Year-Round Schooling

[Bakershalfdozen]

Pros?

Cons?


How much time do you take off and how often?

[Guest Guest]

I went to school year round starting freshman year. The pros would be that you get two weeks off every six weeks. The cons are that, if you play sports, you still have to practice and play games during the off time (so it's hard to plan for vacations).

The scheduled breaks were similar to this, if I remember right:

Two weeks in the spring (normal spring break plus an extra week)

Two weeks in the summer (last week of June, first week of July)

Two weeks in the fall (mid October)

Two weeks in the winter (week of Christmas and the week afterwards)

[Psalms18_28]

If you are homeschooling, I probably wouldn't do it if your kids see other kids having fun.. but they may not mind if schooling is shorter all year, or the get a month break or so.

Or you can teach science in the summer and just have fun with it.

btw, vacations are cheaper from Oct. - May.. and less busy, so if you took a break between those months, you will save money on vacations and have less stress.

[HappyChristian]

Some year round schools have three months on, one month off.

I think a pro for this would be that children wouldn't forget things so easily. When I was teaching school, I would spend a good couple of weeks reviewing basics from the previous year. And kids do tend to forget a good bit of stuff over the summer - younger kids, especially.

A con would be like jon said - sport practice would of course have to continue and vacations would be hard, although if vacation were only a couple of weeks, coaches could learn to work around it.

Personally, I don't think it's a bad idea. But it could play real havoc with parents' schedules - having to find a sitter or something, if both parents work, for just a bit of time evey few weeks or months could pose a problem.

[bzmomo7]

To each his own..................personally, I happen to LOVE my summer vacation, and the longer the better!

Oh, I just realized you wanted pros and cons for year round schooling:

pros: ah, more consistent?

cons: less fun! :Bleh

[Psalms18_28]

To each his own..................personally' date=' I happen to LOVE my summer vacation, and the longer the better! [/quote']

Me too. My best memories always occurred in the summer.. camping, lazy days, fireflies, stars in the night, swimming, fireworks, playing sports like baseball, etc. Thats why science and sports ought to be taught in the summer if you want to teach in the summer.

[Annie]

VIVA LA SUMMER BREAK!!!! I personally cannot imagine not enjoying summer to the fullest. Forget the kids...I would be the one aching to get outside. Of course, we live at a camp where everyone else is swimming, tubing the creek, playing mini golf, going on hikes, riding the waterslide and giant swing, boating, roasting marshmallows, playing frisbee golf, and doing tons of other fun outdoor stuff. Forget it--we can't have school in the summer. I don't even usually start up until September.

HOWEVER...All that said, we do "maintain" in the summer; it's not a "free-for all." The kids do worksheets every morning from BJU Press's Vacation Stations. And, they run a lemonade stand, which has proved to be educational. (They make the treats, buy the mix, make the lemonade, decide what to charge, and make change for their customers.) Also, we do the summer reading program at our library, which makes them read for at least twenty minutes a day (they usually get caught up in the books and read for longer). AND...they do keep going to music lessons, and they perform two special musical numbers every week for the junior campers that are here. (And my oldest is actually going to camp for the first time!)

We really do appreciate (NEED) the change of pace summer brings. Around the middle of the summer, I start getting inspired for the next year...decorating the school room, studying, organizing, etc. I feel like having three months off gives me a chance to recharge and get refreshed, as well as providing different kinds of educational opportunities for the kids. I'm afraid I'd get burned out if I went year round.

[Guest Guest]

Personally I don't have any children school aged yet, but my husband and plan on either having them do school one day a week in summer, or else giving them either one major summer project or a couple smaller ones. This is so that they aren't entirely rusty when school starts up again in earnest. It would be a special project in their field of interest so that they would find some pleasure in it.

[John81]

We homeschool and we do "school" during the summer but it's limited, focused and not something that keeps the kids from enjoying and doing other things during the summer.

For the most part, during the summer months we either have them do just a bit to help them build up a weak area or just a bit to keep stuff fresh in their minds. This typically just takes a small amount of time and other than the summer library reading program, the kids spend most of the summer outdoors like "normal" (yeah, right!) kids :Green

[Anon]

My stepmom teaches public school in Utah and they go year round. She likes it because then she gets to have vacations four times per year to go visit her daughters or go somewhere with my dad.

[Pastorj]

We finish April 18th and will start up again on Aug. 15th. We would not have it any other way. My wife wants the time off and I don't believe the pros would outway the cons for us. That doesn't mean it wouldn't work for someone else.

We know a family who does school 6 days a week, takes December off and then does 5 days a week and ends in April. Whatever works.

[brosmith]

We have to be in school 186 days a year (6 hours a day, not including lunch). Our school day runs from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM. Generally, we start 2 weeks before Labor Day (half days for the first 2 weeks) and end the Friday before Memorial Day. We take 2 days off for Thanksgiving and 2 weeks off for Christmas. We don't normally take a Spring Break.

[Bakershalfdozen]

I guess I tend to be a traditionalist in this area. I think I would miss the summer break as well.

[pneu-engine]

I guess I tend to be a traditionalist in this area. I think I would miss the summer break as well.

That's where I am too. :thumb

I think it was set up this way so kids could help in the family garden and on the farm in summer time.

[Annie]

That's where I am too. :thumb

I think it was set up this way so kids could help in the family garden and on the farm in summer time.

You're probably right. But I seem to remember that Laura Ingalls and her contemporaries went to school in the summer and took their "farm helping" break during harvest time.