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Maryan
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A couple of threads here have me wondering...
1. Do any of you choose to do school in summer... if so, why?
2. Do any of you do just one subject (like history or geography) over the summer so you don't have to do it during the year?
3. I used to teach in a school. After the one and only summer that I taught summer school, I was so NOT ready for school to start (unlike other years) that I vowed never to teach summer school again!
4. But... homeschooling is not school at home. I can see benefits to doing something and benefits from doing essentially NOTHING. And especially with my guys who are little.
Any thoughts or experiences on these questions?
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Maryan
Mom to 6 boys & 1 girl: JP('01), B ('03), M('05), L('06), Ph ('08), M ('10), James born 5/1/12
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Mary G
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Maryan,
I'm trying to really impress on my three littles that even though daddy teaches Aug-May, and Cate and Joe go to school Aug-May, the benefit of learning at home is that we're learning 24/7, 365 days a year ... ok, that's an exaggeration, but we're trying to incorporate the idea that you never stop learning, so why would you stop "schooling". I'm even trying to avoid using that term.
That all said, we aren't near as formal during the traditional school breaks -- but we have dad home to do science, nature, survival skills etc while we're going camping or on road trips. We do workbooks (that the kids think are fun), we go to museums and follow up on rabbit trails at home, we haunt the library/bookstore just as much. So our already eclectic home learning center becomes much more unschooly and relaxed but still learning.
I just think the way our current system of traditional schooling -- school Aug/Sep - May/June -- doesn't make sense; especially when you end up spending the first month or so reminding the kids what they learned.
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MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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lapazfarm
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I need my summer break to re-charge, prepare mentally for the next year, and get some neglected household projects done (like decluttering projects that seem to completely take over my life while they are happening!).
That being said, this summer after taking a brain break from next week until mid-june, we will be headed to Alaska, and I would be an idiot not to take advantage of the nature study opportunities there.
So, while all other subjects will be on hold for summer, we will be doing nature study while we are there.
Wiil I CALL it school? Not on your life!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
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Elizabeth
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Real quick, because I am SO supposed to be managing my time wisely  :
I've decided from now on, to take my big break from the blooming of the bluebells to Memorial Day. Well focus on nature study and the feasts of the Easter Season and that's about it. We sort of did that this year, unintentionally--with a heavy dose of creativity thrown in for good measure. That stretch of time is when the weather is finest in these parts. I can't keep my kids inside and I don't want to be inside.There's so much to do outdoors...
So, now it's back to the books after Memorial Day weekend, with three hours or so of academics in the morning and then the pool in the afternoon and long, lazy evening outside. Crafts will be at the ready for rainy days and thunderstorm afternoons. We have quite a few trips planned, but we'll do the regular routine when we're home. I figure it'll all even out...
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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stefoodie
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We school year round, because we take a lot of time off here and there during the school year, like when dh travels and we choose to go with him, or when we go on short trips like in April.
We do however relax quite a bit during the summer; e.g., more museum/zoo/field trips, more nature walks. I'd like to add outdoor theater this year if I can find some Shakespeare nearby. And of course lots of gardening.
Summer is also when we try to catch up (hah! we also do some of that during the "regular school year), or do the things we sometimes don't find time for.... first up on the list this summer is another Redwall week.
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Mary G
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Elizabeth's post reminded me of a discussion I recently had with dh about schools and schedules... it seems to me the most useful schedule is to do roughly six weeks on and two weeks off (this leaves a little over a week unaccounted for) ... where you could schedule around the big feasts/holidays (Christmas, Easter, mid-summer weddings, etc) but there wouldn't be just one or two big breaks.
I'm still all for learning 24/7, but I'm talking about the formal scheduled type stuff Elizabeth was talking about .... after all, the original Labor Day to Memorial Day was for our agricultural US so kids could help plant and gather ....
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JuliaT
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We have always schooled year round. The reason being that we are farmers, so we don't get the traditional vacation in the summer. We usually take our vacation in Dec. or Jan. We have school in the summer so I don't feel the guilt when we take 4 wks off in Jan. to go visit my family. Also, schooling in the summer helps when life happens and we need to take a week off cause Daddy had a farming accident or we are moving. It all balances out in the end.
