How much time are you taking off this holiday season?

[Halcyon]

I am thinking the 23rd to the 1st (starting school again the 2nd). 

[GoVanGogh]

We finished this past Wednesday. I have no clue when we will resume.

DS has a large homework assignment due for outside class on January 13th so we may start up week prior.

I really need this break so much more than any break in the past. 2013 has been a bad year for us medically and I really need to recharge and regain my health.

[Soror]

Looks like we are breaking from the 19th to the 30th and a light week for New Years as we won't be doing school when dh is off. I had planned to school through Thursday next week but now we have an appt so we are going to break a day early. 

[Farrar]

With ds's schedule for the Christmas production he's in and the general lack of sleep he was getting, I gave in and let us take off partway through this week.  So we'll end up taking nearly a month off.  We've done that in the past too, though with different timing.  I didn't intend to do it this year, but I'm not going to beat myself up over it.  We just won't take another long break this year until maybe May.  And with no spring production on the horizon, that will be more of an option this year.

[happypamama]

Three beautiful, glorious weeks!  Well, the older kids have a couple of independent things to finish up next week that they didn't get to this week.  We are planning to do crafts and baking and reading, so they'll count as school days, but it won't be the usual math and writing and all.  We'll have company off and on for a bit, and DH will be off/working at home off and on, so we won't start back to school until the Monday after New Year's.

 

(I need the time to catch up on some projects around the house that I couldn't do while very pregnant and with a newborn, and I find that it's just really difficult to get to those things while doing schoolwork too.)

[sunnyday]

LOL. We're doing the opposite, DS is out of public school for two weeks so we are revving up to pack as much "learning" in as possible. We'll have to have a couple of low-key days as I prepare to host a big dinner on Christmas, but otherwise this is our time to kick it into high gear and do full-time homeschool. He's so thrilled and so am I. ;)

[Murphy101]

Well a lot more than I planned.

Went into hospital thanksgiving day for 6 days, had surgery day 5 of that, came home and had a friend with a horrid stomach bug gift us with her virus, just got everyone over that and the last day or so I'm finally starting to feel more than 50% towards fully healed.

 

Normally, we only take the week of Christmas until the first Monday after New Years.

 

This year it looks like it will be from thanksgiving to the first Monday after New Years.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Dh has two weeks off, so I imagine we won't try and school while he is home! Maybe a day here and there.  So I'm thinking we'll break from 12/20-1/6.  The girls will be ecstatic!  And maybe even a little bored, and ready to start up again in January.  Hope springs eternal.

[Gentlemommy]

Thursday was our last day until Jan. 1. We will do 4 light days, and start full force Jan. 6. It's our first 'official' break in...a year? Or more maybe. We went right through summer this year, minus the weeks of full day farm camp. We typically school year round, and do very short days, because it's what works best for my ADD dd8, and it's less stressful while having a toddler to do just 2.5-3 hours of school per day. We take days off when we need them, but we haven't really in the past few months. My dd8 has shown so much improvement in focus ability, she is consistently doing 60 min of math and 45 min of writing work. That is a huge huge difference from last year. We are ahead (a first!) on all subjects, except for history, we are right on target. However, I'll continue to read SOTW during our break, since dd enjoys that. Plus, she's reading like mad right now, and reads upwards of three hours per day. I'm good with her working on just that for a couple weeks. I'll continue to work with dd5 on reading, she's finally figured some out and is excited to practice reading her books everyday.

[Rachel]

2 weeks, plus my husband will be off for a week of that.  I do plan to do some projects with the kids that we don't haven't fit into our regular schedule.

[FO4UR]

One week.

[Desert Strawberry]

4 days for Christmas, one day for New Year. 

We take off when my dh is home.

[CrunchyGirl]

Probably just Xmas eve and Xmas day. Maybe NYD because we run an inventory based business so that's the most miserable work day of the year.

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

We were supposed to have gone through this week but Thursday the 5th ended up being our last day; we'll start back January 6. So we'll end up having 4 full weeks off. This week ended up being a lot of Christmas fun at a friend's house, a sleep over and cookie/craft making at Grandma's and a night alone and shopping for mom and dad. :hurray: I'm fine with this long break. We school year round anyway so we have no problem getting through our material. I was going to take off from Thanksgiving through New Year's but my husband didn't want to. I got in an extra 4 days for him. :-)

 

My mom always took off from Thanksgiving through New Year's week and it was great. We had plenty of time to bake, make crafts and gifts, shop, decorate, and host parties. Just trying to do 2 weeks of school this December has made Christmas feel rushed to me. We're doing Christmas with my husband's family on Saturday and I have soooo much left to do!

