When you are home schooled? do you get a summer break like public school kids?
middle child asked:
I never home schooled my children nor do I know anything about home schooling but I wondered if the kids got a break or not. And also to teach your children at home is their any special requirements for the parent? Like college degree etc.? Please don’t laugh I am truly interested and that’s why I am asking these questions.
Thanking anyone who answers in advance!
Too many good answers I can’t decide who answered the best. Thank you all for the information!
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I never home schooled my children nor do I know anything about home schooling but I wondered if the kids got a break or not. And also to teach your children at home is their any special requirements for the parent? Like college degree etc.? Please don’t laugh I am truly interested and that’s why I am asking these questions.
Thanking anyone who answers in advance!
Too many good answers I can’t decide who answered the best. Thank you all for the information!
March 31st, 2009 at 3:32 am
yes we get a summer break if we arn’t lazy and get behind. there’s no special requirments u just have to graduate.
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:02 am
Each state has its own requirements; some states require you to either go under an umbrella school or hold a teaching certificates, while in other states you just plain start up and go. This website can give you all the details - just go to “In My State” and find your state.
The schedule is completely up to you, as long as you meet the state minimums. In my state, we just have to go 180 days per year and at least provide the same general subject matter as the schools. We choose to go year round, simply because otherwise my son gets bored, but technically when we’re done with 180 days we can be done with school for the year if we want. We generally go well over 220, but again, that’s by choice.
Hope that helps!
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:57 pm
You get to decide the school schedule, unless you have perhaps signed your children up for some sort of online program that follows a specific schedule. If you want to take a break, you take a break. If you want to have a break one week each month instead of 2-3 months off in the summer, you can do that, too. Totally up to you!
Parental requirements depend on where you live. You’d have to check with your state’s education website to know for sure. (I used to recommend the HSLDA site, but I found recently that some of their information wasn’t complete and available options listed on the government site weren’t listed at HSLDA.) Some places have no requirements; others require a college degree or at least a high school diploma.
April 2nd, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Hi, I’ve homeschooled by boys officially now for 4 years. Yes, we take a summer vacation. But we usually only take a month. I’ve found that any longer and they start to forget too much. We also take another month off in January when we drive down to Arizona and enjoy the sun, ride dirt bikes, fish, etc. (We live in Montana and it gets very cold here in the winter)Mind you, we never really stop learning. We always learn something about the places we go. It’s just not a formal education like in a public school. We do a lot of hands on. The beauty of it is that we are not restricted in any way by their having to attend school. We can come and go as we like. ( My husband is self employed and doesn’t have much work in January either)
There are no special requirements for my state. But each state is different. I have completed 2 years of college and consider myself a smart person. I am capable of learning and know right from wrong. I am very capable of teaching my children. It’s a learning process for all of us. We have enjoyed our studies greatly and I feel we are a better, closer family because of homeschooling.
Anyway, that is one homeschoolers answer. I’m sure you’ll get many others.
April 5th, 2009 at 6:11 am
I’m sure it varies family by family. In my house we school year round and take breaks when it suits us. For example, we take off a month around the Christmas holidays, we bake, decorate and visit. Then we take a break in the spring, whenever that first gorgeous warm weather arrives. It isn’t written on the calendar, so if the weather is warm earlier one year than the next, that is when we stop.
In the summer we usually pick up the pace, because our scheduled activities outside the home slow down. In the month of September, when the weather around here is perfect and the crowds disappear, we take off and do field trips, beach days - you name it!
It only takes us about 3 hours to complete an advanced level of work, so even working through the summer leaves us tons of time to get outside and enjoy the sun. I love the flexibility of our homeschool life.
As for parental requirements, it varies by state. Public school teacher requirements in NJ require the highest GPA of any state (a 3.0, in Mississippi it is only a 2.0 ) and a minimum passing score on the PRAXIS exam. Private school teachers in NJ are not required to be certified OR to have passed the PRAXIS exam at all! Really, the standards are very low, in spite of the big talk you hear about teacher requirements. My GPA and my husband’s were both in the 3.7-3.9 range, so we meet that requirement with ease!
