Question for People Who Plan :)

[TheAttachedMama]

This is a question for people who lay out their overall school year.  

 

I am trying to figure out when I will (approximately) finish up our school year.  (36 weeks)   The kids didn't get much of a summer break because we missed so much school last year.   They are still finishing up their math books and some other important things before we call this year over.    I would love to take all of August and September off.   But I don't want to get too far behind the public school schedule because of standardized testing.   I want to start school early enough so that we can still finish up our year by the end of June/start of July.   I just want to make sure that I allow enough slack time to make that realistic.  

 

I've laid out what weeks I know we will take off for vacation, but now I am trying to estimate how many days we will miss for illness and life's various emergencies.   For those who have more experience than me, what is a realistic estimate for me to make?  

 

Last year I estimated 1 week every 6 weeks and that wasn't realistic at all.   (But maybe it was just a bad year.)  

 

Another thing to consider is that my two oldest kids are combined in most every subject.  They are both young enough that they don't do too much independently.   So if one of them gets sick, they usually both miss school so that they can stay together in their lessons.  (I really don't want to have two AAS lessons going where one is just slightly ahead or behind for example.)   But maybe that is a bad policy??  

 

Just share with me your wisdom and advice oh great homeschool gurus!   :) 

[MinivanMom]

When I plan our year, I give myself 4 weeks of makeups: 1 week of leeway during the first semester and 3 weeks of leeway during the second semester. So for the first semester (18 weeks), I am planning only 17 weeks of read-alouds, history, science, etc. For the second semester (18 weeks), I am planning only 15 weeks. This works for us, because I plan our year so that we do the entire first semester before our Christmas break and the entire second semester after the Christmas break. I find that we need more leeway in the second semester, because of snow days in the winter and then field trip days when the weather gets nice. Sometimes it winds up being too much leeway, and our last week of school winds up being really light with only math & language arts. The kids have never complained about that.

 

Our math and language arts isn't broken down like this; I just keep doing the next thing. When they finish one level, we start the next.

[mmasc]

Well, I used Chelli's planning method at The Planted Trees blog and I'm excited about it! It might not be helpful for *exactly* what you're asking, but what helped me the most was this: After marking off your known breaks (which you've done), see how many days a month you need to 'do school' to accomplish those goals. (She shows how) I can't explain it like she did, but basically I've calculated that we need to do 17 days a month to finish what I want to finish. If the end of the month rolls around and I'm only at 15, I know I need to fit in a couple of extra days. I know this doesn't help you with how many days to factor for illness, etc, but I think the method will help in knowing if you're 'behind' or have some extra days to play around with. Before, I had no idea where we were with regards to finishing our curricula by year-end. :/

Good luck!

[FairProspects]

I think 4-5 weeks is about right for illness and makeups. I kept attendance through HST+ last year and while we were sicker than normal, one kid missed 20 days or school and the other missed 25 days (a few were also days I got sick and cancelled school for everyone). We also do the next thing for most subjects, but I'm going to expect around 20 days of illness or random appointments and car breakdowns and buffer that into my schedule. This is not counting full break weeks like Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. We don't take a spring break because it never lines up on the same week with all our lessons and activities.

[73349]

I build in some review/catch-up weeks for each subject (not all at once, except weeks like Thanksgiving), and use them to catch up if needed. For example, next winter I have week 21 marked for review in environmental science, 22 for memory work and history, 24 for character and life skills, 24 in science, 25 in Spanish. If we aren't caught up, we do that instead of reviewing; if we get ahead, I can make school shorter or find more resources for enrichment.

 

That said, how long of a break is really right for your kids? Might three or four weeks serve just as well as nine or ten? (My bias here is that DS seems to need a week to get up to speed for every week we had off, so we hardly ever take a week completely off--even if school is only half an hour.)

 

ETA: We don't get sick much; if we did, I'd probably build in more time. Last year DS was only sick enough to cancel school once, and I think one other day school was output-free couch time.

[Arcadia]

My kids and I suffer from hay fever the most in January and April each year. I estimate based on nothing gets done in those months. We do get some things done slowly with lots of Kleenex :)

[TheAttachedMama]

That said, how long of a break is really right for your kids? Might three or four weeks serve just as well as nine or ten? (My bias here is that DS seems to need a week to get up to speed for every week we had off, so we hardly ever take a week completely off--even if school is only half an hour.)

 

 

Honestly, ***I***would be happy just taking three weeks off!   My kids tend to do SO much better when they have some routine.   When we are off for long periods of time they tend to start fighting with one another.   When we do school, they tend to get along great.   (Go figure!)   Plus, they are both trying to master those skill based subjects like writing, reading, spelling, math facts, etc.   So I hate taking too much time off from those things because of the back slide in skills.  

