As we are all planning and preparing for the upcoming school year, I thought I would share with you something that I have done over the past 28 years of Charlotte Mason homeschooling. At first I thought many people did what I had been doing but over the past few years as I have talked with moms and dads, it has come to my attention that this is not the case. As I share this practice with others, some have found it freeing and have done it also with great success. What is it? Well, we do 2 semesters in our homeschool and not 3 12-week terms like they do in England.
When we began homeschooling, I didn’t quite understand how terms went and jumped right in scheduling semesters like the schools around us. This worked just fine for our family. It fit with the cultural rhythms around us. If I looked at other CM curricula to see what books they were recommending, it was simple to see how I would break up our year by observing their term one and halfway through term two. So I viewed things in two stretches instead of three. I prepared exams twice a year instead of three times per year and we did two Plutarch’s Lives and two Shakespeare plays. Years later, when my children began college, our schedule was in sync with theirs.
School planning has never been daunting but a joy as I plan things out in general for the year in August, knowing that I’ll have a nice break in December to plan the 2nd semester and finish the year. There is something sustainable about this and planning never overwhelms me.
When we began our Truth, Beauty, Goodness Community, we decided that we would meet in two blocks of time: September through November and January through April. This left plenty of time to arrange our homeschools first, gave us a nice break over the holidays, and made the students eager to return to our meetings. Did I mention we are entering our 18th year?
How is the academic year arranged in England? Basically, they run three terms from September through July. Halfway through each term there is a week-long, half-term vacation. Summer holiday is around six weeks long. This is how Charlotte Mason ran the Parents’ Union Schools.
I did try terms a few times over the years. In TBG, we tried it once and found it to be too much. It almost felt like we were rushing through the books as we worked through the holidays. We realized that we preferred the long break over the winter in order to spend more time observing Advent and Christmas and enjoying family and friends. And one year in my homeschool I tried it. One child needed surgery and a loved one passed away, as well as normal issues that arose and try as I might, I felt that year was spent always behind and never caught up. Perhaps if we took a week-long, half-term vacation we would feel differently, but that is not how the families’ work schedules and patterns are set up.
Perhaps it would be helpful to think about the historical practices of CM and how we should apply them today. For instance, Charlotte scheduled school for six days of the week yet I know of only one family who practices this.What are some of the reasons for a six-day school week? That the school days are short, that afternoons are free, that there is a day of rest (Sunday), that this lifestyle of learning continues and probably more. Can I do all this if I only do a five-day school week? Yes.
So do I believe you can run a Charlotte Mason homeschool if you do semesters and not terms? Absolutely. I’ve been doing it for 25 years! But I think the way to decide is to go back to Mason’s 20 principles. Can one do semesters yet adhere to the 20 principles? This quote from Recipe versus Thought by Essex Cholmondeley gives us some direction:
“May we do it?” cannot be decided by imagining or remembering what will probably follow if we do; this is merely ‘looking after.” It is the underlying principle, brought to mind and carefully held in view —“looking before” —which should give the final word of permission. Miss Mason left no recipes behind her. She believed in thinking persons, therefore she bequeathed certain principles based upon truth itself. Every parent and teacher is free to apply these principles in ever fresh practice according as new needs and difficulties arise.
So if you do terms and they are working for you, that’s wonderful! Keep at it. There are so many great resources today that help tremendously with this (scheduling, exams, etc.). However, I also think that if two semesters fits your family’s needs and rhythms, then you can effectively give your child a delightful CM education this way, too. I have listed my reasons and benefits above. But that is merely “looking after”. I believe that while utilizing semesters, I can hold fast to Mason’s principles – “looking before”. I think we have the freedom to make this work for our families and the lives we live in the U.S. (mostly!) in the 21st century. Use common sense to determine if semesters would be a good solution for you to be able to sustain and thrive with this living education for few decades or more. It’s worked well for us.