Hope this helps answer your question!
April 7th, 2009 at 2:18 am
I don’t believe many areas require any specific qualifications to HS your own children. Schedules are completely up to you. We usually go 12 months in slow gear. This year I am giving the kids the summer off for the first time. It is really up to you. Most of the homeschoolers I know have the years work done by May so they have a really long break, some just take time off at any time during the year that suits the family schedule. Homeschooling offers families immense flexibility with scheduling as well as personalized educational choices.
April 9th, 2009 at 6:27 am
It depends usually if you got your work done or if you want to get done with the next year early. I always got a break!
oh, And no requirements, Just need to be willing to work hard and be plenty organized ; ]
April 10th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
It’s a matter of preference. Since I just began homeschooling my first grade son in November, we are homeschooling straight through the summer. However, we just took a week off and will resume homeschooling on tomorrow.
Each state has different requirements, and the best place to look these up is the Home School Legal Defense Association. This site also has a lot of information for those who are considering homeschooling. The link is below:
I hope this helps.
April 13th, 2009 at 5:07 am
Yes…and my summer break could be even longer….I just had to get my work done!
April 14th, 2009 at 9:26 am
Every home school family has their own schedule, whatever works for them.
We have many families in our group who do schedule a regular 180 day school year, and take all the breaks conventional schools do, so they can adjust to the schedules of extended family, or friends.
We learn year round, and take breaks when we need them.
Our summer schedule is lighter, but that is because their are other activities, like getting ready for the winter, cutting wood, camps, hiking, and such; we take fall, December, and spring breaks.
We like to take a vacation later in the year, and take the month of December for holiday, and family get together’s.
Most states do not require any degrees, or specific level of education.
Each state does have it’s own requirements; you can look them up at the following web site;
Much research has been done, and the National Home Education Research Institute has done many studies on home schooling, children, and adults who graduated; if you are interested, and would like to learn more visit their web site at;
I have known parents who did not graduate high school, or had finished later in life that successfully home schooled their children, and they went on to college, they finished and are doing fine.
It is not the level of the parents education that determines success, but rather the level of their dedication.
My husband holds more than one degree, including a Masters in Education; myself I completed my formal education in Europe, and still we have come up short at times, because realistically, you never have all the bases covered; as home school parents we learn along side our children, and it has been a wonderful experience.
April 14th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Yes there are summer breaks for our children. Our boys were so far ahead this last home school year that they actually completed all of their mandatory assignments and extra-curricular activities by the end of March.
A special degree is not required to home school your kids, just the will and patience to do it. There are some rules however and the site is listed below.
April 16th, 2009 at 5:51 am
Most kids Get off when they are homeschooled But usually it is a shorter break!
April 17th, 2009 at 4:01 am
It’s all about what you say. If you want them to take a summer vacation, then go right ahead. If you want them to work through the weekend, GO RIGHT AHEAD. As long as your children don’t mutiny, you’re doing a fantastic job. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS ARE: You’re alive, and able to handle the stress that comes from this. Consider joining a Home School Club in your area, often they will have group field trips, and fun activities. The support is invaluable and fantastic. Good Luck!
April 19th, 2009 at 5:59 am
Its up to you
You can
Or you can make them work year round, BUT they do need time off.
That means you can pick hours or days to let them just do what they want.
It means working them all morning and giving them the afternoon and then maybe a little more at night or some hobbie unschooling.
Let’s get to the meat of it. Most jobs give you two weeks vacation and that’s it until you work there like 10 year then you get 3 and 4 after twenty.
The ONLY way you get a SUMMER VACTION after 24 is if you become a teacher.
April 21st, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Well… each summer I promise my daughter a week off, but with all the fun free activities and all her friends outside playing, we tend to slack off a bit. But that is okay, on rainy days and whatnot she works. You can accomplish far more in an hour homeschooling than in public school because it is one on one.
The only requirement for the parent is a willingness to learn. I often find myself researching things for my daughter because she asks them - or because I am needing to give myself a refresher course on something. OH, yea you need patience too. Work with your kids, and it is great!
