For those who school year round...

[miracleone]

How do you prevent burn-out of both student and teacher? How do you schedule the year round school?

 

This is the year that I am trying that by having a few days off during summer (took 2 weeks off) and resuming now with Math and independent reading...but seems like my daughter is acting burnt-out (tears and frustration). She's still working on her 3rd grade Math (last of CLE light unit).

 

Thank you!

[Mama2Many4]

We school year round. We work for 6 weeks and then take a week off. I also only give my kids 1 week off at Christmas and Easter. Any longer and it throws everything out of whack. Our school year ends and we take a 4 week break, then start our new year. We don't get burnout because we have so many breaks throughout the year instead of one big break.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

We are year round homeschoolers! We school 3 weeks on and 1 week off- that leaves us with an additional 6 weeks off whenever we want/need it. We always take 2 weeks at Christmas, (we take our 1 week a month off for Easter so that does not eat up an additional week) That leaves us with 5 weeks for whenever we need it. Honestly, burn out is very rarely a problem with this schedule! It seems like we take so much time off there is not time to get burned out (though it does happen rarely) Sometimes we give ourselves extra time off in August if we have the time available. We are a bit different though, we do not just start the next grade per subject when we finish, we wait until Sept to begin the new year of school. When we are down to little to no school work left we do a form of un-schooling until starting the next school year. That also helps with burnout. I take the kids to the library and they choose 1 classic book, 1 science book, 1 poetry book, 1 history book, 1 additional non-fiction book (usually a how to or art book) 1 math book, 1 health/disease related book and 1 mystery (:blush:) They read those in our 3 weeks of school then we return them, take a week off then go back for another round of books. They learn SO much that way! And it holds their interest because the books are of whatever topic THEY are interested in!

 

This schedule works AWESOME for us!

 

HTH!

 

 

 

ETA: We do math even on our school breaks though. Just a personal thing I guess :001_smile:

[chepyl]

I want to do year round schooling. I just have to figure out how to make it work. We own a performing arts academy. We do a musical in Dec, another in January, recital in May, 2 musicals back to back in June, and a two week musical theatre camp in July. That is 7 weeks of the year that we can't really do school. Sometimes in Dec we can manage a little school during the show week, but if I am making costumes....no school! With 1 week for Christmas, Spring break, and Thanksgiving that really leaves us 6 more weeks to play with in our schedule...I just don't know where to take a longer break. We can take one in Sept, one in Feb/March and the whole month of July (which over laps with the 2 weeks of camp so really still leaves me 2 weeks!) It really seems like a lot more time off than it did when I was in school :)

 

I am afraid that we might get burned out if all of our breaks are for shows, the most stressful weeks! If I could manage school in those weeks, I would take the week after off instead :) Any suggestions?

[Ecclecticmum]

We started homeschooling year round. We just take a break whenever life intrudes lol.

 

I use Dawns File Crate system with a twist. I have 3 archive boxes & a couple of presentation protector folders.

 

1st box - Weeks & Folders labelled Weeks 1- 36 I put two folders in each hanging file. I put all our lessons for that week in the folder.

 

2nd Box - Has Daily Hanging Files & Folders Day 1 - 20 (4 weeks worth)

 

3rd box - Is another Daily one for the next lot 1-20 (another 4 weeks)

 

about every 6 weeks I organize and sort the next lot of stuff into the folders for those days (taking the two final weeks of days to the side).

 

I avoid naming anything by Weekdays (Monday etc) everything is jst duly named week 20 - day 2 etc.

 

The presentation folders contain stuff that won't fit into the 36 week schedule (like SOTW lol) so for SOTW the final few chapters left over, I sort by chapter into a presentation folder, these are to do once we have finished the 36 weeks.

 

Once we are nearing the end of our curriculum, I start planning the next one. So I still do the 36 weeks, we just have those as "formal" and the rest as "informal"

 

I take time off whenever we need it.

