Comments on: School’s Out For Summer… Why is That, Again?

By: macgyver70

macgyver70 — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:18:28 +0000

Some schools in CA have a year-round calendar, which is nice if parents can work things out with their job. Specifically, it’s 5 weeks off for summer, starting around June 24, back on around July 29, off for three weeks in October, off for three weeks over Christmas and New Year, and three weeks off at Easter. So while it’s called year-round, it’s still the same amount of school days, but organized differently. Great for some, troublesome for others.

If you’re flexible, those off-season break times are incredible for visiting places or enjoying the local weather. Our best vacation memories ever have been made in October, consistently.

By: class factotum

class factotum — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:13:03 +0000

“These days, even stay-at-home moms have to invent activities and work the calendar to beat boredom and keep the kids occupied.”

I would be interested in your analysis of this. I don’t have kids, so I don’t have a dog in this fight, but it does seem odd that parents now are so concerned with entertaining their kids. It never would have occurred to my mother to invent activities for me and if I whined that I was bored, she told me to clean the bathroom. I learned to entertain myself.

By: Meagan Francis

Meagan Francis — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:25:53 +0000

As I understand it, year-round school would involve a lot of 2-3 week breaks. Wouldn’t that also pose a problem for working parents?

My teacher friends would never go for this–they enjoy their three-month break way too much. I’m torn. I see the benefits both ways. But maybe I’m unusual in that I live in a small town where summer is still pretty freewheeling for kids, and there are enough adults home during the day to make it “work” to have kids roaming the neighborhood.

By: Sandra

Sandra — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:20:40 +0000

I live in one of those “agrarian” communities — for real; you can send your kids here to learn where food comes from — and I would welcome year-round school with open arms. I’m also a weirdo who’s in favor of school uniforms, so consider the source. Plenty of schools have implemented a year-round schedule to great success. From the kids’ perspective, even though I surely enjoyed my summers as a kid, I can’t really see much of an argument against it in this day and age. As it is the teachers spend the first few weeks of school simply reteaching what the kids have forgotten over the summer. The only possible wrinkle in this, at least here, would be that summers here are SO DANG HOT, and shade is nonexistent around the school. I’m not sure recess would even be an option.

By: Jennifer Fink

Jennifer Fink — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:11:09 +0000

I think what most kids love about summer break is the break from routine: NOT having to be at a set time or having to do homework or having almost every hour of the day dictated. In reality, I understand that it’s not like that for most kids and most families. But that down time – time to just be and follow their internal lights and schedules — is, I think, what most kids crave. And frankly, I think that’s why kids today pull the “I’m bored!” think so quickly; they’ve never really had enough “nothing” time to figure out who they are and what they want to do.

By: Karma

Karma — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:21:48 +0000

Oh, I totally understand your perspective Denise, and think it would be great if there were options for both types of families. I just love summer break so much here. It’s a time for the family to really reconnect, and it’s soooo much fun. I do agree though, the majority of the world is much different now and this option may not be best everywhere and for every family.

By: Denise

Denise — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:01:20 +0000

See, that’s just the thing, Norine: if I could do all those things with my son,it would be different. It’s not like I got a zillion lessons or took lots of vacations as a child, far from it. We had swimming, and spent maybe a week at a pokey resort in the Catskills each year, and that was it. But our experience with summer was rich anyway. And I had a stay at home mom. You and I, as self-employed writers, have much more freedom, naturally — I can cut back, then work more while the boys are in camp. I don’t have to punch a clock, or deal with a law-partner boss who doesn’t “get” kids out of school, y’know? Lack of support for working families is one of the thorns in my side…

It’s an interesting discussion, nontheless, and thanks for your responses.

By: Norine

Norine — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:25:59 +0000

I guess technically, my son stays in “school” year round although they call the summer months “camp.” Last year (in between 2 years of nursery school) he had “camp” with the same teacher he got for Year 2 of nursery school. He was occupied doing fun things — more fun than I’d cook up certainly — and he got used to his new teacher who he fell in love with this last year. This year, we used his new school’s “camp” to acclimate him to Montessori school, and as far as I can see it doesn’t look too different, except that on Wed’s he gets to bring his bike and on Fri’s he gets to have pizza and water day.
As a working mom, I don’t know what I’d do if he didn’t go to school/camp — have my nanny extra hours? It’s not like I’m off on vacation. For older kids, I can see the allure of summer vacay — it’s a break from academics, to learn other cool things — like how to play tennis or ride a horse or paddle a canoe or visit a foreign country — that’s what I did on my summer breaks. Here’s hoping I can afford to provide the same summer learning experiences that my parents gave me. I started out this comment thinking I was all for year-round school … and as a working mom, I might appreciate that. But the more I think about it, the more I think it’s a good opportunity for different experiences — like living in a cabin, getting to know other people from other places that you might not enounter in your community — that teach other lessons. We won’t be sending our son to sleep away camp for several years — but I loved those opportunities as a child and at least when he’s older, I’m looking forward to those breaks when he can learn something besides what’s in the books.
Norine

By: Karen Kroll

Karen Kroll — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:21:02 +0000

While I love summer (here in the Twin Cities, it never lasts long enough!) I do think it’s time to re-think the idea of ten or twelve weeks off from school. I know it made sense when most people lived on farms and kids were the hired hands, but that’s not the case for the vast majority of us. As you noted, most families are planning activities anyway. And, it really does a disservice to kids whose families can’t afford summer camps or other activities, and who end up not doing much of anything, except forgetting all that they learned the previous year.

Not that it needs to be nose-to-the-grindstone for June, July and August. Kids can learn and enjoy the summer months.

Karen

By: KnK

KnK — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:44:30 +0000

i was never ready for school to end– or at least grade school. (grad school was a different story…)

Malcom gladwell’s new book has a lot of interesting information what how much kids learn during the year vs. how much they FORGET over the summer. one key to making sure kids are ready for the next school year (and can keep moving forward instead of doubling back to recover topics) is to keep them in school longer.

that’s in addition to how much it would ease the burden on working parents!