One of the things I love most about homeschooling (or as I think of it, simply raising my kids) is that I am not bound to the schedule of any “outside”, “institutional” facility. There is a certain amount of being mentally locked to a calendar that cannot be avoided. For instance, we will always take breaks for the more formal book learning in much of the summer.
That being said, around these parts of the country schools universally have the kids back on the cellblocks in the classrooms by the middle of August. To this I draw deeply from my Jersey roots and say, “Yeah…. No.”
Here’s the history of that for some reason. When I first moved to Texas I, my father-in-law – God rest his soul – explained to me that, many years ago, schools would begin in mid-August in order to allow the school kids a sufficient break by early October. Why did they need that break in October? To help bring in the cotton harvest, or course. That certainly explains a lot. There would have to be a huge reason why you’d subject children to being in (at the time) un-air-conditioned classrooms in the hottest month of the year.
Even though no children are required to bring in family cotton harvests these days (though it might actually do them so good), schools still start in mid-August. “Just the way it’s always been,” I guess.
My point in all of this is that my children and I are still enjoying our last week of downtime. I’ll start when I’m good and ready and right now that’s looking like next week. That is, next week for the “formal learning” as I mentioned above. That’s the kind with the books and all…
True learning never stops.
Our Lady, Queen of Families, pray for us!
Harvey Millican's Blog: Musings of a Trad Dad 