A mistake that many first time homeschooling families make is to consider regular school months for homeschooling as well. This can be a mistake for two main reasons. The first is that you are not following a regular school pattern and can be more flexible about when you teach and how you teach. The second is that a single long summer break really doesn’t cut it when you are homeschooling your children. That’s why year-round homeschooling has a number of advantages.
Does that mean you get no break?
Not at all, it means that you get to schedule your breaks when you need them. For example, you can do a month of homeschool classes (4-5 weeks) and then take the next week off to do anything fun. This could be a road trip to a new destination, a visit to grandparents, or simply a week of sitting at home and doing nothing but watching movies and eating popcorn all day. You can take the kind of break you like, when you like. It really is much better to recharge your batteries all through the year, rather than taking a single long break.
Added advantage of no “Summer Brain Drain”
Most regular school teacher bemoan the arrival of students in the classroom after a long summer break because it invariably has caused “Summer Brain Drain.” This term basically refers to the students forgetting a part of what all they have been taught before the summer holidays. It can be quite frustrating for a teacher to have to go through everything that has already been taught a second time. If you continue year-round homeschool classes, you ensure that your homeschooled students never suffer summer brain drain.
Find your ideal schoolwork – break schedule
Homeschooling families differ in what they consider to be the exact number of weeks on and off. Some work for six weeks and then take the seventh week off, while others just go through three weeks of homeschooling before they take a week off. Your schedule will have to be adjusted after you work out what works best in your homeschooling classroom. Try out the different patterns and see how many weeks you need to get certain topics covered and how soon you feel the need for the break!
