if you don't school year round...

[ProudGrandma]

when are you starting school?  I want to start the first full week in August, but we are camping for 2 days the second week and I don't know if it would be bad to start and then have a break that quick...but waiting until the first of the 3rd week seems really late for me...especially since we like the freedom to take off once in a while during the year....

 

decisions, decisions....

[Ethel Mertz]

We usually school year round, but this summer, due to sabbatical traveling, we aren't getting much done. I'm thinking we will start back on August 26th.

[regentrude]

we normally start around August 17, a week before I  have to go back to teaching. That  gives us time for a 17 week semester before Christmas.

[Dmmetler]

Schools here start Aug 4. I'm planning to start August 11, but it may end up being "start online classes and extracurriculars August 11, start everything else Aug 17" because we'll be out of town until August 9 or 10, and even though I'm trying to get everything ready to start before we leave, I may need more time.

[charcat13]

Public school starts Aug. 7 here.

[prairiegirl]

We usually go back the first week of August but this year, due to some difficulties, we will be starting back the first week of Sept.

[jaderbee]

I like to stay old public school traditional- Tuesday after Labor Day. Last year my kids wanted to start back so badly I think we started a week after public school in August sometime. Oh and it wasn't because they're all eager for some learnin'. They wanted to wear their new clothes and backpacks (from my mom who was a school teacher).

[Jayne J]

We are starting on the 18th. Public school here starts on the 26th.

[Loowit]

The public schools here aren't starting until the Wednesday after Labor day.  The last few years we started about a week before that.  This year I am going to start DD on August 18th, and do school with just her for two weeks. She is starting High School and I want to help her get into a good routine and make sure she gets any help she needs, then the boys will start Sept. 2nd, one day before public schools.  I wouldn't want to start any sooner than I am because it would just feel way too early to me, the 18th already seems too early.

[Critterfixer]

I wouldn't worry one little bit about a short vacation at the start of school. Half of the time you are doing review anyway, assessing where you are, and how much has gone down the garbage disposal over summer break. We hadn't been in school two weeks when I had this kitchen remodel, which put us out of commission due to the noise and lack of space. We took two days off to let our ears stop ringing, and have been back at it on a limited basis this week.

It hasn't seemed to make anyone out of sorts.

[Coco_Clark]

We do a bit of math, read aloud, and quiet reading in the summer but not enough to call school.

 

We start up the Tuesday after Labor Day. It's a week or two after public school starts.

[SeaConquest]

We are starting the Tuesday after Labor Day. 

[Reefgazer]

We follow the private/public school schedule here because so many of my kids' friends are schooled in B+M buildings.  So the day after Labor Day through the end of May or early June.

[Reefgazer]

Wow, that's early!

Public school starts Aug. 7 here.

 

[lucylu0508]

We are starting the Tuesday after Labor Day here as well.

[My3Munchkins]

We start the first full week in August. That gives us time to get back in the swing of things before extracurricular activities start around Labor Day.

[Meadowlark]

We start the first week of August also. I like the wiggle room. But, like you, August has a few things on the calendar that I just can't pass up. I like to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves...which I love but also seems to get us in a teeny bit of trouble, lol. I started stressing too about getting in a good groove and then ditching it, but then I remembered my general philosophy,which is that learning happens in all sorts of places, not just in my home. When we're home with nothing to do, we do school. When we have the opportunity to go to a nature program, the park, etc...we go. It's always just worked out in the end and I'm hoping it will this year too.

[Melissa B]

Public schools here start August 18th.

 

We will start back August 25th.

 

ETA: Summer Theatre here ends on August 17th, with our final production, tear down and a cast party. I feel for all of the kids that then have to get up for the first day of school the very next day!

 

[redsquirrel]

School here starts the Wednesday after Labor day. I usually start school on Labor Day because its quiet anyway and I like to start on a Monday.

 

This year, I will have a kid in public high school and one at home and so I haven't quite figured out how we are going to handle it. I might give the homeschool kid that week off and start him on the following monday. I did that one year with my kids, but once school starts around here things get dead quiet during the day. There was NOTHING to do and the whole town seemed so quiet. We got bored and lonely, lol.

 

 

[HS Mom in NC]

Our ps started this week.  It's a modified year round schedule.

  I usually follow the ps year to maximize my daughter's time with her two friends in the neighborhood who go to ps but I had a medical situation that has been going on since Thursday.  I'm having surgery mid-August. So, we'll start this Monday and do 2 weeks of school then I'll take off the week of the surgery and get back to it when I feel like it.  I organize my year by 36 weeks with the 36 week file folder system, so the dates don't matter much to me-I just need to do things in sequential order.

[Roadrunner]

Schools here start in the second week of August. We are starting to get ready little by little. Creating folders, organizing desks, discussing plans, I am doing everything to create excitement around here. If I were you, I would start doing little school before the trip, but wait until after the trip for a full time school.

 

The first day the public school goes back, we hit the beach with ice cream. We are creating traditions here and rebelling a little. :)

[Carrie12345]

September 1st.

Our local schools go back September 2nd.  I've always lived where school is a September-June thing, so we just keep going with it.  We do designate some summer activities as "school days", so we have a little more breathing room, but they're not sit-down academic days.

[brookspr]

You could compromise. Start off slowly. When I'm in "no longer want to pay attention because I have something coming up" mode we do math, reading, and a bit of writing. We did that all this week because we are on vacation soon and nobody is thinking about school.

