When my children were younger, we schooled all year round. Schooling year-round enabled us to be more flexible throughout the year, and I appreciated that! When we did school in the summer, we mainly did core subjects, like math and English. It was a lighter schedule, but it was still year-round, so we never really had the mental break from school.
As my children are growing, along with their workloads (and mine!), I see the blessing of having more of a summer break. All of us feel the need for a break, and I need more time to recharge and regroup.
Our current school habits combine the best of both worlds – taking a good, long break for a while, but also doing some school throughout the summer to keep brains fresh.
When planning your school year and summer, consider the following:
Taking a longer break after finishing a year celebrates your accomplishments! You and your family will feel a big relief and “hurray” and appreciate a longer break to rejuvenate.
Think about doing light school in the summer, with a certain amount of time totally off – not three months. When people usually think of summer break, they think of “all or nothing”. You don’t have to finish one year on June 16 and start the new one after Labor Day. You can take June, July, and August mostly off with the month of July completely off, for instance.
Doing some school in the summer can help your days and your children. A bit of schoolwork provides some discipline and structure, encouraging thinking skills and progress in curriculum.
Simplifying and/or eliminating school in the summer gives Mom and kids a much-needed break! When the warmer days hit, after several months of grinding at the wheel, our motivation dwindles. We are ready for some relaxation, enjoyment, and a change of pace.
One huge benefit to a summer break - Mom doesn’t have the pressure of school weighing over her head and can focus on other homemaking tasks and goals with her kids.
Want some ideas for occupying your summer days?
Stay tuned for my next post.
This is TOTALLY how I do it. We used to school all year, when they were little, but now I crave the summer break. We do school up until the second week of July and then take off through Labor Day.
ReplyDeleteAnything longer than that and I notice that we have a really hard time starting back into school in the Fall... :-)