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We are going through LHTH and LHFHG right now and anticipate being finished late summer. Then we will start our next levels in the early fall after a short break. I'd like to school year-round starting then.

For those that do, how do you schedule your weeks so that the program stretches a full year?

Thank you!

This is my first year homeschooling and we started in July and will go through June 15. The curriculum we are using now will be done April/May. I plan to continue with Math through the remainder of our year. And, we will study based on what they want to learn more about.

I will be using HOD next year and plan to do this same thing. When we are done with HOD for the year, then that will allow my kids time to explore things that interested them. I plan to keep a more formal list of ideas for them that they express interest in next year. This year, I kind of have been compiling things I observed them enjoying so we can dive in deeper.

Deb

It may depend somewhat on your state requirements. Here in TN we have to school 180 days between July 1st and June 30th. For the younger guides, I stretch them out by doing 4 days weeks. This makes them last 42.5 weeks. There are 170 days scheduled and then I just scheduled in 10 field trip days throughout the year. This gives us 7 weeks of vacation per year. It's worked great for us so far. I'm not sure what I'll do when we get the older guides since they are already scheduled as 4 day weeks.

I guess year round schooling looks different for every family that does it..

We choose to do it for a couple of main reasons.

1. Our son (7) participates in a great deal of therapy during the week that takes he and I out of the home. This means less school time. I also have 2 children (including this son) that have a rare genetic condition. These 2 children require a lot of Dr. appointments that take us away from the home several days a year for a majority of the day.

In order to "make up" for what is "missed" due to our busy therapy schedule, we choose to school year round.

2. My children thrive on the routine that school provides. When they are given long breaks (days long) where their time is not structured, they do not do well. They do not get along well, and they have a hard time filling their time productively. I find myself doing a LOT of extra child training and discipline during those times.

Now, our summer schedule is very relaxed. My husband is a teacher. He teaches summer school 4 days a week, and he is home by 1:00. So, we only school when Daddy is not home. When Daddy is home, we are generally free to be with him.

My husband greatly values time with his children. He wants to play outside with them. He wants to play board games with them. He wants to just "be" with them. So, when Daddy is home, school is out of session as a general rule. Hope this helps : )

We just proceed through each guide as scheduled taking no breaks between guides.

I like to take a calendar and mark my start date. Then I highlight all of the "non-negotiable" vacation times (Christmas, going to grandma's, camping trips, etc.). Then I see how many weeks I have off, where there are large areas with no time off, and fill in a bit more "negotiable" time off. I like to leave it that way because then I have the flexibility to change as something comes up. Then I count how many weeks are left compared to the number of units in the guide. You could decide what to do according to the number of weeks you have left. It it isn't much, you could just leave it for the unexpected and just spend 2 or 3 weeks filling in at the end. This year we actually don't have much wiggle room, but we are running at the very young end of the guide for my oldest so I am going to take 6 weeks this summer off from HOD and do some other (school related) things I have wanted to do with both my boys. This gives me a chance to combine them for something, which I am looking forward to also. We will continue to do reading, math, and some handwriting during this time.

We are trying something new this year.... Before this year we did a guide, then took 10 weeks or so off and did a unit study. We did lighthouses, geography, and this past year did a pretty close look at the nature around our house.

This year we are taking scheduled breaks and not doing a unit study. I'm not sure how well that will work, but we'll see. It's basically either 6 or 9 weeks on, and then a few weeks off.... The off weeks are based around vacations and birthdays, etc. but they are scheduled instead of just taking off when we do something.

We often add in a unit study or two. Last year, we did a Christmas around the world type study where we learned about different countries and how they celebrated Christmas or other winter holidays.

Samuel'sMommy wrote:It may depend somewhat on your state requirements. Here in TN we have to school 180 days between July 1st and June 30th. For the younger guides, I stretch them out by doing 4 days weeks. This makes them last 42.5 weeks. There are 170 days scheduled and then I just scheduled in 10 field trip days throughout the year. This gives us 7 weeks of vacation per year. It's worked great for us so far. I'm not sure what I'll do when we get the older guides since they are already scheduled as 4 day weeks.

