Homeschooling Year Round: The Pros and Cons

Do you homeschool year-round? We have come to love our year-round homeschooling routine here at The Waldock Way. There are lots of advantages to following a year-round homeschool schedule!

For example, we get to keep our routine throughout the year and develop a culture of lifelong learning for our whole family. But there are some disadvantages to homeschooling year-round too. Keep reading to check out the pros and cons of homeschooling all year long.

Then, discover my favorite tips for making it work when you’re ready to adopt a year-round homeschool routine. Plus, weird ways to homeschool that really work throughout the year!

How To Homeschool Year Round

Homeschooling year-round is much easier than it sounds. Instead of taking the entire summer off, you just keep going. One myth about homeschooling year-round is that there are no breaks. 

Fortunately, homeschooling year-round doesn’t mean you don’t take a break. In fact, it often means you get to take a lot more breaks. You can take lots of shorter breaks making time for travel. It’s also a great way to get a break when you’re feeling overwhelmed or burned out. 

If you’re homeschooling year-round, you can slow down and take advantage of the natural rhythm of the year. This type of homeschool schedule makes it easy to slow down during the holidays and take time off when the weather is perfect for spending a day at the beach. There are lots of advantages to following an atypical school schedule.

Want to learn more about homeschooling year-round and how to make it happen? Check out the pros and cons below. Plus, get tips on how we make it work in our homeschool each year.

Homeschooling Year Round: The Pros 

There are all kinds of benefits to following a year-round homeschool schedule! Discover some of our favorite advantages to homeschooling all year below.

No Summer Learning Loss

Did you know most children lose 2.5 months of learning during the summer? There are ways to help decrease the amount of learning your kids won’t retain over the summer. Reading and engaging in educational activities over the summer will certainly help.

But what if you could avoid the summer learning loss altogether? If you’re a year-round homeschooler, you’ll avoid learning loss during extended breaks. 

Homeschooling during the summer months can still be lots of fun too! Get tips on how to spend more time outside, play more games, homeschool in the pool, and more with Our Relaxed Summer Homeschool Plans. 

Keep the Routine

Kids thrive on consistency and routine. During the school year, we all have a routine we follow. But what about the summer months? 

If you’re not homeschooling through the summer, you might find yourself needing to establish a new routine and that can be stressful for everyone! Homeschooling year-round means your family gets to keep the routine they’re accustomed to all year long. 

Lots of Breaks

One myth about homeschooling year-round is that there are no breaks. That’s just not true! In fact, since we started homeschooling all year, we get to take more breaks than we did when we follow a typical homeschool schedule. 

Now we can take breaks when it makes sense for our family. Particularly warm week in early spring? We can take the week off and spend time outdoors enjoying the sunshine. 

Need a break to recover from the busy Christmas season? We can slow down for the entire month of January if we need some time to recover. It’s become an annual tradition to take this time to play games and read books, slowly easing back into a routine.

Natural Rhythm

Speaking of slowly easing back into a routine, that’s another benefit to homeschooling year-round. We can follow the natural rhythm of the year. There’s no rush to finish the school year beginning in February or frantically counting the days until summer break.

Instead, breaks are more frequent and we can slow down or pick up the pace as needed throughout the homeschool year. This has led to a lot less stress for everyone and more time to enjoy what we’re learning.

Read more about how we Get Back to Homeschooling After the Holidays to discover how we slow it down and ease back into our regular routine during the busiest season of the year. 

Culture of Learning

One of our family goals is to create a culture of lifelong learning. We want Emily to understand that learning isn’t something that only happens during school hours. Learning is a lifelong pursuit for all of us!

A pro in the homeschooling year-round column is that we can develop a culture of learning together throughout the year, in every season, by engaging in learning together at our desired pace.

Homeschooling Year Round: The Cons

Homeschooling year-round has many advantages, but there are some cons you’ll need to consider. Here are a few of the potential challenges you’ll face if you decide to homeschool using a year-round schedule.

There May Be Added Costs

Homeschooling year-round might end up being a bit more expensive than following a traditional schedule. If you’re schooling year-round, you might find that you’re in need of supplies during the off-season. That means you won’t always be able to take advantage of back-to-school supply sales to get what you need.

When you’re homeschooling year-round, you automatically move to the next level in math and language arts when your students are ready. Sometimes this means needing to purchase more than one textbook or workbook in a year. 

This might be stressful for some families who need to stick to a certain budget. Fortunately, there are lots of ways you can homeschool without a curriculum. Check out my article How To Homeschool Without a Curriculum for tips on how to make it happen. 

Scheduling Conflicts

There might be some small scheduling conflicts you’ll need to address when you homeschool year-round. For example, homeschool friends that don’t follow a year-round schedule will be “out of school.” It might get a bit tougher to find “homeschool days” at local zoos and museums during the summer months too.

No Summer Break for Mom

When you’re homeschooling year-round, there’s no chance for mom to check out and take a long break from homeschooling. You’ll always be thinking about or planning the next homeschool lesson, field trip, or activity.

Homeschooling Year-Round Tips

So how do we make homeschooling year-round work for us? I’m so glad you asked! There are lots of tips and tricks we’ve adopted to make this schedule work best for us.

Discover how you can make homeschooling year-round a reality for your family with some of these tips:

Are you planning to adopt a year-round homeschool schedule this year? Do you already homeschool year-round? What are some of the advantages and tips you’ve discovered over the years?