Taking the whole summer off

[lea_lpz]

We've always schooled year round and only taken a short break in summer. I am feeling pretty burnt out and getting sick of all sorta of loose ends that seem to never get resolved since we tend to only take a week or two off at a time.

 

If you take a full 10-12 week summer break, what do you do with the time? How do you use it to make your next school year smoother? Do you complete 36 weeks of school in a traditional school year? Do you do less? Do you feel burned out and just keep going?

[Chris in VA]

Not hsing anymore, but when we did, we took the summer off (with one exception for my high schooler at the time, who wanted to graduate a bit early so we did a summer semester after his junior year so he could finish in Dec).

 

I believe so much life and learning take place informally during the summer that I really hesitated to school year 'round.

We read a lot--both aloud and individually, so that was just part of our lifestyle, not really "school," and didn't change in the summer.

We'd go a few places (vacation to relatives, mostly, as one of us who was not homeschooling didn't live with us for a while due to SA issues), swim at the pool, watch a few movies and TV, talk, make stuff, keep the house up, etc. Just...living. Dd would play outside, use her nature bag kit to draw things and gather things from the woods, paint--you know, just live the childhood life!

 

It made next year smoother because we'd come at things fresh. Me, too. I loved researching curriculum, so I'd spend the summer preparing. Loved when the boxes from RR came!

 

I did about 38-40 weeks of school. We'd start about the last week of August, just math and spelling or history (SOTW). We'd limp to the finish around the first week of June, having finished math (Saxon) in April or May.

[hollyhock]

That's exactly why I take the summers off now. It was easier to school year round when the kids were little but now that I have four in school and one nearing high school, I need that down time.

 

So I spend my summer gardening, sitting outside, watching the kids in the pool and maybe doing some bigger housecleaning or reno projects that I don't have time for during the school year. My kids swim, mow the lawn, farm with Dad, run around in the bush and grow things in the garden. We also go camping. I love having leisurely days without the pressure of getting school done.

 

I plan 36 weeks of school. We start in early September and finish by the end of May. We don't take very long breaks during the year. I started doing this when my youngest was born and I don't think I'll go back.

[Zoo Keeper]

We take the whole summer off; summer is too long coming in my neck of the woods (Maine) to spend it inside trying to convince your children that they really want to focus on that grammar worksheet... Green grass, sunshine, and spring fever is too powerful a combination to combat, especially after a looong winter.

 

We school from early September through May (goal is to be done by Memorial Day); other than Thanksgiving and Christmas, we don't take (planned) breaks and just keep on truckin'.  My kids do better with the consistency of it all.

 

Yes, we get cranky in February like everyone else, but my kids are very protective of their summer vacation, and would rather push through the pain.  We do complete all 175 days our state requires before we take our summer break. 

 

During the summer I plan out the schedules for next year's school, copy off maps or other worksheets and throw them in binders, pack up last year's stuff, organize the school shelves so that next year's stuff is accessible, and thin out the stash of books around the house.  I also do silly things like hang laundry, go for walks, try to sew something, maybe organize a closet, and take my favorite popsicles out of the box when the kids aren't looking.  :cool:   We do continue our trips to the library, but that's something we do as a family, and not just for school purposes.

 

I enjoy the time to just be mom, and not have to be mom and teacher. 

 

I can't pretend I know everything the kids are doing all summer or if it is remotely educational; I do know that they are very noisy and produce shocking amounts of dirty laundry.  :001_smile:

 

It's good for all of us. :001_cool:

 

 

[athomeontheprairie]

We don't take the summer off. Instead we do all those fun things that I forget to do during the normal school year. the fun craft projects, or the science experiments that never get done.

we read every day but that's life. but really the only school we do in the summer is the fun activities that I skip in the dead of winter. they play and I plan for the next year.

 

if you need permission to stop to take the summer off and start fresh this fall: I'll speak for the hive, it's ok. Take a break. Enjoy the summer and start fresh this fall

[Reefgazer]

We have never homeschooled year around; we have always knocked off school in late-May or early-June and not picked up one formal bit of school anything until late-August or early-September.  The kids and I have discussed a different schedule and re-evaluate each year, but we have all come to the conclusion that we like and need our little extended vacation.  We work steadily and *hard* throughout the school year, and we have incredible focus for the 34 weeks we are doing more formal/defined schoolwork.  I would be burned out without that extended break.  In addition, the kids like the time with their brick and mortar schooled friends, and those kids are out and about all summer.  I personally use that time to plan the new upcoming school year.