Now, even though we do have school in the summer, it's different than what we do during the year. We have been doing more of a relaxed schooling this year, so that won't change, but we are going to be doing a unit study on horses this summer. My dd is very excited about this. So what we usually do is math and reading(for my ds) and then we will do the unit study daily. We also only do school for three days a week. Even though, we are technically schooling, it is very different than how it looks during the year.
Blessings,
Julia
mom to 3 (7,6,4)
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Betsy
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+JMJ+
I have two reasons that we have decided to school year around: weather and peace!
I think that where you live can really determine this. Last year we lived in IL and summer is where the nice weather is so we choose to enjoy it. This year we live in NC and Spring is where the nice weather is and we took off a nice long while to enjoy it.
With that being said, we all (myself and the kids) really rely on the structure of "school" to keep peace at home. If I leave my ds's to them self’s for too long they become board and start destroying, err...being creative!  So, I like to structure the morning with something through out the year.
A counter point to year around school would be this… When I went to college we were on trimesters (three 10 week periods). While I LOVED the variety of classes that I could take it was also very, very stressful to never have any break during the year (we only had one week at Thanksgiving, two weeks at Christmas and one week at Spring break). I remember a prof. that I had really championing switching to semesters. He was adamant that you need three weeks off in order to really relax. I have found that to be true, so when we need a long break to regroup I do try to make it 3ish weeks.
Betsy
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gracie4309
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Wow, I really go back and forth about this topic, and usually end up taking the summer "off" by default We are probably going to take a break from most bookwork, except for my teenage son, who's gotten woefully behind  . We also will spend a lot of time at the pool, the zoo, nature study/gardening, hopefully some camping, and reading a lot of books. I find myself needing to be p-r-e-t-t-y sneaky about the learning activities in summer so they don't seem "schoolish".
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joann10
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Summer is when we do our lapbooks and unit studies. We also read aloud a lot Usually on two or three mornings a week we do get out some math books or do some copywork. It seems to help with the running of the household if we maintain some type of schedule, even if it is the mornings.
I also find that it certainly helps to get ahead in certain subjects such as math and grammar so that thoughout the year, when life happens, we don't find outselves helplessly behind.
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mom2mpr
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Year round here--but adjusting to weather issues after our move. When we lived down south year 'round school was easy--we could do energy release anytime as the weather was usually nice. Now we are in midwest and winter is loooong, the kids get pent up and we take more time off to do "something" interesting and athletic so the brain cells can work better. It is so much easier to go out into the yard--in winter we usually have to travel. We didn't get much done this year  I can see why people here quit in the summer-it is beautiful and there is soo much to do-outdoor concerts, parks, etc.. I am trying to figure out how we'd get through winter if we canned everything for summer.
Anne
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Carole N.
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We have not ever really "schooled" in the summer. But this year is different. I decided to do a unit on poetry and birds (thanks Elizabeth). It will be fun and nondemanding. I also want to continue with music and art.
Like Mary, I believe that education never stops--doesn't Twain have a quotation on this? This summer I want my children to learn and I want it to be fun and interesting. Then when we start school in the fall, they will be refreshed and recharged (hopefully). This is my hope.
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Willa
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We would always trickle to a stop sometime in mid-June and try to start sometime in mid-August, but take till about Labor Day to get up to "full speed". I always try to continue a bit of math drill and try some other project -- one year we focused on memory work and the kids learned several prayers and Scriptures; one year a son and I delved into American History; another year my daughter and I worked on sewing together. Some years I just reorganized the house. Many years we do some sort of "live" nature project like raising tadpoles or caterpillars.
I agree with Mary that learning is 24/7. I guess I've gotten a bit more comfortable with the seasonal aspect of that -- summer always works great as a time to turn our attention to different things, and to continue a few small maintenance academics, but it didn't usually work so well when I tried to continue as usual during the summer -- I would burn out and feel I was getting behind on other things that really mattered, like family time. I know that others can juggle all of that -- but for me I usually have one or two things on the front burner and the rest have to drop back to slow-cooking mode until I turn my attention to them again.
Our summers are beautiful and we usually have various travel and family plans so I count that as learning -- it goes in our records as socialization and all that.
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Willa
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Lorri
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We school year round, all subjects.
My dc get themselves into way too much trouble with bickering and boredom when we don't have school. We use a 4 day school week, that 5th day of work gets bumped to the next week...until we end up with a whole summer's worth of school!
