Thumbs down to the whole 'longer school year' idea!

Well... generally kids are off in my district from the beginning of June until the beginning of Aug. Last year we started around Aug 9th and got out May 26th. That gave us about 8 weeks off for the summer. I am happy with that, and fine with that, I actually wish we had about 2 weeks fewer breaks during the year total and then we could add it to summer and start at the END of Aug and still get out in May. We've had a couple of holidays - single days resulting in 3 or 4 day weekends so far, our Thanksgiving break (Nov) will be a long weekend I think, then we'll have almost 3 weeks off around Christmas (Dec), I think another week off in March or early April. Inbetween those times, we also will have a few more holidays, so 3 or 4 day weekends, either a Monday off, a Friday off, or both a Friday and Monday.

Typically people who are in favor of school all the time are the sort who claim that kids got summers off in order to help with farm duties. Historically, they MIGHT be right, I don't actually care how true it is or isn't. I just know that I had time off from school for all of June, all of July, and all of August when I was a kid, and I actually liked it that way. I also went to a private school - I left private school having gone to school fewer days, with more vacations, and I was ahead of kids in public school. That right there is proof that it's quality, NOT quantity. Socially my experience there was dismal but the level of information taught was basically good. I'm not even sure I would want to trade shorter school days for a longer year, besides, that would end up being more expensive longterm for the school district. I would probably be in favor of an extra hour added to the school day in exchange for no assigned extra work at all - and an extra 2 weeks off added to summer. This isn't to say there shouldn't be extra enrichment OPPORTUNITIES - I think those should ALWAYS be offered, but as a form of extra credit, like extra projects, reports, or other things a kid can do to enrich their learning experience without jeopardizing or punishing anybody who chooses NOT to partake.

When I grew up there were only three school terms, so two lots of breaks during the year, plus the odd long weekend and Easter of course. This gave us a longer summer break. Now there are 4 terms through the year, the first one being incorporated into Easter, so the Summer break is not as long as it used to be. I think I preferred it the old way. Not sure really as life is different now to when I was a child.

We didn't always go anywhere - but we have a big yard and a pool and outside toys. It hits triple digits here though so sometimes we just stayed inside. I have tons of art supplies and that's something the kids like, as well as baking stuff, playing games, etc. I've had people ask how it doesn't get expensive to do things - what I mostly have tried to do is make home the place to be, so everything is here. We still go do things but that's more for variety than need. Yes it costs on the outset to buy certain things, but once you have them, then they are there to use and it doesn't matter whether there's one kid using them or five. If we went to the movies, we'd go to the dollar movies, or on Tues when it was 50cents a person. I'd carry a backpack - nobody looks twice at 2 moms with 5 kids in tow carrying a backpack - and inside I'd pack popcorn, juice boxes, fruit snacks, and bottled water so we didn't have to spend $35 on popcorn and soda. We also trade dvds among each other so the kids never get sick of whatever they have at home. I know we went skating and to the parks pretty often, sometimes we'd just bring potluck stuff and have lunch together at different peoples' houses, seriously kids will play no matter where you are or where you go, and it's amazing how cool your house suddenly becomes just because your friend came over. I know we didn't do it much but last year I think we fed the ducks a few times, went to see the horses, went to the farmers market, the beach.... none of those cost me anything really except driving to the beach because it took an hour and a half.

Bored? This past summer we got together with friends a lot... went to water parks, berry picking, swimming. We had people come over a lot, or we went to museums and fun kid activities. I'm not even sure how or why anybody gets bored, we don't use that word in my house. There's always something to do, either something you WANT to do or something you HAVE to do, boredom never gets a chance to rear its ugly head.

For some it's hard to afford to go do things everyday. I did my best in the beginning of summer to find activities for us to do everyday. Unfortunately we live in a trailer park where I don't let my kids play outside.. so if we're not gone somewhere then we're stuck home, bored. We had the community pool, which I bought a membership to so we could go as often as we wanted, and we also had my FIL's yard to go play in, as well as some playgrounds. But aside from that trying to come up with something new to do everyday got difficult and exhausting. July was great, we went to a lot of places and did a lot of different things.. but the whole month of August I was burned out! I wanted nothing to do with summer activities anymore and was so looking forward to school being back so the kids would be occupied without me racking my brains about activities and without spending money I don't have on gas or admission fees. So I have to agree with Cher that summer is just a bit too long and it's easy to get bored.. and for parents to get tired and burned out.