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:30 pm
The break depends on the parent. At my home we “relax” but still try to learn over the summer. We don’t follow a curriculum over the summer but try to keep reading on things we are interested in, doing art, etc.
The requirements for parents are different from state to state, lists them all.
Try Googling homeschooling and you’ll find out a lot more too.
April 27th, 2009 at 5:07 am
i do! and yes my mom teaches me, and all you people that think i’m unsocial! listen up.i hang out with all my neighbor hood friends, all of my homeschooled friends and all of my friends in public school so shut up about your unsocial crap.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:13 am
of course you do!!! i wouldn’t survive if i didn’t have breaks… :S
provided the homeschool child follows a 1 lesson a day schedule for all subjects and not taking any offdays, he/she should have a 3 month holiday before the next school year.
and the beauty of homeschool is that you can choose to rush, take a break halfway and catch up, or take your time but have a shorter year end break
it’s Flexible…
by the way my mum only had ‘A’ levels, which is equivalent to an American highschool diploma. she brought up 6 children and homeschooled all of them. i’ve graduated already–my sister is currently studying law in Singapore’s most prestigious university and i know lots of my homeschooled friends who are studying in universities too
April 30th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
We don’t go by the school schedule. Educational activities are part of our daily lives, so we go year-round, but day to day is more relaxed. Several mornings per week for about an hour or so my kids do their “skills practice” work (math & phonics/language arts, and writing), and then they work on their units– we pick a topic about once a month or two and they explore it thoroughly by reading about it, surfing the web for info, watching educational videos, doing science experiments or craft projects, writing papers, going on relavent field trips, or creating “exhibits” or displays or something.
Then we have lunch and go out for the afternoon, there are a variety of activities the kids are into– library reading groups and chess club, volunteering, classes/sports, etc., or we just go to the kids museum we have a membership at or to the park to play.
We also all read every day, and talk about things a lot, explore our world around us.
I have a college degree, but you don’t need one. Requierments vary state-to-state, but I think the only real requirement needed is to be willing to learn with your children when you don’t know the answers yourself, and find and provide them with lots of enriching activities and materials (and if your budget is tight, like ours is, to be creative in finding these things).
May 1st, 2009 at 7:40 am
We don’t usually take the entire summer off from school because they “lose” too much (that’s why most textbooks repeat information at the beginning of the year).
We take a week off from “formal” schooling every 4-5 weeks throughout the year, which adds up to about 12 weeks annually, or the equivalent of the school system’s breaks. We’re still reading and learning and exploring, just not doing sit-down text- or workbook stuff.
The best way to get *accurate* information about homeschooling in your state is to ask others who homeschool in your state. Homeschooling is legal in all 50 states, but the requirements vary WIDELY from state to state. Every state has a state-wide homeschool organization that can help with this kind of information, but if you are really serious, you should get to know other homeschoolers in your area. You could also check your state laws at the HSLDA website ( ). Click on the US map on the right, then choose your state. The laws will be summarized in the “laws” area of your state page.
May 3rd, 2009 at 11:19 pm
I was homeschooled and im sure it varies with different programs but we didnt really have a set schechule like in school…besides the schechule of making sure you pay your money on time.Otherwise its up to the parent to make the school hrs and length …you can work as slow or fast as you want as long as you keep paying tution……there are online schools that do have breaks but those are the ones were the computer teaches your kids not you.
May 7th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Well, the kids are always learning, so I guess it depends on what you mean by a summer break. We are not near as structured during the summer, but we still take advantage of every learning moment we can. It is all dependant on your style of teaching and your children’s style of learning. When we first started looking into homeschooling, I talked to all the homeschooling parents I could, and I don’t think any of them gave me the same answers. So I just took in the advice I could use, that fell in line with what works best for my family, and developed my own style, which is still ever-changing
Where I live, there are no specific requirements for the parents to teach their children at home. However, if we were to hire someone to teach our children at home (instead of doing it ourselves) that person would have to meet certain requirements. It is different in every state though.