Give Me A Break!
Whether you school year round, or follow a traditional school calendar, it’s important to take breaks in your homeschooling. Even in the traditional school week (whatever that is for you), it’s important to let your child’s mind take a rest when studying. Have a snack. Go for a quick walk. Some families will take an hour off to have physical education time, art, watch a quick movie. Any of these are ok. No one wants to sit for hours at a time on the same task, especially a child. Once that break is over – get back on task and you’ll both be refreshed and ready to go. 
Sometimes during your school year, a longer break is called for. Many homeschoolers opt to use a non-traditional calendar to allow for these breaks. They may school four days a week or take their breaks in the Spring or Fall. As one of our Facebook users pointed out, that’s the great thing about Calvert–you get a full calendar year to finish your curriculum, so you can have school on your own schedule.
Recently, we asked many of our Facebook followers their thoughts on year round homeschooling and we were treated to a variety of answers:
Some families just took time off as they needed it.
Others have several half-days during the week.
Some follow a traditional calendar, but still tutor during the Summer so that fewer skills are lost.
It is important to remember that there is no right or wrong way to homeschool – you should always do what works best for your family. What works for you, may not work for your friend. One of the beauties of homeschooling is being allowed to be flexible and be creative.
Continue the conversation. What works best for your family? What do you do for the small breaks? How do you schedule longer breaks into your yearly calendar?