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Hi Ladies,

I have a question (or two) and would love some advice. We are finishing up second full year of homeschooling. As of right now we are on unit 24 of Preparing even though our year started in August. I am not sure of what to do now as we come to summer. We will still have about 6 or so weeks of PH left.

My kids like a "summer"... We have a lot of PS friends and it becomes hard for my kids to focus on anything around here with all of the distractions. (I tend to "check out" too )

I had intended to finish Preparing this year and start a new school year with CTC, but now it's not so clean-cut for me (and it's kind of stressing me out ). I could truck along and just finish it up full speed, going all the way through June or July, or I could stop at Unit 28 and pick PH back up in August.

My question is if I stop, take a summer break, and pick it back up, will that ruin the "flow" of the guide?

And for those of you who school through the summer, how do you make it work with all of the distractions (other kids ringing the doorbell, MY kids only wanting to swim, etc.) We have not always homeschooled, so my kids are very much used to a traditional "school year".

I would love your thoughts on this as I try and plan my summer months!

Tracy

Some homeschoolers take summer off, some school year round. We have taken summer off, schooled through the summer, gone half speed in the summer, or just used summer to read extra books depending on how the year went and what we felt like we needed. It has been different every year. This year with one in PS and one homeschooled, I am not sure yet what we will do. I am leaning toward doing schoolwork with my homeschooler 3 days a week to keep the learning going, but we may just do the basics, math grammar, dictation, and let the rest wait until fall. I don't think we will do full days, we don't want to miss out on summer activities.

I've seen a lot of people say they just stop where they are and pick back up in the fall... makes a nice lead in into the next guide that way

We school straight through... we do it by getting school done in the morning before all the PS kids are awake and out playing. My kids don't sleep in any day, no day is different for them really, so generally by 8am they are bored And their PS friends don't come out and about before 10am.

What *I* would do in your case is pick a time for your summer vacation to start, and once it starts just do half speed, or a certain amount of time devoted to school each day.

Another thing... might not help much, but a thought... if you start now doing school 5 days a week instead of 4, when would that have you finishing? Would it be worth it to your kids?

We used to school year-round, but as my kids have gotten older (and started having PS friends) this has not worked for us. However, I don't want them to lose skills (plus I find that total free-time for 3 months is too much for them to handle), so we do a little school most days. We do reading and a chore every day, and then I kind of rotate in various things depending on their age and what they are working on. Last summer, we did typing and math. And my oldest (was going into 11th grade) studied for his ACT from a program I bought. We usually aren't done with our math book by the end of the year, so we just do a lesson about twice a week until we get that finished and then just keep reviewing times-tables, etc. I also do it first thing in the morning before and PS kids are up. However, if we have big plans like a trip to the zoo or something, we don't do any school that day. It is very flexible.

I don't think it would be any problem to stop and pick up where you are next fall. However, if you want to keep going, you could just do part of a "day" each morning and then still give them most of the day off. Then you could plan a couple weeks of being totally off if you think your kids need that, or you could just take random days off when you have something fun planned.

I find most kids get bored if they have nothing to do for 3 months. Unless you are a big activity planner (I tend to not be great about that--I like to use the summer to catch up on my projects), your kids may do better with doing a little school each day.

Just a thought,

Homeschooling with HOD is super flexible, as you can see the many different ways families are enjoying the pacing of their guides! We live in SD and always take the summers off - it is truly some of the only nice weather we have. My oldest is on the 4 day a week guides, and we school 5 days a week through the school year, so he always finishes a guide a year from around Aug. to April. My middle ds finished BHFHG at the start of the year, and then moved right into PHFHG. He has about 1 month of PHFHG left, and we are just taking the summer off. We will finish it at the start of next school year and then move into CTC. I may start him a little early, and have him go a little longer next year. Then, we'll be on the guide a year plan for him after that, as they are 4 day a week plans. My youngest ds finished LHTH and did 10 units of LHFHG half-speed last year. He is taking a summer break (other than we are continuing with phonics and writing a few words a day), and then we will finish out LHFHG next year, probably full-speed, but I'll see what pacing best fits his needs and go from there. So, you can see HOD can be customized to not only each child's needs, but also to your family's goals for when to homeschool. I would take your summer off, and if your kiddos begin to need something back in their day before summer ends, I'd enjoy doing some PHFHG days together! Otherwise, just taking the summer off and picking back up has worked fine for our family. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

We will be very busy in May and June--2 trips, Cub Scout day camp, and VBS! We will do as much HOD as possible through next week. When we are home in May and June, we will do math and cursive every day. We'll also have to finish our Storytime and Reading books because they are so good! In July we will start doing more school again. July and August get so hot here--it's a great time to stay inside and do school! Our best weather is in spring and fall, so we tend to spend more time outside then. I love the flexibility of HOD.

We school year round because I have some kids in therapies, and we miss some days during the year. In the summer we school only in the morning, so basically half paced in the summer. You might try that.

Otherwise, just pick up where you left off when you start school again in the fall. ; )