Hanson's Ridge
This year, as I think I mentioned, we are doing a year-round series of six week terms, with a week off in between. Here is what that looks like:
Term 1: July 10-August 18 Break 1: August 21-25 Term 2: August 28-October 6 Break 2: October 9-13 Term 3: October 16-November 17 Break 3: November 20-24 Term 4: November 27-December 22 Break 4: December 25-January 5 (Two weeks) Term 5: January 8-February 9 Break 5: February 12-16 Term 6: February 19-March 23 Break 6: March 26-30 Term 7: April 2-May 11 Break 7: May 14-18 Term 8: May 21-June 22 Break 8 (Summer Break) June 25-July 6 (Two weeks) That comes out to 210 days of school. Public schools in Virginia require 180 days of school. That means we have thirty extra days. Some of those will be sick days. Some will be fun days (birthdays are school holidays at our house!). We don't need snow days (we can play in the snow and still have time left over for reading and math). And we have a week off almost every month for us to travel, catch up with friends, catch up on housework (I seem to be able to have a productive school day or a clean house, but not both). The other big advantage is planning. In 13 days, I will have a 5 year old, a 3 year old, and a 4 month old. Our scheduling needs change pretty frequently. I get to re-evaluate how our schedule is working and tweak it. I get a week to plan what needs to happen next, and that's frequently enough to course correct without feeling overwhelmed. I don't have to spend a lot of time planning week to week. I've also heard that February is a tough month for homeschool families. Parents are warned not to make a decision about packing the kids up and sending them to a classroom environment during the February Doldrums. We will be taking a week off right in the middle of February! I figure it will be a good thing for all of us. The other advantage is that one of my kiddos needs structure. All kids do, to an extent, but one of my does a lot better with regular routines. By only taking a week or two off at a time, I'm hoping to better support that child. Now, some of our terms are going to be a little bit lighter academically. We took it pretty easy for our first term, here in the summer. We just did reading and math, with lots of reading aloud and a little bit of art. We aren't going to get too much heavier--after all, she's only five. But we'll try adding in a few more things here and there. When the weather is nice, there might be more nature study. When the weather is nasty, more hands-on science experiments inside. At least that's the plan! As always, I'll keep you posted. Next up: Our Daily Schedule
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AuthorHi! I'm Stephanie Hanson. I live with my husband, Himself, on Hanson's Ridge in Virginia. Archives
September 2017
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