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SeaStar
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| Posted: April 30 2014 at 3:23pm | IP Logged
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Martha's suggestion on a recent post about taking a school sabbatical year every 6-7 years really intrigues me.
I don't even know where to start, though. What would this look like... some structure/no structure/ unschooling?
I recently read about a family who is living in China for a year, and since they were very limited as far as what they could bring, they are using one book for school this year: the Bible. Their plan is to read the entire Bible this year as a family, and follow any rabbit trails that spring up from it.
So far the mother reports that this is working fabulously for their family- a break from their traditional school routine, and yet everyone is learning:
money, animals, vocabulary, morals, geography, history... you name it.
I can see doing this... changing the pace.
But it would take courage to through tradition/expectations/everything to the wind. Still...
Jump in with your thoughts!
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guitarnan
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| Posted: April 30 2014 at 3:49pm | IP Logged
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I would vote "I wish I had." I think we would have really enjoyed a sabbatical, although the timing would have been tricky because of the large age gap between my two children.
Something to ponder, for sure!
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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millermom1110
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| Posted: April 30 2014 at 7:17pm | IP Logged
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I'm no veteran homeschooler by any means, so that may color my take on this. With that said, I think we'd get bored taking a whole year off. We could and might do shorter rest times to refresh and reenergize maybe a few months. But even then I think we would still do reading and light math ... for the sake of not back sliding too much?
Another thought is that during difficult family times (illness/job loss/death etc.), the idea of a year long break from school in order to focus on getting everyone through a hard time and putting all available energy and time into healing and drawing closer to God, is a very valid option and one I'd likely consider if we ever went through such a season. I see a lot of good that could come from tha t. Oh wait ... I live in NY and would likely have CPS called on me for doing that. Well, I'd definitely consider it if we lived in a less controlling state on any case.
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JodieLyn
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I'm not sure that I would but I think we tend to slack off and get back on the ball periodically without planning so maybe that's why, not that I can't see the good in it.
I also think that there is structure to life without school.. bedtimes and meal times and chore times and the days that we go out to do errands etc etc.. so certainly not unstructured. And the whole point of unschooling is that you don't have to make it happen as the teacher.. you let the kids decide what they want to do. Most of us probably do somewhat directed unschooling  But it would certainly not be too out there to approach some things that fascinate you in a more casual manner without needing to plan it and set it up like school.
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Martha
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| Posted: April 30 2014 at 8:41pm | IP Logged
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I can't answer the poll. 
Yes I have.
Yes I wish I had.
No I'm too chicken.
And yes I am thinking about it. I'm always thinking about ditching everything and going on vacation.
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Martha
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Martha
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| Posted: April 30 2014 at 8:58pm | IP Logged
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I can't say enough that I agree it does take some courage or sheer desperation/necessity to make the purposeful decision. It is NOT backsliding. It is NOT doing nothing. It is NOT just a long vacation. It is purposeful letting go of one thing *for a period of time* so as to grab onto many other things and recenter and so forth.
I know I just wasn't at a place to hear, much less take the advice for most of my years, but I wish I had done it years ago. And next time I do it, I will make it as close to a full academic year as possible.
For me, I started with what *I* wanted to accomplish. And worked out from there to include what the kids wanted to accomplish. And it started with just a dehomeschooling period. A time to think and adjust to not worrying about homeschooling stuff and think about what else to shoot for. I have no idea if that's any use to anyone else.
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Erin
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This is our 17th year homeschooling. A few years back I burnout out, that year was not productive and then there was a long healing process. The turning point in my thinking came when a friend pointed out that teacher's have long service(3 months) leave every 10 years, so I was allowed to be gentler on myself.
My plan in the future is to take long service every ten years, keeping an eye on the possible need to have long service earlier, say every 5-7 years.
I'm envisaging long service to still be a learning period but it will have a shift in focus. So Melinda, if the question was, "would you take a sabbatical period" I'd answer 'yes'.
