Your school year.....year round or traditional?

[avazquez24]

Wondering if you do a traditional school year or a year round schedule?

We currently do a traditional schedule but am considering switching to a year round schedule. I saw someone post one that I really liked, where they did 6 weeks on, 1 week off....with two 5 week breaks (Thanksgiving-Christmas and in June).

 

I'm just torn on what to do. I started thinking almost 3 mo off for the summer is a really long time....most of the time it's soo hot here during the day time, we can't go outside until evening anyways. I also started thinking it may be nice to have shorter breaks in between (so I don't get burnt out). But I'm not sure if I'll miss a longer break over summer or not? There are now neighbor kids next door (their dd is same age as our dd) and they've been playing a ton. I'm worried there will be issues with them being off and dd wanting to play, yet we'll be doing school.

 

I'm curious to hear what others do...and any input/experiences with either schedule :)

[*Michelle*]

We do year-round and take breaks as needed. With four kids five and under, I need as much flexibility as possible. Throughout the year, I calculate how long it will take us to finish up, just to make sure we will get everything done, but I don't stress over it.

[Ellie]

I figured there were 365 days in a year, from January 1 to December 31, and I didn't see why a "school year" should be different from a real-life year.

 

We took off Thanksgiving through about the middle of January; a couple of weeks in the spring around Easter; and a couple of weeks in late August/early September. We also took off random days or even weeks at other times of the year as needed for vacations, trips to Disneyland on a Wednesday in March, and general mental-health days. :-) Otherwise we just kept working on stuff.

 

I did officially "promote" dc in the fall, for the sake of Sunday school teachers, grandparents, and sports leagues. That had no real effect on what we were actually doing and learning, of course. :-)

[MeghanL]

We take one week off per month and the entire month of August (so I can get my lesson planning done). I *love* this schedule. Some of the benefits include: never being "behind" (if we need to catch up on 1 subject, we catch up during our off week), a bonified week of guilt-free field trips, prevents mama burnout (only 3 more weeks until the next break!), guilt-free travel (we got to visit my brother in CT, my sister in TX and will visit my uncle in MA in July...and I don't need to take any books with us!) and no brain drain (they don't forget much in 1 week off).

[weederberries]

We school year round, beginning our year in January and ending around Thanksgiving. We take time off when we need it. We usually travel about a month in the fall, but I don't consider it "time off" since it is always educational.

 

We get our stuff done and don't worry about a schedule. We promote to a new "grade" at the new year, so about half a year, my kids are in a sunday school class at the level below them until everyone else promotes in August. Oh well.

 

The heat in the summer is one major reason for this as well. It's nice to have a few hours of planned a/c time. We don't have too much trouble playing with neighbor kids because we only school 3-4 hours a day and we move our school time to the hot part of the days in summer.

[Alte Veste Academy]

As my kids are getting older, we are moving toward a seasonal schedule. Basically, we school year-round but use different curricula and methods in the summer. There are so many extras and rabbit trails that we want to get to, but we are busier now during the school year. So I now look at summer as an opportunity to play with our school. We actually do a lot of interest led stuff during the year, but there is never enough time to be as casual as I want as often as I want. Last summer we did a cultural and physical world geography unit, which was loads of fun. This summer, we are going to hit that again, exploring countries and biomes more in depth.

 

Also, we use and love lots of supplements during the school year, but as the kids keep moving up through the grades and need to spend more time on regularly scheduled skill/content work, I have decided to move some of the supplements and favorite curricula to the summer. So, they will still be doing skill work, but using favorites. We will also keep a lighter schedule, with looser hours.

[lifesadream83]

So far we school year round for a multitude of reasons. She started homeschooling in September of 2011 second grade. She was behind in some areas ahead in others. She is basically caught up now but she is also at the young end of a grade because her birthday is right before the school year starts. We started in August this year and we have 15 weeks of curriculum left. We took off for Thanksgiving through the New Year but we did a day here and there which probably amounted to two weeks worth of work. We don't take off for the public school holidays. She does not get 4 day weekends when daddy is home from work mainly because we usually do not school on Fridays anyway due to a playgroup we attend. DH deploys and has to go away for various training functions. It is nice to just take off when we want. DD # 2 also came over our holiday break. We have a solid 15 weeks of curriculum left for this school year before we move on. Even if she finishes with enough time to have off she will not have a full break. Even on "breaks" she reads and does math. Her reading right now is chapter books. Last summer it was those step 4 books and introductory chapter books. I like when her reading corresponds to what we have learned in either science or history. Last summer was the magic tree house books. Right now we are working through SL 4-5 readers and then she will tackle two books about the Universe by stephen hawking and his daughter because we studied astronomy this year. Next summer I will likely have her do an Artist study.