 

However, ***they*** really want a break.   They are old enough to realize that the neighborhood kids have gotten weeks of summer break.   I've been dong a light version of school this summer, but they keep asking when their summer break will start.   I was thinking that if I could lay out the year and show them how starting late will mean taking less time off throughout the year.  

 

We are taking a vacation in September to the beach....so I'm trying to work our start and end dates around that too.   :)   (That is a nice problem to have!  So I'm not complaining)  

[Arcadia]

I tell my kids they still have to do math and music practice everyday as summer homework. Some schools give a summer homework packet so that helps. My boys do attend a few summer camps so they do feel it's summer break even with a daily dose of seatwork.

[Julie Smith]

The plan we have is, 

 

If Daddy is at work, and we are at home then it's a school day. 

If we get behind for no good reason, as in - I'm not in the mood to do spelling today - then it has to be made up on Thursday, or the weekend. 

If we get behind for a good reason such as illness we don't have to make it up. 

 

I do have Thursday as a reading day. The boys have piano lessons. The only other subjects for that day is lots of reading, and Eldest does spelling. 

 

I find having that extra day is very nice. Lets us catch up on anything, take a breather, and get lots of reading practice in which is very important to Youngest right now. I also find it nice that it sends the important message that reading is important enough to have a whole day devoted to it and named for it. 

 

[texasmama]

Maybe we don't get sick much, but I don't allow for sickness.  I plan very specifically for a 36 week school year for most subjects.  If we don't finish a subject (usually math), we continue it in the summer until it is finished.  If we take a day here and there off due to illness or other things, we just crunch it in until we are caught back up.  I plan four days a week (with one day of co op) so we can use the afternoon of co op day to make up work if needed.  This has never really been a problem.  Some of our classes are on external schedules (co op, online), which helps us stay on track.  I would rather work hard during the year and have a bigger break during the summer (though we do light summer school).

[Kathryn]

We've never gotten behind from illness. Even though there's plenty of illness in our house, it's never been so bad that we needed to take more than one day off. And Fridays are very light days for us, so anytime we take a day off, we can easily make it up on Friday (or make the Friday up another day).

[rebcoola]

We don't plan for illnesses either if the kids were sick they would miss school right?  We stick on a couple of documentaries and count it in our 180 days.  

[FairProspects]

We don't plan for illnesses either if the kids were sick they would miss school right?  We stick on a couple of documentaries and count it in our 180 days.  

 

I think we might all be talking around each other a bit too. While you could certainly count these days as part of your 180 (we don't have to count days in my state so I'm not super concerned about this anyway), we did have 20-25 days where the kids did not follow my "plan" for at least one kid for day due to illness. Whether or not they listened to audiobooks or did documentaries that could count as school, they didn't progress in what I had planned for the day, so we had to re-group if I was planning to finish SOTW by a certain date or something. This matters less for math and LA since with those we just move on when they are ready, but for content areas like history and science I am usually trying to finish books to take a summer break. That is more where I would plan in additional make-up days at the end of the year.

[texasmama]

We don't have to count days, either, so I don't focus on attendance.

[BooksandBoys]

I don't plan for sick days either. I do count school days, because I am required by my state to keep attendance. When we reach our required number of days, I decide how much more I want to do before we quit (we school more days than we are required), but how much more will change each year depending on life and where we are in our curricula.

 

We school five days a week, plus a day of co-op (yes, that means I often school one weekend day...it works for us). This allows me to take a week off here and there for mental health or entire family illness while still getting plenty of school days. My child does best with no more than two days off in a row. I'm willing to fight to get him back into a routine (the fight can take a week) after a full week off, but not after three days. To his brain, co-op, which falls on a Friday, is a day off, hence the weekend day of school.

 

I don't count sick days as school, even though they would count in a public setting. Last year, we had 210 school days before I quit for the "summer break." I am Done by the end of May, so I start early enough to have plenty of days before June. Last year, we schooled all of July, took off August, went back for September and October, then took most of November off to move. It worked really well.

[Chelli]

Thanks for the mention MMASC! 

 

Here's a link to the blog post she mentioned about how I came up with a formula to know exactly how much school needed to be completed each month to finish in the amount of time I wanted for the year: http://www.theplantedtrees.com/2012/06/how-i-plan-our-homeschool-year-part-one.html

 

I think it might be helpful.

[rimk3]

Generally, I like to break my year up into two month blocks and as long as we get 30 days in each two-month block, we will have 180 days (36 weeks) in a year.  That can be a 4 day a week for one block, or one-two weeks off during the next block.  There is greater flexibility in this planning than 6 weeks on, 1 week off.  This allows me to take the week off when grandma comes that I had no idea was happening when I blocked out my whole year in July.  I don't have to keep moving break weeks/days around.  We can take the field trip we wanted.  I just know we need to hit 30 days in two months.  Also, I can easily fit a 6 week block of planning in those two months. So if are doing 6 weeks of Shakespeare, it will be over two months.  Or if we do 12 weeks on a composer, it will be over 4 months.  It's easy to slot curriculum into these two month chunks.  

