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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 27 2011 at 6:26am | IP Logged
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In considering our days, several years ago our family chose to take a shorter year end break for the summer and start our next school year in what is essentially the middle of the summer for everyone else. We've never looked back and have found this way of ordering our days really addresses so many of our needs in such an easy way, and the pace we are able to set is quite gentle while allowing for plenty of margin which we all appreciate. Our first day of school is TODAY!!  
I thought I'd list some of the reasons we decided, as a family, to move to this way of ordering our days:
** We live in the deep south - summers are HOT and HUMID! It isn't unusual for us to be near or at 100 degrees with humidity that brings that number to a feels-like of 115. That means it's dangerous for the kids to be outside and play for large parts of the day.
** I have a mix of little people and bigger people. When my bigger people have summer jobs, their starting time may need to be reconsidered, but for now, it's better for the little people, especially those with skills like reading, writing, and math that are just emerging. Long lapses in lessons means longer transition times back into lessons and more review of forgotten material.
** The spacious room to move throughout the year means that I have plenty of time to address planning needs, freshen learning spaces, consider challenges, and have breaks for myself. I don't feel burnt out because we are constantly going!
** We enjoy taking longer Autumn, Christmas, and Spring/Easter breaks with our earlier start times. It's good for all of us, and equals less burn out.
** In case there is an emergency/crisis in the middle of the year, we are set up with a bank of days recorded from an early start. If we have to stop school for a need, or go to survival lessons, this doesn't impact us in a terrible way.
** We can take our time with our lessons. I find this translates well in two areas: (1) When I plan I feel less pressured to find ways to fit it all in. As I plan, I know we have a relaxed and generous amount of time for the year, therefore our lessons remain short, while leaving margins for masterly inactivity which is where my kids thrive. We are a family that enjoys fostering creativity and exploration, and having the time set aside for that is a priority for me. (2) As the kids live the lesson plans, they too see that there are wide margins for that masterly inactivity. This allows them a sense of freedom to explore an idea or follow a rabbit trail as it comes up through the day. We have had years where we have been somewhat rushed for one reason or another, and I've seen how they don't naturally explore or create unless they feel the freedom with their time to do that.
** It provides a sense of routine and order that my kids thrive on and find reassuring.
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PLANNING FOR THE NEW YEAR:
Full disclosure for this type of year-round schooling....I begin planning for the new year and building booklists around February. I'm ordering books by March/April (usually), and building term plans in May/June. We usually finish up a year sometime in May and we roll again at the beginning of July so there is a nice little early summer break. Deep summers are for school!
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So, I thought it could be fun to share! Do you school year-round? Take shorter summer breaks and start your new year in the middle of the summer? Why does your family enjoy it? Are you considering moving toward days that are ordered in this way? Questions?
And...for those of you starting your year....
A blessed school year to each of you! Let us know if you're starting or have already started so we can cheer each other on!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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CrunchyMom
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I considered starting now, but in three weeks we have a week of soccer camp followed by a week of morning swim lessons followed by two weeks of German camp, and the we leave for 10 days in Michigan.  So, it just wasn't meant to be this year. 
Do you still plan for 36 weeks of school, just allowing for breaks between terms?
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
My Symphony
[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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violingirl
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| Posted: June 27 2011 at 8:46am | IP Logged
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We are starting in July this year for many of the reasons you listed, Jen!
** We live in an area with hot humid summers also, most days right around 100F plus heat index, and it's just too hot to go out after 11 a.m. safely much of July and August and even some of September.
** Our state requires a certain number of hours for the year in core classes and then another number of hours in "other" areas, rather than requiring a certain number of weeks. (though compulsory attendance won't require us to track hours until my oldest is in third grade I am trying to get in the habit of tracking our hours this year.)
**My kids are younger and emergent readers- I don't want too big of a gap in math and reading at this age.
And our biggest reason...
** This fall I'll be working from home about 35 hours a week. Last year was much more as my husband was looking for work, but now that he's found a good job I'm not replacing students as they leave so I can work less and less and hopefully end up with just 1 or 2 afternoons of students each week.
I'm home with my boys every morning Monday-Friday and we school together, and by starting earlier we do a lot less each day and still leave plenty of our morning open for free time.
We're starting next week after the holiday!