 

We also follow a kind of loop system. So only when we are finished with day 1 fully, do we move to day 2, this mean when life intrudes it may take us a few days to "do" day 1. I don't just let it fall off, forget it and move to the next day :)

 

I've been meaning to write up a proper post about my lesson planning for a while but I never get time to do up the pics to explain it properly. But hopefully that isn't too confusing, and has helped some :)

 

xxxx

[khall]

. We are a bit different though, we do not just start the next grade per subject when we finish, we wait until Sept to begin the new year of school. When we are down to little to no school work left we do a form of un-schooling until starting the next school year. That also helps with burnout.

:001_smile:

:iagree:

 

School year round doesn't need to look like formal school for learning to take place. We start in Sept, and by this time of year almost all the curriculum we used is done. I don't want them to forget what they've learned though, so anything formal we do is "review". We use Daily Math Review and Daily Language Review by Evan Moor. The kids do one of each maybe three times a week. Only 5 problems each, but it keeps it fresh! They play Math Rider on the computer, which they love.

 

The summer reading program at the public library assigns a different genre a week, so this week they are each reading biographies. DD9 just had her birthday and is writing thank you notes and addressing envelopes (I tend to skip the letter writing assignments in the LA book because it annoys me to have them write pretend letters when they can write real letters to real people.) We visit local museums, and the rest is interest led.

 

DD9 found an enormous snail in the yard last weekend, and wants to know about snails. We checked out library books about snails and mollusks, she has made some snail art, and we talked a lot about invertebrates. She had learned about vertebrates for school this year, so I love that she's discovering invertebrates outside of curriculum. We did CHOW for history this year, and are still finishing it up. We just read a chapter about Roanoke, and DS10 is obsessed. He has checked out a bunch of library books and is pouring over them and coming up with his own theories.

[boscopup]

6 weeks on, 1 week off here. That's more breaks than public schools get during the school year. By time we start to get tired, the 6 weeks is over and it's time for a week off!

 

I did 2 weeks off at the beginning of summer - one week for day camp and one week of free time. Now we're back at it. We'll take a week between Christmas and New Year and probably the week of Thanksgiving as well. Otherwise, if we need to go somewhere, break it is! DH takes the big boys on overnight trips to the zoo and such also, giving ME a break. ;)

[kolamum]

Schooling year round means you'll get in more then 180 days, but it also means you need to schedule breaks, starts, & stops.

 

We school year round and choose a 3 week on 1 week off, 6 weeks on 1 week off, or 8 weeks on 2 week off schedule. It varies each year and each term depending on what we're studying and how we're all coping.

 

For instance, we're on a current 6 week stint and MIGHT take a week off, we might just go straight into another 6 week stint as we just came off a lengthy break. We'll evaluate as we near the end of our six weeks.

 

However long you chose to break for BREAK. Don't spend the ENTIRE time planning. REFUEL yourself. If you're worried your kids will forget EVERYTHING then set up a scheme for reading {think a home reading challenge like the libraries have}, have them play a few educational games, etc.

 

One thing I've learned is that if I spend my entire "off" week planning and preparing for the next week I won't feel rested, restored, and ready. I'll feel grumpy, miserable, and in need of a vacation while my kids are bored, restless and antsy.

 

• Instead I like to schedule 1 day of printing {I have everything all ready planned out for the year, so I just need to run off copies or whatever for the next 6 weeks. I can easily do this in an afternoon while the kids are watching a favourite flick and loaded with a big bowl of popcorn!}
  
• Some kind of day trip of outing {A museum, park, hike, something you don't do often.. not the local park}
  
• Have something planned for your kids! {they'll get bored quickly if they are like mine and need to know there's things to do. The first day or two they like to lay around and enjoy their holiday, but by the third day they might get restless. That's when I plan the outing. The next two days I might have something for them.. say a craft, play date, or baking they can do}
  
• Keep an informal schedule.. don't go totally nilly willy. On our off week{s} we still stick to a revised edition of our schedule.. Up, breakfast, chores, free time, lunch, read aloud, outside, etc.
  
• RELAX, after all that's the point of our time off!
  

 

 

Recharge yourself once in a while with a homeschool conference. It's amazing but you don't have to even leave your house for them these days! You can purchase mp3's from former conferences, attend "live" ones via TOS or Heart Of The Matter, or simply recharge by rereading a favourite homeschool book.