[elegantlion]

Generally we have taken off June and July and start back in August. We then do six weeks on, one week off, a few more weeks for Christmas.

[MiniBlondes]

Generally we have taken off June and July and start back in August. We then do six weeks on, one week off, a few more weeks for Christmas.

 

 

I am considering doing this for the upcoming year.

[MinivanMom]

When my kids were little I always imagined that we would homeschool year round. I've found that it simply isn't practical if we want to play with friends when they are out of school or if we want to take advantage of summer camps. Also, many of our extra-curricular activities run on a standard Sept-May schedule, so it's hard not to fall into that rhythm ourselves. Over time I've become more and more happy with a traditional schedule.

 

Currently, we start at the beginning of August (a few weeks before b&m schools start). We take a week off in the fall for a family vacation, a week at Thanksgiving, 2-3 weeks at Christmas, and then another week off in the spring for another family vacation. We finish up by the end of May and then have June and July off for a (slightly shorter) summer break. Since we have those summer months off from activities, we have a genuine break from everything during that time. I have altered our schedule slightly during years I was having a baby, so that I could have a "maternity leave" from homeschooling. It really is nice to have a schedule that meshes with neighbors and friends.

[avazquez24]

Thanks everyone....love hearing what others do and getting different ideas:) Last summer we didn't take the summer 'off', but focused on a less structured approach....worked on some phonics, money, and geography. I should have clarified that even if we do a more 'traditional' calendar, I dont' plan on doing nothing as far as learning goes:) I still want to keep up on reading, some math skills, and maybe some 'fun' sort of stuff. When referring to your school year, I meant as far as all your regular curriculum goes (if that makes sense lol). I LOVE hs'ing, but this year the biggest challenge has been my 1.5 yr old, so I feel like sometimes I do need some breaks just for my sanity ;)

[MrsBanjoClown]

We are doing year-round. We started in July, took a week off in October, Thanksgiving week, 3 weeks in Dec./Jan., and a week for spring break. We will continue school into the first week of June, and then break until July 8th, when our new year will officially begin. DS8 will finish his handwriting book this week, and will be done with handwriting until July. He will also finish his spelling book, but he will start his new one next week. After May 31st, we will mainly just be working on things we need to finish up (history and math).

 

Next year I am going to try the 6 week on/1 week off schedule, except I am planning a long (4-5 week) break in October-November when the new baby arrives.

[Eagle]

We are schooling through summer but switching to a different curriculum to mix it up and have more fun. We will be doing Five in a Row along with a geography world tour. I'm looking forward to it!

[NASDAQ]

Year-round. We took a week off for Passover and may take a week off for High Holidays.

[Aurelia]

We do year round. I like it because we can go a little slower or more in depth but not get panicky near the end of the year because there are 2 weeks left of official "school" but 2 months worth of a subject (or more) that we have to "hurry up and finish" before summer break. I switch things up so we don't get too terribly bored with one resource, but keep moving forward. For example, I added CTT's creative writing course to WWE3 for variety, and when we finish British history (soon!) we'll read some good books and pull out MCT again (it was too much with everything else we were doing before).

 

Generally DD starts a new grade level in January, because she's developmentally ready by that time. We have a multi-week break in December, and days off here and there for things like birthdays, holidays, or just because. Our summers are brutally hot here, too, so Ariel gets more outside play time in the Spring and Autumn, and more indoor school time in Summer and Winter. This year may be different, though. She's on the summer league swim team for the first time, and will be swimming 5-6 days a week, plus a 1 hour round trip commute to the pool every day. (There is no local swim team in our tiny town.) If nothing else, I want to keep reading, writing, math and history going.

[happymomofboys]

We do year-round and take breaks as needed. With four kids five and under, I need as much flexibility as possible. Throughout the year, I calculate how long it will take us to finish up, just to make sure we will get everything done, but I don't stress over it.

 

 

This. As my oldest has gotten older I've been a little more structured about it. I plan out 6 weeks on/1 week off and the vacations I know we'll take (Thanksgiving/Christmas). But I don't necessarily follow the plan exactly once it's in place. Rescheduling happens. Since I always give myself a full year to get in our mandatory 180 days, it allows plenty of wiggle room.