 

Now that said, we don't sit on our duffs all summer.  The kids are on both swim and dive teams, which takes up a ton of time in June and July, and both take riding lessons weekly.  Both kids participate in a few camps each summer (usually of an educational nature), and as a family, we haunt museums/zoos/gardens/historical sites for fun.  DD now has a job as a junior camp counselor for three weeks this summer.  Whew!  It's exhausting just thinking about it.  But it is fun because what we do is of a distinctly different nature than what we do during the school year.

[birchbark]

We also live where winters are long and summers are short, so we take the whole summer off. I do a 36-week schoolyear, but we fit it entirely between Labor Day and Memorial Day. We take a week or two off for Christmas and a week early in March (three birthdays that week!). That's it.

 

For summer, we:

 

Travel

Camp

Go to Camp

Read

Do swimming lessons

Work at the strawberry patch

Garden

Enjoy R&R

 

Most of my planning for the upcoming year is done in the spring, as we are finishing school. I will read some HS inspiration books during the summer, but other than that I do nothing with school so I can have a break.

 

ETA: As you can see in my siggy, my oldest is going to try doing some work this summer so he can get a jump on high school. We'll see how it goes.

[Soror]

Well, we took off the whole summer last year, I had to have the break, but it was rough starting back and I said I wouldn't do it again. So, I'm not doing a full 12 weeks but we are taking a break, I've decided it is important for my sanity and our family goals and priorities! So far this year we've been on break for a month or so already (we start early). I think we'll start back with some light school next week as the end of our year was rough with my having a hashi's crash and I have some loose ends I want to tie up but this will be short abbreviated versions of just the 3rs. I think ideally I'd like a 2 month break during summer and then a smaller break in the fall when the weather is perfect again.

 

As to what we do, we just got back from a 2 wk vacation, otherwise we spend a LOT of time outdoors, enjoy time together, the kids build and create, I catch up on cleaning and planning, we visit people more, we'll hit the pool, we'll do some camps and summer activities and just goof around.

 

Plenty of people break for the summer and do fabulously, so I say enjoy it! It seems that taking a break is maligned here but then again this place can be a pressure cooker for mom and kids so following the status quo isn't always the best.

[MotherGoose]

We are taking about 6 weeks off during the summer. I have a baby coming in Oct or we'd take longer probably. I need the time to plan for next year, clean, organize, garden, relax. Kids play, swim, and have fun. I get in the 180 days required by our state and stop after that. I find that I am DONE with school by early May but am usually ready to start back in July. We take off time during the year too.

[lmrich]

My kids are so busy this summer with activities. The time is quickly filled now that they are older. When they were younger I felt as if I was the activities cooridnator and somedays our activity included a school lesson. Most of the time it included time at the pool, bike rides, crafts, camping, visitng grandparents, etc.. you can fill time however you like. 

[Farrar]

We don't do summer off - it's hot and miserable in the middle so I figure we may as well do school. However, I learned a few years ago that longer breaks are sort of important and do help everyone refuel so we try to do a full month off in the early fall in addition to a couple of weeks here and there when the weather is lovely and we want to be outside or enjoying activities more. I used to sort of discount the need for a long break and now I am much more in favor it.

[Soror]

We don't do summer off - it's hot and miserable in the middle so I figure we may as well do school. However, I learned a few years ago that longer breaks are sort of important and do help everyone refuel so we try to do a full month off in the early fall in addition to a couple of weeks here and there when the weather is lovely and we want to be outside or enjoying activities more. I used to sort of discount the need for a long break and now I am much more in favor it.

I like May off here and we start back usually some time in July, the earlier is better but sometimes summer activities make this hard. I didn't work in a full fall break last year but I'm working my schedule now and am planning on getting in a good break in around October.

[MysteryJen]

We used to do light school during the summer, but now with teens and the relentless swim schedule (two-a-days and travel meets), we take a break. I need the time to prepare for my high schoolers and everyone gets time with friends and goof-off time.

 

We are all ready to get back to the regular fall schedule when August rolls around.

[SFM]

The last three years we have not taken summer off but this year, I am tired, I want a break. We are going to take all of summer. I am going to use that time to plan for the fall, make copies, get spines cut and spiral bound, etc. the kids will continue with mathematics reviews, writing everyday and reading everyday, because to me reading and writing aren't "school" those are things you should be doing anyways. So, add in the pool almost daily, library summer programs, and vacationing at the beach and visiting grandparents and our summer is quite full already. We are really looking forward to the break.

