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.