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Erin
DS (2005) DS (2007) DD (2012)
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Grace&Chaos
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| Posted: June 27 2011 at 9:39am | IP Logged
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CrunchyMom wrote:
| Do you still plan for 36 weeks of school, just allowing for breaks between terms? |
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I have the same question. I'd like to try something similar. We have been known for starting in mid August to allow for the extra breaks for Advent and Lent. But maybe something earlier to go at a slower pace and spread our readings out might even be better .
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Jenny
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 27 2011 at 10:08am | IP Logged
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violingirl wrote:
| We're starting next week after the holiday! |
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Erin,
How exciting!! Praying for you as you get ready to start next week!
Grace&Chaos wrote:
CrunchyMom wrote:
| Do you still plan for 36 weeks of school, just allowing for breaks between terms? |
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I have the same question. I'd like to try something similar. We have been known for starting in mid August to allow for the extra breaks for Advent and Lent. But maybe something earlier to go at a slower pace and spread our readings out might even be better . |
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I plan out our year in (3) 11 week terms. That's 33 weeks. Following each term is a term examination week. That week is also a time for large projects or finishing up term projects. So that adds 3 more weeks for a total of 36 weeks (180 days). In addition to Autumn, Christmas, and Spring breaks, we try to take 1 week off in between the terms. This gives me a week to put together the lesson plans for the next term, and we all get a little break.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Betsy
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| Posted: June 27 2011 at 10:32am | IP Logged
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We are having our first day of school today! 
Jen I didn't realize that you did this. We do almost the exact same thing and for the same reasons. I think the weather really leads you to this in the South. When I lived in the North I followed a typical school year calendar, which I didn't think that I would like, but it made the most sense with the weather.
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 27 2011 at 10:37am | IP Logged
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Oh how exciting, Betsy! It's good to have someone with me on our first day!  I've discovered a few....ahem...small holes in my plans today. Oops! Happens! But, I've finished working with the 2nd grader for the day and the preschooler is playing nicely with blocks so I have a few minutes to order the extra prayer books I forgot to order (already have 2) so everyone would have a copy. And...I'm tying up a couple of other loose ends that you always find when you start living the plans. But, it's been a good day so far! Hope yours is as well!!!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Betsy
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Oh yes, I will have to tweak in the next few weeks! 
I am piloting a brand new Charlotte Mason Curriculum and it's been an interesting ride. I love being a part of something so new and exciting, but of course their are bumps to be expected with a new curriculum.
I will be doing exams for the first time this year. Maybe when the time is closer (or not) we can start a discussion about a CM exam week. I need to get out my books are read more on it.
Anyway, off to start my sons FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!! I love teaching first grade! (especially after I have done it a few times!)
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 27 2011 at 11:10am | IP Logged
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Betsy wrote:
| I will be doing exams for the first time this year. Maybe when the time is closer (or not) we can start a discussion about a CM exam week. I need to get out my books are read more on it. |
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Oh, I'd love to talk more about it when you're ready, Betsy! Check out our ongoing thread on end of term exams when you sit down with your cup of tea:
"End of Term Exams" CM Style
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Jen Mackintosh
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Wildflowers and Marbles
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kristacecilia
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We live in Canada so we follow a traditional year and take advantage of the nice weather in the spring, summer, and fall. Well, really we school year round, but we do a lighter load during the nicer weather and more nature study. We do more reading and cover more subjects in the winter when we are mostly indoors.
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Krista
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I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
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Angel
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I don't like to take long breaks because my littles self destruct without the structure of "things to do" in the mornings. In fact, I find that 3 weeks is about the longest we can break. The problem I run into is that I can't really do much planning, big cleaning, etc. when I'm focused on the kids' learning. And I can't seem to get cleaning and planning done in a week or two either... plus then *I* never get a break! "Breaks" become flurries of frantic activity!
As I have more kids in need of structure, this problem just gets worse. This year I have kids in 9th, 7th, 2nd/3rd, 1st-ish, and 1st-ish, plus a preschooler and a 1 year old. I've been thinking about this year, doing research, running down books, organizing books, unpacking boxes, etc. since March. We've been on a break since mid May and the little boys are definitely ready to start school again! But I am not ready! What the heck have I been doing since March anyway???
(Oh, yeah. Baseball.  )
I have wondered if I could solve this problem by moving closer to the unschooling end of the spectrum, but with this bunch of boys, I think what they need is for me to have a plan. I like to school year round with the weather, but I need a break to be a break occasionally.
How do y'all manage this?