[happypamama]

We school year-round and take breaks as needed. We start our school year around July 1 (when our state allows us to start counting days toward our mandatory 180), and we finish (with more than 180 days) sometime in May, giving us 4-6 weeks of a complete break through the end of June. This works really well for us because it's so hot outside in July and August and so cold/bitterly windy in January and February, so it makes a ton of sense to do a lot of bookwork during those months, so that we can be freer to relax in May and June when it's nice out (and also when there is a lot of other stuff going on). It's nice that by the time fall rolls around, we've already done a large chunk of work. (We do make time for swimming and other summer stuff, though.) Also, our evaluator likes to do evaluations in April/early May, and in some years, we need to do standardized tests, so it's nice to be mostly finished by April, so I can get the portfolio together, and so that we've gotten through as much math as possible before the tests. (We're currently at about 190 days and will finish within 4-6 weeks, as we finish some of the major curricula work; other things we'll just stop where we are, like Latin, and we'll pick them up again in July.)

 

I don't plan 6 weeks on/1 week off or anything like that, because I don't always know when we'll need a break, or when we'll have company visiting, or whatever. I do a lot of work in the spring, for the following year, so that when I'm ready to do school, it's open and go with minimal prep time. This year, I'm planning for up to 6 weeks off in August/September when our new baby arrives, and I'm hoping to take the whole week (maybe two) around Thanksgiving off, plus maybe two weeks before Christmas and one week after Christmas, plus the weeks before and after Easter. (We'll do special crafts and stories and such before Christmas and Easter, so they'll count as school days but won't necessarily get the standard curricula done.)

 

I also start up slowly in July and in January after the Christmas break -- a couple of subjects a day for the first week, adding a couple more the next week, and so on, until we're at full schedule. This worked SO well this past year.

[JBJones]

We school from August 1st through the last Friday in May, taking a week off every month (except May). I really need that week for stress relief. If something comes up before that week, then we just have a short day. I schedule all dental/orthodontal appts. (in advance) to be done on our vacation as we have to go out of town for those. We take off all of June and July. I need those two months to plan, schedule, vedge out, read up on new materials, work on my math skills for the upcoming years, etc. My hat is off to the mom that only takes off one month. I don't know how you do it. We loosely follow the ps schedule so that if we ever do encounter any kids, then DD can go play with them. I've been known to cancel school for the day if we encounter nice, friendly children. Unfortuanely, this almost never happens. If you've found some kids that your children like playing with, that would definitely be a deciding factor for me. Everyone just does what is best for them. Good luck.

[Farrar]

We go year round. I've chosen to do it that way so that when we need a break we can just take one without worry about getting enough time in.

[I.Dup.]

I consider us year-round, although every year we take one 8-week break or so, whenever it works for us. Last week it was April-May to go visit grandparents while Daddy was out of town, and that was actually very nice because the weather was perfect, so I planned our year so we would finish by April-May again this year. We will be taking another 6-8 week break in the next few weeks (this time because of a new baby). Starting in late July or early August when it's too hot outside to do much worked really well. We take breaks whenever we need to during the year, but our school is so relaxed we usually can continue plugging right along.

[Mom2TheTeam]

We school year round also. I have 6 children who are 7 and under including 2 sets of twins. One set is 5. The other just turned 3 this week. Plus, I have a 6 month old. I need the flexibility to be derailed at any moment and not stress about getting school done "on time." I also like being able to take off school whenever for whatever reason and not worry about it. So, we just keep going all year. My only goal is to have our curriculum done by the fall of the next year. So, last year we started in July with 1st grade. My goal is to be done by Sept. However, we are going to be done mid-May. Having 12 months instead of only 9, it's hard to get behind. I really like not feeling like we are behind. Much less stress. I've only been doing this for 2 years though. So, my experience is very limited. :)

[Chelli]

We started out traditional, then moved to year round school starting in August, and now we school with the calendar year (start in Jan. end in Dec.).

 

The link in my signature,How I Plan our Homeschool Year, will give you my simple planning guidelines.

[iona]

I started the summer before my oldest would have started k as a trial run and just kept going. It will be 3 years this June. we have slowly had to incorporate more planning. Ideally we would be learning year round...I just don't know if I want to think about spelling year round. I still find myself working to the next break and would like that to change. eta: my eldest has become very aware of when his friends get a day off of ps so I we have shifted to having weekends off. This summer will be tricky.