Teaching from peace,
Nancy
P.S. – Dr. John Thorley cleared up for me a few questions about how schools were run in Mason’s time. He said, “The three-term year has been the norm in the UK for ever, as far as I know, partly of course determined by Christmas and Easter, and the long summer holiday at least in rural areas made necessary by the fact that children were often required to help with harvest. As for the 6-day school week, that has not been the normal pattern in state schools. Many independent schools (especially boarding schools) have used and still use a six-day week, or rather a five-and-a-half day week, with school on Saturday mornings – and in fact a state grammar school where I taught did use that pattern, with Wednesday afternoons a ‘games afternoon’, but that is quite rare for a state school. But I don’t think CM was innovative in either of these.”
Thank you for this, Nancy! I have often felt frustrated that we can never complete three 12-week terms, and have found ourselves just getting through two lately, with wiggle room for other things. Any suggestions on how to take 36-week curriculum and make it work for 30 or 32 weeks??
Hi, Janelle!
You could do like Charlotte did and have school on Saturdays. Even at a half-day, you could make it work for a 30 or 32 week school year. I wouldn’t suggest going longer on week days. It might also help to structure your weeks around your family’s schedule more thus perhaps doing a month or so in the summer and taking a longer break at the holidays or whenever is your busiest time. I’m guessing you have already considered these ideas!
Warmly,
Nancy
I have always appreciated your wisdom, Nancy. I was so happy to see this post! A few of us who have been homeschooling with Mason’s philosophy for several years have been discussing over the last several months that moving to semesters this next year may be the way to go. We had realized the ease that would bring for the reasons you discuss and that it would probably make our year more successful, too. Brittney told me recently that she learned you have always done semesters and I was pleased to hear that. I appreciate your post for its cultural and historical lessons and for the relief I think it will give to many moms, hopefully earlier in their journey than it took me to get there. I am looking forward to this year more because of the change I strongly believe semesters will bring. I think it will go more smoothly and it really does make more sense with where and when we live. With the year I have coming expecting our sixth child in early October and children in school from ages 7-16, I need all the help I can get this year! Thank you for your investment in our community, Nancy, and for enabling us to glean from your valuable years of experience and research. I am grateful!
A friend pointed out an old PNEU programme that explicitly stated that their term could be either 10 weeks if 6 days or 12 weeks of 5 days. Either way: 60 x 3 = 180 or 90 x 2 = 180. I have embraced the variety three terms offer. It’s planning breaks or no breaks to ensure continued motivation that is my challenge. 🙂
Dear Lisa,
Wonderful! Thank you for sharing that. Yes, the continued motivation on our part is key!
Warmly,
Nancy
Thank you for this article! I had always assumed that all of the “real” CM educators used 3 terms as CM did. This article gives me much to ponder. I have always done three terms, but I also have always felt rushed and find it hard to teach from a position of peace that you often speak of. I don’t know if this is the answer, but it is something to consider. Just the thought of only doing exams twice, and only two plutarch’s lives and two Shakepeare plays takes a load off my shoulders! In my efforts to be purely CM and do it “just right,” I fear I neglect thinking outside the box, and border on turning this beautiful method into a system. Just for clarification, how many weeks do you consider to be a semester….15, 16, 18??? Thank you.
Hi, Sarah!
We consider approximately 16 weeks to be a semester. (Minnesota requires 165 school days.)
Warmly,
Nancy
Just curious, but are the semesters in your area 16 weeks? When I taught school here in Indiana, we reported grades every quarter or 9 weeks and a semester was 18 weeks. We are required 180 days so that’s two 18 week semesters, or like in England three 12 week terms, all come to 180 days. I know that’s not the point of the article but I’m glad someone asked because I was trying to figure out how you’d stretch artist and composer study 18 weeks. I could totally see how it would make Plutarch and Shakespeare easier as well as other subjects though. I’m still trying to figure out how to make science work so we get all the topics covered in upper forms but I appreciate this article because it gives me permission to do what works best for us. Thank you!
Hello, Rachel!
I consider a semester approximately 16 weeks. I don’t stretch artist and composer studies out over that entire time. I do one artist and one composer 1st semester and one artist and one composer 2nd semester, usually every other week. So, one week is a picture study and the next is composer study, but of course it’s all actually going on all the time! Now, quite often by doing it this way, my brain has enough margin to do special holiday time artist and composer studies – Advent and Easter.
I hope that helps!
Warmly,
Nancy
Thank you. It gives me things to think about.
