Why Homeschool Year Round?–Flexibility (5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents, Day 2)

When we first started homeschooling I was not sure whether or not I wanted to do a year round schedule, or to do a typical school year schedule.  We sort of just landed in a year round schedule, and I’m loving it! 

There are many reasons that I recommend year round schedules, I will be blogging about them this week.  The first of which is Flexibility (as the image above so plainly points out!).

We can take our vacations when other people can’t!  This is one of the great things about homeschooling in general, but by using a  year round schedule, we don’t have to stress about fitting it all in  while we do so!  While other kids are spring breaking and summer breaking and Christmas breaking, these are the weeks you will find us most often at HOME! 

We like to hit up the museums, the beach, the amusement parks, etc… when the rest of the crowd is IN SCHOOL!   This also tends to award us discounts!  DOUBLE BONUS!

Also many of our family members do not live close, when we lived in Hawaii… none of our family lived close.  This allowed them to come and visit in off season (cheaper flights) and the kids were able to spend just as much time with them!  We can also travel and visit family off season as well. (Though many of the cousins are in public school, boo!).

We can take field trips on a weekly basis!  We can take time off for illness, new babies (though we won’t be doing that again… at least no new babies are in the future plans).  Hubby has time off, we take time off too! 

We only have to school a few days a week!  This leaves more time for flexibility in the curriculum.  (I’ll talk a bit more on that later).  It greatly lessens stress (more on that later too). 

Lucky for us, we don’t have to count days or hours for our reporting, but when I have (just to see) we always get in way more days the public school system (because I count field trips as school days, I mean public schools do!), and even if I didn’t there are still plenty of at home learning days!

If you feel like you can’t fit it all in, and there are not enough days to enjoy life and get homeschooling done… consider a year round schedule! 

There are a lot of ways to incorporate it.  Some people do 3 weeks on,  1 week off.  Some do 3 days a week, and a field trip day (so technically 4 days a week).  (That’s us!).  Some take  a month off every so many months. I mean there really is no rule how to do it.  If you are required a certain number of days (on average it seems most public schools go about 180 days a year). 

Do you homeschool year round?  Why or why not? 

Check out some of my crew friends at their blogs!

Dawn @ Double O Farms
Dawn @ Guiding Light Homeschool
Debbie @ Debbie's Homeschool Corner
Desiree @ Our Homeschool Notebook
Diana @ Busy Homeschool Days
Diana @ Homeschool Review
Elyse @ Oiralinde: Eternal Song
Emilee @ Pea of Sweetness
Erin @ For Him and My Family

Don’t forget to stop back here tomorrow!

For a more comprehensive list that includes all participating bloggers click on the image below!

What Life is Like NOW at Chestnut Grove Academy–A Day in the Life of Post

Our Homeschool is constantly changing, kids get older, their interests change, what curriculum we use changes, reviews, new things that work, old things that no longer work, etc…  So, it’s fun to post updates. 

This is part of a TOS Blog Cruise, that will go live on Friday at 9am EST.  You will find their links to older “Day in the life of” posts from us linked there as well!

So here is what life looked like for us TODAY (Tuesday 2/16) -

This is not a typical Tuesday, though the only days that are fairly typical from week to week are Monday, Wednesday and Fridays….though at any given time they can change too!

Today is a great example of how things just change!  Currently Tuesday is the day that my oldest has Art History Class through the local Parks and Rec.  However, today it was rainy/icy and since the county closed schools, class was cancelled!  (2nd week in a row!).  We would have most likely just taken a light day, but since we had Monday off for President’s Day (hubby was off), I decided to have a school day!  While he is at Art, we generally go to the library and I do ‘school’ with my 6.5yo there. 

Hubby also had a delay at work, didn’t have to be in until 9, so that threw our morning off a bit as well. (Which means I got an uninterrupted shower to start my morning, always a BONUS!)

The day generally is suppose to start with C (my 9 yo) doing his computer school work.  He is the first one awake most mornings, and this keeps him busy and quiet (and I might add, out of trouble).  It’s not fool proof, most days he doesn’t do what he is ‘suppose to do’, but regardless of when he starts it, computer school work is first on his school agenda.  The day typically starts with C getting spoken too about not having done his school work yet.  He has a check list, and this worked really well for a while, but lately… not so much.   I feel like as soon I think I have found what works, it doesn’t work any more… anyone else in that boat???  I think there are some underlying issues (ADHD inattentive) and we are addressing those currently.

His computer school works consists of CTC Math and Rosetta Chinese daily, Veritas Press History 3 days a week.  It doesn’t take him very long to finish it… 30-45mins depending on the day, and most days it’s usually less time.

At 9 o’clock (after everyone has eaten, including myself), we do family devotional/scripture study.  This is followed by individual scripture study for the two oldest (9 and 6.5yo). 

Then Z (6.5yo) does his computer school work, while C heads downstairs to start on his other work. Z’s computer work alternates between Reading Eggs/Math Seeds and CTC Math/Reading Kingdom, then he typically does ABC Mouse as well.

The littlest one typically hangs out with Z, and I allow it as long as she isn’t bothering him (too much). 

My 5yo (c) typically gets on the kindle and does his ABC Mouse, or some days I have stuff to offer him to do, he will also work on handwriting on the iPad, or just play with his sister.  It varies from day to day, and I never force him to do anything.  His interest levels vary.  Today he had some supplemental worksheets from co-op last week that he worked on, he also had some color pages from scripture study that he cut out and turned into puppets (He wants to help teach FHE (Family Home Evening) next week). 

I usually am all over the house in the morning, checking in on each person.  Tuesday is laundry day, so I’m throwing loads into the washer and dryer throughout the day, offering assistance when needed, and today I even made lunch!  Chicken Zucchini poppers and pumpkin bread! (Most days it’s just PBJ for the crew, and they are perfectly happy with that!)