 

Have a specific start and stop time too! Even year rounders need a time when they can look forward to a bigger more formal break. We take ours around December and/or January due to the start of summer and holiday festivities. Some years we school through December and only stop the week of Christmas. Other years we've taken December off and started back up after the 1st of January. It just depends on work schedules, vacations, and more. We have a lose stop time of the week of Christmas Eve and restarting after Australia Day. It's lose and our summer schedule is different then normal.

 

In the summer we tend to focus on one thing vs a lot of things. Last year we did a fantastic ocean study which was a great excuse to be at the beach. We went on numerous camping trips, and hit a few wildlife reserves with friends. If an occasion arrises and we're invited out we go.

 

Remember, if you homeschool year round you're going to get a LOT more then 180 days so take the break when you need it. Enjoy the unexpected outing without panic and fear of falling behind. Life happens, enjoy it don't just survive it. :D

[Angie in VA]

We take breaks when desired or needed. We just took a week off b/c ds was on the all stars team and the tournament required 3 hours travel time, round trip. I let him sleep in. Funny how much he read on his own. ;)

 

Before that, we went 9 weeks straight and then took a week off.

 

Several years ago we took December off and my dc knew nothing in Jan. Last year we took off a few weeks in Dec. and it was the best thing.

 

I must include this benefit: though it was never our intention to go year round to cram more in, dd enjoyed a speech and debate class that ended up being way more time consuming than we thought, (but was totally worth it!) plus she played fall softball, plus she joined a local orchestra, AND spent about 6 weeks (maybe more) at rehearsals and performances for a local, private high school play. (She was in the orchestra. Great experience for her!) i realized then that by living this life style, she was able to fit these things in. It was a crazy fall (the play and fall ball were at the same time) but it was a great year for her.

 

The summer, by contrast, is very slow for dd, so she is loading up on school work now. She didn't stop when ds did last week for all stars, for ex.

 

HTH.

[laundrycrisis]

This summer is very busy with activities that aren't available during the school year (public pool, half day camps, morning swimming lessons, daytime phonics classes) and I want to take advantage of those. I am just fitting in an hour of school time here and there whenever I can jam it in. I am also putting more emphasis on work that seems easy and fun but is still good practice. I have been surprised at how much DS1 is getting done like this. His productivity seems to be higher with all the variety of stuff we are doing.

[veggiegal]

I took a look at the British (and elsewhere) school system schedule, rather than the one we have here in North America, after hearing from my British friends (now living here in Canada) how their system was more balanced. The schedule roughly is:

 

6 weeks off mid-July to September

2 weeks off Christmas

2 weeks off Easter

 

Thus you never go more than 4 months without at least a 2 week break. In addition, they take:

 

1 week off late October

1 week off mid February

1 week off late May

 

So you never go more than 6 weeks with a week off.

 

We won't be following this exactly--I'm going to cut the 6 week break down to 3-4 weeks, and leave the other 2-3 weeks as 'freebie days' (when we are ill, take improptu trips, the kids' birthdays, etc.), but I found it a helpful model to contrast with what I grew up with on the North American school system, which does lead to burnout, IME as both a school teacher and a homeschool parent.

 

I also tend to work in some kind of math and reading/writing activity most every day, even on days off. (Write grandma a letter, read alouds, audio books in the car, playing games like cribbage that build math skills, etc.). Keep it short and fun, and no burnout.

[Ellie]

We left the house every Wednesday to go to the library, and every Thursday for a field trip.

 

We were off Thanksgiving throught about the middle of January.

 

We were off a couple of weeks around Easter.

 

We were off a couple of weeks in late August/early September.

 

And we were off any other random time of the year we needed to be (such as needing to go to Disneyland in the middle of the week in March :D ).