 

However, my children started competitive swim and dive this summer and it has been hard to get our 30 days in during the 8 weeks of swim/dive practices and meets.  Impossible actually.  Even with some extra days accumulated from the months prior, we are just not getting it done.  I'm okay with that, but I will make some adjustments for next year.  So, for next year, I am shooting for 36 days in our two-month blocks.  That will leave us with more time to take off if we need it next summer.  We will still have breaks throughout the year when we need it, but I will be able to see how things are going every two month block.  For me, this plan is flexible, while still keeping me accountable.  

 

We won't take an eight week break from math and reading during next summer, but I can't count on getting history, art, science, spelling, writing done consistently during those weeks.  So, I won't plan on those weeks as my "36 weeks" of school.

 

I need a plan or I feel lost, but really if I don't get 180 days (36 weeks) in, I'm trying to be okay with that.  I'm working on being okay with not finishing a math book by May or August as well.  That is not my natural bent, though.  Just something I'm growing in.  But we are not required to test or track days, so it's easier for me to be more relaxed, I guess.

 

 

[Junie]

We school year round, so in most subjects we just do the next thing.

 

Ds14 is in high school (and dd12 will soon be joining him), so I have been keeping track of how many hours so that I can assign proper credit.

 

I like to plan in month-long segments.  For instance, we did 20th century history (1900-1999) this past year, so I decided that we would study one decade per month.  This worked even when ds missed several weeks for a concussion (he was told not to read  :eek: !).  A month still gave us ample time to cover the material and a timeframe to move on to the next decade.

 

I am planning something similar for next year's Early American History class (1600ish-1899).  (I know we're doing the classes out of order.  It's a long story.)  Anyway, I am planning for Month #1 to be Native Americans and Explorers; Month #2 to be Early Settlements (Jamestown, Plymouth, etc.)...

 

If we are missing a lot of days in a particular month, we can roll it over to the next month (once or twice a year, if needed) or we can just spend extra time on those subjects, and maybe cut out a math (or whatever) lesson each week for the rest of that month.

 

I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well....

[TheAttachedMama]

I think we might all be talking around each other a bit too. While you could certainly count these days as part of your 180 (we don't have to count days in my state so I'm not super concerned about this anyway), we did have 20-25 days where the kids did not follow my "plan" for at least one kid for day due to illness. Whether or not they listened to audiobooks or did documentaries that could count as school, they didn't progress in what I had planned for the day, so we had to re-group if I was planning to finish SOTW by a certain date or something. This matters less for math and LA since with those we just move on when they are ready, but for content areas like history and science I am usually trying to finish books to take a summer break. That is more where I would plan in additional make-up days at the end of the year.

 

Yes to this!  I'm not talking about reporting attendance to the state.  I'm talking about personal planning. 

[Mom22ns]

When I plan, I plan for the days we are going to take off: holidays, birthdays, etc. I don't count any sick days or other days off and we don't take any. It is very rare that one of my kids is sick enough to get nothing done and we always just work hard when they are better and catch up. I don't plan in any extra days, let alone weeks and weeks of extra time! I'm shocked to find out that other people do  :lol: . I really love finding out how different homeschoolers are.

 

 

[ByGrace3]

I plan a 36 week 180 day school year. I mark out the holidays, vacations, and 3 weeks for Christmas. If we miss a day here or there for life or sickness, we do our best to squeeze it in that week or the next. I know we tend to miss a bit between Thanksgiving and Christmas so I try to plan for that with a bigger break...dd is a competetive gymnast so we miss a few Friday's from January to March...but if they work hard 4 days can squeeze in the week so it rarely becomes an issue...

[mmpmelmack]

I sincerely hope you do not have another year like this past one, I cried every time I got on Facebook! Anyways, I plan out 6 weeks of work, and then a week off, ds knows if it isn't done on time it has to be done on our off week. So I have 7 6 week units planned with 8 weeks cushion (2 weeks at Christmas), and all of July off. It works well for us.

[rebcoola]

I see what you mean: I use this http://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html to count out 36 weeks or whatever for the curriculum I want to finish.   Than I add up the days and weeks we plan to miss and add it to the beginning or end of our year  I also look for sections or lessons to combine.    We also have bare minimum days for when we do just math, reading a content read aloud and narrate.  We use these for days when things just aren't happening.  This year we are Starting Aug 17th and Done June 10th and we have a lot of breaks planned, we do have a few Saturdays planned.

