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Does anyone still wait for Sept?


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I see lots of posts from people who have already started, or will soon start, a new school year. Does  anyone still do a full summer vacation and wait until after Labor Day to start?  If you start in August, are you lining your dates up (more or less) with the PS schedule?

 

In the past, we've hs'd through a charter, so we had to start mid-August.  This is our first Freedom Year, and we're waiting until after Labor Day.  I guess I just never noticed how unusual a September start date has  become.

 

 

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We start in late September.  But we do year round and I like having a Sept. break because it lets us ease into activities, enjoy the weather, and take more advantage of all the various things going on.  So I know we're being weird.  We're only finishing last year within the next couple of weeks.

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My scheduled start date is September 15 (a Sunday) this year. Our PS kids go back on the 9th, and we do some Not Back to School activities that will happen that week. I was going to start on the 8th, but there's no point in NBTS activities when you actually ARE BTS :lol: It's actually a little earlier than we usually start, even. Our PS schedules run into late June, and I have no problem schooling in the dog days of July if necessary, so we just start when we need to and go as long as we need to. I'm glad we decided to take the summer off this year--we are having some absolutely gorgeous, unseasonably cool weather, and we're enjoying it as much as possible. I'd feel so stressed and guilty if I had school scheduled right now. 

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We have always started after Labor Day.  August is the durned middle of summer!  What is everyone doing starting school already?!

 

We finish up in mid-June or so (schools here sometimes don't finish up till the last week in June if there are a lot of snow days).

 

I think it might be a regional thing, in part. A lot of states have schools that start back in mid-August and end in May. Our local schools let out on June 28 this year because of days lost to Hurricane Sandy.

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We started last Monday, August 5th. It's actually two weeks prior to public starting. We did it because hubby has a week off in Sept, we have a family wedding/week long event in October and I want to take all of December off. We will likely take a week off in March as well.

 

Honestly, my kids seem to fall apart in the summer. Our house has been more peaceful since we started again.

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We start in late September. But we do year round and I like having a Sept. break because it lets us ease into activities, enjoy the weather, and take more advantage of all the various things going on. So I know we're being weird. We're only finishing last year within the next couple of weeks.

This used to be our plan. We would go year round taking off most of April and September plus a few scattered holiday weeks.

 

Now that SN have changed what works for us we go 50 weeks/year, but I do miss the late September start of the year.

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Our public schools started August 1st. My kids are already being asked why they aren't in school if we go out. We started early, it just makes sense for us.

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I think it might be a regional thing, in part. A lot of states have schools that start back in mid-August and end in May. Our local schools let out on June 28 this year because of days lost to Hurricane Sandy.

:iagree:

 

Different regions of the USA have very different PS schedules.

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We generally start after Labor Day, but this year we are going to Oregon on Amtrak & will be gone until Sep. 17th!

 

I know I should start before we go, but I feel like we haven't had much down time this summer.  My plan (as of now) is to start math, english, and do a Native American Unit study August 17th.  

 

My ideal was to try the 6weeks on, 1 week off hsing method.  With December off, and 6 weeks off in the summer.  But, the trip goofed it up.

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This will be the first year I have ever waited until September. Not only am I waiting, but we're not starting until the middle of September. My mom is coming this week for a visit, we have to move dd17 into her dorm, and our first grandchild will make her appearance sometime this week. Dd20 will be 41 weeks on Friday, and they won't let her go any longer than that. The two of them will be living here for several months, and I haven't even received all of my homeschool materials, so I will definitely have a late start this year. Nevertheless, we will persevere and press on. I'm not even very excited this year. Hopefully, that will change.

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I schooled dd up until about a week ago though only about 3 days a week beginning the end of June. We are now off until Sept. I usually do not wait but last year and again this year, we have needed a break due to a lot of travel then getting organized when finished traveling.

 

My boys are in school so going a bit more with their schedule works a little better. It hasn't been hard to do a bit of sumer schooling though because the boys also have summer reading and oldest has AP Bio work over the summer, too.

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We always started the first week of August until a couple of years ago.  Through no fault of our own, it seems like there has been a major life event that prohibits us from starting in August, forcing us to wait until after Labor Day.  I've grown to like it though.  It feels less rushed, more relaxed.  As the girls have gotten older, it feels like our summers are rush, rush, rush.  August ends up being our time to kick back and relax.  I finish lesson plans at a leisurely pace and the girls get to lay around and do nothing.  

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Does  anyone still do a full summer vacation and wait until after Labor Day to start?

"Full summer vacation?"

 

Thirty-five years ago, when I was starting school, we started around the third week of August...  For me, starting in August is nothing new.   Then again, we also finished in May.  The idea of still having to sit in school after Memorial Day is appalling!

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We start the day after Labor Day. The local PS usually does and will this year, though last year they started in August for some reason. We take time off around Christmas and Easter as well. We also take all birthdays off. :) We usually finish late June, a week or two after PS.

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Our PS's start after Labor Day.  I'm hoping to start before then, maybe this week.  It's difficult because my DD's gymnastics doesn't move to afternoons until the kids go back to school.  However, we'll have a baby in February and I'll need to take some time off around then.  I think we'll have to work around the gymnastics schedule.  

