What is year round schooling? How does it work? 

We did year round school for Kindergarten through 8th grade and then switched to traditional summer breaks starting in 9th grade. 

Pros

- Can start as soon as kids are ready. For us that was January.

- No post-summer restart/re-learn

- Vacation schedules are nice, good off season travel deals. Travel in October or January to various places around the world to avoid crowds. 

- Weather alignment — stay inside when it’s too hot. June and July in Texas are miserable. 

- Prevents burnout because of frequent breaks of 1-2 weeks can even do Fridays off. Only need 36 weeks for standard school year, so 13 sets of 3+1 still gives you 3 extra weeks of vacation. Or 45 weeks of 4 days, plus 7 full weeks off.

Cons

- Review at start of curriculum is not needed, manual override required 

- Can be harder to make demarcation points for grade levels. Finish math 5 weeks early—start new math? Wait 5 weeks?

- With friends on traditional schedules the kids may feel that their free times don’t overlap

- Harder to coordinate outside activities. As it’s more important to show up, it’s harder to miss for vacation or breaks

The last 2 cons drove the change for us. We discuss the process of how we changed from year round to traditional schedule.

Have questions? Email us!