When to start new curriculum if you school year round?

[energy2c]

I have a 5 yr old and so far we only do OPGTR, rightstart math B, some copy work, and extracurricular activities. I want to start adding other subject but am wondering if I should wait until fall. I plan on schooling year round and wonder if I should start now. Would that mess up a schedule down the road?

[Clarkd]

I have certain subjects we start in Fall so they feel like there's something new to anticipate (e.g., art). In the curricular areas we have been using already, we don't wait until the new year to start the next level. We start the new level whenever we finish the previous set. As far as messing the timing up, children end up being further ahead in some subjects than others naturally so it won't be any issue to start now or fall. I find if I start everything new all at once I get overwhelmed with all the new curriculum and it takes longer to transition into smoothly teaching all the different programs.

[charcat13]

We just start the next thing whenever we finish what we're currently doing.

[energy2c]

It makes sense to stagger new material/ curriculum but proceed with next level currently using. It's my first time homeschooling full time and also committed to forgoing school kindergarten. I'm trying to think ahead. Thanks for the answers.

[momma2three]

I have a kindergartener and we just start things whatever. I started some stuff last spring because I was really excited, even though I had intended to wait until fall, and it was fine. I think sometimes accelerating a curriculum too much can be frustrating for a kid who isn't quite developmentally there yet, so we just go at our own pace, sometimes putting things away for a month or two.

[Mom2TheTeam]

My oldest is only in 1st, so my experience is limited. We school year round. My goal is to always start the next thing by early/mid August. But, I also don't plan to wait till then if we finish before, which we did last year. We are on track to finish well before Aug again this year. I plan to take off a week or two between programs and then start. So far, we aren't moving through any more quickly because we take random breaks throughout the year. (Which is the reason we school year round. ;)) We do about the same number of school days as if we were doing the typical Aug-May schedule we just do it over a whole year instead.

[NittanyJen]

When it's a continuation, I just start the next when we finish the last (sometimes we take a break or do a short unit study first for interest).

 

For starting a new subject as they grow older, I look at age, maturity, and scheduling (do we have time for this right now vs other activities-- I don't want to cause frustration? Is the attention span ability there to add in more work yet? Is there a need to have any "down time" (ie a lighter schedule for nice weather or a holiday approaching, or a sense of moving up a stage in life in another month or two)?

 

Otherwise, just start it when it comes in the mail all shiny and new if you're both ready to go :)

[*Lulu*]

We school year round and have found that for us it works best to do a combination approach. Content subject, ie history, I schedule out in five week increments and our "new year" begins in September. (Or July, or August.....really whatever arbitrary month I've chosen to be the magical one that marks the start of our new year.) For skill subjects, ie math, we take a day or two off from it and then start the next book. I will have a goal for how much I want to cover each year and break it down into five week increments, but am constantly fine tuning for the needs of each student. Occasionally I will tweak my plans in the content areas, (like the year we spent four extra weeks on Ancient Egypt because everyone was obsessed with it), but these subjects are not customized at the same level as the skill subjects.

[skeeterbug]

We have our first day of school at the same time as public schools. It works for us, coincides with friends going back to school, moves them up a grade. But curriculum we do as needed, spanning years as necessary. I actually don't try to complete curriculum with our school year at all. When we finish something we just go onto the next. It shouldn't mess up your future plans, think of it as a time buffer. If you finish early (because you started early) you'll have time to do something extra if you aren't ready to move on.

[energy2c]

Thanks for all the responds!

Given that she is 5 I'm trying not to overwhelm her with too much. We are taking our time working through math making sure she understands. Reading is where she is so ahead I don't know what's next. Technically we aren't done with OPGTR but she knows the words at the end of the book. She's just an over achiever and loves to learn . We are in Chicago so we are stuck inside during our bad weather.

[Jay3fer]

Generally, at the beginning I have added things as my kids are ready, and then just replace the curriculum whenever we finish.

 

If you want to do a couple of new things at once, just pick an arbitrary "start" of your school year.