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According to our charter, we finished in mid-May and start again next week or the week after. I'm not sure exactly what their dates are because we actually school year-round, taking breaks when we need them. When I'm planning, I consider the year to turn over on September 1, because it's easier for me to think in terms of whole months. 

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We used to wait until after Labor Day, but I found that if I started the last week or so of August, I could finish a 16 week semester at the same time we go on Christmas break. Then we take Dec. 15(ish) to the end of January off and do another 16 weeks ending in the first week of June. 

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We used to wait until after Labor Day, but I found that if I started the last week or so of August, I could finish a 16 week semester at the same time we go on Christmas break. Then we take Dec. 15(ish) to the end of January off and do another 16 weeks ending in the first week of June. 

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I would prefer to start mid to late August, like I did when my older children were little, but since my now senior son plays football for the ps, it's just too difficult to start and work around ever changing football practice, so now we start after Labor Day like the local school does.  He's played all through high school, and I'm looking forward to his graduation and less involvement with the ps again.

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PS starts August 1 here and ends the Friday before Memorial Day. I registered our school year as 8/1-7/31. The plan is 6 weeks on, 1 week off, 2 weeks at Christmas, and that would give us 9 weeks off for summer. I plan to do a reduced 6 week schedule in the summer, though, to take care of any catch up or remedial we might need and to take care of nature study that is more appropriate in summer months. I'll probably have them keep up reading logs, but for books of their own choosing, and keep a journal. That should all be only 1-1.5 hrs per day at most so hopefully, I won't win the meanest mom ever award. This is our first year so this is all subject to change, of course. Lol

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The climate here is a factor for some people.  For people who want to do outdoorsy things, they tend to want to school as much of the summer as they can while it's between 100-120 degrees from May through September.  I did when my older kids (now 17 and 15) weren't involved in activities (church and sports) with kids in institutional schools. As soon as shorter summers were proposed in the public schools in the last decade or two, people jumped at the opportunity.

 

We're aligning closer to the school year because my 8 year old has a best friend across the street is in ps.  We have 2 weeks off in Oct., Dec., and Mar. and finish at the end of May just like they will.  They have 8 weeks for summer in Jun. and Jul. but we took 10 because we don't take off miscellaneous in-service days and other odd days off.  They started the last week of July but we started last Monday. I think if the neighbor comes over to play on MLK Day or Columbus Day or the like, we can take it off and make the rest of the school days a bit longer that week.  If not, we're schooling those days.

 

My 17 and 15 year olds start the 3rd week of Aug. at community college.

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We start mid-September, along with the public schools. Public school here runs mid-Sept. through mid-June. Actually, we begin the week after ps starts.

 

We don't take off all of the furlough days and minor holidays, so we still put in more school days than the ps, and we finish a week earlier.

 

ETA: Part of the reason for this has nothing to do with the school schedule and everything to do with weather. Oregon has gorgeous weather June-September. I can't imagine beginning school in August. It's too beautiful outside! We want to be hiking and swimming and gardening and playing outside.

 

Cat.

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I can't remember the last time I heard of a public or private school starting in September. Not since I was in middle school I think. :(

 

Oregon begins in September. (Most schools.) :)  But the schools don't usually get out until mid- to late June. Furlough days and budget have shortened the year a bit. This year our school districts are going mid-Sept. through mid-June instead of early Sept.-late June.

 

Cat

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We usually start in September the day after Labor Day, but this year we are starting the week before.  We stopped earlier this year because DS needed surgery so we have not done any schoolwork since the end of May.  Schools here all start the day after Labor Day.  I do tend to follow the school calendar to an extent.  With my children involved in so many activities that follow that calendar we can't just take off during the school year a lot of the time.  We do take a few different breaks, and skip the inservice days.  We also usually finish a couple weeks before the public schools.

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We start in September! 

 

I plan to start math and lang. arts on Sept. 3 and then on the 9th we'll add in everything else. This lets us ease into the new year. 

 

We take a traditional mid-June - Aug. summer vacation. I tried, in the beginning, to school year round, or start our new school year halfway through August, but it just never felt right. This is what works best for us. Especially considering that we live in New England, and the summers are gorgeous. We don't want to miss a minute because the winters here can seem so long!

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We've been doing school lite through the summer (with lots of breaks for camps and vacations), but we will start ramping things up next Monday. I plan to have the kids work from 7:30 - 1:00 (lunch and SL reading included during that time and see what we can get done.

 

After that, I will continue to add in a subject each week until we are in full swing. I like doing it this way because while we do take breaks when the schools do (my kids are in activities that break when the schools do, so those are the only times we can be totally free), I also like to have the flexibility of being able to take additional breaks during the school year.

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I line up my schedule to the public school's because dh is a public school teacher.  Ironically, he is more of the unschooly type, and we can do nothing formal (like practicing handwriting) with him around, though there is much learning happening with him.  So we also take breaks throughout the year on his schedule, too.  It is amazing how few 5-day weeks the public school schedule has.   :tongue_smilie:

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