Homeschooling and Holidays

When do you take holidays as a homeschooling family? Or do you continue on every week because learning happens all the time? Whatever you do, homeschooling offers the freedom to choose what works for you and your family.

For our family of five, we do take ‘breaks’ over the traditional school holidays. Mostly because those are my holidays so it just makes sense to do it that way. During our holidays, the kids aren't doing any ‘bookwork’. They continue to read lots, bake and play online with their friends. We may be going places or sometimes we just chill at home if that’s what we need.

What I believe is important, is to have a break in routine and mix things up for a while.  Homeschooling is an all-the-time form of education. We can still have different seasons within it which helps make it sustainable for everyone.

In our upcoming trip overseas, we will be doing lots of sightseeing. I won’t be documenting everything other than photos though maybe later I’ll make a list of things they did. I need a break too and to just enjoy experiences without thinking about documenting learning. It doesn’t worry me that the kids will have a break from their bookwork. I know that their learning experiences will be rich in other ways so we will lean into it.

You have the flexibility to take breaks or holidays as and when your family wants or needs to. You don’t need to wait until a certain time like traditional school holidays. That’s just what suits us but we also mix things up and take time when we need to. 

Tuning in to what they need and what you need helps avoid burnout. Taking breaks when needed also helps the kids learn to identify when they need a break which is a life skill. Homeschooling is playing the long game so find the rhythm that suits your family and lean into it.