Are Summer Vacations a Good Idea?

While my homeschool experience was one that followed the traditional school year, I discovered the idea of year round school when I began researching to school my own children. The concept makes sense to me, though it may not be for everyone.

What It Is

Basically, instead of taking 2-3 months vacation in the summer, you take shorter vacations throughout the year. For example, you might decide to visit the grandparents for a week in February and take that time off from school.

Why it Works

While it might take some getting used to, the fact is that many students forget things over the summer. I also was recently talking with a homeschool family of 10 that uses this method and they informed me that two months with the kids on no routine was just too hectic and things worked better if they pretty much stuck to the schedule year round.

As a child, I had a learning disability that affected my memory in areas of patterns and pretty much anything mathematical. I would often forget what I`d learned in math over the course of a weekend, so after a couple of months, it was like starting from scratch again . . . a year round schedule would have worked far better for me.

An added bonus is that you can often complete more in the same amount of time. Most homeschool families find that they go through about a year and a half of school in one year, which means the children graduate early. This may or may not be your goal, but it does give them a head start.

Some Potential Issues

One of the advantages of having a summer vacation is that you and your kids get a break. It can be frustrating to be together all the time and school can become drudge work if you aren`t careful. Schooling year round would probably tend to cause burnout faster.

A possible solution for this issue is to make sure you DO take vacations, albeit smaller and shorter ones. Also, rather than do coursework on a daily basis, you might want to change things to include at least one “fun” school day each week where you get out of the house, go on a field trip, play games or something else that breaks the monotony of the school day.

What are your thoughts? Have you tried year round schooling? Does it sound like a good idea?

Tags: family, homeschool, summer, vacation, year round schooling