Home School Curriculum Experts

To break or not to break? That is the question, for our family at least…at this time of year, at Christmas, in the spring, and in the summer (well, okay, NOT the summer). As I have mentioned before, one of the things I like about homeschooling is the freedom not to be tied to the public school schedule. That being said, we still find ourselves somewhat in the position of being tied to the public school schedule. Okay, I suppose we could just decide that we are not going to take a fall break, at least not this week, and we will save the time for when other kids are back in school and Mom needs it more (say, an extra week before Christmas to get shopping and baking done). Having taken that bold stance however, I am left to deal with the fallout. From my own kids, who “have to do school when no one else in the whole WORLD has to do school.” From the 15 other kids in the neighborhood who are on fall break, and who start knocking on our door bright and early to get mine to come out and play; and from the other public school kids at church, sports teams, etc. who want my kids to “PLEASE come spend the night since it is fall break week!”

When this whole thing started a few years ago, I was brave, I was determined…I was NOT going to let anyone else decide my breaks for me. I have now been worn down over the years, tired of swimming upstream holding up my independence banner while my kids cry and shoot me mournful looks over the tops of their math books. My sister, who is a homeschooler living in North Carolina, has it easy. Her neighbors’ kids “track out” periodically…whatever that term means, it boils down to the fact that if there are 15 kids in the neighborhood, then there are fifteen different weeks of fall break and no one is out at the same time (okay, maybe not fifteen). She doesn’t have to stand up and be Joan of Arc.

Co-ops and tutorials add another dimension to this. Sure, we could choose a different fall break than our co-op dictates. But then on our fall break, my kids are doing co-op homework, which does not go over well after having already missed the fall break that everyone else in the above-mentioned world took. I have heard of these dedicated (crazy?) people who school year round, maybe taking every Friday off, or maybe not doing as much work in a day. Not for me. As I stated above, whether or not to take a summer break is NOT in question. If I am to homeschool my kids in our own home, rather than remotely from a psychiatric ward, Momma must have her summer break. It’s not that I don’t agree with those who say that kids lose skills during the summer and have to spend the first few weeks of the school year in review – I do. But I am talking about basic survival and sanity here. I have a friend who started school a month late this year because of a move into a new house, and another who will take off two months for a new baby being born mid-year. How awesome is it that they have that flexibility? I am happy for them. For me, I would rather call out spelling words in between contractions than to have to school into June. Summer break? That’s a hill to die on. Fall break…not so much. And so, we are breaking.