In another blog I recently wrote, I mentioned that we prefer to school year round. This prompted a curious reader to write to me and ask if we school year round, when do I do my prep and when do we take vacations? She just can’t quite fathom doing school non-stop.
More Frequent, Shorter Breaks
Most states, whether they require paperwork or not, do state somewhere in the educational laws, that homeschoolers are required to do the substantial equivalent of public schools. . .which is in essence, 180 days of school.
This means that you can do 3 and 4 day weeks leaving one day off of school. Or it means that you can take off 3 weeks per quarter. Either way, you’re taking breaks but they are just more frequent and shorter.
When Do I Plan?
I don’t. At least not substantially. What I have learned from planning is that your plans will change. Some of you already know this but I’ll mention it anyways, I do buy a mostly complete curriculum. Consequently, the what, when and where of what I do is already put together for me.
On the other hand, when I do need to plan or pull together resources for my kids, I generally do it on a Sunday evening. Or my darling super spouse take the kids grocery shopping (yes, you read that right) and gives me the evening child free to plan something out. Either way, I’m not planning out more than one unit at a time.
But Don’t They Get Sick of School?
I’m going to get myself in trouble here. . .big trouble. I feel the cyber tomatoes being thrown this way as I speak. . .but if your kids hate homeschooling, you might want to back off a little. I find when I talk to other moms whose kids hate schooling, it’s that their schedule, standards and expectations are grueling. I’d hate it too if I were their kid. Since kids are virtual sponges, it’s okay to back off a little, try a different approach, and regroup. They’ll still be learning. But yes, if we’re having a particularly bad day–we stop. It will always be there for tomorrow!