In this post, we are going to go over several reasons that you might want to follow a year-round homeschool schedule. For our first two years, we followed the local school districts calendar, then we changed to a year-round homeschool schedule and it made a huge difference for our homeschool and it might be the change you've been needing.
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Year-Round Homeschool for Flexibility
The biggest reason we choose to homeschool year-round is flexibility. When we started doing school we followed the local school schedule and it was ok, but my husband sometimes has an unpredictable schedule and we would be trying to do school work when he was home or we wouldn’t be doing school when he was home. And that goes against one of the “why”s for homeschooling. We want to spend more time together. So year-round homeschooling gives us the opportunity to take off when we want to and still be able to complete the hours we are required.
Year-Round Homeschool for Holidays Off
Now you maybe be thinking that a regular school schedule would have holidays off, and you would be right. But you may not be able to have all the days off you need. If you need to travel to see family for Christmas or maybe you have a blended family or a large extended family and need to consider multiple schedules for Thanksgiving being able to pick the days that you have off makes the holidays just a little easier.
Year-Round Homeschool for No Reteaching
We take off at most 5-6 weeks for our longest break. During this time though the kids still do reading daily and some math reviews. The “summer slide” is real and reteaching things that have already been taught takes up precious time that could be used for other learning or pursuing other interests. Being able to continue with school without long breaks helps the children to retain what they have learned.
Year-Round Homeschool for Structure
When left to their own devices my kids tend to squabble with each other more and become “bored.” It wasn’t until after reading this post, that I began to understand why. Structure helps them not only know how to behave in a situation but also be able to adapt. Being able to know what is expected of them each day helps our days to go more smoothly. Now, all this to say we do not have a super structured schedule. The kids know what they are expected to accomplish for each subject but I let them decide the order they feel like accomplishing them in. They get more done when they know what is expected of them each day.
Year-Round Homeschool for Shorter Days
Last, but not least, we homeschool year-round for shorter days. I’ve found that my children do better with shorter days. Articles show that children’s attention span, on average, is about 2-3 minutes per year of age. So for example, I have an 8-year-old, and his attention span is about 16-24 mins. We spend about this amount of time per subject daily and add breaks in between. To help with his attention span, the nature of homeschooling is he is able to be 1:1 with me and has limited distractions. These things all combined help us to have shorter homeschool days over the year-round schedule.
Summing it Up
There are many benefits to schooling year-round, especially for the student. My personal favorite part of schooling year-round is knowing in advance what we are doing and when we are doing it. But I am also a little type-A. If you asked my kids they would say the flexibility of having time off on nice days is the best!
Get Started Year-Round Homeschooling
If you are planning to start homeschooling year-round check out this homeschool planner designed with year-round homeschoolers in mind. This planner will help you keep track of all the important things and stay on top of your homeschool schedule.
Do you homeschool year-round? Or are you thinking about trying it out? Let me know in the comments.