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3ringcircus
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| Posted: May 01 2014 at 9:04am | IP Logged
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I put 'no' but we are already a very casual, 'unschooly' family (1/2 days of project-based learning, 1/2 days of traditional subjects). And, we are only finishing up year 2. For me, taking a year off probably would look much like what we do now just so the kids and I could maintain sanity.
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This year ended up being a sabbatical by default because of my ill health and heart surgery. Anything we have done has been at a slow and unsteady pace, but I do not feel guilty for the time "lost".
My youngest is in Kindergarten, and we are holding my older son back a year so he won't be 17 when he graduates.
I kept very low goals, and we will continue some of our slow pace into the summer and be ready for a real school year next fall.
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I voted no for some of the reasons that you ladies stated about being very laid back here and I think I'm not a good person when it comes to that type of unstructured learning not becoming a bunch of just down time for us in front of electronics and such.
BUT: I have first hand experience with a dear friend that had a twin stillborn loss in September 8 years ago. She most definitely had a sabbatical year in which they focused on just being a family and healing and she says that year probably not only saved her life but her marriage and family as well. The loss was so large and complete that she just wanted to hold her children close. Losing the twins was something the whole family needed to grieve. Family friends kept telling her to put the boys in school and she just kept saying she needed them and they needed her. At the end of the year, without opening a single Math book or studying a single history fact all the kids passed and moved to the next grade level. I know this is an extreme case and the boys read and were read to that whole year but every time I struggle about if we are doing enough I remember them.
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Martha
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Something I want to address is the fear of getting "behind", which Mimi touched in with her friend.
Really unless your child is already very far back in their evaluations, ONE year will not sink them. It just can't. The way the evaluations are created, they HAVE to be able to adjust for students in the same grades/ages with a wide range of progress. In just about any school of any kind, in the SAME grades, there will be he advanced class, the normative class, and the going at a slower pace class. Just as an example description. My point is that all those students are taking the same evaluation exam for whatever grade they are in and the evaluation thus has to cover a decent spread to manage that.
The evaluations reflect the expectation that learning is a gradual buildup, not a leap frog race from year to year.
Proviso: *most* evaluations. I'm sure there's some nutter test creator out there someone is being subjected to, but currently, the tests usually cover a good sized spread for each grade.
ETA: and my testing plans reflect my observance of this in when I bother to do evaluations. (I do not have to ever do them in my state. It's purely my decision to do them and which to do.). I do not bother to do them except for grades 3, 5, 7. The summer after 8th grade I start ACTs.
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SeaStar
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I guess the possibility of having a sabbatical year would depend on the state requirements... some states are very heavily regulated, requiring work portfolios and teacher meetings as well as standardized testing.
Still, you could probably be creative even with that and put together something that would work even while being much more lax.
In my dream sabbatical year we would travel more- not necessarily even far from home, but just more field trips (though they can be stressful on their own at times ). Whole days outside. Cook together more.
Learning goes on here all the time, so I agree with Martha that one year could not sink anyone and might even put some kids ahead, depending what they do with their time.
Another aspect that I would have to consider is that my family watches our homeschooling like hawks and would flip out to hear that we were taking a year off.
Over the years I have heard all the usual comments about: are you insane?when are you going to come to your senses? they need to be in school, school will solve all your problems, it is not fair to them to keep them home, etc.... I am not afraid to set firm boundaries and squash this type of interference.
Still, I would have to come up with yet another game plan to deal with them during a sabbatical year. Of course, I would not even mention it to them, but my ds is a talker would love to tell everyone he was having a year off from math 
Hmm... more thinking...
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guitarnan
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| Posted: May 01 2014 at 1:25pm | IP Logged
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I wonder if coming up with a theme for the sabbatical would help solve that problem, Melinda?