[Alira]

We started out schooling year-round, but as the kids have gotten older we've shifted to a traditional schedule. Summer camps, family travel and time with public-schooled friends are a priority for us.

[Alice]

When my kids were little I always imagined that we would homeschool year round. I've found that it simply isn't practical if we want to play with friends when they are out of school or if we want to take advantage of summer camps. Also, many of our extra-curricular activities run on a standard Sept-May schedule, so it's hard not to fall into that rhythm ourselves. Over time I've become more and more happy with a traditional schedule.

 

Currently, we start at the beginning of August (a few weeks before b&m schools start). We take a week off in the fall for a family vacation, a week at Thanksgiving, 2-3 weeks at Christmas, and then another week off in the spring for another family vacation. We finish up by the end of May and then have June and July off for a (slightly shorter) summer break. Since we have those summer months off from activities, we have a genuine break from everything during that time. I have altered our schedule slightly during years I was having a baby, so that I could have a "maternity leave" from homeschooling. It really is nice to have a schedule that meshes with neighbors and friends.

 

 

This almost exactly.

 

I like the idea of year-round school but once we’ve scheduled in swim team and dive team and Scout camp and other summer camp, etc. it ends up being a pretty traditional summer break. We don’t have to do any of those but they are all things my son really likes and looks forward to.

 

One thing I’ve liked is the flexibility to do what works for us. Every year we’ve started at a slightly different time and ended differently and taken different breaks, depending on what else was going on in our lives and what worked that year.

[amsunshine]

We tend to be year-round, although the summers are lighter on some things than others, or we will just do something different for a change of pace in the summers. We do history and science more casually during the summer -- no narrations or writing -- just watching good documentaries and following rabbit trails as much as possible. We either continue with our main math program, or do enrichment, or both. For example, we are currently using Discovering Mathematics during the traditional year with my older dd, but in the summer, we'll do topics in AoPS Pre-Algebra that weren't covered in DM 7 or were covered differently. We'll also do some problems from the Math Olympiad Contest Problems book. We've finished IEW SWI-B during this school year, and during the summer, we will finish off the chapters we haven't yet gotten to in WWS1.

[Slartibartfast]

We do year round with breaks for family visits and such.

[linders]

I found it was easier to do "summer school" when the DC were younger. As they got older, various camps (scouts, sports, Lego, music) and swim team took up a lot of summer and threw off any schedule. Now, I'm happy if they do some math via Khan, get in music practice, maybe tackle history (we always have history to do), and read a lot. And this summer, DS12 has his first job - staff for a week at a Cub Scout camp - woo-hoo!

[athena1277]

I love the idea of year round schooling. I love summer break more. We start our year after the 4th of July holiday and finish by the first week of May. Having May and June for our summer break is nice because it's the best time to be outside weather-wise. In July and August, we do our school work and then hit the pool for PE. ;)

[duckens]

We do.....

 

.....what works for us!!!

 

I like the idea of year round schooling, but what works best for us is to take time off during the summer while I put dd6 into lots of special camps and activities. (Younger dd is only 2). We are lucky to be in a town with a lot of free activities for kids, too!

 

Things we did last summer:

Library programs (weekly, plus many special events)

Swim Lessons (a couple of sessions)

Gymnastics Lessons, plus Gymnastics Camp

Nature Camp, plus special events at the Nature Center

Community Flower Garden at a local park (we planted the flowers and weeded all summer long).

Tee Ball

Art Class through Parks & Rec

And we have access to a small pool at our trailer park.

 

Many days, I would pack lunches and extra clothes for the day. We would end our travels at the pool for an hour. They were busy, but rewarding days. We didn't even do piano!

 

However, once August 1st rolled around, most of the activities dried up, and we ran out of things to do. Waiting for the first day of school was awful.

 

This year:

I realize that it is not the end of the world if we don't do piano all summer. Taking a break from piano was a good thing for dd6.

 

I also realize that dd6 and I don't do well if we don't have a plan for the day. I anticipate starting our school year in early or mid-August this year.

 

We also school on rare weekend days that Daddy is called into work. I would much rather do math lessons while he is gone, so we can take a day off in the middle of the week a few weeks later to go to the zoo, science center, or nature reserve as a family.

