Lisa M. (who asks some of the best questions), asks, “Do you follow the public school year? As in, break during the summer? Or do you school all year long?”
For this, our first year of homeschooling, we opted to more or less follow the standard public school schedule for two reasons: 1) The Tank is enrolled in a preschool that follows our county’s public school schedule and 2) as the change from public to homeschool was already such a big one for Captain Science, I wanted to keep the schedule as “normal” as possible. We do school Monday through Friday (with the occasionally Saturday catch-up in the event of a sick day). Our year started the same day as public school this year and will end at roughly the same time, officially-speaking.
Some notable exceptions for us have been the length and frequency of breaks. We don’t take off for teacher workdays or most of the one-day holidays (like MLK day). We only took W-F off for Thanksgiving. We did take two weeks off for Christmas, but that turned out to a less-than-ideal situation, as Captain Science didn’t adjust well to the lack of clear definition between home vacation and home school. Instead of a full week for Spring Break, we’re taking a few days for a combination family trip and field trip (Captain Science is touring Icarus Studios to learn how MMORPGs are made).
Also, when I say that our school year will end when the public school year does, I don’t mean that we’ll stop doing school. I just mean that our official ‘09-’10 school year will end after 180 days of schooling, as stipulated by state law, and that 180 days is up at around the same time that our county’s public schools let out in May. We won’t be done with school work by far, however. Our year is broken into three semesters and all three are “in session.” Fall and Spring have been more traditional, while Summer will be broken up by camps and trips, include a baseline of daily work for maintenance sake (math and grammar), and may involve a unit study or two.
Next year, I’d like to start balancing our school year a little better, spreading our out breaks, taking a shorter break for summer and over Christmas, but having more frequent 3 or 4-day weekends. Depending on what happens w/ Officer Daddyman’s work schedule, we might even rearrange our week to match with his for maximum family time! I love the complete customization of our schedule. We have to do school for 180 days, but we can take those days whenever (and however) we want!
That’s how the [Smrt] Homeschooler’s calendar looks!
Do you have a question for the [Smrt] Homeschooler? Email them to
smrtmama@smrtlernins.com
