Spring Break

At the end of March, I realized we needed a scheduled Spring Break.  I was burned out, and the boys were feeling like school would never, ever, ever end.  I decided that we would take the first week of April off, guilt free.

I think we need to do this more often.

We school year round, mostly, and I've never scheduled breaks other than a week off at Thanksgiving, 2 or 3 weeks off at Christmas, and about 4 weeks off in the summer.  Sure, we take breaks other than those, but they're not scheduled and I'm often left feeling guilty for taking the time off.

This week has been so nice.  I've done some Spring cleaning, I slept in one day, and I've been researching next year's books, all without the nagging voice in my head that incessantly repeats "You should be teaching somebody something."  Not only that, I'm ready to get back to teaching on Monday.

Of course, there was also the dental appointment, the orthodontist appointment, the sprained ankle, the possibly fractured finger, and the head wound.  But somehow these were all easier to manage without that pesky voice in my head.

Because we were so over-booked for the first semester, we'll definitely need to school through the summer. Before we start on Monday, I'm going to sit down with a calendar and schedule some breaks in.  Right now I'm thinking the last week of May and the last week of June.

This isn't a new or original idea--I know many homeschoolers schedule their time off (a common model is 6 weeks on, 1 off year round).  I don't know why I've been such a slow learner.  Before we begin our next school year, I'm definitely going to sit down with a calendar and schedule in some hard breaks to save my sanity.