When do you start school?

[Mom22ns]

I'm just curious how many people start school when. This is my first poll, we'll see if I can get it right.

[happymomofboys]

I voted that we school year round, but our year goes from July-June, so we also start in July.  

[boscopup]

I voted start in July. We technically school year round, but take a 3-4 week break in June. And sometimes we start end of June (this year!). Our end date is officially the same as public schools. We school more days than public schools, but only by a few weeks or so.

[2girls4us]

We will start September 3rd (day after Labor Day). Public school here starts August 20th.

[Loowit]

I am planning to start the last week of August.  Public schools here start the day after Labor Day, so we are only a week different.

[Ellie]

I never saw a reason to have a school year that was different than the calendar year, especially since children learn 365 days a year. :-)

 

I "promoted" dc in September, for the sake of grandparents and Sunday school teachers and other activities that grouped children by grade level, and I always kept the dc in those "grade levels" based on their birthdays and the cut-off in our state. Otherwise, dc did academics based on their abilities and achievement.

[elegantlion]

We start next Monday. That's a week and a half before public school. We generally start the first week in August as we do six weeks on, one week off. I like our first week break to fall around ds's birthday in September. 

[GoVanGogh]

We have always followed the calendar year. 

[KrissiK]

I voted August, though technically it was still July. We started this past Monday. I try to start as close to August 1 as I can.

[kdownie]

We start in August to coincide with our large co-op's start date. It happens to be a week after public school starts.

[Parrothead]

We will start the first Monday of September. I know it is Labor Day, but we rarely celebrate it in any formal way.

[Mommy22alyns]

August, usually the week after PS starts  in our area.  In previous years, we started then because that's when the co-op started back.  Since last year, we've had summer dictated to us by Rebecca's gymnastics schedule.  She has intense practices during the day in June-July, so school would be pretty much impossible.  Her fall practice schedule started this week, and we'll resume school on the 12th. That way she has time to decompress from being in the gym 20.5 hours a week.

[MinivanMom]

We always start sometime in August.  Local schools start the end of August here, so we are usually starting around the same time as public schools.  Following a schedule that's relative close to public schools has been easier for activities and for play dates with friends.

[twoxcell]

The last few years we have been starting when the local PS does which is after Labor day. This year we may start the last week of August since we are taking a week off in September for camping. I voted September. Once we started in July and once at the beginning of August but now that my ds is older he wants to be off when his friends are. ;)

[Tammyla]

My ds and I will start August 5th. 

My dd starts college classes on the 19th. 

The three public school districts around here begin the last week of August.

[melmichigan]

We usually school year round, but took 5-6 weeks off during June/July.  This year two DC attended outside classes during that time, when usually we continue math and english for everyone.  I voted we start in August, not like most PS which start in September in Michigan.  We are considering adopting the schedule of one local school that has gone to a year round schedule which begins just a few days earlier than we do.  That would align more closely with the online classes that DC are taking as well.

[Farrar]

We school year round.  We change the year over in late September, with my kids' birthday.  School here starts in the last couple days of Aug. or the first week of Sept, depending.  So we're close, but not quite.

[jenrwheeler]

We start in mid-August and go through early June.  Public school here starts after Labor day.

[Alice]

The past few years we have started on Labor Day itself which works great as dh is home too. We do light school in the am and then a fun activity in the afternoon for the whole family (water park, ice-skating, indoor trampoline place, mini-golf). I think we’ll do the same thing this year although we might start the week before. 

[Mom22ns]

We start in August. Like another poster, my dd has had an intense summer gymnastics schedule for years now. The gym follows the local public schools schedule, so we do to. We don't follow it exactly. But we are always similar.

[Soror]

I usually like to start early, last year it was the beginning of August, this year July. I feel we are running behind if we wait until September. PS here starts in mid- August.

[Mom2OandE]

We start in 5 days - Aug 5th. Public starts Aug 20 th. My plan is to transition next summer to a more year around schedule so we can take long breaks at the end of every quarter. I'd like to try a block schedule then.

[bluemongoose]

We school year round. Our school year starts first week of Sep and ends second to last week of August. We take a week to new year clean our school room and get anything ready. Our local school starts after labor day (we school on labor day usually) and finishes mid june.

[momto2Cs]

I put year round, which obviously is not what the local schools do. However, we school very lightly during the summer, and now we're adding in subjects every week or two with the goal if being back at it full force by early September.

 

Schools here start back up mid to late August.

[Maela]

This is only our second year, but this is what I'd like to do this year:

Start tomorrow - August 1st;

Aug-Sep would just be 1-1.5 hours a day;

Oct-Apr would be 2-3 hours a day;

May-June would be 1-1.5 hours a day;

Take the entire month of July completely off;

Start the new year in August again with the same schedule

 

ETA: forgot to say that our schools start sometime in August

[Pen]

We school year round, but more intense schedule at same time as public schools in our area.  We have new things that start at various times of the year.

[Kathryn]

We start at the beginning of July and take breaks as we want, usually finishing mid-May. The schools here start mid-August and finish early in June.

