#schedule

Homeschool Year Round:

Is It As Crazy As It Sounds?

I can imagine the conversation right now. You tell someone you want to homeschool year round and they look at you like you have just told them you are from outer space, and proceed to show them your extra toe…or something like that. Maybe they even insinuate that you are “crazy”. I must admit, I am not speaking from experience here. (As my lack of imagination for this scenario shows.) I have a very supportive family and I have not met with too many skeptic comments from others.

However, I have just finished my first year homeschooling “year-round”. (As of today actually!) So I thought I would jump on here and give you my insights before everything slips my mind, as it often does.

Would I Recommend to Homeschool Year Round?

All said and done, yes I would recommend it. As I have outlined before homeschooling year round has given me more flexibility. In fact, it has been the best year so far. We are now heading into our fourth year homeschooling, and by far this one was easiest. Count in the fact that I was homeschooling two boys, with an otherwise full schedule, I would say that is no small feat.

The way our school year turned out we are actually getting some time off for summer. As of today June 22nd 2023 we will likely get a good 7-8 weeks off of school. For some families that may not be enough, however for us this will likely be too much.

how to homeschool year round

I always advise my readers to look at your state’s homeschool laws. This should be your first priority. You can also take a look at HSLDA.org My state is a very low regulated state. This means I have a lot more flexibility in certain areas.

Most states do regulate how many days you have to homeschool. Generally this is the same as the public school systems. So for me, I have to homeschool or do some sort of education 180 days of the year. However, what is called education can vary. We do volunteer work, and my boys do a lot of public speaking, so if I chose to I could call this school for the day and mark it as one of my 180 days.

For instance, we only did 137 days of bookwork this year. The other 43 days were made up with volunteer work, trips to the zoo, museums…if I felt they were being particularly helpful around home, gaining new skills, expressing understanding of different concepts, then I would count it as a school day. (Usually with this I would count it as “cumulative days”) Really, it is what you make of it.

I Planned My Year The Way It Worked Best For Us

Vacations and holidays are not very common with our family so I did not have to plan around either of these. I set up my year to go something like this: three weeks of school, one week off. This worked great for us. As we got closer to the end of the year we started doubling up and taking less weeks off. Since we had taken so many breaks through the year, we didn’t have any issues powering through without a week off for the last couple of months.

That is the great thing about homeschooling, you can do things however they work best into your routines, schedules or lifestyle.

How Long Can You Take Off For Summer?

Again, this is flexible! Depending on how you scheduled out your year and how well you stuck to it, or rearranged it, you can take off as little or as much for breaks as you need. (Within reason of course.)

When we started homeschooling we stuck with the public schools schedule. I pushed this schedule too hard and too long for us though. I found we do much better with more frequent breaks. Six to nine weeks without a break was just an invitation for burnout, tears and stress. No thanks.

Additionally, I found that we didn’t end up doing the whole summer break anyway. We get so used to our routine that we start to bore easily. I know it sounds crazy, but some of my homeschool mom friends say their children are asking when they can start school again…(perhaps we should check their fingers and toes to make sure they’re not from outer space.) Totally kidding, but that seems to be normal for a lot of homeschool kids. They thrive, as all kids do, on schedule and routine. Take them out of that for too long and they do start to miss it.

Seven to eight weeks of summer likely wont last here

This brings me back to what I said earlier. I can plan for us to have seven to eight weeks off, but likely I will get itchy to start again sooner. I start to feel crummy when I am not on my normal routine, and as I said, this goes for my kids too. We will still have plenty of time for summer fun. Once I start planning for next years curriculum (which I usually have started waaaay before now) I will get antsy to try it out.

Consider part time through the summer

Many families have found that working part time through the summer is a great compromise. You are still flexible for any last minute invites for summer fun, but you are still keeping in a routine. I have not tried this with my kids much, they seem to resist the idea enough that I don’t push it.

A part time schedule can look like anything really. Two days a week, three days a week, half days here and there. Whatever works for you! Be flexible and try different things to see where you fall into the best groove.

Why Not Try To Homeschool Year Round

What do you have to loose? One more year under your belt, more experience, proving to people who said you were crazy that your extra toe is just genetic and not because you chose to homeschool year round…

Will I Choose To Homeschool Year Round Again?

Oddly enough, since starting this blog, I haven’t thought much about my next year with homeschooling. At least not as much as usual. In times past I have been purchasing curriculum for the next year, far earlier than I should have. Usually I have flow charts, lists, schedules, and all kinds of things already lined up. I have relaxed quite a bit in my homeschool journey. But when it comes to homeschooling year round, yes I will continue. It may look differently from year to year, but that is the great thing about year round homeschool, you can be as flexible as you need to be.

Try it out for yourself, check out my other posts about homeschool schedules and decide for yourself if you’re crazy or not.