When to start a new year of school

[lulalu]

Thinking out loud and needing thoughts, experiences etc.

 

When to start the new school year. Keep in mind i only have one child. We live where summer is HOT! And every four years return home to the cold! Anyways year round appeals to me for ease. We travel a lot so year round would provide for that too although much of our travels easily become educational.

 

However, thimking through starting a new year at birthday, new year, or fall when school starts.

 

Thoughts?

[Freedom]

We year round as well...DS would forget everything in 3 months!  Anyway, for my own records - attendance mostly, I "start" in the fall so if anyone needed to see my records it would make sense to them.  However, it seems like around the first of the year we are moving up one level in a couple of subjects.  It reminds me of the "what grade is he in?" followed by DS looking at me in response....sigh. :001_smile:

[Ellie]

Thinking out loud and needing thoughts, experiences etc.

 

When to start the new school year. Keep in mind i only have one child. We live where summer is HOT! And every four years return home to the cold! Anyways year round appeals to me for ease. We travel a lot so year round would provide for that too although much of our travels easily become educational.

 

However, thimking through starting a new year at birthday, new year, or fall when school starts.

 

Thoughts?

 

In our home, the new year was January 1. :-)

 

We took off a couple of weeks in the spring around Easter, a couple of weeks in late August/early September (southern California, good time to either stay in the AC or go to the beach), and Thanksgiving to about the middle of January. We also took off random other times as needed for mental health. :-) We kept working on stuff until we finished or got tired of it, then we moved on to the next thing.

 

For the sake of grandparents and Sunday school or other activities which group children according to grade level, I steadfastly kept my dc "in" the same grade they'd have been in if they had been in school (6yo by Dec. 2; their bdays are in May), and we "promoted" in the fall ("Presto change-o! You're now IN THIRD GRADE! Go forth and prosper!").

[Garga]

Do what you like until you hit high school. And even then, you can still do what you want but you'll probably want to tie up all the loose ends at the same time so your child can head to college with all his/her credits completed in time.

[wendyroo]

This current year we started in mid-July so we would have quite a few weeks under our belts before the baby was born.  I really like how that played out...we had a lot of breathing room to take time off for fun fall activities, the new baby and Thanksgiving, but were still able to easily finish the first semester before Christmas break.

 

We are now on track to finish the year by the middle of May, which is great because that is when the weather starts to really look like Spring and we start traveling a lot more.

 

I think next year we are going to start even a bit earlier.  I don't want to have a long break from mid-May to mid-July, so instead we will start back up sometime in June, ramp up slowly as we adjust to new subjects and curricula and take lots of days and weeks off over the summer.

 

Wendy

[Desert Strawberry]

Start whenever you like. Take breaks when you need them. 

[happypamama]

I go by when my state's law allows me to start counting. Here, that's July 1, so I start recording and counting days then. I started dong at when we had summer babies, so we could get some work done before the baby, and I found that we really enjoy having the flexibility of starting early and having all year to get our math, etc. done. It gets pretty warm here, and my fair-skinned children can't be out too long, but fall and spring are heavenly here. So typically, we wind up our year around the end of May/beginning of June and take all of June off. It's usually pretty nice here in June, warm but not too oppressive, and we often take a short trip then too. Then when July hits, the kids are starting to get bored with less structure, and it gets hot, so we start our year then. Sometimes we have done a slow ramp-up of a few subjects the first week, a few more the second, and a few more the third, and sometimes we have done special summer work, beginning our regular work in August.

 

Then we take off all birthdays, a week at Thanksgiving, two weeks at Christmas, and a couple of weeks off in the spring (some days around Easter, and some to be determined whenever the nice weather arrives; Easter is early this year, so it'll be cold still, and we'd rather work more then and save the rest of our spring break for April). We also have a half day every week because of our martial arts class, so that leaves a little less flexibility.

[Coco_Clark]

Start in fall. That way kiddo "goes up a grade" when everyone else does. And you can plan with 80% of the rest of the board.

 

Not that it matters. We even take a traditional summer break but still start new curricula whenever we finish the last one- scattered through the year.

