Those who don't break for summer

[mrsrandolph]

I work one day a week, and we have some therapies through the week. So, to keep up, we school year round. We only do half paced summers. Having said that...I am (for the first time) WEARY! My kids enjoy having school in the summer as it keeps them from bickering all day and gives them something to do. Their dad is a teacher and he teaches summer school until lunch time. So. we school until he gets home. Then it's "daddy time".

For others who school year round, why do you do it, and how do you keep yourself motivated?

[StephanieU]

We school year round so we can take breaks when we need to the rest of the year. We take 1-2 weeks off from each subject when we complete a workbook/guide. We take days off for mental health. And we take time off for family visits and vacation. My husband works year round. I work mostly year round (I teach at our community college all three terms). I don't see a reason to take 2-3 months off just because it is summer, especially since we can finish a day's worth of school and still go swimming at the pool every day we want to. We often do 1/2 days if there are multiple things we want to do or if we just aren't motivated as much. But, we still do something for school almost every day we are home without company.

[MomtoJGJE]

The way we do it is I save DITHOR for our "breaks"... So during our regular guide time they do everything, and if we need to cut things out for whatever reason we cut out math, English, dictation, and the writing program from RtR. When we need a break we do a unit of DITHOR and keep doing math, English, dictation and the writing program. Mainly because we tend to take a lot of days off of those things. But doing it that way keeps the rhythm of school, gets everything we need in for a school day, but it still feels like a break from our regular monotony.

We will also occasionally, if everyone is "caught up" to where they "should be" (yeah it's a mental thing for me...) do unit studies on something and make lapbooks with them.

[countrymom]

I work, but am home four days a week during the summer so we have always schooled year around because it is just easier when I am home all day. My husband teaches some because of my schedule, but for consistency I like to do the bulk of it if I can. In addition to schooling year around, we also school one day on the weekend and school 3-4 weekdays, depending on the week. As far as the kids go, this has worked fine. However, I have reached critical mass. Our schedule basically means I never get a day off. If I am home, I am schooling. We go to church the weekend day we don't school, so I just don't ever have a full day.
Having said all of that, I have adjusted our schedule so I can rejuvenate and avoid major burnout. We are taking 8 weeks off this summer and I am going to take a weekend off here and there throughout the year. My husband does a great job schooling, so I'll just have to let him do more. My older will be in R2R and he can work independently on quite a bit and I can just check it later, so I think we will be fine. Overall, I prefer a year around schedule because I don't want my kids off 3 months straight - I would never get them back on track again and my youngest, with learning issues, would suffer. We are staggering our 8 weeks this summer and then I will add four more weeks in thoughout the school year. I think every family has different needs, but we as teachers do need to avoid burnout. My best advice for motivation is a little break. Usually once I am off a few days I find myself missing it, as I really do love schooling my kids. Maybe this is a year for you to do something a little different this summer to allow yourself some time off. Don't be afraid to think out of the box for scheduling. We have used some unique schedules over the years.

[3greatkids]

We are a family that chooses to school year round; however, summers are far lighter. The reasons are varied. I work a few days each month, we live on a farm and autumn requires us to take time off for various tasks (firewood, agricultural events, haying, animals birthing, and deer hunting), we have multiple elderly and ailing family members that we try to be available to help, we enjoy taking days off in the winter to ski, and we too have so many medical/dental/orthodontic/PT appts. My husband's work demands are huge, so when he can take time off, whether it is in October or July or January, we break. In the summer, we usually try to do 3 or 4 boxes/day, atleast two or three times weekly. We've found that retention is so much better (especially in math) and the time spent reviewing is less using this method. The motivation to do it is knowing that we can take shorter, but more frequent breaks the remainder of the year. I too get weary, but when that happens we take a long weekend assuming we are on target to finish our guide by May each year. Blessings on finding the right schedule that suits your needs.

[Nealewill]

Honestly - we used to do regular school over the summer but it just got to be too scheduled for me. I also work and I actually work way more hours over the summer than in the winter. So usually I struggle with keeping any commitments. Also, I have gotten to the point that I want my kids to be able to play with the kids in the neighborhood because we have tons of kids around.