[IceFairy]

Year Round.... April 1st to March 31st.

 

We will take off 1 week a month in the summer, 2 weeks in September, 1 week for Thanksgiving, and 1 week for Christmas....and days here and there as needed.

[haley]

year round, starting in september

[lewelma]

NZ goes year round. 4 terms of 10 weeks each. 2 weeks off between each term, with 6 or 7 weeks in the summer. It is a nice compromise -- year round but still a longer break.

 

Ruth in NZ

[Laura Corin]

FWIW, other countries have a different definition of traditional. England has about six weeks off in the summer with other holidays spread through the year. The average school year is about 39 weeks. This is the calendar of my old junior school.

 

I used to roughly follow this kind of calendar, but moved it around to suit us as necessary.

 

Laura

[tammieb]

We unintentionally transitioned into a year-round schedule about 4 years ago, and it's been INCREDIBLE!!! I had been dealing with alot of health issues, and we missed ALOT of school. For that year, we were going to school through the summer, take a couple of weeks off, and start up again after Labor Day. The differences that one summer made were amazing!! They're learning wasn't "stifled" from 3 months off. We didn't require that "adjustment" period at the beginning of the schoolyear to get back into the groove of a school schedule. It also helped our personal schedule as a family remain more stable.

 

We school 9 weeks on, take 1 week off, and take off the month of December (Christmas around our house is the most special time of the year for us, and we like to enjoy it!). Our goal is to be "finished" with a current grade level schoolwork by the Friday before Thanksgiving. That gives us about 5 weeks off and we start our "new" schoolyear with the New Year. Makes it a little more exciting!

 

If there is one "drawback" to schooling year round, it would be if you used a "boxed" curriculum. Most of the traditional curriculums are set up to begin in the fall and end in the spring. Science, especially, has to be adjusted --- insects being studied in January doesn't work well!

 

It's been a good move for us!

 

Happy Homeschooling :)

[boscopup]

We end our school year at the end of May (24th this year) when public schools end. We take 3-4 weeks off in June to do scout camp, swim lessons, and VBS. When all that is done, we start the new school year. It's way too hot to play outside during the summer, and we don't have access to a pool (except a friend's house 30 minutes away). Might as well do school.

 

We take off a week or two at Thanksgiving and Christmas, have a family vacation in September, and otherwise try to break about every 6-9 weeks. We also have extra time built in for random sanity days as necessary. ;)

 

I like doing it this way because if we have a 36 week curriculum for history or something, we can still finish in the school year even if we are occasionally slackers. :lol:

[TracyP]

We start the school year the last week in July or the first week in August. Our school year will end on April 26th this year. We will continue a bit of math and piano practice (mostly moving sideways) over the summer, and my 5yo will continue his "cuddle in bed during quiet time" phonics lessons.

 

We started out schooling year round, but I realized that it really didn't fit our lifestyle. We live in MN and better enjoy the good weather while we can. Why take off the month of December when you live here? (we used to) We spend our summer going to the lake, playing sports, raising chickens, gardening, visiting friends that are normally in school, etc. We were always too busy to get school done, and then I would feel guilty about it. I also realized that I need time to take off my teacher hat. A week here or there wasn't enough for me. I wanted weeks/months to be "just a mom" and it is something I need to rejuvenate me for the next year.

[Shellers]

We homeschool year round. My son has severe dyslexia. He was in public school until the beginning of 5th grade. His school failed to teach him how to read despite him having an IEP. He's behind in everything except math. I don't think following a tradition school calendar is an option for us.

 

 

[Guest Jamilynn]

We started out traditional, but now school year round! Our school year tentatively begins in August and ends in July. We just take time off when needed. I do plan about three weeks "off" in the summer to plan out the next school year. It works well for us!

[DragonFaerie]

We were doing a traditional school calendar, but I'm changing that up a bit for next year. We'll start the first week of August and roughly do the 6 weeks on, 1 week off thing. We'll take a week off mid-September, the week of Halloween, the week of Thanksgiving, two weeks at Christmas, a week mid-February, and a week at the beginning of April. We should finish most of our stuff by the end of May. We have to do 180 per the state, but once we finish the required days and the majority of the school work, we'll do homeschool lite for the summer. We'll take off weeks when DS has a camp and keep things simple (math, some language arts, typing) the other days.

