Jump to content

Menu

Switching to calendar year homeschooling? Tips? Downsides?


Recommended Posts

Curious if anyone else has switched to a January - December school year model. I finished placement testing DD last night, and with the exception of a few small things, she's surprised me by placing a grade higher than I expected. I'm considering spending the fall covering those few things, and then starting her into 7th in January. 

 

Are there any downsides to switching to a calendar year school year? If you do a calendar year model - what does your school year look like?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A problem is when you graduate the high school student in December, but freshman admission for colleges is in the fall. You end up with an extra semester. Students entering college in the spring semester are at a  disadvantage when it comes to scholarships.

 

In a homeschool, grade levels don't mean anything. You can teach her according to her ability, irrespective of whether it's the beginning or the middle of the school year.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with others, I homeschool according to ability, not grade level. When they finish one textbook they get a week off that subject and we move right on into the next level book. The only subject I do by the calander year is history along with the reading lists.

 

I am in Aus and the school year here goes from Jan to Dec.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've often started new levels in the middle of the year in various subjects. Most of my subjects aren't in sync with each other. I still decree our school year to end toward the end of May though, because when we get to high school and college applications and such, I think it will be easier to be on that schedule.

 

The grade level of the child on paper doesn't always match the level of work done. So if she needs 7th grade work in 6th grade, give it to her. No need to wait until January or any other arbitrary date. :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see nothing wrong with going from January to December school year.  I have followed traditional US school year and Japan school year.  I have even used my husband's sea duty schedule to determine our school year.  I now have a senior who will be done with school in December but I have her taking a class in a local co-op that ends first week of June.  She will be working on hand on learning in her field of study until she leaves end of summer next fall for college in the midwest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We do Jan-Dec, but it was my way of semi-red-shirting DS. (officially started 1st grade in Jan rather than Sept.)

 

Today, he is:

 

Homeschool-Officially in 2nd grade (we don't report to anyone, but my planning records all call this 2nd grade)

Middle of second grade for history and science

2/3 finished with 2nd grade math

Beginning of 3rd grade for English

 

 

I tell him to tell his friends he is in 3rd grade, because that's where he'd be if we had sent him to school. 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We don't take breaks in between the ending of one subject level and the beginning the next. When we finish 2nd grade math, we will move right into 3rd grade math. Probably the very next day.

 

We also school year-round. We take a 1 month break for holidays (Ramadan) and then I budget shorter 1 wk breaks into our schedule in anticipation for when we will get tired of doing school for so long, also leaving space for play days and vacations.

 

My planner has a one page year calendar. I mark off the days we plan to take off, and keep a tally in the corner of how many more days we can afford to take off and still have 180 days of school. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Curious if anyone else has switched to a January - December school year model. I finished placement testing DD last night, and with the exception of a few small things, she's surprised me by placing a grade higher than I expected. I'm considering spending the fall covering those few things, and then starting her into 7th in January. 

 

Are there any downsides to switching to a calendar year school year? If you do a calendar year model - what does your school year look like?

 

Grade level is a way to group kids in school settings to maximize the effectiveness of the instruction.  In most cases it is a fairly rough measure, because students differ both in terms of already-acquired skills & knowledge, and in terms of how quickly they are able to pick up new skills & knowledge.  The larger the pool of students, and the closer they are in both measures (e.g. a large college prep high school), the finer the distinctions can be made and the more homogeneous the groupings.  The reverse is also true - a smaller school with a wider range of students will have broad differences in ability and knowledge in any given grade.  Add in social issues, the fact that most students have more ability in some subjects than in others and yet are typically in the same grade for all subjects, plus the ever-growing gap between those who are racing ahead and those who are taking more time to grasp the material as the grade levels get higher, and grade level is clearly not an easily determined thing for the average homeschooler.  

 

Note also that many middle schools, and most high schools, have various "tracks", so that one seventh grader may be on their next-to-last year of basic math topics, while another may be doing pre-algebra, algebra I, or in some cases geometry.  In other words, it's quite normal in the school system for students to be as much as four or five years apart in the topics they are studying, while still all being considered "7th graders".  

 

Plus, grade level really doesn't mean much in a homeschool setting, at least until high school credits are in the picture.

 

If your dd is ready for harder material, and/or a faster pace, by all means give it to her.  You needn't adjust her "on paper" grade level now (and there are good arguments for keeping an age-based grade level).  And there's no need to adjust your calendar year either.  

 

Start with what you think she's capable of learning this year given where she is now and her typical rate of acquiring new skills/knowledge, and plan your year accordingly.  In January or so, revisit this plan and tweak as needed.  School for as much or as little of the year as you see fit.  

