Year round schedule for 4 day week...???

[hs.mama07]

Hi! I’m trying to figure out what our school year will look like and have a couple questions. We’re doing LHFHG 4 days a week instead of 5 days so we can do a co-op on Mondays (co-op is laid-back and fun). So, when you do a 4 day week in the younger guides, do you count all those Mondays as vacation days? I guess I just don’t know how many days of vacation we should have. We don’t have any legal obligations yet (compulsory age isn’t until 7) but I’d still like to plan enough schools days/break days for the year. Of course, doing just one guide (which is so much fun), I hardly feel like we’ll need breaks, lol. Anyway, just curious how other people have done it.

[Cindygreen]

Co-op days can still be counted as school days. Enrichment days are still learning days.

[kvest]

We plan to school year round & do "sabbath schooling". 4 days/week + co-op 1 day - 6 weeks on, 1 week off, except 2 weeks off for Christmas. We will use that 7th week for library trips, home repairs/projects, & field trips! This works great with HOD. Basically, you're breaking up "summer break" throughout the year.

-Kim

[hs.mama07]

Yeah, that's kind of what we were thinking too...taking a week off at the end of a short term instead of a long break. But it didn't end up being as many weeks of vacation compared with public school--or even with my original plan when I first got LHFHG (we just started this month) so that made me wonder. I was originally thinking we'd do 18 weeks of vacation each year (since there's 34 units in the guide)...but that seemed like more breaks than we would need, esp. with Mondays semi-off. Glad to hear someone else has a similar plan...and I really like the name Sabbath plan.

[raindrops]

In NC we are required to school so many days per year. I just focus on that, rather the days off. Did that just make sense?

We also do co-op on Mondays, LHFHG and my son was 5 and my daughter 2 when we started (they've both has birthdays since).

You're my homeschool twin! Haha.

But we are planning on doing year around school. The idea of a long summer break isn't appealing to me. I would rather take breaks in spring and fall when the weather is nice. Or just whenever we need to.

For the last few units we have been going half speed and just reeeeally enjoying the focus on Jesus. We are in unit 17 now. After we are done with this portion of LHFHG we will return to full speed. I like the wiggle room of year round school, to be able to slow down and smell the roses. .

[kvest]

You are right! That leaves several extra weeks. We're just going to stick with that plan. My twins were just pulled from 4th grade, so if we plan to start with Preparing & follow through with all of the other guides, that would put them graduating at 19. Our plan allows us to move on through & give us that "wiggle room"'to spend more time where needed. We have a tendency to talk ALOT, & when we get to discussing, I just enjoy going with it! My daughter tested 2 grades behing in math, & my son is a little behind in reading comprehension. I'm hoping to get them to level 4 in both math & English prior to beginning Preparing, soooo this gives me more time. We are also going through all 7 books of Chronicles of Narnia (along with a study guide) & The Story bible study. This breaks up the English & math a bit & has really helped us connect & grow closer! I can't wait to start Preparing though!

[hs.mama07]

Thanks so much ladies. I too like the idea of maybe making our breaks a bit longer in the spring/fall and doing school in the summer...it gets really hot around here. And I like the idea of some wiggle room. DS5 is doing great so far, but he hasn't really hit anything all that new yet. I'm curious if we'll feel the need for breaks more when he starts learning new stuff. It'll be nice to have a few weeks of vacation to use as needed. Still getting used to doing things our own way instead of the P.S. way...and don't know many HS families yet...so I really appreciate you sharing how things work for you!