For this coming school year, I decided that we will do homeschool year-round. I read a lot about why people choose to school year-round and I really think it will be a great fit for us.

Frequent Breaks

What I love most about schooling year-round is the ability to take frequent breaks throughout the year. I need breaks or I start to get a little stir-crazy!

After marking the days I knew we would be taking off from school, I broke down the year into terms, each around 6 weeks long. After each term, we will take a week off. Knowing there is a break coming every six weeks is a huge motivator for me to keep pushing through the work. I know that as my kids get older, the break will be an incentive for them as well.

Our year is divided into 6 terms, which end at the beginning of June, followed by 2 weeks off and then a summer session. While I don’t have a specific plan for summer yet, I definitely plan to change up our school routine to still give ourselves a break from the normal year. I’ve counted the days and learned that even if we only did school 3 days a week during the summer session, we would still exceed our required 180 days of school. I’m not sure yet if we will go with 3 days a week, but it is certainly nice to have that option.

Not losing traction over the summer

I have often heard some of my friends who are teachers complain about how much review is needed at the beginning of each school year in order for students to pick up again what they’ve learned. I didn’t think much about it until this summer when I noticed that my daughter Eden regressed in her math skills. I also haven’t made Judah read to me as often as I would have liked and that is not helping his skill level either.

While I may use a different curriculum for the summer session to keep things interesting, I look forward to knowing they will still be learning over the summer months.

My fabulous husband designed planning sheets based on my terms for the coming school year. Later this week, I will share them with you.