A few years back, a friend and I came up with a non-traditional year-round (6 quarters) school schedule that seems to work wonders for beating homeschool burnout for both mom/student. Since the invention of the schedule, many have adopted it for their own homeschool and agree that it is a wonderful new way to do school.

The reason we thought to invent the 6 weeks on/2 weeks off school schedule is because of the structured curriculum that most homeschool families choose to use (ABeka, Alpha Omega, Horizon, Saxon, etc). These wonderful curriculum books teach new concepts on a six week bases before moving on to a new concept. It can be overwhelming for the student to remember more than one concept at a time without ample time to commit it to memory. However, this schedule allows the student to digest what has been taught and prepare his mind to learn the next step without a rush. This breaks the stronghold that most public schools encounter. In fact, this type of learning break(s) also allows YOU, the teacher, to evaluate your teaching, rest, and prepare before moving on to the next concept. As you know, burnout is one of the most common reasons for mothers to give up homeschooling. Therefore, once you try this non-traditional year-round school schedule , I am sure that you will agree that it is a wonderful thing.

I thought that since many of us are beginning to plan the next school year a few months in advance, I would post the 2009/2010 non-traditional year-round school schedule here. Feel free to use this model for your own school and/or feel free to share your own schedule with me. Just for your information, this schedule gives 180 days of Instruction (required by the state of California) with frequent breaks between concept building and traditional holidays. Here are the dates for next year:

Start Date: July 6 - August 14 (30 days of instruction)
Break (Off Track): August 16 - August 30

Start Date (2nd Quarter): August 31 - October 25 (30 days of instruction)
Break (Off Track): October 26 - November 22

Start Date (3rd Quarter): October 26 - November 22 (20 days of instruction)
Holiday Break: November 23 - November 28

Start Date (continued 3rd quarter): November 30 - December 21 (15 days of instruction)
Break (Off Track) and Holiday Break: December 21 - January 3

Start Date (4th Quarter): January 4 - February 14 (30 days of instruction)
Break (Off Track): February 14 - February 26

Start Date (5th Quarter): March 1 - April 9 (30 days of instruction)
Break (Off Track): April 12 - April 24

Ending Quarter: April 26 - May 28 (25 days of instruction)