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Summer homeschool schedule failure - does this happen to anyone else?


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My intent for the summer was a fairly full schedule in order to get caught up on things we let slide previously. Then Dh had some time off, and it was hard to interrupt "daddy time". Then summer kid's sports started, and sometimes we don't get home until 10:30 at night. After having a snack & getting ready for bed, they get to sleep so late that it's completey impractical to think I can start school at 8 a.m. the next day. Then the ballgames begin again around 5pm the next day. It's so nice outside, and dh got the kids some very nice, major outdoor play equipment and it's just hard to keep them focused after lunch. So we end up with only 1 - 3 hrs. per day, IF we don't have any appointments or other things scheduled. Surely I can't be the only one that watches all my plans go down the drain summer after summer after summer. I'm starting to think I simply shouldn't schedule much for next summer at all.

 

Does this happen to anyone else?

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(gently) If you are having to catch up on things that were sliding previously, you may have too much in your schedule. If it's stuff that is fluff and not important, you would be better to let it go than try to catch up. If it's stuff that is important, you may need to let some other things go in order to get it done.

Being in a cycle of slide/catch up isn't any fun for anyone. It might be time to re-evaluate.

 

But no, it doesn't just happen to you!

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If it's truly just catching up on things that didn't get done during the year, then 1-3 hours should be plenty, along with whole days/weeks off. That should be plenty of time to catch up. I don't know the ages of your kids, but 3 hours a day is a full regular school day for young kids in many families.

 

I hear you on Daddy time though, I don't attempt any schooling when dh is home! And late nights mean no school until noon around here, I need the late start as much as they do.

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It sounds like you've chosen your summer plans: the organized sports. Are the sports important to you? Give them priority. If they are not important to you and the late nights are getting in the way of other things, drop them.

 

Sorry if that sounds too blunt. Sounds like your kids are little, too, and they may need the summer break. What do you feel is essential for them to finish?

 

That said... you ask if that's happened to anyone else. It's surely happened to me! Every year. And not just summer...

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Typically, I would not be at all concerned about letting things slide in the summer. I always seem to plan more than we could ever hope to accomplish. However, I would be concerned about letting carryover work from the prior school year slide in the summer after already letting it slide during the regular year. In other words, I would address the pattern and adjust as necessary to make planned work a priority.

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Summer has never been a good time for us to do a heavy workload or catch up. I make the lightest summer plans possible, just enough so that my kids can have a little extra time during the school year, and so that we don't have to spend the first couple of months of the new year reviewing. We still never do as much as I would like because of other activities/vacations. We all need to feel like we're getting a big break from academics in the summer at this point.

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The reason I find summer easier to get things done is that we have drastically fewer activities. But if you have just as many... I think when you couple that with the prevailing attitude that it's not time to do school... Well, I could see it would be tough.

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My problem is that their friends are not trying to do schoolwork. So, there are daily interruptions -- invitations to the zoo, the pool, to go skateboarding. Their homeschool friends, too, aren't doing school -- they are inviting one another to the beach, to a party, to go camping. Fun stuff! I really can't say no, so I don't.

 

So, no, you're not the only one. My goal is 30 min of music, 30 min of reading, and 30 min of math during the summer, along with chores. Often, some of that happens. Sometimes none of it gets done.

 

It's okay with me. :)

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Well you know what Einstein said about insanity being repeating the same thing over and over even when it didn't work all the other times...

 

In all seriousness, 1-3 hours a day is a TON for summer. I'm not sure what you WANTED to do or how old these kids are that they are so behind that they can't catch up even with 3 hours of work a day all summer, but... well maybe just go give yourself a cruise or a week at the beach? :)

 

If they're high school age and they're behind, that's their problem. They work out the schedule and figure it out themselves. If they're not in high school, well there's no way they're that far behind. Maybe you need to do a reality check for your school year planning too?? Actually assign time values to every single thing, create a schedule, and see if what you're trying to do is sane, whether it's summer or school year. For summer work, 1-2 hours a day plus some reading is MAX. (unless you're say in Texas or somewhere where people flip their schedules)

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to the OP:

 

How old are your kids, and what are you finishing up?

 

if it;s high school or 8th grade finishing up stuff that needs to be done either for credits/graduation or to be ready for the high school workload, then get the work done somehow. If you can't quit the sports, then fun outings to the zoo, the waterpark, or whatever have to go. Maybe "daddy time" can bve split up- Dad takes one kid at a time for as many days as you have kids and does a fun dad thing, then he takes them all for one day on a big daddy adventure. But if he;s just washing the car there is no reason why a highschool aged child can't be finishing up their math, KWIM?

