Why Would Anyone Want to Homeschool Year Round?
[Today’s post “Why Would Anyone Want to Homeschool Year Round?” was written by guest contributor Misty Leask.]
Chances are if you’ve been homeschooling for any amount of time you’ve changed up your schedule at least once or twice. Why? Because finding the right schedule can be as challenging as discovering the learning style and curriculum that are best for your homeschool. The freedoms that homeschooling can provide greatly depend on our desire and willingness to try new things until we find what clicks. This is especially true of a homeschool schedule. If your homeschool schedule isn’t working, are you ready to change things up?
Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through affiliate links in this post.
One of my favorite homeschool quotes is from 7 Sisters Homeschool:
“There is no right way to homeschool.”
This applies to curriculum, styles, and schedules. It is important that you, as a homeschool mom, recognize that it is your decision to make changes to your homeschool. If something isn’t working for you or your kids, it is up to you to change things up and find what works for your homeschool.
Not sure where to start?
Changing your homeschool schedule can make a world of difference. It can even save your homeschool journey.
Why I Homeschool Year Round
Homeschooling year round wasn’t a thing – at least online – when I made the decision to utilize the entire calendar year for our homeschooling journey. Yet, I knew it was exactly what we needed. We needed the flexibility that having 365 days to homeschool gives.
My husband’s self-employed, commercial fishing schedule just wasn’t working with a “normal” school schedule. I was frustrated trying to get the kids to do school when he was home on weekdays. They just wanted to take days off when their dad was home because of bad weather. I knew something had to change because our homeschool wasn’t enjoyable anymore.
Choosing to move to a year-round homeschooling schedule saved our homeschool and my family. It is by far the best decision I’ve made as a homeschool mom.
One of the first questions I’m asked when I tell people that I homeschool year round is, “Do you really homeschool 365 days a year?”. To which my answer is, “Absolutely not.”.
I love my children and chose to be a stay-at-home mom to spend more time with them. I also love being a homeschool mom. However, I do not have any desire to homeschool my children every single day of every single year.
7 Reasons You Should Homeschool Year Round
- The biggest benefit to homeschooling year round is that it gives you the freedom to use all 12 months of the year to homeschool your children.
- Design your own homeschool schedule! You do not have to stick to the Monday through Friday and/or September-May schedule that most schools follow.
- You can change your homeschool schedule every single year (if you want to) depending on what is happening in your life, your spouse’s work, etc.
- Having 365 days to complete your homeschool year enables you to take a day off — just because! If your kids are bouncing off the walls or you just need a day to breathe — you can take it because you don’t have to stress about completing 180 homeschool days in the 190 weekdays found in September-May
- Field trips can be done year round. You don’t have to contend with other school groups. We love to go on field trips in the summertime and during the holidays.
- Family vacations can be taken anytime — not just in the summertime when you aren’t homeschooling.
- Your kids can experience science/nature at the right time of the year. No longer do you have to complete a beach unit study in the spring when it is too cold to dip your toes in the water. You can rearrange your science/nature curriculum to fit the seasons!
Homeschooling year round can be a tremendous blessing to your entire family. As a homeschool mom, it can give you time to breathe. Your kids can enjoy more relaxed homeschool days. Your spouse will be able to see the difference in your life and your children’s lives. This can cause them to believe in or love homeschooling more than they did before.
Do you homeschool year round? Or, are you considering it? What do you find most appealing?
Related Posts:
- A Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Next Year’s Homeschool
- Ten Things I Wish I Knew Before Homeschooling
- 2018-2019 Homeschool Curriculum Choices for 1st-12th Grades
- Transitioning from Homeschooling Middle School to High School
_________________________________
Misty is a Daughter of THE King, Texas girl, Navy brat at heart, loving Fisherman’s wife, blessed homeschooling mother of 2, founder of Year Round Homeschooling and author of Beautiful Ashes. She is passionate about being real through every stage of life and encouraging homeschool moms throughout their homeschool journey. Her heart is full of ideas and passions, but the hours in her day never multiply to get it all done. Misty enjoys reading, music, and photography in her spare time. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.
(Disclosure: This post uses affiliate links.)
Great explanation! We, too, homeschool year round. We’re done (plus some!) with the state-required hours for 2018-19, and enjoying a lovely couple of weeks’ mid-February vacation : ) But, mid-summer, we often school in the air-conditioned house when it’s too hot to enjoy playing outside anyway.
We live in Kentucky and I feel like our best weather for being outside is May and June. This year our summer vacation will only be the month of June but hopefully from now on we will take May and June off. I love the idea of schooling through the summer because I can count the wonderful programs our library puts on. This year we tried taking most of December off and that did not work well, so I’m still experimenting with how best to handle the craziness of the season and balance my kids’ needs for structure and routine.