Hi Nancy! When I hear how others work out the details, it sparks ideas in my own mind. I never considered semesters. Do you do one composer and artist per semester, using more of their works? I’m wondering if we would feel ready to switch it up before the end of a semester? Do you stretch out Shakespeare and Plutarch over the whole term or just do one at a time? I know we couldn’t go more than a week between doing one of those lessons, and we often do just a little Shakespeare several times per week.
This year we are shifting from scheduling in weeks/terms to days/terms, doing the next thing. I’m hoping it will allow for more flexibility for when we need to take a random day off without feeling like we have to squish the rest of the work into the remaining days of that week.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi, Jenny!
We do one artist and one composer per semester, but because these are assigned in TBG, we sit with each piece or painting for 2 weeks, so to speak. TBG meets every other week for 6 meetings (12 weeks). The same is true for Shakespeare and Plutarch. We do one each semester. For instance, read Act 1 is our first assignment. We might read 2 scenes one week and 2 scenes the next week. It just depends. As I stated in the post, this leaves time for other, special artist and composer studies over the holidays if we wish. Yes, feeling squished is not a good thing and I think this helps us avoid that.
Warmly,
Nancy
That’s so interesting to see how you walk it out! I didn’t know that TBG met 6 times. It all sounds like a good balance! Thanks for sharing.
I LOVE this Nancy. Another sweet freedom of embracing the spirit and not the letter of CM! So encouraging.
Semester, trimester, quarter… They are all terms. ?
Pardon the correction.
Of course you are correct. I hope that by my stating “terms”, I meant a time period of 12 weeks as they do in England.
Warmly,
Nancy
I LOVE this, Nancy. I’ve done whatever works for THAT specific year for our family. I often do a light “Christmas term” in December/January, as we travel a lot with a large extended family. Thanks again for pointing us back to the principles, as it’s VERY easy to stray to systems (usually someone else’s) in this SM-saturated CM world. Keep on, keeping on…so thankful for your mission.
I agree, Amy! One of the reasons we homeschool is so that we CAN be flexible with our schedules and this allows for that.
One reason the term situation works well in England is because they get those nice breaks between terms–a week or two, usually–as well as (from my observation with family), often a half-term break as well. But they also go into July, and have a much shorter summer break. I do think it’s a cultural preference as much as anything else.
I have always preferred the semester approach as well, although I’ve fiddled with terms. Right now I’m taking more of a year-round approach, with longer scheduled breaks, but not really dividing our subjects into terms or semesters,, except for Shakespeare and Plutarch (which I do divide into 2 semesters, since I teach them in co-op). For some reason right now, what works for me is simply doing our planned books, which I choose in the summertime, based on the (simple) daily system/schedule I created, and when we finish a book, I just start a new one in that subject area! Last week I started writing a post about my minimalistic approach to Mason–which has become even more vital with the Real Life struggles of the past year, and now I have a health issue that needs attention for a few months –but I haven’t finished it yet. Like you, I look to the principles to see if I’m aligned with them. That’s the basic structure, and then there’s freedom to tailor it to our needs. I so appreciate that! In our household this looks much lighter and smaller than it does in others’ homes, but it is still bearing fruit and I’m so grateful for the freedom-within-the-philosophy that Mason provides.
Love this, Polly! I find that fewer (but well-chosen) books in school leaves much more space and desire for the unscheduled free reading in the afternoons.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and what has worked for your family. We are just beginning our homeschool/Charlotte Mason adventure after public school for so many years. Seeking the Lord daily and grateful for the resources we are blessed with.
Wonderful outlook, Lindsey!
This sounds so wonderful and freeing to me! But to clarify- you only take a 6wk summer break but still start in September and also stop in April? Do you find your days are really long? I Want to try this out but I need details 🙂 thank you for sharing this!
Hi, Molly!
Well, it varies from year to year, but our homeschool usually starts the last week in August and goes until mid-May with 2 weeks off at Christmas and all the little breaks our family needs along the way and according to my husband’s schedule. We begin our school day at 8 a.m. and are mostly done by noon. High schoolers schedule one more hour after lunch. No, our days seem just right with plenty of time for interests/hobbies/notebooks/jobs in the afternoon.
Does that help?
Warmly,
Nancy