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Angela
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 27 2011 at 2:30pm | IP Logged
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Angel wrote:
| I have wondered if I could solve this problem by moving closer to the unschooling end of the spectrum, but with this bunch of boys, I think what they need is for me to have a plan. |
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I'm pretty sure you do this already...but how about outline plans that are more macro and less micro?? So, project or theme based....with supporting literature...or vice versa --> literature with supporting projects. There are probably a million ways to work this: structured weeks and project weeks...structured days and project days...or almost completely unstructured days with an outline plan detailing basic work to be completed by a certain time with you reading aloud every day from 10 - 10:30 and 1 - 2. (these are totally random ideas I'm throwing out...not road tested by me at all!!! they're just meant to be thrown out in case they might spark a better idea that might work.)
I'm probably not a good person to offer advice or insight though because what is natural for us is really just masterly inactivity which flows out of the day, and is almost always inspired by the literary offerings from the day. And the literary offerings of our days are most definitely what you'd considered *structured*, but I keep structured lessons short so that days end early and projects/passions can be pursued.
Angela wrote:
I like to school year round with the weather, but I need a break to be a break occasionally.
How do y'all manage this? |
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I'm thinking that this summer/year is a time of brainstorming and laying an organizational foundation for you in your new home. It would just be a chunk of time given over for this so that future break time would be BREAK TIME, and future planning would be more at-your-fingertips (hopefully??)
THINKING OUT LOUD strategy:
** Utilize a ridiculously embarrassing amount of television for a temporary time (because I know you're still trying to settle in, unpack boxes, deal with boys that need activity) OR....
** Hire neighborhood teen kids (none of them can find jobs this summer...) can you hire one for 3 hours every afternoon???
** So that you can sort boxes and get together a basic plan for one term....
OR ----->
** Decide on a summer theme for the boys to be doing RIGHT NOW. think intuitive --> when you say they need more structure what do you mean? a planned out checklist for the day, provided activities that are structured, OR...a basic routine for the day and ideas that inspire exploration? what do you mean by structured or planned for your boys?
THEN -->
** Unpack, but don't try to make things pretty yet...
** Sort books into piles as you unpack -- piles of books for each child, or themes of work to be addressed for this term.
** Plan for one term based on book piles. purchase as little as possible because this still isn't organized and I'd be likely to mis-spend since I can't find all my resources!!!!!!
** Give some thought to how you want your books organized once they're unpacked (have you done this already? probably so)
** Set out books FOR THE TERM in laundry baskets or dishwashing tubs....TEMPORARILY. Do this in a way that fits how you plan and live a plan...so....you could set out a tub of books per child...or maybe a tub of books per THEME/unit.
** Consider your INTUITIVE planning style...and try to figure out where that intersects with the *structure* needed for your family. Brainstorm ways to stretch in both directions so that their needs and your style meet.
** DO NOT PLAN, SORT, ORGANIZE all day long. Either work in the morning or work in the evening, but leave yourself some time to meet other needs, read a book, talk with your husband, unwind. Be proportional about this.
** PM WILLA!!!!! I think she's probably someone that could give you some specific advice that might best suit your teaching/ed philosophy.
************************************************************ **********
I don't know if I came anywhere close to even answering your question, Angela. I suppose the bottom line is, if you really want to get rolling with something you can call school, I'd probably be looking for a summer THEME or unit of study that fits their passion, or at least inspires it (which I think is unschooling, but I'm not sure how to use or apply the term correctly). I'd probably set certain hours as structured *pursue the theme* hours and a few hours as *unpack and sort a box of books* hours. And both pursuits would not get the majority of my day - I'd give 1 - 2 hours to each of those things because the rest of the day will fill up with all those other things you're facing down.
Good luck!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Erin
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| Posted: June 27 2011 at 5:04pm | IP Logged
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Mackfam wrote:
| Our first day of school is TODAY!! |
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Wishing you a GREAT NEW year of wonderful learning
This is our last week of term before we have holidays.
As I read your reason re the heat it reminded me of a fiction title I read once. It was in America and the little school was for timber fellers children. Their Dads worked in the summer, so they schooled through the summer taking the Spring off when their dads were not working. Makes total sense to me.
Mackfam wrote:
So, I thought it could be fun to share! Do you school year-round? Take shorter summer breaks and start your new year in the middle of the summer? Why does your family enjoy it? Are you considering moving toward days that are ordered in this way? Questions?
