Year Round Homeschooling
We just got done with our 8th week of school yesterday. It has gone by incredibly fast!
So far, I would say this is our best year to date! This is my 9th year homeschooling and I think I have finally found a routine, a home school philosophy and a schedule that fits our needs and the goals that I have for our family as far as education is concerned. I will share what our schedule looks like.
The first thing I really wanted to try to implement this year, was actually year round homeschooling. It sounds scary, at least it always did to me! I always thought "This mama needs a break!". But over a few months of intense research to switch things up to be more efficient and happy, I read several articles and recognized the need for a change of schedule for our family. Turns out year round homeschooling isn't as scary as it sounds.
I had noticed that the pattern was the same every year; we would buckle down and work very hard for the first couple months of school, by the time Thanksgiving was finally in sight, it was a drudge to make it to the first break of the year. From Thanksgiving to Christmas was always a flurry of activity and a really tough time to get any work done. January was usually pretty smooth since we just had a break, but by February we all had cabin fever and no one was really in the mood to do school. We would push though but no one was ever doing it whole heartily. March and April were usually a race to the finish line and if we worked super hard we would have all of our work done by the first week of May. We repeated this cycle for 7-8 years.
The article that impacted me the most was one about sabbath schooling, which suggested a 6 weeks of school to 1 week off ratio throughout the year. It would also include a 6 weeks break in the summer and a longer break at Thanksgiving and Christmas, possibly even a break from Thanksgiving to New Year. I loved the concept, and that's what I planned to do. Our first day of school was going to be July 16th. Sadly my grandpa passed away at the end of June so we had to go up to Canada for a few weeks. It made me push my starting date back by a couple weeks and review our breaks. I figured that if we started July 30th, we could do a 5 weeks of school to 1 week off ratio, take a week off at Thanksgiving and 3 weeks at Christmas and 6 weeks in the summer. That will give us 180 days of school by May 31st, which is our state requirement.
That's what we have been implementing, and I find that we have been much more driven with a nice break in sight at all times. I see that it will be more relaxing for us around the holidays and it gives us freedom to plan trips and vacation throughout the year! Another big perk, none of the breaks are long enough to warrant any review, so after each break we just pick right back off where we left off!
Our first week off, I worked on the house! Jariah had just finished our basement, and I took my time off to help with the finishing touches and to paint the upstairs.
Here are a few pictures, just for fun!
So far, I would say this is our best year to date! This is my 9th year homeschooling and I think I have finally found a routine, a home school philosophy and a schedule that fits our needs and the goals that I have for our family as far as education is concerned. I will share what our schedule looks like.
The first thing I really wanted to try to implement this year, was actually year round homeschooling. It sounds scary, at least it always did to me! I always thought "This mama needs a break!". But over a few months of intense research to switch things up to be more efficient and happy, I read several articles and recognized the need for a change of schedule for our family. Turns out year round homeschooling isn't as scary as it sounds.
I had noticed that the pattern was the same every year; we would buckle down and work very hard for the first couple months of school, by the time Thanksgiving was finally in sight, it was a drudge to make it to the first break of the year. From Thanksgiving to Christmas was always a flurry of activity and a really tough time to get any work done. January was usually pretty smooth since we just had a break, but by February we all had cabin fever and no one was really in the mood to do school. We would push though but no one was ever doing it whole heartily. March and April were usually a race to the finish line and if we worked super hard we would have all of our work done by the first week of May. We repeated this cycle for 7-8 years.
The article that impacted me the most was one about sabbath schooling, which suggested a 6 weeks of school to 1 week off ratio throughout the year. It would also include a 6 weeks break in the summer and a longer break at Thanksgiving and Christmas, possibly even a break from Thanksgiving to New Year. I loved the concept, and that's what I planned to do. Our first day of school was going to be July 16th. Sadly my grandpa passed away at the end of June so we had to go up to Canada for a few weeks. It made me push my starting date back by a couple weeks and review our breaks. I figured that if we started July 30th, we could do a 5 weeks of school to 1 week off ratio, take a week off at Thanksgiving and 3 weeks at Christmas and 6 weeks in the summer. That will give us 180 days of school by May 31st, which is our state requirement.
That's what we have been implementing, and I find that we have been much more driven with a nice break in sight at all times. I see that it will be more relaxing for us around the holidays and it gives us freedom to plan trips and vacation throughout the year! Another big perk, none of the breaks are long enough to warrant any review, so after each break we just pick right back off where we left off!
Our first week off, I worked on the house! Jariah had just finished our basement, and I took my time off to help with the finishing touches and to paint the upstairs.
Here are a few pictures, just for fun!
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