This is what we did last year for our first year of homeschooling and it worked well. I think we are going to start with morning time, Latin and literature the last week of August and work in history, science (DS only) and math after a few weeks. Morning time will be some Shakespeare/poetry, logic, memory work, note-taking practice and grammar. The kids will probably take lots of breaks during the day to get outside since the weather is still nice.

 

We will start the last week of August because my daughter is going to the high school part time for choir, band and biology. They start August 27th so we will get started then, too.

[KrissiK]

We are starting on the 11th of August. I want to log about 190 days for the school year, but I also have to work around the fact that we have a street full of kids, so I have to stick sort of close to the local ps and private school schedules. The Christian school that the kids across the street go to start August 13 and the ps start August 18, so I think we're going to be good.

[Desert Strawberry]

We take a short break May to July. We start again mid July. I don't know when public school starts, but we don't go by that.

[MEmama]

August 18. Normally we start earlier but we have a few interruptions on the calendar, and that makes it too hard for us to find our groove. We tend to jump right in to the schedule, though I keep the days short while the weather is still nice and ps friends can play.

 

DS is always eager to get back to schoolwork, but family likes to visit in early fall which makes it really hard for the first couple of months. I'm putting an end to that next year (we weren't consulted this year). I'm tired of being treated as though our work can be put on hold at the whims of everyone else.

[SorrelZG]

The 18th at the earliest.

[Ellie]

Yeah from my perspective the first week of August sounds insanely early.  They don't go back here until second week of September.

 

But the way that works out in schools is that they finish the first semester by Christmas. I remember being totally messed up when I was a junior in South Carolina, took the semester exams and whatnot, moved to California during Christmas vacation (my stepfather was in the Navy and had been transferred), had two weeks of school in California and had to take semester exams again in classes that were pretty much nothing like the ones I'd had in S.C., even though they had the same titles. o_0

 

So as a homeschooler, if semesters had been important (which they are not in California), I would have started early enough to finish by Christmas.

[momto2Cs]

I usually start school on Labor Day because its quiet anyway and I like to start on a Monday.

 

That's my plan! I did sit down with the kids, and we went over the pros and cons of both year round homeschooling, with breaks here and there, and a more traditional schedule. They chose the more traditional one because they enjoy their summer vacation.

 

[Saddlemomma]

We usually start the last week of August and finish by mid-May.

[TracyP]

We will start slowly on Monday (July 28). Our official first day of school is August 25.

[ScoutTN]

We take the summer completely off from formal schoolwork.

 

We will start back August 18. Public school starts here the first week of August. We generally go mid August to mid May.

All of our extra curricular activities will be up and running the last week of August, so it is nice to have at least a week to get into our school routine before we jump into the full fall schedule.

 

We do ease in with a good bit of review the first two weeks. We take our family vacation in September this year, so we will take a break after about 6 weeks.

[Mom22ns]

We're starting August 18th. Public schools here will start the Wednesday before that, but I'm not a fan of mid-week starts.

[Coffeemama]

September 1 (Labor Day) easy day. Full days starting Tuesday.

[texasmama]

We do light school in the summer, but our official school year always starts the Monday after our Friday co op starts.  This year, that Monday falls on August 18th.

[katilac]

We start August 4 - always the first full week in August, we hate the idea of starting mid-week, lol. 

 

We like a slow start. As others noted, you have to set up notebooks, go over the books and resources, discuss what you'll be doing, maybe fit in some review, and so on. I can't imagine starting in September and having to do all that. We do take off extra days here and there, so starting in September and then having the holiday season begin only 3 months later does not work for me. 

 

Pretty much, I split my year into full schedules, slow schedules, and off times. Slow schedule means we are doing school at a reduced rate, from 1/2 to 3/4 of full schedule. 

 

Start first full week in August, this month is about 3/4 schedule, allowing for extra visits with friends and so forth. 

 

Full schedule, hitting it hard, from September through mid-November. We will have 3-5 days of field trips and off days in this mix. 

 

Thanksgiving to New Year's is a slow holiday schedule, roughly 1/2 off full schedule with a lot of fun projects, field trips, and days off. We take off 2 days for Thanksgiving, and 2 weeks for Christmas (one of those weeks might be split up a bit). The goal is 50% of work done in the first semester; even though the second semester is longer, there are always a truck load of extra activities and interruptions in May. We have several long weekends and random days off in the spring semester, and sometimes a full week of vacation. 

 

Depending on what we've gotten done, and if we take a lot of vacation in spring, June is no more than 1/2 time and probably a good bit less. This year, oldest dd had a couple of weeks of math to finish b/c we went on a spring vacation, and we had some history reading and such. It's usually some reading, maybe some videos we never got around to watching, or projects to finish up. Still plenty of time for visiting the pool, lazing about, and so on. 

 

July is completely off, and then we start again in August! 

 

My kids prefer more school days to longer school days, and the ability to take off random days here and there rather than a super long summer. Summers here are hot and humid and yuck, so being able to take off a day or half-day in the fall and spring is very valuable. You never know when pleasant days will occur, so you can't even schedule them in advance! 

[sdobis]

We start early-mid August because we like to school only 4 days a week. This gives us plenty of time to get our 180 days in on time. I agree with those that have said to start slowly. My kids prefer it that way. It gives them time to acclimate to their school days and new curricula.