I like this idea. I'm in TN too! This is our first year to homeschool and would also like to go somewhat year round, but I don't think my boys will be happy about it.

We don't school year round, but when planning our year we pretty much also do this ...

countrymom wrote:I like to take a calendar and mark my start date. Then I highlight all of the "non-negotiable" vacation times (Christmas, going to grandma's, camping trips, etc.). Then I see how many weeks I have off, where there are large areas with no time off, and fill in a bit more "negotiable" time off. I like to leave it that way because then I have the flexibility to change as something comes up...

Once I've marked the calendar with the for sure dates I know about (including standardized testing as that's mandatory in our state), then I plan in how many flex days I want to use. This year I planned 15 days. Every time we use a day, I take one away. This helps us always finish by the time I want. We take our summers off though. This still helps me plan my year. Good question!

In Christ,
Julie

I like the idea of marking off pre-determined weeks for vacation. And allowing flex days, too.

But does anyone schedule their time in blocks i.e. 6 weeks on, 1 week off? or some other combination?

the 6 weeks on 1 off was where I got the idea for the way we are doing it this year. I just used our pre-existing vacation plans to base our time on time off. We knew we had a week vacation the first week of Feb, and I knew I wanted to take most of April off because we have 2 birthday's and a half birthday as well as Easter and absolutely beautiful weather. I also knew we'd have 2 weeks in July and one in August.

alydar wrote:I like the idea of marking off pre-determined weeks for vacation. And allowing flex days, too.

But does anyone schedule their time in blocks i.e. 6 weeks on, 1 week off? or some other combination?

Yes! I have tried to do the 6 weeks on, 1 week off. It is imperfect. I like to take a full week off at Thanksgiving and then two weeks at Christmas. Thanksgiving and Christmas don't have 6 weeks between them - EVER - so, that completely messes up my perfect plan. I mark up the calendar for the times I know that I want off, then I start adding up weeks. If there are stretches of weeks that are not broken up, then I pencil in a vacation, as close to 6 weeks as I can....as long as we meet our state's requirement & finish the HOD curriculum we are in for the year.

We find that the best place to start is prayer for our year, seeking God's wisdom for our family. I have never had flex days...but WOW! Now that really makes sense...and I as I have been praying about this exact thing, I am trusting that God has imparted His wisdom through this board! It would allow oldest ds to go on roadtrips with his dad for work. Hmmm...thanks for that tidbit!!

Thank you ladies for the ideas and inspiration! I like the 6 weeks on, 1 week off idea and then schedule in non-negotiable vacation times. Now I just need to sit down and actually do it.

I'm so excited about our coming year!

My hubby has a weird schedule...he works 10 days on, 4 days off. We love the fall and spring. All 5 of us have birthdays in the spring. We wanna hang out with dad when we can so...if I want to spend 36 weeks per year in school, I consider that in the winter months when it's cold and flu season I find that a good time to stay home and do school. During the summer it's often times too hot to really enjoy much but we always seem to want to be outside in the spring and fall, taking trips and gardening/getting new chicks, etc...and around the holidays we want plenty of flexibility in our schedule for shopping and making crafts, etc. We start in July and the schedule goes like this:

July - 4 weeks
August - 4 weeks
September - 2 weeks
October - 2 weeks
November - 2 weeks
December - 2 weeks
January - 4 weeks
February - 4 weeks
March - 3 weeks
April - 3 weeks
May - 3 weeks
June - 3 weeks

This has worked out well for us because if something changes where we would rather have time in another month we just add one to another month and take the time we need. It doesn't matter what week we choose to be off...we just pick one that corresponds with dad's...don't know if this would work for anyone else but we have really enjoyed it...I don't feel rushed and don't feel guilty at the holidays for slacking off. I hope you find something that works for you!

I'm reading this, interested, but I'm a little intrigued but confused about how the flex days work. I know Julie's super busy, as well as everyone else. May I ask that someone help me understand how the flex days work? TIA