[kohlby]

I don't like long breaks. We do 208 days total. I have to count days for my state. (And are defined as doing 5 specific subjects). We start July 1st, though there's always a week off in July for summer camp. There's a break in Sept for a short family vacation. And then a 1.5 weeks off usually in Nov, though this year, Thanksgiving ran into it so it was 2 weeks long. Christmas is no more than a week off. In the spring, we switch to 4 days school weeks, with Thursday off. For the first two weeks of June, there will be 3 day school weeks. And then two weeks off. We also take off for other random things.

 

I love doing year round. It gives us lots of flexibility. And the shorter breaks are VERY helpful. Also, I don't finish one math and then wait for the next year. We wrap around, so that helps. I live in the south and summer is the worse season for doing things usually due to the heat - so we might as well homeschool! I also found my older child behaves better when breaks are shorter. I do give them the two weeks off in June to have a break and since all the public school kids are out by then. Doing more days than traditional means I don't worry if we do lighter days here and there too. Lighter days still have to be 5 subjects, but could be less in several of them. It also means that if there were to be an illness or emergency, I wouldn't have to stress. We have a nice buffer built in so it's easy to make the legal requirements even if life did not cooperate.

[Mommy22alyns]

I've often had great intentions of working through the summer, but it never happens. It's just too hot to think. Starting last year we could never manage it because Rebecca's training schedule really intensifies and she's there literally half her waking hours.

[nomadgirl]

We currently do a traditional schedule but, that is changing. I have been wanting to change to a year round schedule and WILL this year. We are moving out of the country so, I plan on schooling year round with days off as needed (travel, visitors, relaxation, ect.). I do not want to have a "set" schedule. DS (10) seems to have more trouble getting back into a routine when he has had a long break anyway.

[Koerarmoca]

We do year round (sort of)

 

We school lighter in the summer and do things we don't during the regular school year we call it "summer express"

We usually take 2-3 weeks off in the spring to camp (we do a little school always reading at least)

We also take off what ever the PS does for Christmas and Spring break (but still always reading)

We also take breaks as needed.

 

We way meet our requirements for "hours attended"

 

I break the year into 3 terms so effectively we accomplish 1.5 years of schooling in 365 days.

[Walking-Iris]

We typically start a new year in mid-Aug-Sept 1st and go until the end of June. We slow down in Dec to get ready for xmas and we take a week at Easter.

[momtoamiracle]

We did traditional last year, this year were doing year round. We've taken a lot of time off this winter. I'm not too worried about it. My goal is to complete whatever first grade stuff were still doing by the time he turns seven in September.

[J-rap]

We always did traditional because our summers are so short (weather-wise), and I always loved the slow, relaxing days of summertime to just unwind, do something different, be outside in the warm sunshine, hang out on the front porch playing cards. A break from routine was great. By the time September rolled around, we were all ready to dive into it again.

 

That changed somewhat in high school though, because my kids were always involved in so many activities during the school year that school work took longer. We'd often have a subject or two to finish in the summer.

[bobbeym]

We started out following a traditional Aug-May schedule but that didn't work well for us. Right now we're on a 5 on/1 off schedule, with next week scheduled to be our 1st real week off. DS is pushing hard to catch up this week, knowing that anything not done this week has to be done during his off week. We take 2 weeks off at Christmas and in July, in addition to many public school holidays so he has time to catch up with his friends.

 

I'll officially promote him to Sophomore in July/August for youth group purposes, but we'll just keep moving forward with whatever work he's doing. As we finish one course, we move right into the next one.

[jujsky]

We always school part-time in August so we have 2 full weeks in when we start back in September. I'm moving more towards a year-round model this year. The summer will be more open with no set school days. If things come up with friends or family, we'll do them. The kids are also scheduled for a couple of summer camps so we obviously won't do school on those days. I want them to keep up with math, spelling, and Russian at the very least, but I might add in science and history about July or so. We've been taking more time off during the school year as we've needed it, and it has been nice. I haven't been stressing out as much as I normally do, and we're still slated to finish everything "on time." We've already completed some of our subjects.

[Wabi Sabi]

We start back up with school each August when the local public schools begin but take breaks as needed throughout the year without too much worry. Over the summer we'll finish up any curricula that didn't get finished and do some more fun enrichment activities (aka: "school-lite"), but by mid-summer those eventually those peter out and give way to lots of impromptu playdates, days at the park and trips to the pool. Then in August we start the whole process all over again. Works for us.