The weather is getting warmer. The days are longer. And school will soon be out. Or will it?
Not for us! We still have two more months of school. I can just hear you saying, “Your poor kids! Cut them some slack. Stop being a cruel, mean homeschooling mama!”
Would you still say that if you knew my kids had all of December and April off with a week off in the middle of October and February too? One of the pleasures of homeschooling is creating a schedule that works for our family. For us that means a type of year-round schooling of three months on {doing school}, one month off {no school}, with a week off in the middle of the three months on. The months we take off are usually April, August, and December. It just works for us.
However, our summer schedule still differs from the rest of the school year. We are busy farming so school is usually done in the afternoon {during the heat of the day}. The hay is raked in the early morning hours and the three oldest {it’ll be the four oldest this year!} are gone to help. This is perfect as the littler ones and I go and work in the garden while the day is still somewhat cool.
Our school work load is also a bit lighter in the summertime. We take more field trips, go on more nature walks, and study a lot more science. We also make time to do the activities in our Cool Summer Days Calendar. Our book learning is replaced with more hands on activities.
Do you do school during the summer? What does your schedule look like?
Yep, we do school in the summer too! We have June ‘off’, but keep math up so we don’t lose skills. Then we’re back at it in July. Like you, we take different times off basedon what we need. We usually have a baby or pregnancy to deal with (every school year since my 5th grader was preschool age…LOL) so there is extra time off for that. We just stay flexible!
Besides, children with too much time on their hands make too much mischief and we do notbelive in putting them into competitive sports that take over the family schedule and split the family up.
I decided this year we will homeschool year-round. I have five kids under the age of eight and I found that trying to get it all done according to the public school calendar was too stressful for me! It is especially difficult when you’ve just had a baby AND you have a toddler to take care of. 🙂 Since I decided to change our schedule, I have seen so many positive posts around the internet about homeschooling year-round that I feel like this is absolutely do-able, even if I’m the only one doing it in my neck-of-the-woods. 🙂
I also wanted to tell you that I enjoy reading your blog, specifically your homeschooling posts. You are honest, thoughtful, and willing to share what your life is like without detailing things we don’t need to know. I genuinely appreciate that. I love your outlook on the importance of family. I love that you don’t apologize for your approach to schooling and mothering a large family. So thank you!
~Lynette from Utah
Thank you, Lynette, for your kind words!
I’m thinking of doing a year round approach with our family. It’s so nice to be able to plan our own schedule! I want to stay indoors and do school during the summer when it’s ridiculously hot here in the Mojave desert and then have more of a break in the winter when the weather is actually nice. I also think doing school during hot afternoons would be better and we could garden and play outside in the cooler mornings.
OKay…somebody is getting dang cute around here.
Nice job!!
I LOVE that first picture! Today I am the little boy in the blue shirt tossing his papers into the air – my kids’ last day was today! Yay! Your blog redesign looks great by the way!
I think that picture needs to have a girl crying in the corner. I always cried when school let out because I loved it so much. My sister’s kids {who go to public school} all cried on their last day too. It must be in our blood.
I recently blogged about this, too! Here: http://thoughtsfromthehearth.blogspot.com/2012/05/our-summer-school.html
I love hearing what other homeschooling families do in the summer time. 🙂
(And great job on the redesign! Misty is so awesome!!!)
Hugs,
Rachel
Misty is absolutely fabulous! I think she’s listed as a synonym for fabulous in my thesaurus. 🙂
Even when we public schooled I did little school bits during the summer. Homeschooling won’t change it. It will be a lot less, mostly just making sure everyone is getting enough reading time in, especially the little ones who are not inclined to hide out with a book yet.
My kids look forward to the bookmobile’s summer reading program every year. It’s what keeps the littles reading a lot!
I like the redesign! I am gearing up for our summer together. Our child are in the public school system and it has really been wonderful for them. Our summer schedule will include times for reading, math reviews (I have one the needs this regularly), art outlets, devotional times, sibling pairings (where two are paired in order to more closely bond), and just plain fun! We have a local water park and that’s our weekly treat – one day together to run around and play on the rides.
We are year rounders, too. Some of it is due to different extremes in weather and wanting to take advantage of the nice weather before the HEAT hits, and the other part is that we tend to break for babies and December is completely off as well. So this year, we have a slightly more relaxed sked through June and then we work hard July, August and most of September, and then October is off as we welcome a new baby and adjust to being a family of 7, yay! It’s difinately cyclical/seasonal in nature…love the fresh look, Misty is amazing!