 

[MinivanMom]

We love our summer off. When my kids were smaller, I would sometimes cut into the summer to work around pregnancies and newborn babies, but we don't need to do that anymore. And I find the older my kids get, the more I need that summer break to mentally regroup; I need downtime to be just their mom. We always do 36 weeks of schoolwork plus 1 extra week for required standardized testing. I usually try to do 18 weeks before Christmas break and 19 weeks after. We keep breaks to a minimum so we can be done by Memorial Day.

 

I spend the summer:

- Deep-cleaning the house.

- Doing all the household projects I put off during the school year.

- Organizing (& throwing out) all the stuff we created during the previous year.

- Planning & prereading for the upcoming year.

- Catching up on my personal reading.

- Catching up on dental/medical appointments for the kids.

- Spending time hanging out with the kids.

- Letting the household revolve around the needs and interests of the baby (instead of revolving around the homeschool).

 

My kids love having a long break during the summer. It gives them a definite end to one year, so they don't feel like anything is hanging over their heads, and they love being off at the same time their public school friends are off. I do not require any schoolwork or music practice during the summer. Their time is entirely their own. We do spend a lot of time at the pool and movie theater, but, after a few weeks of downtime, I find my kids start picking up a lot of projects on their own. When they come back in the fall, they have always made a leap ahead in their skills despite the summer off.

[J&JMom]

I believe in long summer breaks. It rejuvenates and with all the activities (camp, beach vacations, pool) and public school friends, they/we need the time. It serves to mark the end of one academic year and transition to another.

But, it does not mean stop learning. .Even when the kids were in public school, I had them read daily and complete the summer bridge workbooks to keep their skills sharp. For last two homeschool years, several weeks were devoted to half days catching my younger son up.  This year, now that  he is 'caught up', we plan on several weeks with about 2 hours of 'academic' work per day - read aloud, free read for an hour plus math workbooks, critical thinking company programs, and Wordly Wise catch up lessons.  That should do the trick to keep the summer slump away.  BTW the math workbooks were from Scholastic dollar day sale:  http://shop.scholastic.com/shop/en/teacherstore/product/Kaleidoscope-Math-Grades-4-6.

We also take lots of breaks during the year.  I, personally, can't go for weeks at a time.  So we schedule at least 1 week per quarter off and three weeks around the Holidays.  It is amazing how refreshed we are after a week away from the grind.  So, our school year is 34 weeks, with about 5 weeks of summer "program". It is getting the job done and keeping every one sane.

[MrsWeasley]

When I feel burned out, we break. And then I remember how much the structure of school helps my kids' behavior, and then I'm ready to get back in the saddle. We do school more lightly in the summer, and only do open and go sort of activities, and only if there's nothing better to do. ;P

[ScoutTN]

We take a long summer break, mid May to mid August and we love it. As others have said, we just learn differently in the summer. Our summers have enough activity with swim team and the pool, VBS, and camp. We still manage to have lots of down time and relaxed time for unstructrued play. We get to do lots of cooking out with neighbors, go to minor league baseball games, outdoor concerts and just hang out with friends. Plus, both of my dc have summer birthdays.

 

We read lots and play math games and practice piano. It's plenty.

 

We need the break and we enjoy our school year more with a long and complete change of pace.

[TKDmom]

I am so ready to quit right now. I have one kid in ps and she has 2 more days of school. I have always done school year-round, but I want nothing more than to put away the books till August.

 

But today, I looked over what we've accomplished this year...and it's totally discouraging. I took too many breaks mid-year to feel like I can quit now. In some subjects (the ones I avoid and skip on busy days), we haven't even gotten half way through the book.  :sad:

 

I don't know if I should just take a long summer break and come back to the same books, force myself through the next 5 weeks till our big summer vacation, keep going with just math and writing, or if I should just stop now and abandon the books that we aren't making progress in.

 

Anyway, I know that's not helpful forthe OP...I came to the forums today to start a new thread with my sob story, but figured I'd just tack in on here, since I'm feeling about the same way she is.

[lea_lpz]

I am so ready to quit right now. I have one kid in ps and she has 2 more days of school. I have always done school year-round, but I want nothing more than to put away the books till August.

 

But today, I looked over what we've accomplished this year...and it's totally discouraging. I took too many breaks mid-year to feel like I can quit now. In some subjects (the ones I avoid and skip on busy days), we haven't even gotten half way through the book. :sad:

 

I don't know if I should just take a long summer break and come back to the same books, force myself through the next 5 weeks till our big summer vacation, keep going with just math and writing, or if I should just stop now and abandon the books that we aren't making progress in.

