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Charyti Jackson, left, plays with her four children, Tayanna, 14; Isabelle, 1; Logan 3; and Earl, 7, Thursday afternoon at the Maryville Aquatic Center. Ms. Jackson home-schools her children. Going to the pool is part of physical education class.

Summer time doesn’t mean vacation and school-free days in the Muse family.

Instead, it means avoiding the outdoor heat by attending indoor, air-conditioned classes.

The summer schedule brings a perk.

“This way, we’re able to take time off during milder weather instead of when the temperature is so high that it’s not safe for kids to be outside,” said Lara Muse, a St. Joseph mother who home-schools her five children.

The Muses and some other local home-school families have a schedule far different from the norm.

Enjoying nice weather isn’t the only benefit of the family’s year-round school year, which begins July 1.

“When you have the big gaps in education, such as summer break, you forget things. You don’t keep the skills as sharp when you have those lapses,” Ms. Muse said.

The Jackson family in Maryville, Mo., works its home-school schedule so that Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day is school-free.

Holidays are less hectic and more enjoyable that way, said Charyti Jackson, who home-schools her four children.

The family also breaks from school around events such as Easter and the birth of a new family member.

And if the grandparents want the children for a week, it can happen.

Ms. Jackson, like Ms. Muse, finds the mini-breaks academically beneficial.

“It actually helps my kids not to have huge breaks. We don’t have to do a lot of reviewing since we never break for too long,” she said.

Her oldest child, 14-year-old Tyanna Jackson, said she likes the flexible schedule because, for example, if her grandparents get new chickens on their farm, she can go help.

Nancy Hull can be reached

at nancyhull@npgco.com.