They are so much better behaved when their mornings are filled with school and their afternoons are their free time, no matter what the season. Though in the brutal heat and humidity of the summer, we often play outside in the morning and have school during the worst heat of the day.
We take breaks whenever we need them, usually when my parents come for a week long visit, approximately once a quarter. It works out very nicely. Our official start of a "new" school year is August, and I try to figure out about where I "should" be on the schedule at certain points of the year. That lets me see if I need to take more or less breaks in the upcoming weeks. I also give ourselves more time than we need in the summer, because fun summer activities always pop up. So I should have about 9 weeks of school left, with about 12 or 13 weeks to finish them.
Another huge benefit is that all that learning doesn't go down the drain over the summer. We just took a 2 week break and I swear my ds did a total brain dump! He struggles with math and he really needs to be doing math consistently to be able to move ahead.
Oh! And by having only 4 days of school during the week, we use that 5th day for whatever we want, usually all those fun "extra" things that get pushed aside for math and history. But even those things don't take long and we just take the rest of the day off.
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J.Anne
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We are slimming our schedule down for the summer (which means no handwriting practice) This summer I planned to focus on one subject, American history, geography etc. because it's not anything we've gotten around to yet. BUT, because I need the break from planning, we will take a casual approach to it, reading and exploring and immersing ourselves in the subject without timelines and specific goals. I've collecting a big box full of books and maps etc. I'm not pushing on math because she's a bit shaky where we are, so we will just drill and review all summer long before purchasing a new text.
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Maryan
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WOW! Thank you! All of this is great food for thought.
I am worried about burnout... but as Elizabeth pointed out -- it's hot as blazes here (and we have no shade) - so our outdoor time is before 10 am and after 4 pm... so some sort of routine, as many of you said, to "keep the peace" inside is a good point.
I still think I like my formal school Sept - May format, but think I might do a "summer sesssion." As I homeschool more kids, I may switch to all year and take off the month of May and big breaks at holidays or the 6 week suggestion.
For this summer so to avoid burnout, I'm thinking: books (library), Math games (I just bought a wooden Bingo set!!), Liturgical Year (a lot of great Sunday feasts in June), finish the Old Testament (Children's Bible), and keep going with 100 Easy Lessons. I guess that's almost what we did this year but minus art and a ton of rabbit trail projects.
I loved our rabbit trail projects during the year, but I think the only "project" that we'll do is go to Jamestown.
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Maryan
Mom to 6 boys & 1 girl: JP('01), B ('03), M('05), L('06), Ph ('08), M ('10), James born 5/1/12
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StephanieA
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We switch to a 3 day schedule for math and English (and English for only some of the older ones). We continue music lessons through the summer, but with a lesson every 2 weeks instead of every week.
I need time to "unschool", a time to relax and read books for my own enjoyment and education. During the school year, there's NO way there is time for me to do that and school the 6 kids and take care of a 4 month old and a hormonal college kid (ummm...thought that was over around 18
I need time to address "problem areas" with my kids' characters too without the added responsiblity of school subjects. Summer is the time to teach the 12 and 14 year olds how to cook. It's the time to spend with the little ones, just being Mom.
It's the time to read aloud after lunch and not feel pressured to "grade papers". It is a time to learn, but
VERY unstructured.
It is the time 3 of the kids take art lessons.
We learn as we breath, but I wouldn't call it school.
Learning 24/7 is really what we all do as we learn, grow, and teach our children. But our family needs the unstructured time of summer to regroup, to charge up, and plan for the fall.
After a good summer break, we hit the books refreshed, excited, and ready for more structure in early August. Tt would exhaust me just to think of schooling year round. It is too hard to take longer breaks during the school year. Things fall apart way too fast.
Blessings,
Stephanie
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JenniferS
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We are going to focus on US history and geography and science for the summer. We will probably throw in a little math, too. Dd wants to learn to sew, too.(Maybe I can learn along with her!!!) Anyway...I'm looking forward to it. They get a week off, and then we jump in.
Jen
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graciefaith
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This is our first year hs'ing and we've decided to go ahead and school through the summer. Honestly, we'd be pretty bored here if we didnt. It's so hot and it's not bearable until at least 3pm so we dont make it out anywhere til then. We'll do it all but its just K for us so it doesnt take a whole lot of time. I'm looking forward to it. I'm due in Oct. so i think we need to try and get what we can done before the baby comes.
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: School in summer?