 

Anyway, I know that's not helpful forthe OP...I came to the forums today to start a new thread with my sob story, but figured I'd just tack in on here, since I'm feeling about the same way she is.

We're in the same place. My ds is who did transitional k and will be officially in k this year is fine. He's exceeded my academic goals and I am not at all worried. My 2nd grader on the other hand has not finished her grammar, handwriting or spelling and has another 6 weeks to go since we planned to school 6 more weeks. We also planned another 6 weeks of science and history but since we continuing our US history into next year and our science topics usually cover a new topic every 2-4 weeks it's not to big of a deal. I guess neither is the Lang arts in all honesty. She did finish her math book for the year.

 

This year was quite a year! We have a 14 month old, so through out the year we had days were all we did was math & Lang and read alouds. DD had surgery in August so started school mid September. We took an extended winter break since I ended up taking a winter session. Did I mention I go to graduate school part time? We had a lot of light days when I had projects due or finals. So my dilemma is a part of me feels like I should keep going, especially since I don't have as much going on. Then, I feel like I am just treading water in so many areas --- homeschool planning, paperwork, housework, laundry, organizing, oh yeah, and my own school----that maybe if I took these 12 weeks to get everything super organized and planned, things would run smoother so we wouldn't need all these emergency breaks. I love the flexibility but at times I feel it confuses the kids. They don't know if we are doing school or not. Sometimes I don't even know?!? And I just feel like I can not drag myself to do it anymore.

 

Another thing? I think I want to plan my own curriculum. I have been doing mfw and while I liked to get an idea of how to structure our time and see what's realistic to do each day, week, get some hand holding, I think it's caused some extra anxiety / stress since I keep adding things in or swapping things out as I go because I am tweaking it on the fly versus taking time to plan ahead.

 

Which is a whole new concept. How do you plan out your own curriculum? I think my plan will be a general overview of what we plan to cover, our projected school calendar, and then a more detailed list of 6 week course objectives for each "unit" followed by weekly detailed planning, ie, plugging what we hope to do into set days.

[Peaceful Isle]

I plan on taking a long summer break this year, because we need it. We will start back in August.

 

We have many things planned for the summer. We are going to two family camps and my teen is going to two teen camps. We also will go to the beach and having one family vacation. We also have some friends coming to visit and stay a bit with us.

I'm afraid if I don't start school in August, my calendar will be filled up quickly with activities!!

[lea_lpz]

So thinking out loud----

No k for summer

DD continues her Lang arts stuff until she's done- they are almost completely independent anyhow and only take 30 minutes plus maybe 30 min reading (also independent) and then nothing

We do nothing at least for a couple weeks, maybe start swim lessons, June 22 or after 4th of July. I need some weeks of nothing. We had stuff going on m-the afternoon pretty much all the trad. school year.

We start school when I stop feeling burned out and my house feels organized, could be July 1, could be August, could be after Labor Day....

[Mommy22alyns]

I need a few weeks to completely decompress.  Then I work on acquainting myself with the TM, gradually making supply lists, re-reading pertinent parts of my reference books, making book basket lists, etc.  By the time the second week in August rolls around, I'm ready to begin again.

 

My ODD trains 22 hours a week in the summer, this is 5 days a week, so she really can't do much of anything else.  We fit in some summer library activities, regular playing, and VBS around that.

 

YDD hangs out at home and chills a lot, but she also does VBS and a choir camp.  I'm thinking of signing her up for a Minecraft homeschool camp too.

 

I haven't really had trouble getting all of our work done between August and May.

[thebacabunch]

Summer is the only time of year my house is clean!  I love summer break and need it.  

[TKDmom]

So thinking out loud----

No k for summer

DD continues her Lang arts stuff until she's done- they are almost completely independent anyhow and only take 30 minutes plus maybe 30 min reading (also independent) and then nothing

We do nothing at least for a couple weeks, maybe start swim lessons, June 22 or after 4th of July. I need some weeks of nothing. We had stuff going on m-the afternoon pretty much all the trad. school year.

We start school when I stop feeling burned out and my house feels organized, could be July 1, could be August, could be after Labor Day....

That sounds like a good compromise. I sat down last night and planned out what seems most essential to me. Each kid had 3 subjects where I want to finish the book. Math for my boys. Some writing, spelling for one ds, history for other ds and for dd. dd has an online science class she has to continue with. That sounds like a lot writing it out, but it looks doable on my little spreadsheet. We can get this done in less than an hour each day. <deep breath>

 

We are going to keep up with our family read-alouds (working through the Chronicals of Narnia right now). I'm going to give my 5yo the first half hour of the day, reading to her and doing any big-girl school work she demands. She has been in school all year and has started to feel like she's missing out on the whole working-with-mommy homeschool thing.