[sgr123]

We just started homeschooling again in January, but I have already decided to school year round. The problem is this. I purchased a lovely curriculum with our taxes. It forces us to have to start it in the fall because of the nature work involved. I did not know about AWTM when I bought the curric, but would like to work the two together, so here is what I am starting out doing. We are going to school with our curric during the standard school year going from Labor Day to Memorial Day adding classical education in as a supplement. Through the summer months, we are focusing on art and music along with reading classic lit. I bought something called the Home Educator's Tutor and it has some wonderful things that my kids are really enjoying right now. I plan to use it each summer. It will fold over into the school year, but I am okay with that. We are also working on US Geography since my son is really interested in that. We do a little light math to keep skills sharp. I have just starting reading AWTM and can't wait to learn everything about it, but in the meantime, we are chugging along with these things.

[Haiku]

How do you prevent burn-out of both student and teacher?

 

Frequent breaks. We school year round but take every fifth week off.

 

Tara

[Mandy in TN]

How do you prevent burn-out of both student and teacher? How do you schedule the year round school?

My youngest will be 9yo this fall. I have found there is more frustration on both my part and that of the little man if we don't have some structure.

 

Basically, I schedule 90 days worth of work in the fall. The fall schedule is pretty structured- as in this is week 1 and this is week 2 and this is what needs to be accomplished each week. We typically take off the entire week of Thanksgiving and the two weeks that include Christmas and New Year's Eve. After this we have a week or so of ramping up to our regular schedule. Then, in spring I schedule 90 days worth of work. For some reason spring often ends up having things pop up, so I end up counting days instead of weeks more often than in the fall. When the 90 days are fulfilled, I turn in my forms to my umbrella school. (In TN you can homeschool by registering with the local public education agency, an umbrella school, or a distance learning program.) When we finish this, we take off a little bit. After about 2 weeks of no structure the little man starts getting whiny and so we start doing some things again until our official academic year begins.

 

Our 18 week first semester for 2011 will officially begin on Monday, August 8. We will take off the entire week of Thanksgiving and finish Friday, December 16. We will then take off 2 weeks entirely and start back with Kumon math, reading and violin on January 2, 2012 and officially begin our second semester on Monday, January 9. I am toying with the idea of starting a week earlier, so that we can take a week off from our regularly scheduled curriculum in October.

 

This past spring rolled along uneventfully and we didn't even take off a week for spring break. Usually, it seems like more things come up in the spring, so those 18 weeks I sort of just keep swimming until the work is finished and required days are completed.

 

After we finished our school year the first week of May, we took 2 weeks off entirely- 1 at Disney and 1 recuperating from Disney. Then, we worked very lightly with some fun stuff for about 4 weeks. I chose things that I knew wouldn't feel schoolish/ textbooky to ds. Things we just didn't get around to during the academic calendar year- like looking at cars in art and poetry, looking at the history and science of cars. We read some children's books on about the big bang. The only thing we did that looked like our 36 week academic year was a little math drill.

 

The middle of June I told him that Monday-Saturday he needed to do 5 pages of Kumon math, read for an hour (He seldom reads the whole hour, but he would tell you that he does.) and practice violin. We are also doing spelling lists orally from Spelling Plus, and I am sneaking in science with videos from the library. This week we didn't do anything on Monday, July 4.

 

HTH-

Mandy

Edited July 6, 2011 by Mandy in TN

[dianachoate]

We tend to school year round. We take time off as needed. We have inlaws we help care for and sometimes life just happens. We are currently off this week because DH is off work. We have no set schedule for when we take off we just let life happen.

 

Good luck,

Diana

[5LittleMonkeys]

We do 36 weeks broken into six 6 week sessions with a week off in between. We take a 6 week winter break (Thanksgiving to New Year's) and then a 6 week spring\summer break. That's on paper. In reality I stay flexible and take breaks when we need them or want them. In the end we only do about 180 - 200 days.

 

However, this year, having folded another dc into the mix, I'm considering reducing our winter break and spring\summer breaks to 3 weeks each which will give me another 6 week of time. I may or may not depending on how things are going by the time our winter break rolls around.

[Tarreymere]

We also take a week off every month plus a random 'lucky' day off in each month. No burn out here. During the week off they can do projects on their own or read whatever they like or just run around outside like maniacs. We also don't stay inside the house when we do have school and we don't have a schoolroom. We take breaks during the school day to walk the dog or be outside playing, and we play school-related games during the day also, like spill n' spell, scrabble, brainquest, ect.