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I know I've shared before, here in NSW Australia our school system is based on 4 terms a year, 10 weeks at a time, so a 40 week school year. (In another state Tasmania they still have a 3 term year, as was when I was a child).
We are currently completing our second term of the year. We start late January and go through till mid December. Taking two weeks off every ten weeks and six weeks off in the summer over Christmas. To be honest I find six weeks a long time for the younger children (not for mum  ) my mind struggles with the concept of 3 months off!
Despite the fact that we mostly follow our school system's calendar there are years where we start back early as we've taken time off to have a baby, or just been unproductive etc. Even in the holidays we sometimes keep up a light routine. These holidays for example I'll be 'encouraging' one child to continue with maths, and as I'm preparing two children to receive their Sacraments (FHC and Confirmation respectively) in September and am way behind they'll keep up their learning, plus my beginner reader will continue with 10 minutes a day.
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Erin
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 27 2011 at 8:26pm | IP Logged
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Erin wrote:
| Wishing you a GREAT NEW year of wonderful learning |
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Thanks!!!
Erin wrote:
| our school system is based on 4 terms a year, 10 weeks at a time, so a 40 week school year. |
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You know, I was so torn over dividing our year into 3 or 4 terms when planning this year. Last year, we did 4 terms (of 8 weeks) and I did like how it was easier to break for mid-year (Christmas for us) at the end of a term.....but....I didn't like how I didn't have as much time to accomplish the term's work. It's much easier to plan with 3 terms (to me.) There are pros and cons to both, but since you mentioned your 4 terms it reminded me.
Wishing you a fruitful and lovely end of your year when you pick up again after your term break!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 27 2011 at 8:29pm | IP Logged
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kristacecilia wrote:
| We live in Canada so we follow a traditional year and take advantage of the nice weather in the spring, summer, and fall. Well, really we school year round, but we do a lighter load during the nicer weather and more nature study. We do more reading and cover more subjects in the winter when we are mostly indoors. |
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This is a really great way to approach lessons, Krista. We love taking advantage of the beautiful weather to get outside and enjoy the out of doors, too.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Mimip
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We normally follow a similar schedule (as Jen) but this year because of family issues are off right now.
We school for what figures to be about 3 months on and and then one month off.
A typical year is like this:
1. We start in early August, same reason as Jen, HOT, HOT, HOT and the kids are getting antsy:) By this time the pool is wearing thin and there are only so many days at the beach in a row and again its just plain HOT!
2. We school August, Sept, Oct, and the first 2 weeks of Nov. taking a week off towards the end of Sept. for appointments and re evaluating things.
3. Finish up and exams the week of Thanksgiving.
4. Off from then until the first week in January. I know it a really long stretch but we really DO Advent here and the weather is perfect for Nature Study so those things come to the forefront and others go on hiatus.
5. Start Jan, Feb and March, take off Most of April, finishing in March with another week of exams and closing things up.
6. Then we school from End of April, May and June. We finish up this last week usually. Our final day is usually my oldest daughter's birthday, June 30th:)
So three terms every year. Our Fall is always our strictest with the most being done and longest as well. Spring is very outdoors intensive because of our seasons (or lack there of ) and Summer is very read aloud oriented. It seems to fall into a pattern of History intensive Summers and Science intensive Winters.
Funny, I had never really though about it but we are the exact opposite of Krista, reading happens in the summer when its just too hot to do anything but be in the pool
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Mimi
Wife of 16 years to Tom, Mom of DD'00, DD'02, '04(in heaven) DS'05, DS'08 and DS '12
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zookeeper9
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We finsihed up our year on June 17th. It was a very interesting year around here. We started with one DS home. In November our other DS came home and January, two of our DDs came home.
So we were all over the place in terms of skills, grade levels, and abilities.
We are going to be starting our new year on July 11. After that we will be schooling for 6 weeks and then taking a week off. We will have longer breaks At Christmas and Lent. I also have one short schooling session between Thanksgiving ang Christmas. Not need to force the rules just for the sake of it being a rule. That is why we homeschool. :)
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Plus one saint in heaven Andrew 1/22-7/5/2005
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Donna Marie
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We are doing year round school with house renovations in between Sound like fun?