[Mommy_of_4]

2 days for Christmas.  We only take off when DH is off of work.

[Karen in CO]

Two weeks - Dec 23rd and returning Jan 6th.  Easy, relaxing and some skiing.

[Mona]

One week here, too.

[RootAnn]

I'm with the minority here - not too many days off. We'll take off the week of Christmas (23rd-27th), New Years Eve & New Years Day.

[nmoira]

Two full school weeks starting the 23rd. I'm tired.

[sassenach]

Two full school weeks starting the 23rd. I'm tired.

This. On both counts.

[TheApprentice]

We're taking 3 weeks. Dec. 16 to Jan. 6. We'll have family in town from the 25th to the 2nd, So that partial week in January would be a total bust. So the first full week in Jan. it is.

[fourcatmom]

We ended last Thursday (13th) and won't start up again until Jan. 6th. So looking forward to a break to re-group, spend some fun time together and get organized again. We have been going since July so we are ready for some down time. :001_smile: And my house needs a good cleaning! :D

[Mandylubug]

We took 2 weeks off starting on Thanksgiving. We start back Monday, break for eve and day of Christmas. DHs vacation just fell at an odd time and he's working the actual holiday.

[73349]

Christmas Day only.

[fdrinca]

Just a few - probably 5 altogether. We will be at my father's house and the kid-friendly activities are scarce. We will do school to keep the kids busy as much as anything. Plus, it makes it easier for us to take a day off to go to the beach during the "school year."

[ByGrace3]

3 delightful weeks. Now if I could only convince dh to get cable so I could watch Hallmark Christmas movies...:lol:

[lots of little ducklings]

My mother, a retired ps Kindy teacher, always wished she could take her vaca before Christmas, when she needed it most-- so I've followed her advice and done the same these last two years. It's been wonderful! From Thanksgiving to New Year's Day, we do "half-days" (lots of reading and math, just to keep our brains fresh), except Christmas week, which is a true vacation while we travel. This allows me time to finish all the holiday prep, wrapping, and packing, plus the thousands of projects that have accumulated around the house, while still actually enjoying the advent season w/minimal stress (decorating, baking cookies w/kids, parties...).

 

Might be harder as the kiddos get older, but it works beautifully w/ K and 1st.

[TrixieB]

Two full school weeks starting the 23rd. I'm tired.

 

Same here.

 

The week of Dec. 16 will be a light week.  My kids have finished most of the homework for their outside classes (at least in theory this is the case -- I had better check) and they have no outside classes that week.  So they just have schoolwork for the few classes I teach.  I'll bet they manage to dawdle and stretch out that work to last the whole day, every day.  :rolleyes:

[Piper]

I had planned two weeks, but we've been hemorrhaging school days this past month or two, with lots of bugs doing the rounds of the family, so I'm going to take as few days as possible.  We will probably do school a day or two the week of Christmas, and maybe take NYD off, but that's about it.  Boo.  :thumbdown:

[texasmama]

Two weeks, from Dec 19 (kid #3's bday) until Jan 2nd. Co op starts back on Jan 3rd, and the kids will have co op homework prior to meeting that day so they will complete it that week.

[fourisenough]

Well, we've been off CC since Thanksgiving, but spent the last two weeks doing math + an in-depth study of American Revolution, complete with a presentation on George Washington (we're doing SOTW vol. 3, in addition to CC history, and luckily we hit the Am Rev chapters during a break). We'll wrap up our study and do some review this week, then break for Christmas Dec. 23-Jan. 1. It was lovely to have time to do a deep dive on just one subject. May do the same with a science topic during our February break week.

[Guest]

2 weeks - starting the 23rd and we'll go back the 6th. The first week will be to watch movies and do Christmas stuff with the kiddos. I can't wait to clean my house and create a few bags for Goodwill after Christmas!

[Woodland Mist Academy]

This week we are doing a couple light days (due to appointments), with normal days for the remainder of the week.  The following week (23-29) will be a lighter week, but we plan to continue with the basics. (I know, call me Scrooge. :sneaky2: ) 

 

[Dmmetler]

About 2 weeks, but we've been on a light schedule the last 2 weeks because DD has had so much at night. This week, DH is off work, and about 3/4 of DD's stuff is finished for the year, so she has a few activities this week to do, and two online classes to finish up (the final group session with the teacher is tomorrow for both, but there will probably be some final concluding assignments due Friday). She is playing at a retirement home on the 23rd, and that's our last outside the house set activity for anyone until Jan 2 (when DH goes back to work) and Jan 6, when DD's stuff starts up again.

