Year round homeschool can be chaos or calm depending on how you implement it into your schedule. Also, look on my page The Dynamics of How to Homeschool Easily and Smarter.
When I first started homeschooling, I didn’t even think about following any other homeschool schedule like homeschooling year round.
Now, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Though I would love to follow my own schedule, the reality is my husband’s work schedule dictated our school schedule for many years.
Like my family, a lot of homeschoolers are self-employed and so that means we make our own schedules, but it also means that it usually doesn’t jive with a public school schedule.
For the most part, can you dictate your own schedule?
First, look at some of these homeschool books
5 BEST How to Homeschool Books
I've rounded up some of the best books to help you get started homeschooling.
Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers is a real eye-opener on homeschooling. It will alleviate a lot of the anxieties about getting started homeschooling. Reading each chapter’s highlights will give you encouragement, knowledge, guidance, and peace of mind to homeschool with confidence. The best part is that you’ll be educating the person who loves your kids the most in this world--YOU! Armed with the knowledge to make better choices in curriculum will empower you to continue the path of home education. Unlike many books based on one family’s experience, Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers is also based on Tina’s many years of mentoring hundreds and hundreds of new homeschoolers at live workshops. When you don’t know where to begin Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers equips you to successfully homeschool your children.
Homeschooling is a wonderful, worthwhile pursuit, but many homeschool parents struggle with feelings of burnout and frustration. If you have ever felt this way, you’re not alone! Most of us need to be reminded of the “why” of homeschooling from time to time—but "The Unhurried homeschooler" takes parents a step further and lifts the unnecessary burdens that many parents place on themselves.
Those who have made the decision to homeschool their children have done so out of great love for their children and a desire to provide them an excellent education in the context of a warm, enriching home.
Parents who are deeply invested in their children's education can be hard on themselves and their kids. When exhausted parents are living the day-to-day grind, it can seem impossible to muster enough energy to make learning fun or interesting. How do parents nurture a love of learning amid childhood chaos, parental self-doubt, the flu, and state academic standards?
Education has become synonymous with schooling, but it doesn’t have to be. As schooling becomes increasingly standardized and test driven, occupying more of childhood than ever before, parents and educators are questioning the role of schooling in society. Many are now exploring and creating alternatives.
When deciding if homeschooling year round is for you, look at these 3 questions to help you figure out if it will work for your family or not.
3 Questions to Ask If You Should Year Round Homeschool Or Not
Assuming you can, the next thing to ask is:
Is it by completely taking off months or just having a few weeks spread throughout the year?
1. How Much Control Do You Have Over Your Schedule
You can’t really decide this if this is your first year of homeschooling because you and your kids are getting off the public school treadmill.
If you have been in public school for years, there may be a pull for your children to play with kids from public school and that means you think you may want the summer off.
2. How Do Your Children Learn Best
But the longer you homeschool the more that desire to form an attachment with friends from public school wanes because you have made so many friends otherwise in field trips, co-ops and classes with other like-minded parents and children.
A lot of homeschoolers school lightly during summer because it allows them to catch up on things they have been wanting to do but didn’t get time to do during the regular school year.
3. Does The Weather Affect You Getting Outdoors
If you live in a place like Texas, where the summer is a scorcher, then choosing to school during hotter months and having off during cooler weather is a huge benefit to enjoying being outdoors more.
These 3 easy questions helped me to see that my homeschool schedule did not have to follow the public school schedule.
I did better as a teacher when I could take mini-breaks throughout the year.
My children stayed in a relaxed routine too when we kept the same schedule year round.
More Homeschooling Year Around Tips
- What is Year Around Homeschooling? Part 1
- What is Year Around Homeschooling? Part 2
- Homeschooling Year Round – Chaos Or Calm?
- How a Homeschool Planning Calendar is Superior to a Regular Calendar
- 4 Benefits to Planning Early for the Next Homeschool Year
- Homeschooling 31 Day Boot Camp for New Homeschoolers: When You Don’t Know Where to Begin
This doesn’t mean you have to keep the same pace each month and you really wouldn’t want to.
Staying productive year round has been a good fit for us.
Do you like schooling year round?
What homeschool schedule do you follow?
We are homeschooling year round and I can’t imagine doing it any other way. My kids don’t handle long breaks well, and like you said about Texas, most of Georgia’s summer is too hot and sticky to want to go out unless it is to the pool. It is also not as stressful to just let it go when everyone is having a bad day because I am not worried about fitting everything into a set time-frame. If we need an extra week or two in this or that subject, it just doesn’t matter.
I agree, my kids get restless too….we love year around