How often do you take a break?

[slavila]

How often do you take a break from your regular homeschool? And how long do you break for? This is technically our first year homeschooling and we are in week 4 and I already feel like I need a break!!! But I feel like it's too soon!! And we are going on vacation the last week in September, so we will have a break then. I'm also worried about taking too many breaks this year because I want to make sure I have enough down time when the baby arrives in January. TIA!!

[inHistiming]

We have 'planned' breaks for the year, as follows:

2 weeks at Thanksgiving (this year, it's usually just 1)
2 weeks at Christmas
1 week sometime in the spring

This year, we move into our new house in October, and I am planning to take 2 weeks then so we can get settled in.
In March, we have a baby due, so I am planning for 2 weeks at that time as well.

Our 1 week break in the spring will be incorporated into the baby time this year, so that's a total of 8 planned weeks off this year...it seems like a lot. However, since our school year here is technically from July 1 to June 30, we have 52 weeks to get it all in. When I planned out my schedule (we began August 18) I wrote it all out and stil have us finishing up in early May. That will allow for any sick days, unexpected field trips or trips with Daddy, and also the 4-day weeks we'll be doing during fall co-op. I also think we'll have plenty of 'snow' days where we could just cuddle on the couch and catch up or get ahead on some of our lessons if we need or want to. It will also be a good season for playing games together and just enjoying our time together...I hybernate in the winter! My last 'report' date is mid-June, so I feel we can definitely get it all done. And as for us, we are going to do school year round. I said that last year, and we ended up not doing it this summer like I had planned...but I think we really needed to. The kids (and me) did not function as well without the stricter schedule, nor did we get along as well as I would have liked. I think we all thrive knowing what's coming next, and we did not have that this summer.

I know others will pop in and tell you what they do. I'm sure we all do it a bit differently. I say allow your self time to get into your 'groove' with the curriculum and homeschooling. Then, if you see changes that need to be made, you can do that. I don't know what Unit you are on now, but you could take a week off every 4 weeks (starting with taking the rest of this week off) and get 17 Units done by mid-December (if you have finished the first 4 so far). Then you could do the same beginning in January and still finish by the last week of May. You would have to look at where you are now and what you have coming up to determine exactly how to do it, but I think it's possible. That way you would have a 'built in' vacation every 4 weeks, even if it was just to stay home and play games, build snowmen, whatever. These are just my thoughts; filter out what you don't need and hopefully the rest can be useful. Let us know how you decide to do it. And I'm sure you'll hear from others soon.

[my3sons]

We're doing a 4 day week (Monday through Thursday) school year, which is what the Preparing... guide uses, but for the LHFHG (and next the Beyond... guides) we'll take longer to go through them. We live in SD, so we take June through mid-August off. Those months have the most beautiful weather for us, and we play, play, play outside then! We're taking 2 weeks off around Christmas, and one week off in Feb. for a family vacation. The 4-day week gives us Friday to play around with, and that's enough of a nice break each week for us - maybe you could do that, and just take longer to finish a guide each time?

In Christ,
Julie