 

September is as good a time as any, but you're not tied to it. Summer might be easier if you spend a lot of time indoors with air conditioning, for example; that depends on where you live. If you're somewhere that has cold winters, January is a good time to break up the blahs with new curriculum.

 

Homeschooling sets you free to think outside the box and do whatever works for you and your kids!

[sleeplessnights]

Some subjects (like math, reading, writing) I just keep moving year-round because I want to keep them progressing slow and steady.

 

Other subjects I like to start at certain times. For example, I start spelling and cursive when my kids start 1st grade. They start Latin in 2nd. They start formal science and history in 3rd. The kids get excited about reaching these "milestones."

 

But most subjects I like to have a set starting point, and then finish when they are done with the book. For example, last year my oldest son was doing MP's Greek Myths. When he was done with the book, he was done until the official start of the next year. As they finish up subjects, I add in other subjects & activities to keep them busy. We like the closure of closing the book and then getting a break, even though we school year-round.

[Koerarmoca]

We just keep trucking taking breaks as needed. 95% of our studies are using library and online resources not tied down to a specific book or curriculum. My kids don't notice much difference since we are always using new things.

[energy2c]

Sleeplessnights:

How do you assign grades? Based on age or?

What happens if a kid is ahead in certain areas? What grade to use then? I like the way you have spread it all out.

Koerarmoca:

Math, reading, and bible are the only curriculum we follow. We borrow a lot of books from the library focusing on one theme per visit. Plus whatever my daughter picks or is interested in.

[StartingOver]

We also just do the next thing.

[throughpagesandfields]

I'm planning on sort of going year round, having 1 really long break in summer, 1 really long break in winter... But I think I'll probably treat the year like "semesters"... Starting new things in September, and February... but to be honest mostly just to keep myself organized. If it works for you I'd say you can start anything whenever you want..

[boscopup]

We school year round with a summar start date. Basically, we will end our previous school year at the end of May (same day that public schools get out). Then we take about 3-4 weeks break for family trip, cub scout camp, etc. Then around the end of June or beginning of July, I start our new school year - that's when it's way too hot outside to play, so we might as well do school. We take breaks roughly every 6 weeks, but that isn't set in stone. If we need a break, we take it. This schedule works well for us, and the beginning of our school year brings new and exciting things. :)

 

Now, our school year is mostly tied to our content subjects - we'll start our new year of history and science at the beginning of the school year. Skill subjects don't necessarily tie in with the school year. We do the next thing when it comes up. In some subjects, my son doesn't need a whole year to finish the material. Sometimes he has done 3 years' worth in a single school year. So in those cases, we just do the next level whenever he finishes the previous level. Not a big deal. I promote him to the next school grade when we start our school year, but the level of his work has nothing to do with his school grade (and usually, he has hardly anything with that grade level on it). The grade level is mainly for outside purposes ("What grade are you in?") and for giving me an idea of what I should expect from him as far as length of time spent on school and type/amount of output. For example, he reads several grade levels ahead of where he is, but he isn't ready for 8th or 9th grade lit analysis or writing research papers, etc. He's only in 3rd grade. I expect him to be able to write a short paragraph or give me an oral narration. I will, however, give him higher level history and science to read, because I know he'll understand it.

 

Sometimes I will add something in the middle of the year because I feel like it. We started our Sonlight history core before our last school year ended. We also started an Ellen McHenry science unit about a month or so ago.

 

This year, I'm waiting to start our new math until the new school year. He'll be moving to prealgebra with a new text, and I want to do that AFTER we take our 3 week break. So when he finishes his current math text, we'll just do some Life of Fred to fill in and keep him thinking about math. In this case, I think it's a good idea to wait and make sure everything is solid before we move on. But when we have been doing elementary math, we've just continued on with the next book when we get there, even if it's in the middle of the semester. My K'er may start his new math book before the end of the school year. His math is still simple enough that I'm not worried about taking a 3-4 week break shortly after starting it.

