The Benefits of Schooling Year-Round

During this time of the year we go to a lot of graduations and we hear a lot of homeschoolers say that they are done with school for the year. That is the norm, I guess, but the Grove family is anything BUT normal!!

In the past ten years of homeschooling we have only taken one summer break, and that was by default. Last summer was so chaotic - we were in the middle of moving when my Mother got sick and died - and out of necessity I packed up the books for most of the summer. The kids were not happy when I insisted on getting those boxes out of storage in June!

I decided the first year of "official" homeschooling that we would have school year-round. It immediately took the pressure off of me to be "done". We typically have school 4 days a week, on the days Daddy has to work, which is Tuesday through Saturday. Sunday is, of course, the Lord's Day, and Monday and Tuesday are Daddy Days. Interestingly enough the kids are often learning something new that day from their beloved Daddy as he is always in "teaching" mode. He's one of the best teachers I have ever known - so eager and ready to teach in any given moment. The kids love it. Anyway, that is another post!

The benefits for schooling year-round (for us) are that we can take off days as needed for errands, field trips, vacations, holidays, illness - or if we just "feel" like skipping school, LOL! I take advantage of days when the weather is poor because the kids obviously cannot be outside as much then. So we might have a little extra reading or writing those days, or art projects. (By the way, I don't "do" art - I just make the materials available, such as crayons, markers, colored pencils, glue, tape, construction paper, etc. - and the kids come up with their own projects. Sometimes Alicia will oversee projects she finds from books.) I'm amazed at what the kids come up with for art sometimes.

There are a lot of days in the summer that are just too hot to play outside, so often on those days you'll find us with our nose in a book. There's nothing better than reading away a hot, lazy summer day in front of a fan, with an icy cold beverage.

So, in a nutshell, that is why we homeschool year-round. It works for us!