[Mystie]

I don't worry about finishing skill-level work in a school year. We move through math, spelling, etc. at the rate they are learning and mastering, and that means we break when our break is planned and we pick up where we left off when we're back. This year my son began his 7th grade year with the 10th (out of 30) lesson in pre-algebra, my 10yo started with the 24th (out of 30) lesson in the 5th book (Epsilon - MUS) and then I quickly moved him back to lesson 12 because he'd totally forgotten how to work fractions. No big deal. We work where they are. That's the whole point. The 2nd grader began with the 19th lesson out of the 1st book and the 5yo started with the 17th lesson of the Kindergarten book - that's where they left off at the end of our year in May. Same with Latin. When our school year is over, we stop. When our school year begins again, we resume where we left off, with a week of review first.

 

As far as finishing books, we usually do, with some squeezing in extra readings here or there if we have to. But I don't do tests or activities or program work for knowledge subjects. We read, we talk about it. Last year I looked at the book list I had left and the school weeks I had left and only read a few chapters out of the final history selection and skipped more than I would have skipped if we'd had another month. Doesn't matter. They'll be reading books for many more years to come and we had a solid year. 

 

Our handwriting is copywork, so we do it if it's a school day and we don't if it isn't and there's no such thing as "behind." Our writing is assigned and I give them (10+) hard deadlines to finish, but there's no book to finish before I say our year is over. 

 

I have deliberately chosen this approach so that I'm in charge of our calendar and not a curriculum or program. As long as we are working diligently when we can, making progress consistent with abilities and circumstances, then I'm happy. 

 

I'm teaching MY kids in MY home in MY circumstances, and the program can flex. We are accomplishing so much in the big picture that I don't care that it takes us 2 years to do the 1 year Latin program - we're really learning it and not just checking off workbook pages so we can wrap it up.  My oldest was still in the 1st MUS book at the beginning of third grade. I was concerned he was hopelessly behind, but trusted Mr. Demme's philosophy. In 6th grade, he spent the last 6 weeks working pre-algebra (the 7th book). It's ok. We're working, we're not pushing ourselves when we're under stress (situational or physical), and we're making healthy progress all around.

 

That's my 2-cents. When my kids were younger and I was pregnant and exhausted, I was worried I'd be inconsistent and my approach would be license to never do anything. But 7 years in, and I'm very pleased with where my kids are, with our work ethic (even though we don't finish 1 book per year and even though we don't track much of anything at all, and how this has worked out in real life. I was afraid of being a slacker, but we aren't, even if we take off several extra days per term and never "make them up." 

[Guest huteosharte]

I think 4-5 weeks is about right for illness and makeups.

[8filltheheart]

A simple strategy is to schedule a 180 day calendar and plan for 32-34 weeks of classes. That allows 2-4 weeks of flexibility. Out of 20+ yrs of homeschooling, this past yr was the first yr I haven't managed to complete everything I had planned. It was due to illness, but serious life altering illness.

 

Most of the time when the kids are sick, we still plow ahead except for the child who is sick. Even if I had kids working together, I would do school with the healthy child. With little kids, that could mean things like domino or "war" math, word scrambles, create a story together with each of us alternating sentences or paragraphs, extra read alouds, cooking (doubling or halving a recipe is fun), etc.

[....]

Last year I estimated 1 week every 6 weeks and that wasn't realistic at all.   (But maybe it was just a bad year.)  

 

 

I think you just had a really bad year.  We had a bad year this past school year, too (we had a baby).  Those things happen.  I hope this year goes more smoothly for you!  

[Soror]

In a given year each kid might have 2 sick days, generally maybe 1 that they don't do anything. I don't plan for any, if one kid happens to be that sick or we get less done for whatever reason it is generally of the amount that we are able to double up, condense and spread it to other days to get back on track. It works for us so far.

[ScoutTN]

Sounds like you had a crazy year! Hopefully this coming one will be easier.

 

I plan for about 32 weeks in content subjects, knowing that we will not do much in December, that we follow rabbit trails and that projects often take longer than planned. At the grammar stage, if we don't get to some history or science, I don't really care. Gaps are inevitable. I am happy as long as my kiddos are working hard and genuinely learning.

 

We school 36 weeks on skill subjects and just pick up whre we left off, much as Mystie described.

 

While finishing the book certainly has a satisfaction to it, I try to see things from a bigger picture most of the time.

 

Eta: My kids are rarely sick so I don't build in sick days. We have enough flexibility built in that I can compensate if needed. I think this is just one of those ymmv things.

[Another Lynn]

I think breathing room is important (much like ScoutTN and 8Fill describe), not because there are so many days you won't do any school, but because there are so many days that won't go exactly according to plan.  And who wants to know exactly how every single day will look?  If I thought that science or history would be behind if we didn't do each one exactly 3 times per week for 36 weeks?  Oh my, that's a lot of pressure, lol. 