[gracesteacher]

What we do is begin our new school year July 1 (when our district does but the students dont go back till mid Aug) and end in March sometime depending on what is going on. We then have "fun" school. Instead of MUS, IP MEP and Challeging word problems we are going to just do BA instead of FLL and WWE we are just going to do Grammar land and the worksheets and for science we are just going to do experiments and the earth science co op we are in. We are working on geography co op and some at home as that is a huge interest. We will do unit studies from five in a row and lots of nature studies as we are working on our new garden. We will also continue to do CC at home at the pace of her friends that are in CC as for her it is fun to memorize the songs!

[Hunter]

I homeschooled year around. We did half days in July, August, and December. We took a week off at 4th of July, Labor day, and Christmas. September and January were beginnings for us.

[Wheres Toto]

We school year round and just move up when they finish something. So my son is working in books that cover three different grade levels, and my daughter covers two (they both tend to be faster in math than they are in writing).

 

We do take about a month break in December/January where we may do just the basics and holiday stuff. When we start back up again, I'll gradually add back in the extras. We also don't do every subject every week. We may do history, art and geography one week and science, music and a field trip the next.

 

We also tend to go lighter in the Spring and Summer. We cover the basics but will add in more nature study/outdoor time so we will get through slightly less history, art, music, etc.

[In between chaos]

My oldest is in second, and for LA, math, Bible, and Spanish we just go to the next level/new material when we finish the previous level/material. History and science we wait to start any formal material till August/September and stop when it's completed. Sometimes that's in April or it could be as late as July or August. It just depends on our pace.

[energy2c]

Thanks for the answers many ideas to think about. I'm trying to schedule out breaks around my husbands furloughs. It's hard given that they change every year. I have curriculum I want to add because of course it all looks amazing! But, my main goal is not to kill her love of learning. Just want to make sure I'm not forgetting something or that I'm teaching it in a timely manner.

[pitterpatter]

My goal is/was to start a new level of history and science each fall. Everything else we just continue to the next level upon completion. However, I also like to have certain subjects we do only in the summer. Last summer, we did logic and beginning geography. I paced them so they would be completed before starting a new school year in the fall.

[Ellie]

I have a 5 yr old and so far we only do OPGTR, rightstart math B, some copy work, and extracurricular activities. I want to start adding other subject but am wondering if I should wait until fall. I plan on schooling year round and wonder if I should start now. Would that mess up a schedule down the road?

 

When you finish whatever it is you're working on.

 

There's nothing magical about fall. If you're going to homeschool year-round, why would you wait to start in the fall? Why not start in May? or April? Or November?

[Kathleen in LV]

Last year I was right about where you are this year. We were focusing on math, reading, and printing, as well as reading fun books and Bible stories and throwing in whatever fun stuff we wanted to do. My son, who was 5 then, was pretty far along in OPGTR. In the late winter/early spring, I introduced FLL and AAS, one at a time (I'm not sure which I started first). With AAS, it definitely won't throw you off, as the levels of AAS don't correspond to grade levels. For FLL, there are 100 lessons per "grade". So you can work that however you want. I liked that he slowly had time to get used to the new subjects, before we started WWE and SOTW in the fall.

[Holly]

We make changes year round. My DD just turned 6 and had made huge leaps in her abilities, so we've picked up some 1st grade materials...even though we just started K in the fall. My DC are all over the place with their grade levels as well...some subjects they are "on track", for others they are ahead or behind. I feel fortunate that I can make those adjustments for them.

[mom2bee]

I say the reading abilities and the handwriting abilities of a child should dictate the progression of subjects in the early stages of education. If she can read with some fluency and is progressing quickly through a reading program, great. Add in a spelling component and a library card (if you don't already have one).

 

Put those reading skills to work by reading a healthy dose of nonfiction for kids K-3.

Read biographies of historical figures, Louis Braille, Benjamin Franklin, etc...

Model good reading to her and have her read with punctuation etc...

 

Add in a second language. If your in Chicago, I am going to assume that there is a large Spanish population in the area. Why not introduce a little spanish language to her, maybe add in reading in Spanish. Its very easy if you can read in English already...

