It's July 1st which means today is our first day of the new school year!
Annabeth is in 8th grade and Owen is in 4th grade.
Although I've literally been there for every single moment of their school years, I cannot believe we are already here! What a joy it is to do school together.
We have been going back to school in July since Annabeth's Kindergarten year. That year we began July 20 and have slowly pushed it up until consistently starting the first week of July.
WHY? people ask.
We begin our school year on July 1st because...
- In Indiana, the legal school year runs July 1 - June 30 meaning any days in between can be school days. While not legally defined, our family chooses to run the required number of days of our local school district.
- By beginning in July, even though we typically travel some during this month, we set up our school year strong. It's not unusual to have at least 12-15 school days completed before the month is out. This gives us much more flexibility come fall when the weather is cooler and nicer. I found over the years, that most of our fall school weeks end up being 4 day weeks due to visiting family and friends, scout camp, and some church oppotunitieis. By begining our school year early and stacking our days, I don't feel stressed or worried about making many school weeks shorter in the fall.
- I have always had the goal of ending our school year before we head to Kentucky for Derby (the 1st Saturday in May) By the time July rolls around, we've been out of school for two months. While the kids do some math and reading over our summer there is still a less formal set-up around here. I have found that by the end of the two months, they are squabbling more, having a harder time finding things to occupy their time, and that they are generally ready to get back into the swing of school.
- July is very hot here. I found early on that we would run errands or meet up at the park with friends in the morning and were always home by noon any way. In those early, play date, summers I would simply shift school to the afternoon when we were inside during the heat of the day anyway.
We do not begin our school year on July 1st because...
- We are showing off or trying to get ahead of anyone else. Often new homeschoolers will say to me, "Wow! I wish I could get organized that early." Good news! You don't have to! This is our schedule that works perfectly for our family - yours may look different.
- I want to cut short my kids' summers. They have a full two months off from school and those two months are filled with long lazy days, movie marathons, VBS, dance camps, playdates, pool days, etc. Their summers look like every other kids. When July does roll around, we still take time off from bookwork for dance nationals and scout camp. They have plenty of flexibility to not be tasked with bookwork on top of those busy weeks.
We began our homeschooling journey with Annabeth's Preschool-for-2s year and thus we are in our 12th year of schooling at home. I am forever thankful that Mark agreed to this wild ride and for all of the work he has done to make it possible for me to be home all of these years. I am thankful for both PaperPie and Magical Vacation Planner and their goodness in helping their employees work from home. I have loved building businesses while my kids have been at the same table setting themselves up for success in adulthood.
Four years ago I shared our homeschool goals in a post and they remain the same today:
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