 

Note that in some states, the "accounting year" runs July 1 - June 30, or some other window of time, and your record-keeping may need to be done accordingly.  This should have nothing to do with the level of the materials your student is using, or where you are in a particular textbook.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always thought it would be fun to school year round, but whenever I tried doing it, it didn't work out.  When they were younger, the kids got super grumpy having to work in the summer when all their friends were off.  And then, once we hit 8th grade for my oldest, I got super grumpy having to do school in the summer!

 

I found out that I need the long break from school to feel productive as a teacher and as someone who is responsible for keeping a home running and doing the majority of the child rearing.  I don't like being "teacher" to my kids all the time.  I need a stretch of months where I can be simply "mom" to my children.  

Edited by Garga
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you have younger kids, it really doesn't matter.

 

I chose September-August as my school year because August is when paperwork was due to the county. We were perpetually juggling DH's medical needs, so the homeschooling weeks were never predictable. One school year he had four surgeries. So I had to do year-round. I tried to keep at least the 3 R's going September-May with other subjects fit in as we could, and then we used the summer to finish that and anything else. I pushed so that we were done with everything sometime in the summer with a break in August when the weather is oppressive. Usually I had at least two weeks in late August to get the books organized and any remaining books sold.

 

When they were in 7th grade, we had to be a little more structured because they did more outside classes, but it still ended up that we did some work in the summer on the subjects I taught. My goal was always mastery in math, so we spent however long to get it down, particularly in Algebra I and up. So most summers had math. 

 

I agree that you do have to watch the dates if you are nearing graduation, but also if you plan to send them to the classroom for high school. I'd plan a time to finish 8th and start in the fall with everyone else in high school. Going from homeschooling to high school mid-school year isn't a good idea, nor is having them putz around at home for months.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Curious if anyone else has switched to a January - December school year model. I finished placement testing DD last night, and with the exception of a few small things, she's surprised me by placing a grade higher than I expected. I'm considering spending the fall covering those few things, and then starting her into 7th in January. 

 

Are there any downsides to switching to a calendar year school year? If you do a calendar year model - what does your school year look like?

 

Our school year began January 1 and ended December 31. :-) We worked on stuff until we finished or got tired of it, and then we moved on to the next thing, regardless of the "grade level". I "promoted" in the fall, because grade level has no real meaning for homeschoolers, and "promoting" in the fall kept grandparents and Sunday school teachers happy. That your dd might be doing seventh grade-level work does not mean you have to actually say that she is "in" seventh grade; in fact, it would be less confusing to outsiders (and maybe to you and to her) if you continued to refer to her as the grade she would be in if she were in school, regardless of the level of academic work she is doing.

 

There's no reason to expect to do 12 years of school, or four years of "high school" beginning in "ninth grade." You can graduate your dd whenever you want. If you are counting credits because she wants to go to college, you can graduate her whenever she has enough. And if you want that to be in the spring so that she could begin college in the fall, then that would be your goal, not to do 12 years of school or four years of high school.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We started out on that schedule but as the kids got older and involved in activities that included kids in institutional schools, we ended up back on a ps schedule.  As stated above, just keep track of standardized testing, scholarship, application and enrollment deadlines for colleges, technical skill training, internship, camp options. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always thought it would be fun to school year round, but whenever I tried doing it, it didn't work out.  When they were younger, the kids got super grumpy having to work in the summer when all their friends were off.  And then, once we hit 8th grade for my oldest, I got super grumpy having to do school in the summer!

 

I found out that I need the long break from school to feel productive as a teacher and as someone who is responsible for keeping a home running and doing the majority of the child rearing.  I don't like being "teacher" to my kids all the time.  I need a stretch of months where I can be simply "mom" to my children.  

 

We schooled year round for 7 years, just taking a few weeks off at the end of May/beginning of June and a few weeks around Christmas, plus a week off here and there throughout the year. This year, my kids were going to all do virtual school (ended up homeschooling the younger two), so we took the entire summer off. After a nice long summer break, I actually felt energized and excited to homeschool the younger two when our situation changed! I'll definitely be doing a long summer break again next year. :)

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We schooled year round for 7 years, just taking a few weeks off at the end of May/beginning of June and a few weeks around Christmas, plus a week off here and there throughout the year. This year, my kids were going to all do virtual school (ended up homeschooling the younger two), so we took the entire summer off. After a nice long summer break, I actually felt energized and excited to homeschool the younger two when our situation changed! I'll definitely be doing a long summer break again next year. :)

I need my time off, too. The past couple of yrs my summers off have been incredibly chaotic with life, and I am feeling it right now. I am incredibly tired and lacking in joyful motivation. I really need that down time to rejuvenate and mentally regroup.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...