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I am curious to hear what everybody does when it comes to homeschooling and school calendar. I don't think there is any right answer to my questions, but I want to get idea what people usually do.

Do you homeschool all year round? Or do you take it easy over the summer but still try to do some academics? Do you wait till the schools starts to start your school year or wait whenever the child is ready to do more work?

I am sure everybody takes some time off either for family vacation or when the child needs a break, but do you also give them time off when the school has let's say spring break? You know when all their school friends have finally time for playdates and kids are out and playing.

Right now we are having summer vacation. We may even start hs later than PS since my in-laws will be here at the beginning of the school year. I guess breaks/holidays will feel different too because DS3 will not be in preschool. Not that I would have any idea what I am talking about since this will be our first year hs.

Of course, the kids will learn something this summer, but it's up to them. As a matter of fact DS5 is trying to set a reading record today. I managed to move him up into a higher reading group for the library summer program where he has to count number of hours he reads instead of number of books, which makes much more sense to me. I can already see the library charts in our homeschooling future in fall

Hi, LMom! Good question! I look forward to reading the answers you get!

I figure that one of the benefits to homeschooling is working when it makes sense to work and taking time off when it makes sense to take time off.

We travel for our spring break each year, so the kids hike in the woods, learn about tracking animals and other nature-type things, go fishing, etc. I tried to be sure we did one book-ish thing each day and get their reading in before bed, but that was it. If other kids are off, I don't see why we can't be, too.

For the summer, I'm sticking to my "one school thing per day" rule, at least most days. But if a better offer comes along, I go for the good offer. I'm all for time to play outside with friends, so school definitely gets less of DS7's time than does playtime in the summer. If nothing else, I figure the summer work we do keeps him from getting bored and lets us take some time off during the year if we want to, like around the holidays or in May, when our family is as busy as can be with the end of school, testing, birthday parties, our anniversary, etc.

Ideally, by the end of the summer, DS7 will have earned a gold medal from the homeschool group for completing 10 worksheets about the Olympics and will have tried many new sports (tomorrow: field hockey!), will have learned a little more Spanish, and will have improved his typing skills and times tables knowledge. He also took an art class that wrapped up in mid-June. That seems like a pretty good summer schedule to me.

Field Hockey - Yay!

http://www.usfieldhockey.com/

We just got into roller blading. All the ice skating we did last winter sure comes handy. Have fun!

I like the idea about Olympics. That could make for a nice unit study

We homeschool year round, but are very flexible about taking time off for social activities and field trips, or just because we feel like it. Summers we tend to do "homeschool light" which is usually just a smattering of formal academics and lots of self directed learning in areas of interest.