I’ve mentioned before how my method for homeschooling revolves around both content and delivery. The tagline for this site is homeschooling the humanities with humanity because we found ourselves unexpectedly homeschooling when we couldn’t find a good traditional school fit for my daughter’s conflicting intellectual capabilities and socioemotional challenges. Homeschooling with humanity means meeting her where she is and providing the support necessary for her to thrive.
Year-round homeschooling is one of the ways that we achieve that goal.
I live in a state where homeschooling requires tracking hours. We have to get 1,000 hours a year, and when I first started homeschooling, I was working full-time outside of the home as a college professor, but I had the summer off. Out of necessity, then, we continued to do school while traditional schools took a long break.
Our circumstances have changed since then, and I could take a summer break if I wanted to, but I don’t want to. In fact, when I weighed the pros and cons, there wasn’t a contest at all. Year-round homeschooling fits our needs so much better. Here’s why.
- Maintenance of Routine
One my daughter’s educational challenges is a tightrope walk between her need for independence and her need for routine. Homeschooling year-round allows me to create a routine that stays in place while still giving us the flexibility to make the day creative and exploratory.
- Less Pressure
While my schedule is a little more fluid these days, I’m still a working mom who homeschools, and now I have a toddler in the mix, too. Schooling year-round means that we have less material to cover each day, taking some of the pressure off and making life a little more relaxed for everyone.
- No Regressions
My daughter continues to build on her progressive skills like reading fluency and math facts without any long breaks to cause slippage.
- Breaks When We Want (or NEED) Them
Schooling year-round doesn’t mean that we never take breaks. Instead, we get to take our breaks whenever they make the most sense. Often, this means taking a break when one of us really needs it. Maybe I’m completely overwhelmed with work and need to back off for a few days. Maybe she’s having an emotional week and can’t focus. When we’re schooling year-round, we don’t have to trudge through these moments. We can just hit the pause button for a few days.
It also means that we can take a vacation in off-peak times, and that means more affordable lodging and tickets and fewer crowds. Win-win!
- Learning Just Becomes a Way of Life
This is probably the biggest one for me. Without arbitrary markers around when school “begins” and “ends,” learning just becomes part of ebb and flow of life. I didn’t come to homeschooling for philosophical reasons. I came here for pragmatic ones (and, honestly, out of desperation), but I’m staying here by choice because of how it has transformed my daughter’s understanding of what learning means, and I believe that will serve her well for the rest of her days.
This isn’t to say that a traditional school schedule couldn’t be the better option for someone else, but year-round schooling fits into our family beautifully and allows us the space to learn deeply . . . and happily!