Oh I know. They can barely fund the basic one as it is because they waste so much money on NOTHING. I can tell you the money is NOT going to hiring more teachers, or specialized teachers like PE, ART, or MUSIC teachers - which are things I believe every school NEEDS. It is also not going for school supplies, do you have any idea how many copies teachers get? Not enough...

I thought the reason behind this was not so much to give the kids MORE school time but rather to spread out their down time so that they get more vacations throughout the year. It was my understanding that the actual classroom time would be the same....am I wrong on this?

Yes... that would be wrong. The purpose would be not only to keep those extra vacation times in but also to extend the actual school year by a month. This would work out to kids basically getting out of school at the beginning of Aug and going back at the beginning of Sept, basically taking away summer - that's just 4 weeks. I actually don't understand why kids get so many days off during the year anyway. Take Thanksgiving off - so perhaps a 4 day weekend, take off about a week and a half for Christmas, and once in awhile a federal recognized holiday off and perhaps a couple teacher inservice days... and then a week off for spring break. Outside that, I don't see a reason for any more. I say get the 180 days done as fast as possible and as consecutively as possible and give kids at least 8-10 weeks off in the summer - but that's me. I realize there are some parents who don't like that but ya know what, if they dont feel like being with their kids, that's not my problem. If they work and need daycare, again, that isn't my problem. I don't want to NOT have my kid home because someone ELSE prefers it that way. Ugh.

Maybe my attitude stems from the fact that I like to focus on something I dislike doing - or something I HAVE to do, and just get it done and over with. There are things I enjoy about learning, but there are things I do NOT enjoy about learning, and one of them is putting in extra time when I am already done learning something. I don't believe a LONGER school year equates to more learned or information better retained. I don't believe in working HARDER, I believe in working SMARTER. Back when I was in school, I would get everything done asap and be DONE. Then I could use the rest of the time to do things I wanted to do. Same with my job when I worked. I could get 8 hours of work done in 5 or 6 - if I wanted to. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn't, depended how I felt. I tackle all sorts of things this way - so I have to clean the bathrooms? I have to run errands? Ok, let's go first thing, hurry up, get it done, then I will have wasted as little time as possible on things I don't like doing, and now I have the whole glorious day to enjoy. For some kids, the school day IS long. I don't think my daughter's is so bad, but she starts school at 7:30 AM. They get out at 1:47 and I drive her, so she is usually there from about 7:15-1:50. At least she doesn't also have an hour each way on a bus like some kids do. My friend's son goes to all day kindergarten, and if he takes the bus, he gets on it at 7:30 AM and gets off it at 5:45 PM - that is a LONG LONG day for a five year old, in my opinion. It was bad enough working from 7-3:30 lol. Also, some kids get PILED with homework. I love my daughter's school, they do not do that at ALL, so a lot of what she does is just enrichment things that she WANTS to do. We have spelling and sight words and we do a little math, and she has her practice books from last year, and we read, but there is no big packet or any papers that must be turned in, and I'm glad. If we had that, we'd never get time to just relax, and that's the boat a lot of kids are in. If NO schools EVER gave out extra work and everything was only done at school, and schools all had a sports program and music and art and other stuff, THEN maybe it would be okay to go more than 180 days. It would be more like a community where kids could choose some of the things they were interested in, and that would be great practice for seeing what life is like after school. One more thing - when kids are older - say middle school and up, they want to do things like babysit and mow lawns or whatever to make extra money. Trust me, nobody hires a kid to do anything if they can't come regularly because they have to go to school. Summer break is the only time a kid gets where they could be dependable on a regular basis for somebody during the day.

