Your Questions Answered: How Much Time Should I Take Off for the Holidays?

How much time should I take off for the holidays?

How much time you take off depends partly on how you homeschool. For example, if you teach year-round, you may take weeks off. If, on the other hand, you are trying to follow the traditional school year, you may stick to shorter breaks.

It is typical to take off the Wednesday and Friday surrounding Thanksgiving and from the 23rd of December to the first Monday or Tuesday after New Year’s. Another factor to consider is how on track your students are and how much time off they can afford.

It may be a couple of weeks, or they may need to work on that English assignment between Christmas and New Year’s. In short, it’s up to you!

Theresa O’Connor, Academic Counselor

Do high school students need to do science labs? What are the requirements for submitting labs?

Only students seeking the Advanced Diploma are required to do labs. Those students need to do labs for three of their four science courses. Labs are recommended for Physical Science, Chemistry, and Biology and may be done for Physics.

The Apologia Physical Science and Chemistry textbooks contain the labs, and Apologia makes it easy to find materials for these labs at reasonable prices. The lab materials are also available through SetonBooks.com.

We also have an excellent lab manual for Seton’s Biology for Life textbook. That manual and the Saxon Physics lab manual are available through SetonBooks.com.

If you want more we also have a Biology Lab Set with Microscope and a Biology dissection kit at SetonBooks.com.

Directions for reporting and submitting labs are within the MySeton online course resources. For Biology, find these resources within SetonOnline.com, located on your MySeton page.

If you want to do more elaborate labs, consult esciencelabs.com.

Manuel Vicente, High School Science

How much help should I give my 6th grader with her book report?

While you don’t want to dictate the exact words or sentences, you could point out a particular issue with a question, such as “Don’t you think you should explain why the character made that decision?”

In other words, instead of giving a specific sentence or idea for their book report, ask a question to prompt your student to think about what she needs to explain.

My kindergarten student is through the lesson plans in about 90 minutes. Do I have to come up with more things for him to do to fill up the time?

No. Remember, if your child were in a brick-and-mortar school for kindergarten, much of their day would be spent playing, listening to stories, or even taking naps!

You would also be taking time traveling to and from school, waiting in lines, waiting for all the other students to finish their work, putting things away, etc. Enjoy the extra time together. Pre-K and K should always be fun!

Do I have to do everything that is in the lesson plans?

No, the only things you have to do for your student to receive a grade from Seton are those that Seton grades (part B on the Quarter Report Forms).

However, lesson plans are our best method to enable your student to do well on those things. Every child is different and comes from a different learning background.

If there’s something that you are sure your child already knows, you can either skim through the lesson or skip it entirely. If there is a concept your child hasn’t mastered yet, you may want to spend some additional time on that or use some outside resources.

Can you help me explain to my son why he should learn a foreign language?

There are several good reasons why learning foreign languages is critical for young Americans.

First, we live in an interconnected world where communication between people of different nationalities is essential. People who make important decisions in churches, businesses, and the government must read documentation or speak to people who use languages other than English.

Second, the structure of our language, such as the use of parts of speech, sentences, and idiomatic expressions, can be understood better when a foreign language is well known.

Third, knowing another language also enhances logical thinking and is known to help students achieve higher scores in college placement testing.

Finally, the Catholic Church is universal, and the knowledge of another language and other cultures is an excellent tool for helping people develop their Faith or bring them into the Lord’s fold.

Seton Staff