Summer school is not just for students who need extra help with academics. For many homeschooled students, school is an every day affair – even in the summer.
Despite the fact that some may feel that homeschooling year-round is tantamount to torturing your children (or yourself), that is hardly the case. In fact, the benefits children and parents gain are numerous:
- Managing school and life is easier. We can do shorter school days all year – not just in the summer. Since we are spreading out our schoolwork over approximately 240 school days each year instead of 175 or 180, we don’t need to spend as much time every day on school. This makes homeschooling a much easier endeavor because it allows time for extra activities all year long and not just in the summer. Shorter school days also provide the opportunity for working parents to consider homeschooling as a viable option for their family.
- Use it or lose it. Year-round homeschoolers don’t experience “summer learning loss,” as the U.S. Department of Education calls it(1). In fact, we actually gain at least an extra month of progress every year since we don’t have to spend the first month of the school year reviewing concepts that have been forgotten over the summer break. These extra months add up over the years and are typically reflected in higher standardized test scores. Consistent daily teaching is especially important for children with special needs as it prevents the significant regression that may be experienced otherwise.
- Prepares children for the real world. Unlike students who are basically trained for 12+ years to think that summer time equals no learning, homeschooled students who are taught year-round don’t hold to this false expectation. Many of us who were taught in the usual September to June school cycle remember those first few years of working in the real world and feeling upset about not getting that nice, long break for summer vacation. It can be a painful reality check and some of us still aren’t “over it”. In the working world of adults, carefree summer months spent doing nothing are not reality. Long summer breaks do not prepare our children for real life in the adult world where two to four weeks of vacation a year are the norm (probably less than that if you are an entrepreneur or a mom).
- Helps to prevent the back-to-school blues. Maintaining a consistent school routine minimizes the amount of time that the parent and child spend dealing with negative attitudes towards “school”. Most parents know how difficult the first few weeks starting back to school can be. The freedom of no real demands upon their brain for the summer typically results in children who understandably fight the challenges and discipline that studying requires. However, when children are accustomed to learning every day we can avoid these schoolwork battles.
- Take a break as needed. The option to take a break when the student (or homeschool parent) really needs one is often the most beneficial reason to homeschool year-round. Whether due to illness, visiting relatives, off-season vacations or field trips, or just those unexpected life emergencies that demand our immediate attention, families can opt to take a day off here and there as needed without any guilt about getting behind. Since we haven’t already blocked out large portions of our calendar for breaks, we are afforded the flexibility of being able to take time off when necessary. A surprise “day off” from school is greatly appreciated by children and is often all your family needs to recharge mentally.
Homeschooling all year provides significant benefits that should be considered by homeschooling families. Why not make the most of the entire year and allow real life and student learning to dictate the need for breaks instead of a traditional school schedule that was developed for the agrarian society of the past? Don’t be held captive by the calendar any longer – freedom is yours all twelve months of the year.
(1)The Achiever, U.S. Department of Education, Vol. 5, No. 5, June 2006, p.5.
Mary Gusman is an educational consultant and an expert in the area of home-schooling children with autism. With over 8 years of personal experience home-schooling her own son with autism, she offers nationwide educational and home school consulting services to families with special needs children. Mary can be contacted via her website at http://www.ochomeschooling.com/specialneeds