[TKDmom]

Our official start date is Aug. 1. That way, we kind of line up with the schools here. I have to submit yearly evaluations in July, so it just makes sense to call that the end of the school year. But really, we school year-round, take breaks when I need them, and start new curricula whenever it's time to move on. This year, I happened to take most of the summer off because I needed a break and we traveled (to cooler climates) for a few weeks. Even though I'd like to school full-time in the miserably hot summertime and take longer breaks during the spring and fall, we have friends that want to play all day every day in the summer, and my kids feel left out if we don't participate in summer beach-days and such. So summer ends up being light schooling and August brings us a fresh start.

[sweetpea3829]

We are year round schoolers too, but with a twist.  June, July and August are mostly review (depending on the kiddo).  Also, this coming summer I intend on schooling two weeks on, one week off for June, July and August.  Last summer I scheduled only three weeks off for the summer and SO regretted it...lol.  

 

Anyways, I promote in mid-September.  For recording purposes, I also begin our formal school year then as well.  I ALWAYS take the first two weeks of September completely off.  We spend those two weeks soaking up the last of Summer's warmth, visiting the now-vacant playgrounds, etc.  I also take those two weeks to make sure all of my loose ends are wrapped up in our schedule and inventory the kids' clothes (AND, hitting up end of summer sales...lol).  

 

 

I have tried a few different things as far as scheduling during the year.  One year we took a full month off for Christmas.  I'll never do it again...my kids were off the wall by the third week.  Three weeks is about as short as we can go....accounting for Christmas baking that must get done, the week-long Grandparent visit right after Christmas, decompressing, etc.  But our winters are cold, and they can't really go outside much...so cooped up kids for that long?  Yeah.  

 

We are now doing 4 day weeks, with Fridays off and that is working REALLY well.  

[HS Mom in NC]

I've done year round and I've done ps school year.

 

When will you want to take advantage of the weather to go outside? 

When is the weather at its worst so that you want to stay inside? 

What predicable times of year will you want to take off school for shorter periods?

What predicable times of year will you want to take off school for longer periods?
How long do you usually school before you want or need a break?

How well does your child retain what s/he's learned?

How well does your child transition back into academics after a break?

Does all planned out, mostly planned out, all do the next thing or mostly do the next thing work best for you?

If you plan out and prep some or all of the school year before the school year starts, when's the best time of year for you to do that?

Are there going to be times you need to maximize opportunities for special events/opportunities, seeing someone you haven't for a while, other parent time, etc.?
If you were to get behind, what would work best for getting caught up?
Do you prefer shorter days with a longer school year or longer school days with a shorter school year?
 

 

 

 

[Jackie]

My daughter was adamant that she should change grades at her birthday in May, and I have no reason to object so that's when we officially change what grade we call her.

[greenbeanmama]

We start right after Independence Day, do a schedule with six weeks on and one week off, and "finish" around the beginning of May.  This allows us to play outside more during the months when the weather is the best for it.  But we still continue math, reading, science, and some fun projects over their summer break.

[Aurelia]

Normally we start the new year in January and go year-round. This year it happened to work out that DD started most of her new stuff around the beginning of September, so we're pretty close to the public school's schedule.

[sbgrace]

We school year round, so there is never really a start or end date for us. I just begin the next level of whatever curriculum when we end the previous level. I make adjustments--switching curriculum, adding something new, etc. whenever needed.

 

We do bump up in grade level identification for outside activities when school kids begin each year. But other than participating in outside stuff, the grade level is insignificant. I really can't ever think of any year that felt like it had a start date outside our very first. 

[My3girls]

We school year round, but legally state our school year to be Aug.1-July 31. We do testing at the end of June and just read, do field trips, and some math review in July. I promote when we start back full time in August. It just makes things simpler to start when the public schools do.

[lulalu]

So for those of you that keep going do you not work to make content line up?

 

Thinking we have Bible and science that could line up. I see how just going to the next book in math works. Or is it really not that important to match things up- just my organized mind that needs that!

 

This will be for K.

[Peaceful Isle]

We start mid August.

[sbgrace]

So for those of you that keep going do you not work to make content line up?