[Butter]

I plan a lot of 4 day weeks.  It makes rearranging if necessary much easier for me.  In February my daughter and I went to Utah.  We planned the trip about 3 weeks before we left.  I compressed a few things and made some 4 day weeks 5 days and within 2 weeks of getting back we were all caught up again.  I also view school as the #1 priority.  Unless it is super important (and the trip to UT truly was), it cannot take precedence over school.  We rarely have days not go according to plan.

[MinivanMom]

When I plan, I plan for the days we are going to take off: holidays, birthdays, etc. I don't count any sick days or other days off and we don't take any. It is very rare that one of my kids is sick enough to get nothing done and we always just work hard when they are better and catch up. I don't plan in any extra days, let alone weeks and weeks of extra time! I'm shocked to find out that other people do  :lol: . I really love finding out how different homeschoolers are.

 

I think we have both parents of younger kids and parents of teenagers responding. If I had a high schooler, then I probably wouldn't be planning extra days; they would need to make up any missed work to compete their courses. My kids are all pre-high school and working ahead of grade level. If they're sick, we push the work to the next day, no big deal.

 

I'm impressed by those of you who never have unexpected interruptions or sick kids. This past year our public schools were shut down for nearly two straight weeks due to snow. I would have felt like a Grinch if I kept my kids inside listening to history readings while their friends were out sledding and daddy was home from work (the whole city shut down for several days). We wound up doing just math and English each day and calling it good. The year before that, all of the kids came down with a particularly bad strain of hand, foot, & mouth disease. We were stuck at home for 3 straight weeks with sores all over their hands. My oldest daughter (10 at the time) couldn't even hold a pencil. Then - when we thought everyone was almost healed - their fingernails and toenails all fell off! Apparently that was something unique to the strain they caught. These are the times when I'm glad I've built some leeway into my schedule.

[73349]

This past year our public schools were shut down for nearly two straight weeks due to snow. I would have felt like a Grinch if I kept my kids inside listening to history readings while their friends were out sledding and daddy was home from work (the whole city shut down for several days).

 

Mine, too. I sent him out to play for a while, he came in for cocoa, and we cuddled up on the couch reading about Alexander the Great. (DH was expected to work from home, so he was up in his office.) Planning for short days means that as long as I can squeeze in an hour or so, we are fine.

[TheAttachedMama]

I also view school as the #1 priority.  Unless it is super important (and the trip to UT truly was), it cannot take precedence over school.  We rarely have days not go according to plan.

 

That is a good point.   I am reading your post asking myself, "Well, what is wrong with me?  Why did we get thrown off track so much?  Could I have done something differently (planning wise) so that we could still homeschool effectively despite all of the various emergencies that happen in life?"   If you have some type of killer planning strategy---I want to know it!  :)

 

I think that all families deal with a certain amount of chaos.   So there has GOT to be a way to plan FOR the chaos.  I've learned that its not an "if" things will come up......it is a "when" things will come up.  Right? 

 

We worked HARD and DILIGENTLY last year.  We made school a high priority, and did everything we could to stay on track.   I am sitting here today with no regrets about 'not trying' hard enough or working hard enough.   And that at least feels good.  

 

To complicate things, my kids are already behind grade level in reading and writing.   So it isn't like we can just rest on our laurels when emergencies come up.  We really need to get in as much schooling as possible throughout the year.  We need plan-b's in place....and maybe even a plan-c!  haha

[fairfarmhand]

That is a good point.   I am reading your post asking myself, "Well, what is wrong with me?  Why did we get thrown off track so much?  Could I have done something differently (planning wise) so that we could still homeschool effectively despite all of the various emergencies that happen in life?"   If you have some type of killer planning strategy---I want to know it!  :)

 

I think that all families deal with a certain amount of chaos.   So there has GOT to be a way to plan FOR the chaos.  I've learned that its not an "if" things will come up......it is a "when" things will come up.  Right? 

 

We worked HARD and DILIGENTLY last year.  We made school a high priority, and did everything we could to stay on track.   I am sitting here today with no regrets about 'not trying' hard enough or working hard enough.   And that at least feels good.  

 

To complicate things, my kids are already behind grade level in reading and writing.   So it isn't like we can just rest on our laurels when emergencies come up.  We really need to get in as much schooling as possible throughout the year.  We need plan-b's in place....and maybe even a plan-c!  haha

Like many posters, our curricula is typically 34 weeks long but I plan for 36 weeks of school. The 36 weeks are actual school weeks, not counting things like Christmas break.

 

Now for most days we ALWAYS do math and english. It's quite rare that those things don't happen. If we get to math and English, I "count" that as a day of school.

 

I plan things like science and history to be done 4 days a week. That gives me some wiggle room for a kid being sick.

