Holiday Time Off

[CJVW]

Does anyone NOT take weeks off at Christmas?

 

We take days off whenever we want, so I don't want to mess with our flow by taking off a large chunk of time. I also want to finish her current curriculum by early summer and we're on week 10/36.

 

Obviously she won't do any work Monday (12/25) and she will be at karate camp that Thursday, but I'm tempted to hammer out her week 11 work Tue, Wed and Fri. It will take her less than an hour each of those days.

 

But I feel like a "mean mom."

 

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[scrapbookbuzz]

Either way, I don't see it as a big deal. Do what you think needs to be done. If it will take less than an hour a day each day next week, minus Christmas (side note: I don't think Christmas should ever be on a Monday. Just feels off.), do the lessons and keep on track. 45 minutes a day does not make you a mean mom.

 

We pretty much take off days whenever, too, but right now, this time of year, and with some other stuff going on, this mama NEEDS that time off. So we will take it. I figure that kids who are still in school right now aren't getting much done, either; they're just sitting in the brick and mortar building because public schools are required to have students in seats so many days out of the year. We'll just take those days off and have a bit more fun, you know?

[Arcadia]

We’ll still be doing two hours of work per day because January is one of those months we get hit by allergies so we need the buffer from Christmas break. My husband is working so we aren’t going on a vacation next week. Sometimes his dept shuts down for Christmas week so we go on a short road trip.

[Night Elf]

When my kids were young, we homeschooled year round so we could take off whenever we wanted. Sometimes it was only a day and sometimes it was a week. We did not take 2 weeks at Christmas. My kids never complained.

[SparklyUnicorn]

We take 2-3 weeks.  Not so much because I want to, but there is so much going on at this time and DH gets time off.  So nothing gets done anyway. 

[AK_Mom4]

I wasn’t planning on taking time off this Christmas and DD16 was planning on working ahead during the next few weeks.

 

HOWEVR- plans change. Oldest DS is bring his girlfriend home to “meet the parents†and older DD is flying in on Friday. Oh - and I had my gallbladder out yesterday, so my plans are shot.

 

I think I will be hanging quietly on the sidelines while my house dissolves into happy chaos. DD16 still has to produce her 5 page essay on Moby Dick, but I suspect she will get lots of loud and cookie-filled help writing it.

[OrganicJen]

We aren't taking a break this year. We take our breaks more based on when there are things we want to do than on when public school kids do, so this year my son agreed he wanted to work over the Christmas break time so he could have more time off in a couple months for something else. His school has 36 weeks and when they are done they are done so it benefits him to work now and trade that time for more time off when he has something he wants to go do.

[Zinnia]

We take 2 weeks off. I have a public schooler, and my dh is off the week from Christmas to NYD. Nothing happens here. I do require a tiny bit of dyslexia tutoring...20 min for one kid, 10 for the other.

[kbutton]

We take off what makes sense, partly because there are years that my DH's work schedule makes no sense at all. Sometimes that means we have therapy when everyone else is off, but school when everyone else is catching up on therapy appointments (speech, OT sorts of things). Sometimes it's all a grinding halt (but short). 

 

This year, it's some time off, but concessions for car rides--8.5 hours in the car one way to see grandparents is prime do school time to me in return for some of our lighter days or days off being at home, not just while we're away (they have to play with the new toys and gadgets!). We've had a lot of derailments this year, and the kids would just be on a device or something otherwise. We do try to keep much of it work that is not completely routine. Or we might double up on some fun subjects and skip hard ones. 

[Tenaj]

We ended up with three weeks off this year -not my plan but circumstances dictated it. In fact, we have hardly done anything since Thanksgiving! It's going to a long haul until summer vacation!

[rebcoola]

We never used to take off  for christmas but the kids are older now and want the break.  Plus gymnastics practice all get moved to the morning during the break so that kind of would make it hard to.

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

We took off most of November to get our house ready to sell. I’ve scaled way back though. We’re doing a little math each day and I’m reading stuff aloud and then we’re discussing it. The older two were alternating days of grammar and writing but I haven’t bothered this week. I’ve cut phonics with the younger two down to about 20 minutes a day. We just do what we have time for if other activities come up. Next week we’ll probably take Tuesday off but I may try to squeeze something in on Wednesday. DH is off work Th, F and Sat so we’ll see what happens those days. Maybe I’ll just take the whole week off. I feel like we’re behind though and 9th grade is looming for the oldest.

[katilac]

We never took off "weeks" during the winter holidays, but we definitely took off the day after Christmas (and other days depending on our plans). I always liked to clean and organize their rooms on December 26! Get all the new toys sorted and so on. 

 

I have seen many new homeschoolers tripped up by combining the ideas that you can take weeks off at the holidays, and you can take days off whenever you want. You usually have to choose, lol. But one day is pretty extreme. 

 

Will she care about doing the hour's worth of work? Mine probably would not have, when they were so young their work could be done that quickly. I probably would have told them, Christmas is Monday, yay! Then, the rest of the week, you get to sleep late and then play all morning. Then, after lunch, we'll have just a bit of school, and you can play the rest of the afternoon! 

 

If I knew or thought she might care, I'd not worry about the work at all. One hour per day, for three days? You can easily make that up in January, just have a plan. Or, let her take off Tuesday and Wednesday. Karate camp is Thursday, so kind of "back to it," and easy enough to work on at least Friday (and possibly work a bit extra). 

 

 

 

[EMS83]

We're taking this week off, but will probably be back at it by the 27th.  Mine actually complain if we take too much time off.  They notice that they get rusty.  :)  

[kroe1]

No. DH and I both work in the medical field which includes working on Christmas Day. Therefore, school was scheduled then, too. We celebrate, and stop school, on whatever day we happen to get off.

[Elizabeth86]

We are not this year. School has been super spotty this year duebto my pregnancy, so we are getting days in when we can. For first grade, I just don't feel you need weeks off. I also have to consider the time I will take when tbe. baby is born too.