My current goal is to get a working shower in THE bathroom before we start school again. And meanwhile, I have a zillion and a half (yes, that is how many there are) boxes of stuff...of all sizes and shapes, reboxed and the girls room re-organized before school starts again. I am pushing myself hard because I really want this done within the next 2 weeks. We lost a good week due to the death of my father-in-law and all of the running around and dealing with the situation. Now the work is helpful in healing, just as long as I am hard on me and NOT anyone else
I want the learning spaces to be visually clean with books easy to get to ...lined up by the basic subject areas or themes that we are covering. I have printer ink, colored pencils and plenty of paper so we are golden there...lol
Money is tight so I have my reading lists and also I have annotated how many people need to read each book so I am aware that if I get the book through Interlibrary loan, how quickly the book needs to be read and about how long I should wait before putting in the next ILL request. One of my teen dds is the librarian for library books and one of them is the librarian for my shelves...we often have to hunt for both kinds of books so it is nice having some designated help. It is also helpful for them to watch the library through their online site so they can monitor when books need to be returned BEFORE they are overdue.
I have to be very loose with my planning or I get overwhelmed. I have a general goal for each child and/or groups of children for the year. I have lists of books I want covered and goals for them. I write things in my planner when they are accomplished and I have a notebook for scribbled ideas.
I have an area for my stuff that is "for MOM only" it helps to find MY stuff when I need it. I also usually choose RED for my planning notebook and the zippered expanding file case that I put the printouts for the week in so it CLEARLY is mine and is easy to spot if it is out of place.
About the case...I print out maps and such and put them immediately into this file. I have a section for each child and a few extra for general subjects like extra maps for map study. This thing has been a lifesaver. I can find what I need at a glance and it keeps the pages from hitting the floor so fast (a condition that I fear will always be even if everyone is trained better)
I also am trying to plan some activities/toys to keep my energetic 2yo and my mobile 10mo busy when we need them to be distracted. My 2yods always finds something to do when he is idle and it...ahem...is usually something that he shouldn't be doing...like dumping things that were left out...like baking soda to make "angels" on the floor in the kitchen...IYKWIM any ideas on that front would be LOVED and APPRECIATED!!
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Donna Marie from NJ
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Finding Elegant Simplicity
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alexmom
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We're on week 3 of our first year of Homeschooling right now.. DS is only in Preschool, so "school" isn't very long, too structured, or too intense, so it doesn't take up too much of our day, but still adds to it, in a good way.. :)
We started this month, one, because my DH had/has his doubts and concerns about whether I'll be able to HS DS and was talking about signing him up for a local preschool, so I'm working on it during the summer, to show DH we don't need to sign up DS for school in the fall.. it also gives me a chance to dip my feet in without much pressure since it's not the official school year yet.. ;)
Also, now that DS's favorite playmates just moved all the way across the country, hopefully homeschool will help distract him a bit from the fact that they are gone.. (especially by including several fun field trips! :))
Kym
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 29 2011 at 6:21am | IP Logged
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Mimip wrote:
| 4. Off from then until the first week in January. I know it a really long stretch but we really DO Advent here and the weather is perfect for Nature Study so those things come to the forefront and others go on hiatus. |
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You know, I think that is really wise, Mimi! I applaud you for structuring your year in this way. When I first read your post, I thought, "Wow! She is really able to move WITH her family's natural ebbs and flows and make it work so well!"  I found it very interesting hearing how you aren't even *in-term* over Advent, because I think we all probably live out the richness of Advent in our homes. And, we've all experienced just how rich that can be!
Mimip wrote:
| So three terms every year. Our Fall is always our strictest with the most being done and longest as well. Spring is very outdoors intensive because of our seasons (or lack there of ) and Summer is very read aloud oriented. It seems to fall into a pattern of History intensive Summers and Science intensive Winters. |
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Isn't it wonderful to see how we each express this in unique ways! I love that you're all sharing the differences in intensity in your years because they're just so beautiful! It is one of THE MOST wonderful benefits of homeschooling - really getting to know your individual family needs and natural ebbs and flows, and giving yourself time to enjoy the natural and seasonal offerings!
Our natural flow embracing intense times and seasonal times are different: We're usually pretty intense for the summer term (July, August, September). Our fall and winter term merge because of the breaks around Thanksgiving, Advent and Christmas, and seasonally speaking (both natural and liturgical), this is our favorite time of year (October, November, December, January, February) And we tend to enjoy more nature study and out-of-doors time during our Spring term (March, April, May).
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: The Early Beginning of a Fresh Year