 

We also hit stuff REALLY hard during the early part of the school year when math and English are mostly review and we are feeling more energetic about academics. This gives me some space to have a snow day or two (yes, we do math and English even when Dad's home from work and the neighbors are playing in the snow. My kids can typically play outside for a max of 2 hours before they are frozen, so we can still do some school work on those days.)

 

One year for my oldest daughter, instead of the typical grid patter of lesson planning, I planned each subject separately. So each subject had a section of the notebook. I listed them as Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, etc.

 

On my calendar, I had marked out the number of days I "planned" on doing school. So every Monday I had a number, typically a multiple of 5.

 

I could reconcile the two numbers to see how far "behind" or "ahead" we were midyear. If we were at lesson 95 on day 97 in math, I knew were were fairly on target as far as timing.

 

But if we were on lesson 84 on day 97, we needed to step it up a notch, perhaps doing a math lesson on a Saturday or not taking off from math the day that we'd planned to go to the zoo.

 

Doing it separately helped me focus on the lessons that needed to be done. If we were ahead in Reading, we could double up in some other area to "catch up"

 

I know, I know, in homeschool, there is no behind. But I do need the accountability of knowing where we are during the year, and I need to take a summer break.

 

OP, I don't know that I would take a full 2 months off of school completely, given your goals. Could you take one month off and then do "school lite" for the next month, to kind of ease your kids into school? I might just do math, reading, and English given your concerns about testing and then add in the science, history, etc. come October 1.

 

Re: planning for chaos.

 

Once a month, our homeschool group has a support group meeting in the morning. We plan to take that day off of academic work, except for a math lesson. I've tried in the past to do a full day's work on those days and it just doesn't happen.

 

Also, I've learned another thing. Many hsers think that if you have a field trip in the morning, you just flip all your schoolwork to the afternoon. Well, that might work for some families, but we don't work well in the afternoon. The same lesson that would take an hour in the morning takes two in the afternoon. So because of this dynamic, I guard my mornings religiously. I don't schedule dentist or doctors' appointments in the morning unless it is a huge emergency and there are no other appointments available. We don't do morning field trips, activities, or piano lessons.

 

And some years are just crazy and you can't help it. I'm looking at this coming up year and I really thing that it will be insane. My fil is in late stage cancer and we will probably have lots of chaos. He needs lots of care and we will likely have a funeral at some point to plan. So, I'm just going to do the best I can and hope for some good luck.

[Loowit]

Last year was a hard year as far as illness. It seemed like my youngest was sick all fall and half of the winter.  We fit in school as best we could when he was well.  I am not a person who can just stop a book mid-way through and pick it up the next year. i am a bit envious of people who can.  I have tried and it drove me crazy.  I do a week by week plan, so if we miss something one week, I fit it in to the next, or on Friday which is typically a light day.  Last year I ended up re-doing my calendar for the year and added a couple weeks onto the end to makeup work that needed to be finished.  Also, my children know that when they finish with their math book, or whatever, that they are done with that subject.  That seems to give my boys incentive to do make-up work and sometimes even work ahead.  Last year my youngest would often get all his work for the week done early so he could have three day weekends.

[Incognito]

As I recall, one of your kids seems to have diagnosable problems with learning to read/write.  You are going to have to expect that reading/writing will be hard and take longer than they should.  You either need to adjust what you expect to do with these areas, or expect to take more time than regular.

 

FWIW, I think that if you want to be on track with the schools for standardized testing, you will regret starting your year late.  With my personality, I have tried that - starting out late because we had trips in September- and I always felt behind - all year long - even if we worked diligently.  So if you are similar at all in that regard, I strongly suggest starting early instead of late.

 

As far as vacation goes - give the kids vacation now or explain that while they aren't having 100% break, they only do an hour or so and that is just how your family does it.  Their school-going friends spend 8:30-2:00 at school - ask your kids if they'd rather spend that time at the table all year or doing it a more flexible way (that includes some summer work). 

 

I personally want to encourage you to emphasize the areas your kids shine in, while plodding along in the other areas.  In our house, it got really discouraging when we focused on the reading/writing (which is where a learning disability lies).  We could never catch up enough to do the fun things.  When I was able to find a way to have 1 hour a day devoted to the LD areas, but just leave it all there and then not work on it in other areas (I read all the science stuff, for instance), it made a real positive difference in how we all approached our days.

 

 

 

 

[MeghanL]

I plan 36 weeks, but with one week off a month & the entire month of August off. The kids & I both know we have to complete those days if we want to have a complete break on the off weeks. So, we finish a week's worth of school every on week no matter what! We will do it on the weekends, double up subjects, whatever to get it done. I do not allow myself to buy unit studies and extra lessons to fit in on the off weeks. We all just get a break.

 

When my father-in-law had a stroke on a school week and we spent 14 days driving to the hospital every day, *I* did not do school those days. However, my amazing brother called his boss and got permission to work from home so he could work at MY home & have my kids continue doing their school work. I was going to just take that time off, but he was totally willing to supervise their work.

