I keep getting questions from friends and family asking when we are done homeschooling for the year. The answer? We won’t be. We homeschool year round.
Do we take summer breaks? Absolutely. For example my son finished his math book yesterday. He will not be getting his new one until August. We take off a week for VBS. The kids are involved in camps and do not do school during their camp weeks. We still have plenty of breaks during the summer and even more throughout the year.
Now before you freak out, here are the reasons why homeschooling year round is right for my family.
1. More Adventures, Less Crowds. We love to take advantage of the lower crowds and take our family trips during the school year. Such as our week long trip to Disney in March for my 30th birthday. We also spend more of the fall and spring days outside and going on adventures so that during the summer when it’s ridiculously hot by 10am we can focus on school. We don’t have to turn to the TV and video games to pass the time.
2. Flexibility. I love being spontaneous during our school year. Rainy outside? Let’s drop school and go dance in the rain. Get invited to some fun event during the week? Throw school out the window and let’s go! We like to keep a fun learning environment and I just love the flexibility that homeschooling through the year allows our family.
3. Lots of Daddy Time. My husband works for the Sheriff’s Department so it’s a crazy schedule at times. Homeschooling year round allows us to spend more time with Daddy. Since he works every other weekend, we can have Saturday school and take Monday off instead to spend more time with Daddy.
4. Routine. We don’t get the burn out that is frequent. School has become routine and continues through the summer. It’s just what we do. I’ve heard of some friends doing 6 weeks on, 1 week off and that works well for their children. We haven’t tried it yet.
5. More Holiday Time: Around the holidays we can take more time off for when Grandma comes in town or if we decide to drive up and visit her. This means more cookie decorating, more Christmas activities, more fun! We know if we take extra days to visit family, we can make it up in June when it’s too hot to do anything (like NOW!)
6. Less forgetfulness: Let’s face it. During the summer, kids typically forget how to do some of the things they’ve learned in school. When school starts up again, many of the first chapters are typically review. With year round school, we fly right through the review and on to more learning.
Do you homeschool year round or have you considered it? Let me know your thoughts.
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