OT - Year Round vs. Traditional Schools

[tmarquez]

DD will start public school next year. There are 2 elementary schools that we can go to (both close to the house). One is a traditional elementary school and the other is year round. They didn't have year round schools when I was a kid, so I have no experience. What are the pro's & cons? What kind of school does your child go to? Tell me what you think!

 

[seashoreCM]

What are the vacation times for the year-round school? Do all the kids go year-round or do they use staggered 9 month school sessions for each grade or different sections within each grade? Maybe choosing that school may give you non-busy times off to visit Disney.

The college I went to had fall, winter, spring, and summer quarters with three courses each, and within limits a student could choose which quarters he would attend. Three quarters was considered one academic year's worth of tuition, although you actually paid for tuition, room, and board by the quarter, too. A student who did not flunk any courses normally finished in eleven quarters (33 courses).

Disney hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[JoBird]

Loved, loved, loved year round school.

The kids had vacations all through out the year, making little trips possible. They didn't get bored during the summer, because as soon as they did, it was time to start school again.

Rentention was unbelievable. In the district we were in, there were two year- round schools, the rest were traditional calendar. The year round schools test scores were unbelievably high, consistently. The other traditional calendar schools were always way below them.

I would absolutely put my children in year round school and not think twice about it.

Jo

 

[Nikel]

I'd choose year round personally.

 

[Hannahsmom]

If I lived in Florida I would consider YRS, due to your weather be temperate year round. But living in MI, I would only enroll my child in traditional. We only get 3 months (June, July & Aug.) of decent weather, who wants to waste that inside?

 

[vettechick99]

We are almost a year-round school. We are 6 weeks on, 1 week off (and we get a week at Thanksgiving and over 2 at Christmas/NY). During the summer we get 2 months. I love teaching with this schedule!

 

[cissy]

We have both types here now, although all NEW elementary schools in our county will be year round from here on out.

My kids attend a private traditional so I can only tell you what the debates are from what I read and what friends tell me.

Most LOVE the year round schedule. They love it for all the reasons mentioned above. The reasons I hear that people don't love it are:

1. There are no Middle or Upper year round schools, so if you have kids in more than one school, this can be a real pain to get kids to and from school. Very hectic. And planning vacations can be tough.

2. When the kids are out, dual working parents find it difficult to get care. It means enrolling your child in some sort of class, club or sport. These all involve a hefty fee. The argument that summer means finding care is not always valid as summer care is often less expensive. Plus, some kids go away to relatives during the summer, which may not be feasible during the regular school year.

3. Some people just like having 10 to 12 weeks off to go on long vacations or take multiple mini ones to see family members who have traditional years.

Anyway, I would love it. I wish we could do it at our school.

Best of luck!!

 

[aterriq]

Year round is what my DDs like.

Here is the schedule. 9 weeks school, 3 weeks off.

Jul 9 - Sep 7 School
Sep 8 - Oct 1 Off
Oct 2 - Nov 30 School
Dec 1 - Jan 7 Off
Jan 8 - Mar 7 School
Mar 8 - Mar 31 Off
Apr 1 - May 30 School
May 31 - July 7 (?) off

Its great for vacation. Need to win the lottery to take advantage of all the vacataion time.

The day care center we use is use to having older kids throughout the year and have lots of trips and activities for them. The cost of having the kids out of school is spread out throughout the year instead of 3 straight months of paying full time care.

I wish we had done more trips when the girls were in K-1st grade.

Next year is the last year for the girls in year round school.

 

[slduck]

I would love year round school. I really think that it would help both teacher and student burnout. The mini breaks throughout the year would be wonderful.

On the other hand, having different kids on different scheudles would be terrible.

 

[blana]

My mom taught year round for the last 5 (I think) years that she taught. She said, hands down, she'd recommend year round to any parent who asked.

 

[quiltymom]

Loved, loved, loved year round school.

The kids had vacations all through out the year, making little trips possible. They didn't get bored during the summer, because as soon as they did, it was time to start school again.

Rentention was unbelievable. In the district we were in, there were two year- round schools, the rest were traditional calendar. The year round schools test scores were unbelievably high, consistently. The other traditional calendar schools were always way below them.

I would absolutely put my children in year round school and not think twice about it.

Jo

I couldn't have said it better. There are just a handful of year-round schools in our district, all due to demographics (something like 85% ESL students in our school). The results were amazing.

I love it because of the breaks. Our summers are short, 5 to 6 weeks long due to the traditional calendar, but we get two weeks off in October and an extra two weeks at Christmas and Spring Break. One always seems to come along when the kids really need it. They also have optional intersession courses if we don't leave town on vacation. It's fantastic taking trips (like to WDW!) when everyone else is in school.

It also seems makes a stronger sense of community within the school, too, since there isn't any one long break. I'll be sad when they go back to a traditional calendar once they are in middle school.

 

[pooh4evr]

I went yr round and my girls go now- we love it -here it is through 5th grade they are talking about changing the upper grades to a trimester schedule I don't know much about that - Anyways- we started July 21 and had our first break around Sept 20 - Oct 15 or so the Christmas break is Dec 15- Jan 2 then we have one more break in March then yr is over around Memorial day - they don't get bored on vacation because when thry are ready to go back school starts, and when they need a break they get one- the teachers need the breaks too! Now all our schools have ac the buses don't but on days when it is above 95 maybe the kids get drinks and cold towels on the bus and most rides are maybe 10- 30 minutes so it isn't too bad - we would like to move to a larger home but we don't want to give up our schedule!!

 

[samandryanmom]

My kids are in a traditional school but there is one public elementary school here that is a year round school. The problem is that there are no middle or high schools that follow that same schedule.

Friends of ours had their youngest in the year round school. Their boys were three grades apart. When the oldest started middle school and the youngest was in third, that's when they started having problems. Other than a few weeks during the summer and Thanksgiving and Christmas, they were not off at the same time. For them it was stressful because they still couldn't do anything at off times due to the older child's schedule. Also, when one was out and the other wasn't it was a fight to get homework done and get the one to bed on time that had to go to school the next day.

That's just my opinion. If the option was available all the way through school then I would be more for it.

 

[tmarquez]

Thanks for all the great replies!

I can see how having kids from the same family on different schedules would be a nightmare. DD is an only child (and we plan to keep it that way) so that's not a problem for us.

It sounds like year round school is for us.

We live in a small, rapidly growing area and right now there are 2 elementary schools and 1 combined Jr/Sr High. By the time DD gets to Jr High, there will be a separate Jr High built and ready to go. No idea what kind of schedule that will be.

 

[kimsuenew]

DD will start public school next year. There are 2 elementary schools that we can go to (both close to the house). One is a traditional elementary school and the other is year round. They didn't have year round schools when I was a kid, so I have no experience. What are the pro's & cons? What kind of school does your child go to? Tell me what you think!

Year round is nice, as kids "lose" so much with the 3 months off (just my personal opinion). I was an aide at a school for 12+ years and am an Early Childhood Ed major. I worked with special needs children and noticed that so much was lost over the summer months. Now don't get me wrong, if the parents work with the kids (encouraging reading, writing, math) students would not lose as much, if anything, but that is not always possible or just plain old not done!