 

 

 

 

[Luckymama]

We've also had two lightish weeks with Nutcracker performances. This week will be at full-strength or even greater (she'll be thrilled lol), and then we'll take off the following two complete weeks :D

 

It will be nice having all three kids at home :)

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

We'll only take off the days that dh is home, so December 24-27 and December 31-January 1.  Things work better around here with our normal routine so we'll just keep at it.

[My3girls]

Originally, I had planned 12/20-1/6, but dd8 has such a hard time getting back on track after a break. For Thanksgiving, we took off 5 days and getting started again was a nightmare. We'll just take off 2 days for Christmas and 1 for New Year's Day. For those 2 weeks, the work load will be light, though, just enough to keep us in the rhythm, kwim?

[MotherOfBoys]

Just the week of Christmas. I want them to see the calendar change during school for the new year. I also agree with Lisa in UP of MI that things work better around here with our normal routine.

 

We just got invited to skiing in Jan, Disney week in Feb and rock climbing in Feb. So with that all coming up we should just take a week now.

[elegantlion]

Two weeks. We were off a week at Thanksgiving and I start back to college on the 13th. I want at least a week head start with ds. 

[5LittleMonkeys]

More than we academically should and less than I mentally need. 

[sewingmama]

6 weeks or maybe even 8 weeks if the kids aren't bored by then. We are on summer holidays. DH is a school principal and is off for 6 weeks as well. I think I am more excited about it then the kids...no more school...no more planning...no more listening to kids whining about how they hate school.... Lol.

[lea_lpz]

Thanksgiving until the week of Christmas we do school "light", a bit of Lang and math, read alouds, crafts, baking, and weekly / sometimes 2x field trips or special stuff. Then 2 full weeks off where we will just bake, craft, watch movies and read Christmas stories and enjoy Christmas / New Year. After that we'll resume.

 

I find it easier because we usually have lots of commitments between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So far we've marched in Christmas Parade, gone to the Nut Cracker, attended a homeschool craft faire, had a Holiday Bazaar with our AHG troop, gone to a homeschool day at Cal Academy and we'll got to the Monterey Bay Aquarium homeschool day on Tuesday. We still have our regular AHG, AWANA, riding lessons meeting weekly, so still a lot going on...

 

But the two weeks of Christmas and New Year we have no commitments. I secretly love the 12 Days of Christmas following Christmas...when we can just stay home and not leave the house at all. When we've visited the relatives and purchased and given out the gifts and we can unplug! We often do a tech free week around this time too and just enjoy being home. It's like recharging for the New Year! I feel like it embodies the true essence if how I want the holidays to be-stress free, a te to slow down and be with my kids and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas :)

[mom31257]

We are taking off the two weeks that dh is off from his school (the weeks of Christmas and New Years); however, I'm considering taking it easy the week of January 6th. Dd has an outside Spanish class that will probably meet that Monday, and both have assignments to work on for outside classes (writing and science). I'm thinking of that being all we do for the week. 

 

 

[Doodle]

4 days for Christmas, one day for New Year. 

We take off when my dh is home.

 

My husband works at home, so he is always home, but we take off when he is off.

[Mbelle]

Two weeks.  We will finish this Friday and begin again Jan 6th.

[Lizzie in Ma]

Two weeks.  We will finish this Friday and begin again Jan 6th.

 

Us too.  Outlaws arriving next Monday for the week, can't wait!

[Ellie]

When the dc were home, we took off Thanksgiving through about the middle of January. For the first few years of our homeschooling, we attended a very big church that put on a big Christmas program--Dickens costumes, multiple rehearsals, six performances *the weekend immediately before Christmas*--there was just not going to be anything that looked like school from Thanksgiving on. So I put the books away and called it good (we did still go to the library and on our weekly field trips, though). Eventually, I discovered that we just really liked having a winter break and a summer break instead of a long summer break. :-)

[Melenie]

We are taking a full week over Christmas and 1 day for new year.

[MinivanMom]

2 weeks

[MysteryJen]

We will be off from the 23rd to the 5th, starting back up on the 6th. The older kids have stuff to do (catch up and for dd1 get ahead in preparation for a very busy and exhausting January).

 

It is not really off though, because Christmas doubles start and everyone is pretty tired and dh will be working for nearly all of the break. We take a better break in March.