We homeschool year-round, but we don’t use curriculum during that entire time. We schedule plenty of breaks, take off when it fits our schedule, and purposefully do not follow a public school timeline.
Our school year typically begins at the end of July or beginning of August. We plan to school for 6 weeks and then take a week off. (This doesn’t always work out, but it’s the ideal Sabbath method for homeschooling.) We pause our regular Charlotte Mason curriculum just before Thanksgiving and do not begin again until the early weeks of January. Sometimes, we read a specific Christmas or Advent book during December, and other times, we don’t (this past year, we sold our house, traveled half-way across the country for 3 weeks, and moved into our new home during this “break.”)
Our curriculum, as most do, follows a 36-week schedule, which means we wrap things up in the beginning of June. Add in a bit of real life, and that date becomes a bit more flexible.
During our “summer” break, we usually have a few weeks truly off of school or any learning activities. But, my kiddos are so busy and love to do the crafty, science-y things we don’t always have time for during the regular school year. So, we do “Summer Camp.” This allows us to have a deep-dive into a fun theme for a week or two. We read, watch shows or videos, do crafts, STEM, or just simply learn about the specific topic. Think of it as a bit of child-led learning. It’s fun, simple and gives us a neat way to connect over the break. (And, so many times, this is what they talk about as their favorite part of school!)
Check out the DIY Summer Camp At Home themes from over the years:
Pirate Camp (2016)
Camping Adventure (2016)
Veggie Tales Camp (2017)
Dr. Seuss Camp (2017)
Wild West Camp (2018)
Outer Space Camp (2018)
For the summer of 2019, we did Pokemon and Disney themes and were not blogged.
Native American Camp (2020)