Why am I an advocate for year-round homeschooling? Do you enjoy your kids not forgetting everything you teach them, do you want to take advantage of summer or spring days without worrying about school, do you want your kids to get more sleep, and do you want to not feel bad about bagging days when your kids are just really struggling? If you do these might be good reasons to homeschool year-round. These are all reasons why we homeschool year-round.
Reason 1 You can take breaks without worry of being behind
Many summers my family has left a branding early which if you don’t know is equivalent to Christmas for a ranch family. One hot summer we brought my nephews to my house and my oldest nephew didn’t like the branding at all. He actually said he was starting to feel sick from the smell of burning hair on the cows and asked if he could sit in the truck. I was a little shocked. My nephew might not like brandings but even when my kids were in public school a branding is a perfectly good reason to skip school. Now that my kids are homeschooled year-round, I don’t have to pick between going to brandings or being caught up with school. It is especially helpful for me because during brandings and other times of the year I cook for the cowboys. It’s hard to be teaching three kids, washing dishes, and cooking three different courses to a meal all at the same time. When I first started homeschooling my friend mentioned year-round school to me and I knew that is what was the best fit for our family. It just made more time so we can enjoy special things like brandings that our family loves. In addition to special ranch days, I don’t have to worry that we will fall far behind if we take a week off school for a family reunion or a funeral in the middle of winter.
Do We Still Do a Summer Break?
You might wonder if we homeschool year-round if we have a summer break still. Not all homeschoolers do but yes my family does. This year we are mostly taking the whole rest of May and all of June off of our normal school. My kids can still choose to do things like art hub on youtube, adventure academy, educational games on amazon kids their fire tablets, Night Zoo Keeper, and other things. However, I do require that they keep up with music lessons although we are not so good at this. I also require that they read their scriptures, read another book for 20-30 minutes, and they do some sort of math practice. In addition to independent learning, I also plan on having my kids listen to me read books aloud, and they are also doing a super fun reading program I have planned for them. We just finished most of our school last week so I’m still trying to get in the groove of summer and having a difficult time adjusting to not having a rigid schedule. My kids have been told at the beginning of June I can make them do full days of school so we can ‘get ahead’ for the year. That way when we need times off for sickness, brandings and other days I have to cook for, funerals, and just break days we have the freedom to do that.
“It will also help your kids to develop a lifetime love of wonder and learning. It may help them realize that learning should never stop when they leave your home or the textbook ends that year.”
Angie Avery
Reason 2 Summer Forgetting
I made my kids do some school during the summer even when they were in public school so they didn’t forget everything they had learned. There’s one summer I was particularly overwhelmed and we had a whole month without any school of any sort. My son, who had learned multiplication that year, completely forgot his multiplication tables. I couldn’t help but feeling totally defeated and scared. I had no idea how to reteach him multiplication. I couldn’t help but feeling if I had been having him do some sort of summer homework, he wouldn’t have forgotten his multiplication. I remember the summer between my junior and senior year of high school our teachers required us to read two books. If I remember right, they said the reason they were doing this is so we didn’t have that summer forgetfulness that my child experienced. I thing that they had read kids did better in school that had some sort of academic work during the summer. Perhaps this is the reason I chose to do things with my kids. More particularly, I think the reason I chose to is I’ve always believed I am my children’s primary teacher. I love to teach my kids and watch them learn and grow. I think it’s good to have their minds and hands actively engaged. Besides just falling behind I think having my kids do school during all times of the year helps teach them that learning isn’t just something you do because people make you but is hopefully a lifetime pursuit and love. Books and math and wonder can be a year-round and lifetime love.
Reason 3 Emotional Health and More Sleep
I don’t like to wake my kids or myself up early. One out of the many benefits I saw when I started homeschooling my kids is all of our emotional health. When my kids were in school, I would have to drag them out of their beds because they never got enough sleep. As soon as they got off the bus, I barely felt like I had time to hug them before we had to start homework, get them in the bathtub, eat dinner, and get to bed. One of my children was especially difficult with this. Even now she is a heavy sleeper. When she doesn’t get enough sleep, she is like me. She gets very emotional and moody whether that is crying or anger. This child is a sweetheart when they are not exhausted. When this child was in public school, despite the 45-minute drive to town, I wanted desperately to eat lunch with my child so we could have a happy memory from that day that wasn’t us fighting with each other and crying. I would never want to go back to that kind of life. My kids often wake up before me of their own accord now, but it is because they feel rested enough or want free time during the day to do what they want after they get their school done. I love that we can sit and cuddle on the couch or we can eat breakfast around the table as I read to them. I’m not saying our homeschool days are perfect or even most of the time pretty, but I love that I’m seeing them more than just pushing a toothbrush in their mouth or carrying them out of the car and onto the bus. When you homeschool year-round, specifically if you live in a state that requires lots of hours like us, you don’t feel as pressured to wake up super early and make homeschool look like public school. If your kids are having a rough day you can feel totally ok bagging the day and just giving love to your child.
In Conclusion
I’ve heard many homeschool moms explain to me their kids couldn’t attend something because they were behind with their school work. When you do school year-round it really helps eliminate a lot of that stress as a parent. I encourage you to pray and ponder if this will also help ease your burdens. Even if it’s not a full summer break like my family, maybe just partially year-round school well help you. It will also help your kids to develop a lifetime love of wonder and learning. It may help them realize that learning should never stop when they leave your home or the textbook ends that year.