I've been in multiple conversations with friends and other bloggers this summer about homeschool philosophy and why each of us make the decisions we do for our homeschooling families. (These are all happy conversations, by the way, not debates!)
One of the decisions Brian and I purposefully made for our family is to take a break from school in the summer. Though I know many families who choose to school year round and love it, we have chosen a break for these reasons:
1) I enjoy a different routine in the summer. There are various activities that only happen in the summer-- library events, $1 movies, beach trips, sleepovers with grandparents, Bible school, horse camp-- and that altered schedule keeps us busy enough without trying to fit school into the cracks.
2) The summer gives me a chance to evaluate our curriculum. Is this math program working? Do we still need focus on phonics? Are there holes in our learning? Summer allows me a chance to step back and see what is working (or not)... and make a plan before we begin again in August.
1) I enjoy a different routine in the summer. There are various activities that only happen in the summer-- library events, $1 movies, beach trips, sleepovers with grandparents, Bible school, horse camp-- and that altered schedule keeps us busy enough without trying to fit school into the cracks.
2) The summer gives me a chance to evaluate our curriculum. Is this math program working? Do we still need focus on phonics? Are there holes in our learning? Summer allows me a chance to step back and see what is working (or not)... and make a plan before we begin again in August.
3) I love a sense of closure. Though we don't always finish every book by the end of the school year, we make goals and when we put our pencils down in the spring, things feel complete. When we begin again after our break, we start new.
4) Summer is an opportunity to focus on learning that might not happen during the formal school year. This summer, we're learning all about the human body for health. (I guess that means that technically, we're not out of school after all, but the learning is informal and the kids don't think this is school.)
Do you school year round or take a break in the summer? How did you come to that decision?
Soon I'll talk about our homeschool method and why I never thought much about methods before this year.
Fabulous reasons to take a break. =)
ReplyDeleteI consider us 'year round', but our summers are more like 'unschooling' because what I have found is that learning becomes a lifestyle. *smile*
~Sheri
We take a break, but I say we school year round. Right now we start in July and finish at the beginning to middle of may. Often several days are counted as school trips in June because of the special learning opportunities we may take advantage of.
ReplyDelete