Over the years, I've witnessed year round schooling models take a lot of different shapes. The common thread is that they do not match the typical (American) schedule of a couple plus months off in the summer, a Christmas Break and a Spring Break. In public education, a year-round schedule is often 3 weeks on, 1 week off or 4-5 weeks on and 2 weeks off. Homeschooling kind of turns that on its head!
1) School never really stops. Our homeschool version of year round schooling is school that never fully stops, but stops whenever we need it to. Oklahoma is a great state to homeschool, because we are allowed to determine much for ourselves, including our schedule as long as we get in 180 hours of school. With a year round approach, you more than satisfy that requirement.
2) Schedules Honor Student Needs. A typical 9 month school year requires students to honor the schedule in spite of their needs. Any educator will tell you that is one of the hardest part of their jobs. Human beings just don't develop at the exact same rate in development and understanding and when life circumstances come into play, there can be huge gaps that are hard to fill in before the school year ends. Year round schooling means that we take time - slow down or speed up - when we need to. Bored with their grade level work? Let's review and move ahead to something more challenging. Struggling with new concepts? We'll spend as much time as we need until a student is comfortable with it. This also goes for non-academic elements. A major change, a death, or a great accomplishment can appropriately slow school down for mental and emotional nourishment. What's best for the student can reign supreme when necessary.
3. Highlights a Lifestyle of Learning. When you learn at home anyway, it's easy for learning to happen any time to begin with. When you don't take the summer off or break at typical times, students get used to learning for learning sake rather than only at certain times of day. As homeschooling lends itself to this anyway, year round schooling turns every single thing you do, especially as a family, into an activity of discovery and wonder which automatically includes learning. We are cultivating a lifestyle of learning.
It might seem that year-round schooling is way too much or over-kill, but for us we end up ahead of the curve while feeling like we're relaxing our way through the year. Of course there are seasons (like soccer or holiday/birthday) that are hectic no matter what we do, but we are able to adapt school to our needs, not the other way around. I love that!
This post is participating in the Homeschool Review Crew's Not Back To School Blog Hop this week so be on the look out for more Year-Round Schooling posts! If you are interested in other homeschooling topics check out the links below!
It might seem that year-round schooling is way too much or over-kill, but for us we end up ahead of the curve while feeling like we're relaxing our way through the year. Of course there are seasons (like soccer or holiday/birthday) that are hectic no matter what we do, but we are able to adapt school to our needs, not the other way around. I love that!
This post is participating in the Homeschool Review Crew's Not Back To School Blog Hop this week so be on the look out for more Year-Round Schooling posts! If you are interested in other homeschooling topics check out the links below!
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses - ABC of Homeschooling
Dawn @ Schoolin' Swag - Adding Fun to Your Homeschool Day
Erin @ For Him and My Family - Large Family Homeschooling
Lori @ At Home Where Life Happens - Learning Life Skills
Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling - Homeschooling the High School Years
Monique D. @ Early Learning Mom - Homeschooling With Autism
Yvie @ Homeschool On the Range - 5 Days of Upper Grades Homeschooling
Abby @ Making Room 4 One More - Time Management for Homeschool Moms
Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool - 5 Days of Homeschool Questions
Amy @ the WRITE Balance - Year-Round Schooling
Annette @ A Net in Time - Homeschooling.
Betty @ Lets Get Real - Homeschooling High School
Cassandra @ My Blessed Mess - Eclectic Homeschooling
2 comments:
We like the year-round approach. We do give our teen lots of free time in the summer (he attended public school up through 9th grade) but still have him complete a few things to get a jump on the start of his year.
Not having that dictated schedule is definitely an advantage for students. Parents, too, honestly. We love the flexibility that year-round learning gives us.
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