For us, we start around 8:00 each day and then the kids are done with whatever they have by 10:00. After that, we play hard (or I work hard LOL). I don't do regular school. Normally it is just lots of reading and some math. I have them do some type of project each week that work towards together. That is way less structured, done collaboratively as a group and without me, and then usually something fun that they can't wait to do - and it is almost always science related. We usually have 2 or 3 weeks we do nothing I do a joint story time activity most days just for fun. The kids LOVE it and so do I. Because my youngest (and all of my kids adored the Burgess books) I bought 3 books written by Thorton Burgess to read out loud to my kids. One is on animals, another on birds and another related to the sea. I also have been really wanting to read the Storybook of Science for a long while. I feel that all of my kids are now old enough to truly enjoy it. Whatever books we don't finish this summer, we will read through the year in the evenings.

For me, I can't do regular school because I won't be diligent in getting it done. There are too many things going on and I want my days to be more open. I also find that I lose steam and so do my kids. I have a hard time staying motivated and feel like we really need to the summer to just relax. That is just me personally. And usually we only take off for 6 weeks. But this year, we are taking off 10 weeks! We have 1 week of vacation in there. My oldest dd is going to an acting camp for a week. And then my kids have another camp they plan to attend. I am tired of school LOL so we quit May 28th. We won't start up until August 17th. I normally like starting by August 1st but my family goes on a family vacation. And this year, my brother scheduled it for the week of August 10th. Oh well. Plus, my kids will be out of town the week of July 27th. I can't justify starting up for one week (Aug 3rd) and then taking a week off and then going back at it again after that.

[sahervey]

Our family schools year round. We chose to do this because my husband is in the military and is gone some during the year. When he is home, we are able to take more time off to spend with him. When he's gone, we diligently do school. We also used to live on a tropical island where the summers were unbearable unless you were in the water. So, while it was so hot, we did school. During the fall/"winter," we took more time off to enjoy the outdoors. Now that we live in Southern CA, weather isn't an issue, but my husband's job still is. So, we will continue schooling year round. We take two weeks off here and there whenever we feel like it. One week break isn't enough for me!

[MelInKansas]

I also school pretty much year-round because I take the occasional break and week off when needed throughout the year. I've been able to complete a guide a year with my DD who is on the 4 day weeks, and we are getting through them at a reasonable pace with the 5 day a week guides. I get burnout pretty easily, pretty much every 8-9 weeks I need some kind of a break, whether just a day or two off, or something. The most I had ever taken off before this last baby was about 4 weeks in a row. My oldest had 3 months off with this baby because she finished Preparing right before Christmas, the baby was born in January, and I didn't start CTC with her until the beginning of March. It was so rough starting up again with her! I had had her doing some school things but not a full load of a guide, and starting up a whole guide was really tough for the first 4 weeks at least.

So all this to say that this is part of what motivates me to school year-round. I also like doing school when the regular weekly rhythm of our school year activities stops. I feel like we have so much better focus. I feel like I do a better job of completing things because I'm not distracted by having to be somewhere at a certain time or having to prepare for ministry. Now, in the summer, my mentality is that if there's something else to do then school can be called off or we will do a 1/2 day. We have more school kids in our neighborhood now so it will be interesting to see what the summer is like, since those kids will be at home all day now too.

When I am lagging and feel burnt out on it, then I take a break. Usually a week or two off and I am refreshed. Summer should feel like summer at least for a little while, that's my opinion. Then we jump back into it with renewed vigor. But taking longer breaks is really counterproductive in my experience.

[mskogen]

We school year round for many reasons. When we lived in FL it was because the summers were TOO hot. We enjoyed taking time off when the weather was cooler. Now that we live in AR we do it because of the time off in spring and fall with the garden and animals. The summers are not as hot so we enjoy being outside so we don't go full speed in the summer always. I keep myself (and the kids) from burnout by not going more than 12 weeks without a taking a week off. (sometimes more) I don't have a planned schedule we take off when we need to, for whatever reason.