 

If your kids are little, unless you have completely failed to meet your state's legal requirements/hours/days for school, then why not just call it done?

 

Now for next year- take a good hard look at your schedule. What has to stay, what can go? What can be changed? I know of one family with late elementary/middle school kids. They do all of their science in the summer- they can take all day and do the projects with no/few time restrictions. So they have tha time they would do scinece during the regular school year available for other things, and they aren't trying to catch up on everything over the summer. Works for them.

 

Also, no matter what the kids ages are, when planning your year- look ahead in the book and decide what lessons/chapters can be skipped or condensed/combined. If you run into a time crunch- illness, for example- you can skip those lessons instead of never finishing the whole book. For example, when I used Saxon math, I would just photocopy the table of contents and mark off the lessons that could be skipped. usually, the first 5-10 lessons are nearly-insulting review, and the last 5-10 lessons are just barely introduced concepts to say they do "algebra in the 4th grade text" or something liek that. Also, many of the Investigations are things she already knows and we don;t need to spend a whole day on them. So by planning ahead what can be left oput of needed we're still able to cover all that we need to without working into the summer.

 

Because there is an overwhlming number of choices for us as homeschoolers (my goodness- I scare our friends when I show them the Rainbow resource catalog and thell them that isn;t even everything there is!) it;s easy to over-schedule and try to do too much. Even public-schooled children have to make choices- a high school student can't take every class he wants to. Sometimes we have to choose our classes wisely and that can mean not doing everything we want to do every year.

 

Good luck!

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I'm starting to think I simply shouldn't schedule much for next summer at all.

There you go.

Now, go put a big red note on your desk to remind you of that when you plan for the fall.

I school year round mostly due to the heat, but even I find it hard to keep on schedule in the summer. Previously I sort of felt the summer should be catch up time. Now I'm thinking of it as start up time--begin the school year in summer instead of trying to finish up the last of the former grade work. I'm starting to see summer as a time to do the gradual introduction to the next grade level work, and next grade level expectations. Sort of a warm up, so to speak.

Then I won't feel so behind if we don't do school every day, or if the cousins decide to spend a week here, and the other cousins come the next week!

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So far, this summer is going really well...it's the first week, after all :p The only thing I really have that is driving me a bit nuts, is that my dh isn't used to the early bedtime I *need* to pull this routine off. I really need to be in bed by 9, and asleep no later than 10. He's the type that starts thinking about heading to bed around 11. (We've had the new general routine in place for nearly a month, but morning swim practices just began this week)

 

I develop our routine around what the planned activities are, and say "no" to things frequently. If I didn't, my younger ds would be somewhere else every single day of the week playing with friends. Right now, we have school on Mondays & Tuesdays..,.swim meets are usually on Wednesday...we have another family activity usually on Thursday, and then school again on Friday & Saturday. This is our "standard" routine...but, since we school year round, I don't freak out if something doesn't go as planned, but I realize that sticking to the routine starts with me. I have to do it. I keep hoping that one of these days, the children will get up and get to it without me constantly prodding, directing, etc...but so far, that hasn't happened. Now, if summer were just a make up & extras...for example, history, art, and science that didn't get done, I'd probably plan 2 hours of school each day and rotate the subjects on a daily basis. If there was a read-aloud portion, that would happen in the car to & from activities (well...maybe not on the way home at 9:30 at night, but you get the idea).

 

Our summer is only getting busier...so I am really trying to remain on-routine as much as I can, even on the days when snoozing seems like the best option

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summer vacation has not started here yet, not until june 27th. Most years I plan to do school in the summer and don't because I send all the kids out to camps and extended family. This year I plan to only do 1-3 hours a day. 1 hour with the littles who are begging for it, and up to 3 with the teens that are behind due to LD and need the time to keep working through to get back on track. But we have already scheduled time off for their camp and family bible camp and fieldtrips etc

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Thanks for the ideas & advice! Love the Dave Ramsey snowball idea!

 

Well, they're going into 7th & 5th grades by their age-grade level. We're behind in pretty much everything, and while I cringe at letting history & science slide, math & language arts are the most important. It's been a negative snowball effect for years - various reasons including health that aren't on topic. I had imagined doubling - quadrupling lessons in all subjects over the summer. You're right, I didn't add up the actual time.