After lunch Baby Girl went down for a nap.   C finished up what had not been done before lunch (most days he gets down before lunch, really it depends on how efficient he works, on a good day he is down well BEFORE lunch.  He had one subject left to do after lunch).  Z came down stairs to do some writing and reading.  Then we all gathered for History and Science.  We do this 2 afternoons a week, typically Tuesday afternoon and Friday afternoons, but it varies.  We only do morning schoolwork 3 days a week (typically Monday, Tuesday or Thursday, and Wednesday). 

For History today I did a lot of reading from The Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia, the 2 younger boys colored some color pages that corresponded, and C looked up a few words and wrote their definitions.  Then we watched Building the Great Cathedrals, Season 6, Episode 5 of NOVA on Amazon Prime. 

Afterwards the kids were inspired to build their own pointed arches, like those of the Gothic Cathedrals

Then for science we listened to the Periodic Table of Elements song, and watched the watched one video each about two elements from Periodic Videos channel:  Hydrogen and Helium.

This was followed by piano practice for the two oldest

They played around with their dad for a bit, then on to dinner!

A little more play time, then C was off to Cub Scouts, and Z tagged along with hubby for their date night to Rita’s.

I stayed home with the littles, and we played a game, got into jammies, brushed teeth, had stories in my room and then they went off to bed.  I did some blogging and still have some kitchen clean up and laundry folding to do! (Yeah, that laundry will probably not get folded)  Phew!   But I did manage to get the special blankets dry before bed time and get the kids beds made!  SCORE!  However, I just realized as c is asleep in my bed, that I DID FORGET to send him to the bathroom before bed!  As luck would have it, I may be washing sheets again tomorrow :/  UGH!  (He usually is good, but we always send him before bed!).   I will DEFINETELY be moving him to his bed and SOON!  Just in Case! 

A Typical Week currently consists of:

Monday and Wednesday:  MMA

Tuesday:  Art History class (but only for a few more weeks)

Thursday: Co-op (but only every other week)

Friday: Piano and Swimming (We start back up this week after a small break).

MMA is a great time for me to run errands with only ONE kid in tow, as long as it’s right around town.  I generally make my post office, grocery store and other runs like that during the hour they are there.  It is a BIG perk for me!  We also do our Costco runs on co-op days since we drive right by on the way home!  We schedule Field Trips on Tuesday or Thursday (non-co-op days) typically, though Swimming runs in sessions, so on off weeks we do field trips on Fridays as well.  I like to get one in a week, but it’s not always possible.  The local library offers great classes and things too, that are typically in the afternoons.  We try to hit those as often as we can, FREE is always great! 

See what other Homeschool Days look like for Crew Members by clicking below!  Link goes live on Friday 2/19 at 9am EST.

A Day in the Life of Chestnut Grove Academy….

Typically we start each day at 9am, at the kitchen table for circle time.


Circle Time consists of:

Song (we focus on one Primary song from church each month, each year the primary kids (ages 3-12) give a presentation during church service (Sacrament) and they sing songs, have speaking parts, etc….

Prayer

Pledge

Calendar

Virtue (We Choose Virtues)

Article of Faith (We are working to memorize all 13 Articles of Faith, which are statements of our belief)  I found these cute pictograph printables at 3Dinosaurs.com, we also sing the article of faith song. 
Musician/Artist – from Classical Composers Monthly
Devotional – we read a story from the Friend magazine (an LDS publication) and my oldest reads from the Storied Scriptures.
Chinese – we do a short Chinese lesson from betterchinese.com curriculum
Then we do either History or Science. This week we are doing a Unit Study on Dolphins, so we have been working on that.  I try to give the littles subject oriented materials to keep them busy during the lesson. 
We may also watch a short clip from Brain Pop, Brain Pop Jr, or some other media to go with our lesson.

Circle Time can last from 1-1.5hrs, depending. 
I am planning to add in some Calendar Notebooks, and some Church History learning when we officially start the new school year after the baby arrives. 

After circle time they divide….the youngers do their workboxes, some of which are independent, others which require some one on one attention from me.


My oldest goes off to do his workboxes as well, most of which are independent, though he comes to me with questions and to check his work.  Here he is doing his Reading assignment. (below).  We also have desks in the schoolroom area, that he typically sits at to do Math and other writing work.

Then we eat lunch….we are typically done with the ‘school’ part of day by 1230/100p.  There is usually a snack time during the morning as well, so a 100 lunch is tolerable.
After lunch, we will have free play, watch some shows that are related to the school topic we are studying (this week we watched a Netflix documentary on dolphins one day and some episodes of Flipper (the classic TV show) another day. 

We also have computer/iPad time in the afternoon.  Computer time consists of a Chinese program Petralingua and a piano program Adventus (review coming soon) for my oldest, and then he can choose from a few others for(Reading Kingdom, Grammaropolis, Little Passports, PowerMyLearning) for a total of about an hour of computer time.

My youngest do Time4Learning (review coming soon) and/or ABCMouse.com on the iPad with me (using Photon Flash Browser) and then can pick from a wide variety of other learning apps to play (including Looney Toons Phonics and others)…for a total of about 30-45min.

This is followed by some more free play, and sometimes they watch some PBS shows in the afternoon (especially on days when I tutor) - Wild Kratts, Word Girl, Ruff Ruffman, and The Electric Company.   Other days we head to the pool or have gymnastics class. 
That’s a typical day in a nutshell! 
One day a week is Field Trip Day, and every other week we have one day a week of co-op….those days run differently (obviously). 
We year round school, and though our work load may vary throughout the year, we TRY to maintain a similar schedule…the kids do much better when we stay in routine.