We didn't take time off, exactly, during our Italian travel project - our family stayed for at least one night in every region of Italy during our two-year Navy tour there - but we did flex our schedule (liberally ) and adjust our school days to match our travel opportunities. (My husband was watch-standing at the time, so he didn't have too many chances to spend time with us. When his two schedules matched up so that he could take a couple of days off, we hit the road.)
This project was just an informal thing...but it was great fun. (Okay, getting stuck in the snow twice was not fun.) We learned a lot about Italy and ancient history. We discovered that our guardian angels were really looking out for us (see above comment about snow). We ate well.
I guess my point is that you can use a theme, however informal or limited in scope, as an answer to all those questions from family and friends. They are far more likely to leave you alone if you have an answer and a new subject to discuss ready to go. ("We're focusing on state history. How 'bout those Red Sox?")
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Martha
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| Posted: May 01 2014 at 2:50pm | IP Logged
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I was sneaky. I didn't tell my kids we were taking a sabbatical. I just stopped.
In fact, I will confess.
I didn't tell my dh either.
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Martha
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SeaStar
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| Posted: May 01 2014 at 3:03pm | IP Logged
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Martha wrote:
I was sneaky. I didn't tell my kids we were taking a sabbatical. I just stopped.
In fact, I will confess.
I didn't tell my dh either. |
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I was thinking that that's exactly how I would have to do it!
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Kathryn
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The way this is framed and referenced, I personally would not do this unless a situation like Mimi presented (a major family catastrophe) were necessary. I think that's why I've always taken a long 2-3 month summer break. And our summers still have a rhythm and a flow and structure...it's just not a "schooling" structure.
We have tremendous freedom in this country (and esp in Texas) to homeschool our children as we see fit. I tell my children all the time though that with freedom comes responsibility. While I do see the value in unschooling, even for the long-term (which sounds like what a sabbatical is to me), it puts a spotlight on all homeschoolers that could really and truly jeopardize our rights. If anything, I think many homeschoolers I know actually go above and beyond what might even be expected and I wonder if that's one possible reason for needing to take a break from that intense pressure.
On a final note, I've only known 1 person in my entire life to ever take a complete sabbatical from their job and that was our former priest that ended up getting a divorce (former married Episc priest)! So, who really can afford to take an extended, voluntary sabbatical from their job? I think a gap year after high would be valuable (hopefully doing mission/volunteer work but somebody is still paying their way).
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guitarnan
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Our pastor just returned from a sabbatical. He lived in Ireland and wrote a book. It took a lot of planning and replanning (he was between assignments, and had our Archbishop's permission, of course). Priests in our diocese are given short sabbaticals every few years, but have the option of "banking" that time so that they can take a longer sabbatical if they prefer.
A co-op student of mine did exactly what Kathryn described - he took a gap year after high school and did outreach work with the National Evangelization Team. It was a dream come true for him.
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Martha
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| Posted: May 05 2014 at 2:46pm | IP Logged
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Kathryn wrote:
We have tremendous freedom in this country (and esp in Texas) to homeschool our children as we see fit. I tell my children all the time though that with freedom comes responsibility. While I do see the value in unschooling, even for the long-term (which sounds like what a sabbatical is to me), it puts a spotlight on all homeschoolers that could really and truly jeopardize our rights. If anything, I think many homeschoolers I know actually go above and beyond what might even be expected and I wonder if that's one possible reason for needing to take a break from that intense pressure. |
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I simply disagree with the first part of this. And I've never had anyone refer to me as an unschooler of any type,
It seems a poor "freedom" if we only have it as long as we do what the state wants anyways.
Aside from that, I don't read anyone as suggesting it's okay to just stop educating kids as the norm. The most I suggested was 2 years, far apart, out of 12-13 years if it seems likely it won't have some horrid impact on them long term. For most, it won't. And for some, possibly many, it could actually help them advance.
Obviously if someone doesn't want to do it, I'm not going to suggest they are wrong for that. I simply posed that it's not a horrible idea to consider and some personal positives.