 

Thinking we have Bible and science that could line up. I see how just going to the next book in math works. Or is it really not that important to match things up- just my organized mind that needs that!

 

This will be for K.

 

I'm not sure what you're asking.

 

Do you mean making content line up to age standards?

My answer there is not yet. High school and to some extent late middle as we prepare for high school is going to have to be different though.

 

Or do you mean you want your bible sequence to coordinate with your science?

You can line up/coordinate subjects if you desire that no matter the start date or lack of start date.

 

Something else?

 

I'm pretty organized and definitely like to plan. I don't think I've tried to make anything line up to start and end dates, though I may be misunderstanding the question.

 

 

Edited January 24, 2016 by sbgrace

[againstthegrain]

I don't think we have a beginning of the school year... or maybe we don't have an end? We finish one thing and kind of pick up the next. Usually between math programs they get a couple weeks break from math otherwise I face a mild rebellion. 

 

Like, we finish SOTW in early March. DS will move into independent SOTW 2, DD will come back with me to work on something else. I add in curriculum as they age and as they are ready for it. DS will be ready for a spelling program late this year. I usually give them their "grade level" promotion around the same time the public school here ends to keep on track with Church things, scouting things, etc. 

[Ellie]

So for those of you that keep going do you not work to make content line up?

 

Thinking we have Bible and science that could line up. I see how just going to the next book in math works. Or is it really not that important to match things up- just my organized mind that needs that!

 

This will be for K.

 

I'm not sure what you mean, either. Do you mean start and stop individual "subjects" at the same time? No. I don't care.

[waa510]

We school year-round as I think my girls do much better with an ongoing structure and routine to their lives. That said, we break for Dh's business trips to interesting places, summer camp themes I'd be hard pressed to replicate at home, the obligatory extended family visits, and testing if needed where we live at the time. I tell my girls that they're their "new" grades at the traditional time of the year to make life easier and so I don't forget to "promote" them. ;)  But it's all very arbitrary for us as we finish materials at different times and just very often do the next thing. This means I'm often planning the next year at off-times compared to other hsers in the area, though!  I'm often able to take out materials to preview from the library without issue b/c I'm not fighting everyone else for them in those few months of summer. 

 

 

 

ETA: For K, I wouldn't worry about lining anything up. Even for my kids now, in 4th and 1st this year, I'm not overly concerned about lining things up. I line up the lit and history schedule as they lean on each other a lot. Maybe art or writing if I can swing it. Otherwise, I count it as review and don't sweat it. 

Edited January 24, 2016 by waa510

[73349]

We go year-round with short days. Legally, a school year in my state starts July 1, but I promote DS on Labor Day.

 

I choose special materials for our summer session (July-August), often light and fun. For example, last summer, we'd finished SOTW 1 but didn't start 2 until the official first day of the new school year. For the summer, we did MBTP Economic Cycles. We'd finished La Clase Divertida 1, so we did Song School Spanish while waiting to start Spanish for Children.

Edited January 24, 2016 by whitehawk

[DawnM]

We always officially ended our year June 30th and officially started our new school year July 1st.

 

That allowed us the full 12 months to do the work.  We just took breaks and vacations as we wished.

[Ellie]

I always figured that there are 365 days in a year. I could have an official start date of anything, and an official end date of anything, and there would still be 365 days/12 months in there. :-)

[SilverMoon]

We go year round and officially start in the fall, whenever all the books are in and we're ready. This just simplifies matters with the rest of the world outside our homeschool.

 

We end up taking most of December off because my MIL stays with us.

 

When books like grammar and spelling are done they can choose to drop those subjects until the new grade begins in fall.  Math and literature go year round, no exceptions. Beyond that the subjects that won't get dropped in the summer go on an individual basis. Subjects that need extra work or lagged behind during the school year will keep going too.

 

Our summers are too hot to go out and do much also, but there are a lot more kid events then too. Summer camps, water days, and such. I don't make them skip those for school, but as long as we're just staying home, they might as well get some done anyway.

[againstthegrain]

To clarify my post (it was late at night!), we do take a month off for Christmas, a week off for Thanksgiving, and about 4 weeks total through the year for travel vacations.