I tend to go home when there's a reason to - so far this year that's meant Christmas, Easter, reading week and a family funeral. I also wanted to go home for a family birthday, but commitments at uni meant that I couldn't.
I'm 4 hours away from home (door to door), and so going home on a whim doesn't really happen much - in part because of the distance, in part because of the need to book train tickets in advance to save money, in part because I have quite a full calendar even at weekends, and in part because I don't really miss home much anyway. TBH, 3.5 months at home this summer is going to be a bit of a shock to the system - I haven't seen them for more than 2 weeks at a time since March 2011!