 

When one of the kids is sick, the rest keep going and the sick one makes up the work on the weekend. They are seldom sick more than one day. If I am sick, my husband will oversee their work when he gets home. Our "on" weeks are the first priority for my whole family, so it's not something that I am left to do alone and make it work with everyone & everything working against me. The kids REALLY love their whole entire weeks off where they don't have to do ANY school, so that is motivation for them to focus during the on weeks.

 

I think maybe we all have more people we can call upon in these situations than we realize. I certainly never thought about asking my brother to teach the kids for me, while he was working! But, he did. They did their assignments, asked him if/when they needed help and we all got to stay more on track. You might be surprised how many others are willing to do the same. 

[TheAttachedMama]

I personally want to encourage you to emphasize the areas your kids shine in, while plodding along in the other areas.  In our house, it got really discouraging when we focused on the reading/writing (which is where a learning disability lies).  We could never catch up enough to do the fun things.  When I was able to find a way to have 1 hour a day devoted to the LD areas, but just leave it all there and then not work on it in other areas (I read all the science stuff, for instance), it made a real positive difference in how we all approached our days.

 

That's a good reminder.   Because it is EXHAUSTING to work on the LD stuff....for all of us.  

 

[TheAttachedMama]

I plan 36 weeks, but with one week off a month & the entire month of August off. The kids & I both know we have to complete those days if we want to have a complete break on the off weeks. So, we finish a week's worth of school every on week no matter what! We will do it on the weekends, double up subjects, whatever to get it done. I do not allow myself to buy unit studies and extra lessons to fit in on the off weeks. We all just get a break.

 

When my father-in-law had a stroke on a school week and we spent 14 days driving to the hospital every day, *I* did not do school those days. However, my amazing brother called his boss and got permission to work from home so he could work at MY home & have my kids continue doing their school work. I was going to just take that time off, but he was totally willing to supervise their work.

 

When one of the kids is sick, the rest keep going and the sick one makes up the work on the weekend. They are seldom sick more than one day. If I am sick, my husband will oversee their work when he gets home. Our "on" weeks are the first priority for my whole family, so it's not something that I am left to do alone and make it work with everyone & everything working against me. The kids REALLY love their whole entire weeks off where they don't have to do ANY school, so that is motivation for them to focus during the on weeks.

 

I think maybe we all have more people we can call upon in these situations than we realize. I certainly never thought about asking my brother to teach the kids for me, while he was working! But, he did. They did their assignments, asked him if/when they needed help and we all got to stay more on track. You might be surprised how many others are willing to do the same. 

 

Meghan, what do you do for months like December?  Do you just take 2 weeks off that month?  

 

I think I need to utilize weekends more when (if?) they get sick.  

[MeghanL]

Meghan, what do you do for months like December?  Do you just take 2 weeks off that month?  

 

I think I need to utilize weekends more when (if?) they get sick.  

 

We take 2 weeks off in December & then start up again the first Monday in January. The second week off "counts" for January. 

[3 ladybugs]

Love this thread! Giving me lots of ideas on how to do things. 😉

[rutheart]

Last year we did no school between Thanksgiving and New Years, but the kids ended up just playing video games and fighting with each other. This year, my plan is to do "half weeks" during that time period. I let my kids pick half of their subjects to do the first week, and then we do all the other subjects on the second week. For instance, if week 1 for my 5th grader is a week's worth of literature, art, science, math, Spanish, health, and vocabulary, then week 2 is writing, history, logic, grammar, study skills, PE, and spelling. Not taking the time off completely will also give us more time to enjoy the nice weather in the spring.

This strategy works really well for the start of school too, since getting used to new books and assignments is time consuming (and exhausting!).

 

On the few occasions the kids got sick, we made up the work over the weekend. My husband would enjoy having time to himself to read, watch some anime, or play a video game.

 

Ruth

[FairProspects]

Weekends might work for some, but I know for us anyway, Saturday is sports and extra-curricular lessons day. All those lessons that are too far to drive during the week get scheduled on Saturday along with games for most leagues. Sunday is church, church related activities, and prep for the coming week either cooking or cleaning. I've tried to do school work on weekends and it just does not happen for us, so that might be something to consider too depending on your kids' ages and your area. Virtually our whole community is engaged in youth sports on Saturdays.

 

Personally, I like the planning for 32 weeks idea with some leeway to catch up at the end. If I can figure out how to schedule in the blasted standardized testing that always takes us 3 weeks too, I might finally have a workable plan. :)

[TheAttachedMama]

Weekends might work for some, but I know for us anyway, Saturday is sports and extra-curricular lessons day. All those lessons that are too far to drive during the week get scheduled on Saturday along with games for most leagues. Sunday is church, church related activities, and prep for the coming week either cooking or cleaning. I've tried to do school work on weekends and it just does not happen for us, so that might be something to consider too depending on your kids' ages and your area. Virtually our whole community is engaged in youth sports on Saturdays.