[ladydusk]

We go January (after my son's birthday on 1/5) to the Friday before Thanksgiving. June is usually a wash and we dont worry about missing days here and there.

[Aurelia]

We school year-round, but generally start new things in October and January. 

[Desert Strawberry]

We take 6-8 weeks off in June and July for summer classes. Those end in July, and then we get back to work. I think schools go back in August, but I don't really know.

[Chrysalis Academy]

We'll start on Monday, which is about a week and a half before ps starts, but we'll just go half days for the first few weeks, we have a late August camping trip planned.  We'll go full-on after that.  We do end up following the ps schedule more or less, just because our friends call us for playdates when they are off . . . and we do camps and stuff that are built around the ps calendar.

 

ETA: we start doing the next thing whenever we finish something, though.  For whatever reason, we seem to start a lot of new things in the spring.

[Crimson Wife]

We school year-round and will promote the last week of August when youngest DD's special ed preschool starts.

[quark]

Year-round as well. He is declared a grade up when our virtual charter's school year begins. We finish subjects all at different times of the year and sometimes we don't actually finish anything but just add more books, add an online class for more depth etc. He is interested in a lot of things so we always have something going. This year, it's an interesting coincidence for us that a few online learning trails are finishing up in August. So we'll start new ones end of August.

[Mom2TheTeam]

Year round, but we go July to June.  So, we start a new grade/year/program/whatever July 1st or shortly thereafter. 

[dsmith]

We school year round, but we do lighten the load substantially during the summer. We get back to a regular schedule in September. For most subjects I don't wait until September to start the next grade level, like math or history. When one level is finished we move right to the next level. I like to start science in September though. It's the hardest one for me to implement, so I guess I need the summer to gear up for it. :tongue_smilie:

[HRAAB]

We will start Aug. 26 because that's the day my older dd starts school.

[SilverMoon]

The local PS starts this coming Monday. We'll be hiking on a mountain in Colorado that day. B)

 

Usually we do our not back to school day in late August or early September and the kids officially start their new grades the day after that.

[daffodil]

We school year round, but we celebrate the first day of school in early August.

[wingedradical]

Public schools here start today, Aug. 1! We are waiting until Aug. 11. I would wait another week, but I like to take an extra week before Christmas since not much schoolwork gets done then anyway.

[Tanikit]

We school year round, but in January, when schools start here, I tell my DD she is in the next grade and she moves up a Sunday school class. We usually take a 3-4 week break over Christmas and the New Year when the rest of our schools are on summer break. The rest of the time we take shorter breaks purposely out of season.

[MissKNG]

Though we pretty much follow the ps schedule, we start school a week early and it's August 26th this year.

[Mommee & Baba]

I voted year round. However my dh has declared the kids a 2 week summer break the rest of this week and all of next week. I at first didn't like the idea but not realize I need these weeks to prep for next years curriculum!

[strange_girl]

Year-round here too. Technically I bump them up a grade September 1.

[Hoot]

We school year round with summer being "school lite."  However, we "officially" start all of the new curriculum at the beginning of August as a trial run to work out any scheduling kinks etc. before co-op starts at the beginning of Sept.

[bobbeym]

We "officially" start the last week of August but will finish whenever the work is complete. (Hopefully that will be April-May!)

 

I try to keep DS on a schedule similar to the ps so he has vacations at the same time as his many ps friends.

[Caitilin]

We start next Monday. That's a week and a half before public school. We generally start the first week in August as we do six weeks on, one week off. I like our first week break to fall around ds's birthday in September.

Yep, ditto. That week off saves our bacon. :)

[Donna]

We have been going a bit through the summer (continuing with math, music, and Spanish) but I start the new history and science rotations either the very end of August or the beginning of Sept. Not quite sure this year since we have a lot of things going on. I like feeling like we are "starting a new year" when my boys go back to school after the summer. 

[My3girls]

This is our first year, but this is the plan so we'll see how it goes.  I submitted for year round, August 1 thru July 31 just because school starts here in August, and I don't have to worry about "fitting it all in" if we go all year.  I read a post around here somewhere about another momma who schedules in 6 week increments with a week off between each which leaves 6 weeks in the summer.  We are going to try that but keep up with weekly Nature Study, reading, and summer journaling through the 6 week summer break.

[freeindeed]

We used to school year round, but now we do an early August through late May/early June schedule. It is similar to our local ps calendar. We plan to start on Aug. 12.

[Mandy in TN]

We school year round, but in the summer content subjects and literature are covered through a unit study chosen by ds. During the traditional calendar school year, we cover science and social studies more traditionally. :)

 

The public schools here either started this week or will start next week. We started our "new" school year this past Monday with ancient history, The Story of Science Bk1, and new LA materials. Doodle started his physical science text this summer, so that just continues. He starts his geography workbook this next Monday. We are taking a break from composition until mid-August when Doodle's Write at Home online class starts. He is doing other math, but will not start a new text until the Tuesday, the day after Labor Day. So, I am another that is ramping up into the new year.

 

Mandy