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Wheatheartaca
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| Posted: Nov 15 2012 at 12:17pm | IP Logged
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Hi! I'm contemplating taking off the whole month of December. I work from home & I'm always trying to balance work & school. I'm thinking about not doing formal school during December & concentrate on Christmas crafts, homemade gifts, etc.
Does anybody take off the whole month of December? How hard was it to bounce back?
Thanks. 
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pumpkinmom
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| Posted: Nov 15 2012 at 12:38pm | IP Logged
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I haven't, but I know a family that does. They just do math. I think it depends on your kids and you with how well the bounce back goes. One of my ds and I enjoy change, so usually getting back to school isn't a problem, but we have hit bumps some years. We take 2-3 weeks off. This year we are doing a very light school schedule starting after Thanksgiving until Christmas. I'm hoping that this prevents my annual burn out that starts in late January. 
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JuliaT
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| Posted: Nov 15 2012 at 3:37pm | IP Logged
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We took the month off for a few years. It was easy to get back into school because we had so much time off we were eager for a change in routine, or more of a routine.
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Julia
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Erin
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| Posted: Nov 15 2012 at 3:45pm | IP Logged
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Here in Australia we take 6 weeks off, schools break the week before Christmas and go back the last day in January. We tend to do the same, actually we'll probably break even two week prior and then may or may not start back a week earlier in January.
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Erin
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kristacecilia
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| Posted: Nov 15 2012 at 9:07pm | IP Logged
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We took off all of Advent and Christmas last year, just doing a lot of Advent and Christmas traditions and fun things. It was one of the best times I can remember.
This year we are going to stay on, but I am still hoping to have a lot of time to do the Advent and Christmas things we loved so much.
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Krista
Wife to a great guy, mom to two boys ('04, '06) and three girls ('08, '10, '12!)
I blog at http://kristacecilia.wordpress.com/
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Mimip
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| Posted: Nov 17 2012 at 9:23am | IP Logged
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Ever since our second year of homeschooling we take off from Thanksgiving to the New Year. Its actually just as long a break as we take in the summer!
Every year I plan out our Advent book of the day, an activity and readings for the day (we do this in the evening). Every morning the kids have copy work and Math. They copy things like Christmas poems or maybe a verse or two from the bible readings or even write letters to their cousins or friends. I do this just to get them writing everyday. My 12dd is keeping an Advent journal this year with the books we read each day and a living remembrance book about the season.
After Christmas the copy work turns into thank you notes:) When they are done with their thank you notes, they are done with copy work until we start school again/
Math is review pages and such that I print our and staple together.
They get a variety of rote facts, word problems, fun surveys, geometry and graphs. My second daughter looks forward to this packet ALL year and loves the deviation from your Math program. 
So, it works for us!
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In Christ,
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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CSBasile
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| Posted: Nov 17 2012 at 12:15pm | IP Logged
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I'm debating whether to do this, too. We would need to continue reading, spelling and math (my daughter attends a homeschool co-op for those classes and will have homework), but I'm thinking about putting aside history (we're studying the Civil War) and U.S. geography and science. I'm just afraid we will get too far behind if I do. On the other hand, I would like to devote a bit more time to learning about Advent and perhaps some activities with the Jesse tree, and/or maybe something learning about the Nutcracker ballet. So many choices!
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SallyT
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| Posted: Nov 17 2012 at 1:59pm | IP Logged
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We generally pare back to core-skills work (math, handwriting, etc) and otherwise just do special Advent read-alouds and crafts. In fact, I need to make sure I have all this lined up for this year . . .
My high-schooler stays on track through most of Advent, of necessity, but reality is that once his older sister comes home, around the 15th, it'll all be out the window. When the college girl is home, it's par-tay time for everybody.
We have traditionally not gone back to school until after Epiphany (also the college girl's birthday). This year we'll probably break for longer, as she's home, and her dad is off, until mid-January, and we'll probably be doing a trip to see family early in the new year. I try not to travel during the actual holidays, but as we've got time in January, we can make a "Christmas" trip then. We put the girl on the plane for Rome January 16, so I imagine that will be when we return to anything like serious schooling. We should be plenty ready by then.
Sally
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kristinannie
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| Posted: Nov 19 2012 at 10:15pm | IP Logged
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I took the whole month off last year and it was wonderful. We did a lot of Christmas baking and crafts. It was a wonderful month. I had planned to repeat that this year, but we have had to take off way too much time in October and November since my husband had surgery and I have been very sick. So...I will probably only take a couple of weeks off this year. 
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John Paul 8.5
Meredith Rose 7
Dominic Michael 4.5
Katherine Elizabeth 8 months
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Christine
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| Posted: Nov 20 2012 at 8:34am | IP Logged
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We used to take off the whole month of December and started again after the 7th of January. I wish that we could get back to doing this, but we have so many interruptions to our schedule during the year that I can no longer do so.
In the past, we had no trouble getting back to lessons after our Advent/Christmas break.
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Christine
Mommy to 4 girls, 5 boys, & 2 in God's care
Memories of a Catholic Wife and Mother
Pretty Lilla Rose
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Wheatheartaca
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| Posted: Dec 11 2012 at 10:30pm | IP Logged
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Thank you for all the wonderful ideas and replies.
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: Christmas break, how long?