 

If I had it all my way, taking no one else's likes, preferences, hopes, ambitions, etc. into account, sports would not be much a part of our lives. But I have a dh who loves it; he introduced the kids to it, and he coaches their teams. I also wouldn't want to squash the thing the kids like doing so much. It just stinks that it takes up so much time. Where we live, the season for each summer sport is very condensed. We have all these activities in the summer, and then barely any (if any at all) in the winter.

 

Yes, this has made me rethink the plan for next year. I'm approaching it the same way my older would if there were a B&M middle school involved: we can only do so many class periods in a day. We can only accomplish so much in a quarter, semester, & year. So, I wrote things out with 6-7 "classes" in mind (though I feel I "cheated" by lumping all language arts under "English", but that's how they do it in school). The "English" period will probably be just a bit longer and I'll map out how long each thing will likely take so it doesn't get out of hand again.

 

We also get constant invites from friends or calls for the kids asking if so-and-so can come over to play. I may secretly unplug or mute the phone during the morning hours tomorrow. There's been a recent medical emergency with tons of follow-up appointments & tests, some of which are last minute due to my daughter's condition. That frequently throws a wrench in things as well. This upcoming year, I will make a *doable* schedule and stick to it like white on rice without mentally thinking the summer time is some sort of catch-all safety net for unfinished work.

 

P.S. - doing all Science during the summer sounds fantastic! It would work well because about 8-9 months out of the year, everything is covered with snow. I think we might knock out at least the lessons that call for "summery" things - bugs, leaves, slugs, plants, etc.

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This is why I don't homeschool all year. The pool is open, swim team is in full swing, there are fun free things to do like summer movies and library programs. I gave up a few years ago. I take June and July off and call it summertime. I'm okay with that! I feel refreshed and ready to go in August!!

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Thanks for the ideas & advice! Love the Dave Ramsey snowball idea!

 

Well, they're going into 7th & 5th grades by their age-grade level. We're behind in pretty much everything, and while I cringe at letting history & science slide, math & language arts are the most important. ...

 

Can you have them do 1 hour math and 1 hour of history or science that will include reading daily, and writing at least once each week--that is reading and writing about either history or science?

 

 

If I had it all my way, taking no one else's likes, preferences, hopes, ambitions, etc. into account, sports would not be much a part of our lives. But I have a dh who loves it; he introduced the kids to it, and he coaches their teams. I also wouldn't want to squash the thing the kids like doing so much. It just stinks that it takes up so much time. Where we live, the season for each summer sport is very condensed. We have all these activities in the summer, and then barely any (if any at all) in the winter.

 

That is important, but maybe reading or listening to books or language program on audio could be part of travel time to and from sports.

 

Yes, this has made me rethink the plan for next year. I'm approaching it the same way my older would if there were a B&M middle school involved: we can only do so many class periods in a day. We can only accomplish so much in a quarter, semester, & year. So, I wrote things out with 6-7 "classes" in mind (though I feel I "cheated" by lumping all language arts under "English", but that's how they do it in school). The "English" period will probably be just a bit longer and I'll map out how long each thing will likely take so it doesn't get out of hand again.
Totally! We have only 4 classes per day into which most subjects get incorporated!

 

We also get constant invites from friends or calls for the kids asking if so-and-so can come over to play. I may secretly unplug or mute the phone during the morning hours tomorrow. There's been a recent medical emergency with tons of follow-up appointments & tests, some of which are last minute due to my daughter's condition. That frequently throws a wrench in things as well. This upcoming year, I will make a *doable* schedule and stick to it like white on rice without mentally thinking the summer time is some sort of catch-all safety net for unfinished work.

 

No only mute the phone, but tell friends when your family is in school and cannot play or come to the phone. And I would not do it secretly. Learning to prioritize what needs to be done and protect one's schedule is itself a learning matter for children. Being polite as to other's schedules is also a learning matter. If they spend their time on the phone, playing, when they first get jobs they would likely be fired. Kids cannot call other kids (usually at least there is cell phones off policy) at B&M schools during class time, nor have them leave classes or special summer programs for phone calls or playdates. Why allow it for your homeschool? Is it happening during the sports programs that the children leave the game to take calls or to go to special activities with friends in the middle of the game? You are apparently under the belief that homeschool is not so important, and that you as mom, teacher, and principal cannot lay down the law of no phone calls etc. during school and have to do it secretly. Change your own attitude about this. Start a doable schedule for this summer, even if only one half hour per day, and practice sticking to it now.

