Ten Reasons Why I Love Homeschooling Year Round

1. Subjects like language arts and math need frequent practice and repetition. It can be challenging to refresh or relearn those subjects after taking 3 months off. Just doing a little bit in these subjects, each day, can really help a lot.

2. The summer is very hot here, in NC. My children can spend a couple of hours a day inside, or we can take our studies outside. They have more time to spend outside, on lovely spring and fall days.

3. It is not a struggle to get in 180 days of school a year. We start early in the summer with the next grade level, to allow ample time for field trips, sick days, snow days, Christmas break, and time off during any season.

4. Life's events such as morning sickness and birth do not always occur during the summer months.

5. Summer is a terrific time to try a new curricula or a learning approach without stress. If you don't care for that particular curricula, there is plenty of time to switch to another.

6. The beach and the aquarium are some amazing learning field trips.

7. Schooling over the summer leaves plenty of time to review material, if a child is falling behind in a particular realm.

8. Year round home education emphasizes the idea that education is a normal and natural part of life.

9. We can take advantage of vacations in off seasons, when the prices are most affordable.

10. Year round homeschooling enables me to teach my children four days a week, rather than the normal five days. We can use that extra day a week to visit relatives, go to the library, or visit at the nursing home.

A Few Ideas about Homeschooling Year Round
*In no way does your summer homeschooling have to reflect how you homeschool the rest of the year! Trying something new really makes it fun. Perhaps you and your little ones can learn a new language or take an art course together, at home.

*Complete a Lapbook.

* Try homeschooling lite- Do reading and math in the morning, and in the afternoons, enjoy reading a favorite chapter book to your little ones.

* Pick one subject to dive into, and complete over the summer. This will take some of the course load off you during the school year.

* Don't underestimate the value of hands on projects such as  growing a garden.

* Try a fun science project such as dissecting an owl pellet, growing a praying mantis, or watching all of the cycles of a butterfly. These are lessons your children will never forget. I recommend and Insect LoreHomeScienceTools for obtaining kits.

Do you homeschool year round? If so, what have you found to be the advantages over taking the summer off?