Year around school?

[DizBelle]

What is the purpose of school?
A. To provide an education for children?
B. Or to provide babysitting and childcare and keep kids "out of trouble"?

If you answer A, then you should be ok with whatever schedule the school system believes will provide the best results.

If you answer B, then you want the school system to operate on whatever schedule works best for you regardless of how good of an education your child gets.

 

[golfgal]

Actually, I prefer a model closer to year-round schooling than what is offered in the US and Canada right now. My favourite model is Australia, which still has an 6-week break in their summer, but has four semesters of 10 weeks of class with 2 weeks off in between semesters. We found that it gave us MORE time with our kids, since it was easier to plan vacations when there were more weeks off throughout the school year. Also, the kids didn't 'lose' as much of their knowledge over the 6-week break as they do over the longer breaks in North America, and the regular breaks really allowed the kids (and teachers) to regroup and return refreshed and focussed.

I would VERY MUCH support a system such as this. The 9/3 is too much time off between semesters but a 10/2 would be perfect. Our school district is unofficially, I think anyway, working toward this as it is. We get out mid-June, start the day after Labor Day (state law), We have 188 student days already, 200 teacher contract days. Adding a few more days to the schedule wouldn't even be noticed.

As others have said it would be MUCH easier to go on vacations with a schedule like this and in our area it would allow for a much better spring sports schedule too, allowing it to go well into June vs having the state tournament very early in June.

Day care issues are really not worth even considering either way as day cares would adapt to any changes in school schedules or they will go out of business.

It would also help with scheduling doctor and dentist appointments AND would help keep the spread of things like influenza down since there would be enough time into the schedule to minimize student contact.

People are afraid of change but if you think outside of the box a bit you will see that a 10/2 schedule is really the best format for education and students would do much better in the long run on a system like this.

 

[Northstar]

What is the purpose of school?
A. To provide an education for children?
B. Or to provide babysitting and childcare and keep kids "out of trouble"?

If you answer A, then you should be ok with whatever schedule the school system believes will provide the best results.

If you answer B, then you want the school system to operate on whatever schedule works best for you regardless of how good of an education your child gets.

No, you should be okay with whatever schedule YOU believe will provide the best results.
And you shouldn't assume that the school system has only pedagogical reasons for adopting either schedule. Budgets, logistics, resources must all be considered.

 

[DizBelle]

No, you should be okay with whatever schedule YOU believe will provide the best results.
And you shouldn't assume that the school system has only pedagogical reasons for adopting either schedule. Budgets, logistics, resources must all be considered.

Of course. The school system has to do the best with the resources it has. If you aren't happy with what they can provide, you can either work to change it or find another alternative.

There is no one system that will work perfectly for everyone. The sooner everyone realizes that, the better and more effective our school system will be.

 

[Pigeon]

What is the purpose of school?
A. To provide an education for children?
B. Or to provide babysitting and childcare and keep kids "out of trouble"?

If you answer A, then you should be ok with whatever schedule the school system believes will provide the best results.

If you answer B, then you want the school system to operate on whatever schedule works best for you regardless of how good of an education your child gets.

I don't for a minute think that "what the school system believes" is always in the best interests of my children or their education. There are plenty of things that the school system does that do not optimize my child's education.

The school system also does not operate in a vacuum. It does have to contend with parents (taxpayers) and their real life needs. It is not the school's primary function to provide child care, but it is a reality that many people whose children are educated by the system take advantage of the time children are in school to be employed.

It is not in the children's best interests to have unemployed parents.

 

[declansdad]

I would hate it. I live in the northeast. We get so little nice weather that it would stink for the kids not to have the summers off. It's painful to keep the kids entertained for the week and a half we get at Christmas, let alone three week blocks at other times. As a working mother, it would be my worst nightmare.

My sister lives in the West and their schools are year round. She's got three kids and she hates it.

Sorry, I'm confused with your statement. You have a hard time keeping the kids entertained for a week and a half over the Christmas break, but you prefer to be off for the entire summer.

 

[karibritt01]

Well... I had a long response with many quotes, but my computer froze and lost it all. So I'll just add...