 

If you are concerned about going too far ahead (don't know why you would be, but every family is different) then go broader. Add in some basic spanish and begin working on some grammar. 1st-3rd grade grammar is pretty common sense and in my opinion ought to be taught as a part of reading...If she is a skilled reader, then the grammar stuff ought to be suitable. Where is she at in Math?

 

Continue to build the stamina for her handwriting and reading.

[cjthedog64]

Some curricula are set up to coincide with seasons or holidays. You can always rearrange lessons to adjust.

[NittanyJen]

The only thing to consider regarding start dates is when they get older and you start rolling into those final four years and you have to think about transcripts and testing. Certain scholarships may only be qualified for if applications are filed in a particular "year" or tests taken in a particular "year." At the end, when preparing to graduate, if you are gunning for fall admission, it old be awkward to only complete half of your senior year courses (or you could plan for half a year of volunteering or work experience or travel or early admission or...).

 

There is room for flexibility and doing your own thing; just be aware of the need to plan ahead for how it will impact your student.

 

 

[energy2c]

We are on lesson 39 in RS math.

I'm not worried about working ahead except in certain things for appropriate age content. I want to work at her pace because if I hold her back she gets bored easily. I tried MFW K as suggested from their company and it now sits on my shelf unused because she was way pass that. I only worry if we work ahead how that may impact the HS transcrips. If we do end up working those classes earlier who knows where she'll be by then.

[Walking-Iris]

I didn't read all of the posts so I hope I'm not repeating something. Another option is to use the remainder of the year for things that usually get sidetracked. I sort of school year round. I let up a bit around July and beginning of August for two birthdays and just to have some fun time and to have a feeling of 'now we start something new." in the Fall. But when we finish something, I like to use that time that's free now to do something i wasn't getting to before. Usually that's projects of some sort. For example my Kinder has finished his math as well, but instead of moving on I'm using the time to do some enrichment type math.

 

So I don't think you need worry about holding her back. You could add some science, geography, art etc. There's plenty you could do with a Kinder that won't impact a HS transcript. I can't imagine that transcripts are terribly important when planning for activities to do with a 5 year old.

 

So much just gets cycled through again going in more depth and complexity anyway.

[sleeplessnights]

Sleeplessnights:

How do you assign grades? Based on age or?

What happens if a kid is ahead in certain areas? What grade to use then? I like the way you have spread it all out.

 

My 3 boys all have fall birthdays, so for school I start their new grades in January (after taking a nice break in Dec). My daughter has a spring b-day, so I start her school year in Aug.

 

My older kids learned to read early, but I just kept them reading and doing some light copywork until 1st grade. They are also ahead in math. I don't want them to progress too quickly in math, so we do a couple different math curricula a year to cement concepts before moving on. I'm going for a pre-Alg in 7th, calculus in 12th time frame.

 

Most of our "yearly" subjects are the content ones. We use Memoria Press, so our yearly subjects are history, geography, science, and Latin. We also start a new grammar program each year. I don't really see the point of accelerating these. We use the extra time at the end of the year for fun topics and activities. My daughter really got into sewing last year. My older boys love drawing.

[laughing lioness]

We finish things throughough the year- maybe it was easier than we thought it would be, or we just got excited about it. No worries, we just start the next thing. Also, I review products and those come and sometimes go throughout the year. We just add them in and either keep going with them or check them out and move along. No biggie. We do this within the framework of the course work that we're committed to doing and getting done for the "year" (whenever that may be).

Fall is pretty arbitrary, imho, but we follow it. Our co-op and class day both have start and finish dates -I like it for the strutucture, but I don't marry myself to it.

[joyfulhomeschooler]

We've found that what works best for us is to start in September. We then take three month long breaks during the year. So we start in September, take the months of December, April, and August off and start up in September again. I used to just take breaks whenever we felt like it but soon figured out that when doing it this way we always ended up not finishing and getting no summer break. So of course we took the time off in summer and just skipped the last of our curriculum. Scheduling it like this helps me stay accountable to keeping on track.