I cannot believe how quickly Thanksgiving is going to be here? I think the holiday’s take us Floridians by surprise more often than most, because we don’t have the changing of the seasons or the dropping temperatures that most of you experience. This past Saturday was Halloween and we saw family after family stripping off their carefully put together outfits because the humidity and heat made it impossible to stay comfortable.
As we quickly approach the holiday season I am reminded of one of my very favorite aspects of homeschooling...., the flexibility it allows each family. Because Florida is so hot during the summer our family will often stay in the nice cold air conditioning and continue schooling, while the heat index outside climbs into the triple digits. Our “summer” vacation is actually taken over the Christmas holidays. Each year we take from Thanksgiving through New years off.
I love how this fits our family perfectly. Being that our family comes from a christian worldview, we are able to dig deeper into enjoying the meaning and significance of each date. We love to read historical accounts from our bible, decorate, bake and make crafts. Christmas carols blare while little hands create. By the time January rolls around my scrapbook will be bursting at the seams, filled with our forever memories.
However, there used to be one downfall to our holiday schedule. Once the Christmas tree was put away, the decorations were packed, I was left with children who had gotten rusty on their basic academic skills. Five weeks off will do that to the most academic of children. I can't count the number of times January became our "catch up" month.
However, all that changed back in "2007" when we found Time4Learning. After ten years of homeschooling we found a program that allowed my children to stay in tune and on top of their academics, without feeling like school was interrupting our holiday schedule.
Doing school is no big deal. We do tone it down, but we don’t turn it off completely. The boys get up, login, do their work, and logout. It keeps them sharp, without taking away large chunks of time. They only do ONE lesson in math, language arts and language arts extensions and they’re done for the day. Now when January rolls around we’re ready to ROLL! The only thing we have to pick up after a long break is our history, science and outside activities.
I know that all families are different. How about you? Do you take the holidays off or do you school right through?
As we quickly approach the holiday season I am reminded of one of my very favorite aspects of homeschooling...., the flexibility it allows each family. Because Florida is so hot during the summer our family will often stay in the nice cold air conditioning and continue schooling, while the heat index outside climbs into the triple digits. Our “summer” vacation is actually taken over the Christmas holidays. Each year we take from Thanksgiving through New years off.
I love how this fits our family perfectly. Being that our family comes from a christian worldview, we are able to dig deeper into enjoying the meaning and significance of each date. We love to read historical accounts from our bible, decorate, bake and make crafts. Christmas carols blare while little hands create. By the time January rolls around my scrapbook will be bursting at the seams, filled with our forever memories.
However, there used to be one downfall to our holiday schedule. Once the Christmas tree was put away, the decorations were packed, I was left with children who had gotten rusty on their basic academic skills. Five weeks off will do that to the most academic of children. I can't count the number of times January became our "catch up" month.
However, all that changed back in "2007" when we found Time4Learning. After ten years of homeschooling we found a program that allowed my children to stay in tune and on top of their academics, without feeling like school was interrupting our holiday schedule.
Doing school is no big deal. We do tone it down, but we don’t turn it off completely. The boys get up, login, do their work, and logout. It keeps them sharp, without taking away large chunks of time. They only do ONE lesson in math, language arts and language arts extensions and they’re done for the day. Now when January rolls around we’re ready to ROLL! The only thing we have to pick up after a long break is our history, science and outside activities.
I know that all families are different. How about you? Do you take the holidays off or do you school right through?
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I find that in education and knowledge and learning...you are never "taking off" you are simply learning via different methods and experiences.
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