My son went to 3 years of traditional school before transfering to year-round. He has ADD. We have found the year-round to be MUCH better for him as it gives him "down-time" between each grading period. He had the choice of year-round or traditional before starting middle school last summer, and chose to stay year-round. I have 1 kid in middle school, and 1 in elementary, and they are both on the same track.

Year-round has been really nice for my family in terms of scheduling vacations. We have traveled to WDW and taken a cruise during our Oct breaks, and paid 1/2 of what it cost us when we were limited to traveling during the summer. Both of my kids go to a week of camp every summer during their July break. Both go and spend a week with their grandparents in July visiting their cousins. This April, they were able to go visit their cousins for 3 days with their Grandma. After Christmas, they are able to be home for 4 weeks to play with their new toys and such. They are both VERY active in scouting and take martial arts. Basically, year-round school has not affected them from doing anything that kids on a traditional calendar do, and has in fact afforded them many new opportunities.

This is the link for our next year's calendar for those wanting to see how it works. We are track 4. http://www.wcpss.net/Calendars/2010-11/yearround_2010-11.pdf

 

[taylor3297]

Karibritt01: We are in the same county system. My dd attends traditional because it is her base school and we live across the street from the school. If the school was year round, that would be ok too.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Germany is similar to the above posted schedule for Australia--the kids get a shorter (6 week) summer break with more breaks in between. They almost never go more than 6 weeks in a row without a one (or more) week break--though the holidays follow religious holidays and with Easter in 2011 being late they will have a long stretch between Christmas and Carnival breaks next year..

For our "state" summer runs from July 29 to September 12 this year. They will have the first week in November off, almost 3 weeks at Christmas, one week in March, two in April and two in June. At the end of the day they have the same number of days in school as they did in the USA--but we can spread vacations out throughout the year and they enjoy the more frequent breaks. There are plenty of camps and activities offered during every school break--just like the summer programs in the US.

 

[mykidsand_i]

Someone I spoke with today has her children in year- around schooling and has 4 kids. What are the chances, NORMALLY, that all kids would be in the same track? Hers are not. Boy, I believe THAT would be a bad situation! Hers only share a few breaks together, which are all on the holiday's. Two of them will start their 2 weeks off and, after a week or two inbetween, 1 other starts his 2 weeks off...I don't know about the third one. She really wants her school to go back to 'summers off' for that reason alone. I believe there are flaws in the system when all of her kids (elem-middle school) have different tracks- going different days of the month. What good does that do a family?

I know that not every school system with the 'track system' could opperate that way- but that would be a major concern of mine, since we have SO MANY different levels of schools here...three K-3 schools, 2 different 4-6 grade, 1 middle, 1 H.S. and other than being in the same school system, they opperate a little differently.

 

[bookgirl]

Year around school is a misnomer. They still go the same amount of days they just change the breaks. Instead of a whole summer off they take off 4-6 weeks. The rest of "summer" vacation is spread out through the year. Like two weeks spring break, three weeks winter break, a whole week at thanksgiving, and so on.

At least that's how it's done here.

Kids have less time to regress over long breaks and parents can work out thier vacations throughout the year instead of having to stuff them into traditional schedules.

Of course we also offer both traditional school year and year round. People line up for the year around schools.

 

[mykidsand_i]

Sorry, I'm confused with your statement. You have a hard time keeping the kids entertained for a week and a half over the Christmas break, but you prefer to be off for the entire summer.

I can see where that person is coming from though- because in my opinion, it's hard to entertain your kids in the middle of winter here. Half of the winter (this year) it was well below zero and you can't just send your kids out to play when it's that cold...

I think it's much easier to entertain your kids in the summer in the mid west, due to the HORRIBLY cold winters we get here! If we had a week or two off straight, that's 1-2 weeks STRAIGHT of being inside of the house, because you don't want to FREEZE. When school is in session, the kids have a definate PLACE to go, so they can't just stay home.

 

[Ppufi]

Sorry, I'm confused with your statement. You have a hard time keeping the kids entertained for a week and a half over the Christmas break, but you prefer to be off for the entire summer.