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Martha
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JennGM
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Kathryn wrote:
| The way this is framed and referenced, I personally would not do this unless a situation like Mimi presented (a major family catastrophe) were necessary. I think that's why I've always taken a long 2-3 month summer break. And our summers still have a rhythm and a flow and structure...it's just not a "schooling" structure. |
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Kathryn, it is nice to have things worked out for yourself for the school year. It is a true blessing.
Kathryn wrote:
We have tremendous freedom in this country (and esp in Texas) to homeschool our children as we see fit. I tell my children all the time though that with freedom comes responsibility. While I do see the value in unschooling, even for the long-term (which sounds like what a sabbatical is to me), it puts a spotlight on all homeschoolers that could really and truly jeopardize our rights. If anything, I think many homeschoolers I know actually go above and beyond what might even be expected and I wonder if that's one possible reason for needing to take a break from that intense pressure.
On a final note, I've only known 1 person in my entire life to ever take a complete sabbatical from their job and that was our former priest that ended up getting a divorce (former married Episc priest)! So, who really can afford to take an extended, voluntary sabbatical from their job? I think a gap year after high would be valuable (hopefully doing mission/volunteer work but somebody is still paying their way). |
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Being alive is a gift and privilege. Being married is a gift and privilege. Having children is a gift and privilege. Educating them is our right and responsibility. We are BLESSED that we can homeschool legally, but it's not exactly a privilege to allow us our God-given right.
I know there are cases of families that abuse homeschooling. But I know there are in the minority. Homeschooling is never, ever easy, and so most everyone undertaking this task chooses wisely and what works for them.
I also know that when I homeschool, I am not responsible for anyone else but my children. I'm not responsible for anyone else's choices, good nor bad. I also do not care if what I'm doing in my home looks like to anyone else. If I figured it out with God and my husband and the state, then it is nobody's business. I am not trying to be the poster child for homeschooling, because there is not just one or two correct ways of doing it. Our families and children are all unique and so there will always be different ways of homeschooling as there are varieties of flowers.
When something doesn't appeal to you or work for you does not make it wrong. As I happened to take a sabbatical this year, I could have taken what you posted above as very hurtful. At one time I would have never considered such a thing, but God does bend us to be pliable and be molded. I had big plans for our homeschooling, and I turned out to be more unschooling Charlotte Mason approach. And I always thought of "unschooling" in a negative context and here I am!
I am reminded often of this Bibical passage from Isaiah, God says: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways." One of my favorite quotes from Mother Mary Francis (Poor Clare) was she remarked that Isaiah must have been smiling when he wrote that. 
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JodieLyn
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Well I can totally see Kathryn's point.. if all of a sudden you had all these homeschoolers running around saying "yeah, we're not doing school this year". The definition of what I think most are talking about and what many people would see as the "plain meaning" of the phrases can be quite different.
It's entirely plausible in this day and age that if you were to speak of "taking a year off school" some people would see that totally as complete educational neglect and that would potentially pull in a visit from Children's Services and that is a nightmare for many people from having the government tell you how to school your children to having your children removed from you entirely. And less personal but still possible is that it gives those who don't want parents to have autonomy in educating their children ammunition to convince the state to place higher requirements/restrictions.
BUT I agree that it's a decided lack of freedom that some government entity can tell me when and/or how to school my children.
I don't see a great deal of difference logically if you're doing a lot of work if you take a year off of "doing school" vs just reducing the work load of every year.
And I see a trend in public schools that want to push continual school that doesn't give children any time to let their brains consolidate or construct a structured way of thinking about the things they've learned.
Which means that people will want to push homeschooled students into that box as well. At least at the moment we're pretty much surrounded by people who remember having 3 full months off for summers and generous time off during the year and recess every day.
But also, I think that this is totally doable if you simply watch how you say things. It's not a lack of learning it's changing the focus of what and how we learn from assimilating facts to integrating the information we have and experiencing things more.
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G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
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4Real Forums : Philosophy of Education
Topic: Taking a Sabbatical Year