 

Here there are 3 neighborhood kids doing at least some homeschool (or summer work though usually in B&M) for the summer. We have done our best to coordinate schedules. The children know not to call so and so before such and such a time.

 

Take books and so on to appointments to use waiting time well. Use audio books while driving etc.

 

P.S. - doing all Science during the summer sounds fantastic! It would work well because about 8-9 months out of the year, everything is covered with snow. I think we might knock out at least the lessons that call for "summery" things - bugs, leaves, slugs, plants, etc.

 

 

 

That sounds like fun. Could you invite some friends so that their school outdoor science time could also be social time?

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PS We do not start till late (9:30 at earliest) in summer for exactly reasons you mention, and often work on school outdoors when it is a "nice" day, and less than 3 hours is the daily academics target time.

 

Right now, my problem is getting the chores part to be taken seriously, so I am going to apply my own suggestions to you for academics to us here for chores! Obviously, the same thing is happening to me with chores as to you with academics, I am not prioritizing it enough!

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I haven't started summer work yet, but I HOPE that we'll get some things done to keep ahead. The plan is to school in the very warm afternoons when no one wants to go outside anyway! Can you try to carve out two hours in that time frame? Of course, it won't work like that if you are in a different climate than I am ...

 

You have gotten a lot of great advice- hope something works!

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On a good day we get through everything I have planned for summer. That means their math work is finished, spelling is done (finally did our last spelling test today), and our reading comprehension is done. On other days, I say screw it all and take them bowling. I mean, it is summer after all.

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It sounds like you are trying to both have a summer vacation and a full school day. I don't think you can do both at the same time well. Either, one is not going to happen or each is going to suffer.

 

Maybe you need to schedule an 'early' start to the full time school year? Take a break for a few weeks and start full time at the end of July? Then, when you do your scheduling you can count August and half of September as 'making up' for what was missed.

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June for us means outside learning in the form of VBS and summer camps and library reading programs and field trips. We love our summer field trips and go somewhere often (tomorrow the botanical gardens!) DD10 did finish up 2 novels this month from her assigned reading from last year, with no assigned work to them: just to finish them. Science has been all observing and reading on the topics I meant to work on and we are learning. So it is going well. DD10 is working on her math today, but it is only happening once or twice a week. And history isn't being kept up at all when I had all intentions of keeping up its reading as well, which means cramming reading sessions are on the horizon! I have learned that this is what happens during summer (June and July for us) and I don't try to do much more. We will pick up full time in Aug. and do as much catch up before fall extra curriculars and co-op start up. And we take off full steam on mostly new curric by Sept if all goes like last year. I know my kids are learning the science topics we are covering, though they aren't practicing the skills in them like we do during the year (IE minimal to no writing...) but this is what I have found is best for us.

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No only mute the phone, but tell friends when your family is in school and cannot play or come to the phone. And I would not do it secretly. Learning to prioritize what needs to be done and protect one's schedule is itself a learning matter for children. Being polite as to other's schedules is also a learning matter. If they spend their time on the phone, playing, when they first get jobs they would likely be fired. Kids cannot call other kids (usually at least there is cell phones off policy) at B&M schools during class time, nor have them leave classes or special summer programs for phone calls or playdates. Why allow it for your homeschool? Is it happening during the sports programs that the children leave the game to take calls or to go to special activities with friends in the middle of the game? You are apparently under the belief that homeschool is not so important, and that you as mom, teacher, and principal cannot lay down the law of no phone calls etc. during school and have to do it secretly. Change your own attitude about this. Start a doable schedule for this summer, even if only one half hour per day, and practice sticking to it now.

 

 

To be clear, I meant our home land-line phone. They don't have cell phones. They don't chat on the phone; it's usually quick invitations from friends or wanting to know if they can play that I feel guilty making them decline since it's summer. The home phone is also the one which calls from the auto & medical insurance companies and doctors come through. There are a lot of medical things going on currently, and when I leave messages with some of these places it can take days to get a call back, so if I let it go to the answering machine it just prolongs the process. I know it sounds like I'm making excuses, but I would need to filter for these particular calls. So yes, you're right, I just need to tell the friends not to call before noon or whatever time I decide we need. I just thought of this, too: While I do need to take calls from the Dr.'s, I can ask the insurance folks if I can call them back at a set time in the afternoon. I'll ask for their direct extensions and reiterate that I'll be returning the call at such-and-such set time. Hopefully it works.

 

Thanks again for all the suggestions. It has given me much to think about.

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