I understand, being from Upstate NY. Summer here equals the only warm, decent weather we receive. It's much easier to entertain a kid when you can have the option of doing stuff outdoors.

 

[daughtersrus]

Someone I spoke with today has her children in year- around schooling and has 4 kids. What are the chances, NORMALLY, that all kids would be in the same track? Hers are not. Boy, I believe THAT would be a bad situation! Hers only share a few breaks together, which are all on the holiday's. Two of them will start their 2 weeks off and, after a week or two inbetween, 1 other starts his 2 weeks off...I don't know about the third one. She really wants her school to go back to 'summers off' for that reason alone. I believe there are flaws in the system when all of her kids (elem-middle school) have different tracks- going different days of the month. What good does that do a family?

I know that not every school system with the 'track system' could opperate that way- but that would be a major concern of mine, since we have SO MANY different levels of schools here...three K-3 schools, 2 different 4-6 grade, 1 middle, 1 H.S. and other than being in the same school system, they opperate a little differently.

Are the kids in the same school district? Not all school districts are "unified" meaning K-12 grades. I know many people whose children don't have the same days off simply because they are at different levels. For example, the high school is always off the last week of March for spring break while the elementary district is always off the week of Easter. These school districts are not year round but follow a traditional calendar.

Our district is unified. When we had year round school years ago, all family members were on the same track regardless of what grade the children were in.

 

[daughtersrus]

I can see where that person is coming from though- because in my opinion, it's hard to entertain your kids in the middle of winter here. Half of the winter (this year) it was well below zero and you can't just send your kids out to play when it's that cold...

I think it's much easier to entertain your kids in the summer in the mid west, due to the HORRIBLY cold winters we get here! If we had a week or two off straight, that's 1-2 weeks STRAIGHT of being inside of the house, because you don't want to FREEZE. When school is in session, the kids have a definate PLACE to go, so they can't just stay home.

There are plenty of this that parents can do to entertain their children when the weather isn't great.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I'm not crazy about year round schools. It would be impossible where we live.

We have a 1 school district, Pre-K through 8. Then we have the choice of 4 different hight schools, in three different districts, in 2 different counties. Each of those districts have their own elementary, middle and junior high schools. They would must likely be on the same track within their district but I doubt they would follow the same track for the whole area. As it is we don't share the same schedule like the first day of school, spring break, winter break etc.

A parent who has a 7th grader in our school has a friend who lives in CA. 4 kids, 4 tracks. Other then Christmas they never have the same weeks off.

 

[karibritt01]

Our kids are assigned to a track, and it stays the same unless requested by the parents. With multiple children, they will keep the kids on the same schedule.

We have to deal with the heat and the cold during track-outs. We entertain them the same way in the winter as we do in the summer. If the kids go to childcare during summer break, then they go to childcare during track-out. We do not have to deal with the extreme cold most of the time, but we do get extreme heat during the summer. Moderate amounts of time outdoors, and they play with their toys, watch movies, go to museums, have friends over, etc during those times. It really is not a difficult thing to entertain your kids for 3 weeks compared to 12 weeks. I think it is easier because you can spread out the activities throughout the year, and finances are easier when you aren't trying to do everything at once.

 

[themilesfamily]

We homeschool and we do classes year-round. I've found that DD loses too many skills if we try to take 3 months off. Her penmanship gets worse, spelling gets worse, she forgets math concepts, etc. We just keep our school days short and go all twelve months, taking a week off here and there.

 

[Pigeon]

Sorry, I'm confused with your statement. You have a hard time keeping the kids entertained for a week and a half over the Christmas break, but you prefer to be off for the entire summer.

It's generally too cold to go out for more than a very short time in December. They get cabin fever after a couple of days. In the summer, the kids are outside for a good part of almost every day.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

That is part of my thought as well. When there is no school ALL summer- that is 3 months of not turning on the air cond. and using the electricity...if someone is always there (or almost always there) they still have to use these things (wether it be all of their students there, or just 1/2 of the regular numbers)...

But doesn't the fuel costs for heat negate that?

(asking--since I don't worry about that where I live. And where I live--the A/C runs most of the year anyway.)