Summer School Anyone?
To school or not to school? That is the question.
Every year I sit down with a calendar and plan our upcoming school year. I am looking forward to next year. As usual we will begin school the first Monday of August. Why? First, public schools have been starting in August for years. However, the main reason for us is that it is so HOT in Texas that you are indoors anyway. The way I see it, if we are all indoors we might as well be learning something. As hot as it has been in June this year, I am wondering if we need to start earlier. I am not kidding; it was 105 degrees this afternoon.
I love the fall when the days grow shorter and cooler. The air turns a little crisp and some leaves on the trees turn amazing colors. I am not in a rush for fall, but it sure sounds good as I am sitting here describing it. We love to school in the morning and have the afternoon to do other things. Our garden needs little attention. We are mainly just harvesting cabbages and greens. I don’t know about your family’s schedule, but ours gets really hectic between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. Therefore, I have made the command decision to take those weeks off. I am looking forward to enjoying the holidays. It will be nice to have the time to be creative and make Christmas gifts.
After New Year’s Day, we will kick it into high gear until mid-March. During January and February, it is too cold to do much outdoors, which makes it a perfect time to school. I want to take off two weeks in March. One to work and one to take a break. March is very busy. The garden needs a lot of attention as we start planting most of our seeds. I also like to perform a traditional spring cleaning. It takes days as we move from room to room cleaning everything and removing items we no longer want or need. It always amazes us how much accumulates from spring to spring. My house needs this kind of cleaning once every three months, but it just does not happen. At least I deep clean once in the spring.
Then we will continue our weeks of school until we finish which should be in May. This is perfect for our family for several reasons. Two of my boys celebrate their birthdays in May and they like finishing school before they turn another year older. The weather is typically beautiful in our area. It is warm and sunny. The grass is beginning to grow well. Lawns need to be trimmed. The garden is really going. It is not too hot yet. May is a great month in Texas. Another reason is that our county fair is the first week of June. So we get busy trying to get our entries ready for the county-wide competition. May is also a busy month in so far as every activity you participate in wants to have a recital or party or event. It just works well for me to not have the added stress of finishing up your school.
I know that homeschoolers across the country have different methods of deciding your school calendar. Some I am sure do not even attempt to create one. Some follow the public school calendar. Some school year round and enjoy spontaneous days of vacation sporadically throughout the year. Some are like my family who plan around busy and stressful times. Although, as I write this article, I realize that the weather plays an important role in my school calendar. Whatever the reason, having the freedom to create your own school calendar is one of the many reasons I enjoy homeschooling. You get to choose what is best for your family. So as the temperatures continue to climb this summer, is anyone else considering summer school?
Great post. I found you through the Carnival of Homeschooling. We homeschool about the same schedule as you but we start earlier, the 27th of July this year. We live in Delaware and it is not a hot here as in Texas but my kids don’t like the heat either. We take a week off in September or early October for a family vacation and we like to be done in late April or early May. We also take off a long time at Christmas. We are gearing up for school around here already. I am busy planning and getting things ready. Thanks again for the great post.
I am doing school most of this summer because a move last year had me holding off formal academics until January. So we will just keep going until we run out of scheduled school for history, then take a week or so off and start over again in the fall.
Love your article. We home school year around, with a 1 week break every 6 weeks. But, we also let the seasons guide us. We live in Texas and as the Summer kicks in we do errands, visit friends, play/walk/run at the local parks in the morning till about noon, then we head home and have lunch, lay the little one down for a nap at 1p and then we do our lesson’s in the afternoon when it is the HOTEST. During the Winter it is the reverse, we will school in the morning till noon, have lunch and then do all our out of the house activities, when the weather is warmer, after the baby is up from his nap.
I love the idea of letting the seasons guide your schedule rather than following the public school calendar. We are starting mid to late August. I’m going to be working on plans while my kids are at camp!