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
This is our first year homeschooling too. Since we use Calvert I decided to just follow the regular school year so the holidays match up. We work around Hubby’s work week though and we do school Tuesday – Saturday. We’re also going to do something similar to you with our summer. I’m going to take the time to go over things Mini Riceball still needs work on and just follow her interests through new workbooks, projects, and books.
I would love to have a less traditional schedule! But since hubby is a teacher, it is easier to follow ps. We do start a week earlier (when hubby goes back for inservices) and we also continue to study during the five weeks of summer school when hubby teaches. That way, I don’t have to worry so much about the occasional sick days and extra field trips.
It’s been a long time since you’ve seen me in person, but I love reading your blog and livejournal entries. You may remember me as the other lady with a baby at the last SI event. If you are visiting Icarus studios I assume you will be nearby to our family. Would your family like to get together with mine sometime when you are here?
There’s a super wonderful science museum called the Museum of Life and Science in Durham that I’d recommend visiting while you are here, and a great children’s museum in Raleigh called Marbles.
We love the Museum of Life and Science! Colin, my brother, lives in Durham, so we go a couple times a year. I’d love to get together. I don’t know if we’ll be able to this time, as we’re arriving Saturday, I’m visiting w/ a friend w/ a new baby on Sunday, and we’re doing the Icarus Studio thing on Monday, but I hope that we can get together on a future trip!
I think my husband games with your brother.
*cue “It’s a Small World”*
It sounds like you are booked. Hopefully next time…
Probably so. Not THAT small of a world, though, since Colin and I used to LARP together when we were younger, and that’s how he met most of the geek folk. We have geeky parents.