more on date?

 

We choose it based on a date.

 

First I choose the last day of school, then I back up 180 days (our state says that we school 9 months of the year). Then I back up two weeks to account for Christmas Break, then three days for Thanksgiving, one day for Labor Day, then one day for ds' birthday, one day for Good Friday and one week for spring break.

 

After that, I look at each month, and for the months where there are no scheduled days off (like October, February and March or April, depending on when Easter is), I take off a day for each of those months so that there is at least one day off each month (I like to have one day off each month for planning and for dr/dentist appt. & such). I usually look at the ps calendar & if they have a day off, then I will use that day so the kids playing outside don't disrupt us.

 

Usually, it works out that we start the second Mon. in August & have a few extra days to use as off days if need be. Otherwise, we just end up doing a few extra school days.

 

3. If you base your start date on number of weeks off- what do you feel is an ideal number of weeks for summer holidays? Do you take off your ideal number of weeks? If not, why?

n/a

 

4. If you base your start date based on specific date/time of year, please share why.

 

Every year we go to the beach for a week, beginning on Memorial Day, so our last day is the Friday before Memorial Day.

 

 

Even though our summer break is usually the same number of weeks, every year it goes by more quickly.

[mcconnellboys]

We start close to the same time that regular school starts. I consult my child about what vacation weeks he wants for the year. I count out the time and when 36 weeks of school are done, we're finished for the year. I make the curriculum I'm using fit into that time period.

[Zoo Keeper]

We have to do 175 days. I make my lessons plans to fit in that 35 week time frame. We start in the first week of Sept., and finish by Memorial Day. We take 3 days off at Thanksgiving, a longer break at Christmas (so we can travel to see family), and one shorter (3 days) break in March. My kids do not handle long breaks from school well; after about three days, everyone gets bored and crabby (Christmas break is the exception--Christmas leaves plenty to be excited about...).

 

We really like being done by Memorial Day, since summer here is just too short. We go through a long winter, and summer is our reward. Our whole family needs the time to decompress. I think my husband would go nuts if we tried to school year round. :lol:

[Jenny in Florida]

We try to more or less follow the local public schools for start and end dates, since my son's friends are on that schedule.

 

Some years (like this one, unfortunately) we don't get everything done on time and have to keep going into what would otherwise be summer in order to finish.