 

Other than that...we will go to the beach, find some parks with lots of shade so I can sit and do nothing while the kids run around, go to the pool, go to the zoo, play with friends that they don't see much during the school year... I live in the land of eternal summer and June/July/August are truly miserable. That's why I've always schooled through the summer. But there are so many friends around and activities going on in the summer that we haven't been effective at schooling during the break anyway. We've also got a 3-week road trip planned across the country in July. That will get us out of the heat and out of the daily grind.

 

AND...I'm going to spend some time reading Charlotte Mason books and Bravewriter philosophy and reading TMs so I don't feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants when we start back up in August.

[Heathermomster]

We've always schooled year round and only taken a short break in summer. I am feeling pretty burnt out and getting sick of all sorta of loose ends that seem to never get resolved since we tend to only take a week or two off at a time.

 

If you take a full 10-12 week summer break, what do you do with the time? How do you use it to make your next school year smoother? Do you complete 36 weeks of school in a traditional school year? Do you do less? Do you feel burned out and just keep going?

I don't formally school over the summer and couldn't homeschool without a break.  I expect my kiddos will practice math, and DD will start violin lessons next week.  DS works VBS while DD attends.

 

What do we do with the time?  We rest, visit friends, family, and attend weddings.  We invite families over for dinner.  The kids hang with their friends to hike, swim, watch movies, and play.  Both kids catch up with friends that are in school or homeschool on the other side of town. I visit with a friend, and we knit, sew, and make presents for Christmas.  I read about subjects that I need to teach but don't know much about.  I review curriculum choices and explore software (like Onenote) to help with schooling.  Once I sit down to type up course descriptions and school year plans, we start school.

 

My kids take classes at a hs cover, and the classes are 36 weeks long.  Our covers expects us to account for 180 school days, which includes 10 sick days/semester and 5 paperwork days.  

[lea_lpz]

TKDmom

I agree! I feel for me (and this is just me because I know plenty of moms who say they pretty much never finish a book and it's ok, and it is!), that I want her to finish her spelling book, phonics, and grammar. I looked at it yesterday and she actually only has about a week to go for phonics and grammar and 5 spelling lessons. She does these subjects pretty independently. With spelling I give her test and help her with some of the activities, but this literally like 10-15 min. Then getting her to read 20-30 min a day is easy since she likes to read. No struggle there.

 

As far as our core, I would like to get the last 6 weeks in but in the grand scheme getting to 1850 versus getting to 1812 is probably not a deal breaker. If by the time we get to July and I don't feel utterly burned out, maybe we'll pick our core back up and wrap up those last six weeks, without doing math and Lang until the fall.

 

So another issue related to burn out.....it's hard to admit but a big cause of me feeling burned out is we are going through some behavior issues. So I feel like I can't really keep homeschooling with the attitudes. My husband and I were discussing it and I feel like because I had so much going on we were not always able to deal immediately with behavior issues since we were hoping from one place to another. And then they are probably burned out, too. They have also were spending 2 afternoons a week with my mom and stepdad when I had class. No is not in my mothers vocabulary. She gets very defensive if I try to talk to her about the kids and what we do and don't allow. I kind of just let it go and figure what they do when I am not there is out of my control. She can't even comprehend how their behavior reflects her utter permissiveness. But the aftermath I deal with when they come home! I don't know if it's even worth it!

[onemom22boys]

We take a much lighter schedule during the summer and only do math and grammar 2-3 days per week.  Dd has learning issues, so if we stop completely for 10-12 weeks, she loses much of what she has learned.  It is easier for me to do a little during each summer than to try and reteach in the fall.

 

This also allows our winter schedule to be a little lighter.  We will do grammar and math 4 days per week rather than 5.

 

BTW, we're using Homeschool Plus for dd to earn her diploma, and they require a student to complete all books to receive a high school credit in that particular subject.

 

Gina

[RootAnn]

If my younger kids don't do math for a couple weeks, it takes forever to get them back on track. So, we take some time completely off, but we also do light weeks:  math, typing for the olders, and either reading or something else to make about an hour of work a day. I need my time off, but they need to have some sort of a loose schedule and they need to not forget math!

 

I love spending my time learning, refreshing, and planning for the next school year. I clean the school room, organize things, and get everything fresh & ready to go!