Public schools where I live get mid may to early sept off.

Interesting.  In Washington State my local school district (I'm on the agricultural advisory committee, all high schools with vocational programs must have an advisory committee of persons who work in the industry) began the current academic year on August 31, 2021 and it will end on June 13, 2022.  Some students will be in summer school, others may take advantage of "running start" eligibility and take classes at the community college, and others may start a skilled trades apprenticeship  during the summer.  Students in vocational agriculture programs will work with their crop or livestock projects or find jobs in some aspect of agriculture so they can meet their SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) requirement.

Interesting.  In Washington State my local school district (I'm on the agricultural advisory committee, all high schools with vocational programs must have an advisory committee of persons who work in the industry) began the current academic year on August 31, 2021 and it will end on June 13, 2022.  Some students will be in summer school, others may take advantage of "running start" eligibility and take classes at the community college, and others may start a skilled trades apprenticeship  during the summer.  Students in vocational agriculture programs will work with their crop or livestock projects or find jobs in some aspect of agriculture so they can meet their SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) requirement.

This may be a regional thing.  In our area, the public schools run from mid-August to the first week (or thereabouts) in June.  The Newchurch schools follow a similar pattern.  For several decades, the educationists have been lobbying to reduce the summer break to as little as six weeks, under the rubric of "we now have air conditioning and can run year-round", as well as the argument --- not totally without merit --- that pupils forget too much, if they're off for three months. 

Call me dated, or looking back fondly at a "Leave It to Beaver" existence, but the traditional summer vacation, Memorial Day to Labor Day, was pretty sweet --- think of lightning bugs in jars, kick-the-can in the alley behind the house, camping out under the stars, lazy summer days, fresh air and sunshine.  That's something kids shouldn't have to have interrupted by year-round school. 

And there is also the pressure to keep busy and keep learning even during the summer months, lists of books to read, projects to have ready the first day of school, and even "strongly recommended" summer "enrichment" programs.  Horrible.  I suspect a lot of this is due to politically-correct "no child left behind" efforts, where everyone has to suffer to keep anyone from being able to say that this demographic or that one got short-changed.  Another factor may be the phenomenon of both parents working, and it's handier to be able to drop the kids off at school, than to have to make summer care arrangements.  When one parent stays home, this isn't an issue.

We home schooled 3, ages K, 4th and7th grades from 1992-2008 about. We used Seton and I partly worked mornings from6 -9 and 2-4 afternoons.  As long as the kids could read, they read in each subject what they were to do. Seton has it set up what is to be done each day in each subject.