Schooling Year-Round

This is our second summer of schooling year-round. I've had several people ask us why we don't take a break in the summer like public schools. There's really only two simple reasons.

First, we get bored. Summer is our busiest season with softball, swimming, and other "outside" activities, and it's my time to catch up on all that housework that barely gets done when we are schooling full-time. However, these things don't take up every second of our time, and both my daughters actually ask to do school some days. (C will never publicly admit that, though. LOL)

My other main reason for summer-schooling is because it allows me to fit in the extra subjects we do, and actually gets our work ahead enough that we can school 4 full days, and one short day each week during the typical 9 months of the school year.

What does our summer schedule look like? Well, it is certainly not the same as our main part of the year schedule. We only do "light" days, and only a few days each week.

For C, who is in 5th grade, we do one Math test each week. The way Saxon Math is set up, there is a test every 5 lessons. I allow her 1 missed problem on a test. (out of 20 problems) If she misses more than 1 we will stop the tests, back up 5 lessons, and that is where we will begin doing lessons and assignments. Yesterday, she took test #7, and got 100% on it. Therefore, currently, she has "tested through" 35 lessons in her math. Adding the 7 tests and 3 investigations to the 35 lessons she won't need to do equals 45 days of math we won't have to do through the school year. So, once again, she will be able to have a 4 day week in Math, as she did last year. Technically, she could even do a 3 day week at this point, (M-W-F) and still finish by next May. I'd prefer to finish a little earlier, though, so I won't do a 3 day week unless she passes at least 3 or 4 more tests.

Public and private schooled children don't have the option of testing through parts of the book they already know. Even the more advanced children will have to slog through wasted lessons with 20 or more other kids who have forgotten over the 3 months of summer break.

C also is still working through her Bible lessons. Normally we only do formal Bible 2 or 3 days a week, no matter what time of year it is. C also is working through Grammar 5. Our goal is to complete 40 pages in her Daily Gram book. She has already completed several chapters in Easy Grammar, and 19 lessons in Daily Grams. Again, I set this goal with a 4 day week in mind.

For history, we are re-reading Story of the World, Volume 1, Ancient History. We did an in-depth study of the Ancients last spring and summer, then skipped to a full year of American History for the school year. As I plan to stick to a chronological approach to history and do an in-depth study of the Middle Ages for 5th grade, C and I both thought we should do a quick review study of the Ancients over this summer. This is her favorite subject, and doesn't even seem like school work to us. (She never says it is her favorite, yet it is the one subject she asks most frequently to do.)

We haven't done any formal science since April. This week, we finally began our first book in C's Zoology series. She will be working much harder in science this year, keeping a notebook and writing reports, and also writing up formal experiments. As she chose Zoology, she has 3 full-length textbooks to finish in only 2 years, so we HAVE to work on science through the summer. I want her to take the usual 7th grade General Science, 8th grade Physical Science, and be right on track for the high school sciences. I'm somehow also hoping to add a 4th science in the next 2 years: Exploring Anatomy, which won't be released until this August. So, in order to cover what she wants, and what I want, we have to do science full-time for the next 2 years. We don't have the luxury of taking summers off.

Summer school for E, 1st grade, looks exactly like her schedule any other time, except that E gets a little MORE school in the summer, as I have more time, doing so little with her older sister. We try to do 2 pages of math a few days a week, practice reading, (which is coming along wonderfully, btw!) and work on E's, Moving Beyond the Page concepts. MBTP is aimed towards gifted children, and is a complete program that works in every area of study, except math and phonics. (social studies, science, reading, thinking skills, handwriting, etc...) It's a combination of lit/unit studies, and has wonderful hands-on for "active" learners like E. And no, I'm unsure as to whether E is truly a "gifted" child. She comes from a highly gifted family, and has the advantage of one-on-one tailored-to-her-needs learning. So, maybe she is, maybe she isn't, but I really don't care. She seems so, but I refuse to push my children more than a few months ahead of their peers, and don't receive any government funding for having such a labeled child in our school, so it's irrevelant.

So, that's why and how we school year-round. Summers are much lighter than the main school year for my 10 year old, and the same for my 6 year old. We do it because we enjoy it, and because it gives us 1 day a week through the school year to concentrate on only 3 or 4 subjects, instead of 7. Mom's gotta do housework and get bills paid sometime, right?

C's artwork

Ok, I think April's wedding pictures have been on top long enough. She dominated all my posts in May, and since then I have been way too busy to get on my blog and update anything. Last week C had the opportunity to attend college. No, she's not one of *those* homeschooled kids; the local community college has several summer enrichment classes, and she chose to take one on watercolor paintings. Her teacher was awesome, and C completed 12 different paintings over the course of a week. I will post my favorites. Please forgive the blurriness. I had to zoom in a little too much on a couple that have her full name on them to get it "out of the picture". (ha ha)

Her first one is still one of my favorites: When it's not zoomed in it looks very realistic, and the tree is beautiful:


I chose the next one because I love the double border:



This one is my husband's favorite. I never knew he had a thing for still lifes.



My final choice for posting is a tribute C drew, then painted, of our late kitty, Goldie:



I would like to mention "Happy 1 Month Anniversary" to April and Lance today. We all really miss you, and appreciate all the phone calls, e-mails, pictures, videos, and e-cards you send us. It seems to have hit E the worst. She REALLY misses big sis!