 

Personally, I like the planning for 32 weeks idea with some leeway to catch up at the end. If I can figure out how to schedule in the blasted standardized testing that always takes us 3 weeks too, I might finally have a workable plan, :)

 

Thank you for saying this.  I was thinking the same thing.  

[smudge]

I'm so mean. I don't really stop for sickness. Now I am talking sickness like colds and such. I tell them the world doesn't stop for a case of sniffles! Now their dad on the other hand... LOL!

This will be our third year of HS, and I am trying out the "plan the year and put it all in files" system. This way we can just grab the folder and be ready for the week..

[Spring Flower]

I plan 32 weeks following the public school schedule but taking an extra week off in the fall and spring and ending 2 weeks early. I then plan about 8 half weeks in the summer for make up and rabbit trails. The 32 week schedule takes us through our work a little quicker but I find it is better to be a little ahead in case things get crazy in our lives. We start to burn out the last month of school and it is nice to end early. 

 

If I get behind, it is for 2 reasons:

1 - The pace I planned is too fast. Remedy, slow the pace and readjust the schedule accordingly.

2 - Something major has happened and we need time off to recover. Remedy, try to quicken the pace over the next couple of weeks to get caught up. If it isn't possible to catch up, use the 8 half weeks in the summer to do catch up. If something REALLY major has happened, I trim down to bare essentials and readjust my expectations for our homeschool. 

 

[fairfarmhand]

If your Saturdays are booked, you may want to do "half lessons" a couple of days the next week when you feel you are falling behind. IOW, you would do a lesson and a half two days of the next week to make up for a missed math lesson due to illness. You could stagger out your lesson and a halfs over the next week to catch up from a missed full day.

 

I also try to do my homeschool similarly to the way that other schools operate. Yes, when you are sick in regular school, you have to catch up. Thankfully, I can look at the lessons and shorten them if I need to after illness.

[texasmama]

I'm impressed by those of you who never have unexpected interruptions or sick kids. This past year our public schools were shut down for nearly two straight weeks due to snow. I would have felt like a Grinch if I kept my kids inside listening to history readings while their friends were out sledding and daddy was home from work (the whole city shut down for several days). We wound up doing just math and English each day and calling it good. The year before that, all of the kids came down with a particularly bad strain of hand, foot, & mouth disease. We were stuck at home for 3 straight weeks with sores all over their hands. My oldest daughter (10 at the time) couldn't even hold a pencil. Then - when we thought everyone was almost healed - their fingernails and toenails all fell off! Apparently that was something unique to the strain they caught. These are the times when I'm glad I've built some leeway into my schedule.

We don't have too many unexpected interruptions or are able to work around them.  My kids just don't get sick often and when they do it is minor - they are 14,12, and 9 so beyond the constant ear infection stage.  We live in Texas so rarely do we have a snow day.  When we have snow, I let the kids play in it and take a day off.  We've never had a three week illness of any sort.  I am starting to feel very fortunate about our good health!

 

When I plan, the leeway is typically within the same week.  I only really plan for four days so that leaves Friday afternoon after co op free to make up missed stuff.  Sometimes  we don't make it up.  Sometimes subjects go into our summer time in order to finish up.

 

When dh's grandmother on hospice moved in with us last April, I streamlined, prioritized and put away (for the year) mostly completed subjects that could be dropped (logic, history videos).  Then we did school around her.  My boys did their science fair projects behind her wheelchair in the living room.  We are flexible when needed, but I think that our schedule (daily and weekly) has enough "play" in it that I don't need to build in entire days or weeks with nothing going on.  We go to the doctor, the orthodontist, the chiropractor, ect. like everyone else.  Dh works out of our home so he will sometimes take one of the kids to an appointment while the others do school.  Or I take the one kid and the others stay home and do school.  We almost never do field trips because they are too time-consuming, and my boys aren't interested anyway.

 

I don't know what to say except all of that about how it works, but it just does.  And we are not start at 8 am, nose to the grindstone types, by any means!

[FairProspects]

Yes, I think it is just difficult to compare situations when planning. We've had no less than 5 rounds of stomach flu this year, one that lasted two weeks per person and cycled through everyone. Dh works in a people field and is constantly bringing home various bugs, we participate in two co-ops on different ends of a major metro area with different strains of bugs, and it is just nuts. In winter it is not unusual for someone to be sick for 12 weeks straight. I'm grateful that we have not had major life-altering illnesses for the most part, but it can be depressing to realize how much sicker we get than some families. But it is what it is and at least I can be in control of the schedule with homeschooling and have to answer to the PS for absences. :)