You've made some valid points.. though most of them are just your opinion. Not everyone operates the same way you do. My kids would honestly LOVE more school. They love everything about it. They're excited to go, and they get upset when it's over or when they go on a vacation. They also love to do homework. My son's teacher sends home the whole week's worth of spelling homework on Mondays.. he's supposed to do 1 sheet a day.. he finishes it all on Monday night, then the rest of the week either I or the teacher have to print him out some work sheets to practice on. They also get work sheets from a grade level above their current one, because they're slightly above average and we don't want them getting bored. Not to mention, school is a lot more than just sitting in a class room reading books and doing work sheets. They get recess, play time, phys ed, music ed, art, library, computer lab and a few field trips each year. It opens them up to a lot more opportunities than most kids get at home. Think of the poor or the homes where both parents work and kids are shuffled from one babysitter to the next. These kids don't get many opportunities to learn about music, or to play on gym equipment, or to be enrolled in different activities like sports or clubs. Some kids are lucky enough to have stay at home parents who can afford to bring them to friend's houses, libraries, and get them involved in activities outside of school.. but not all kids are that lucky. As you mentioned about teenagers trying to hold down jobs... most teenagers around here have jobs year round, not just during the summer.. they work a few hours after school each day. Since most adults want to work day shifts, it works out well that the teens are only available evenings, because that's when most employers need workers the most, when it is busiest. This topic will always be a matter of opinion. Some parents and kids love school.. some don't. My mother prefers having my teenage sister home during the summer where as I look forward to school days not only for the break it gives me, but also for the opportunities my kids recieve.

I also know many others who share my opinion.. so I guess there's no winners and no losers in this.. as with most debates.. it's almost always going to be split down the middle. Now I'm not saying I want the schools or teachers to do everything for my child. I am capable of teaching them things myself, and I do believe that real life experiences are just as important as the work sheets they do in class. We took a trip to an apple orchard on Sunday, and that was probably just as enriching as sitting in a class room all day. Last school year I actually took my children out of school for a few days so we could take a trip to Ottawa.. it was the only time my husband could get time off work and the only time the friend we were visiting could get time off. Again, that trip to visit another country's capital was probably more enriching than anything they would have learned in school for those few days.

I actually like the public school(s) that we use, but I am very much into knowing exactly what rights parents have, and I exercise them regularly. I am very involved in my daughter's school and will continue to be wherever she goes. As a parent, I also decide what I agree with and what I don't, and I have been very clear about those things with administration. Again, I will always be. I don't agree with politics in the classroom, especially not at the first grade level. I don't believe the school is a failure, we have a good principal and my daughter's teacher is excellent. I leave it up to her to help teach the state standards, and so far she is doing a good job with that. I am aware of all sorts of agendas going on, and rest assured, I will continue to use what benefits me and disregard whatever doesn't. My advice to other people is to do the same. There is nothing to be gained ever by believing everything people tell you or going along with things without thinking for yourself.

Mommy, Thanks for your great response. Homeschooling affords many opportunities to socialize; there are weekly "community days" when core subjects are taught in a classroom setting. There are class trips and "field days". And, of course, there are all kinds of after school and weekend activities that homeschoolers do as well. For me, it's better SAFE than sorry.

This problem has two causes - first of all, the way things are being taught. I do not think we EVER need MORE time added or MORE work added. The strategy for teaching needs to be improved, or a variety of strategies used. The concepts need to be made relevant to the kids, especially older kids - so it remains interesting and applicable. Even as an adult, if something is neither interesting nor applicable to me, I won't care. If I don't care, then I won't learn it, do it, or have anything to do with it, even if I know I should. Try that on a kid or teenager, you will get an even MORE dismal result. The second problem - in other countries, they are expecting more and more of younger and younger kids. Just because a 5 month old baby can learn how to be potty trained does not mean it's a good idea. Just because you CAN teach your 18 month old how to read doesn't mean EVERYBODY SHOULD LEARN HOW AT 18 MONTHS. Are you kidding? Because there are a few totally anal and ocd people who think that they can be better than everybody, suddenly now WE are the slackers and WE have to be like that? Please. I don't think so. We wouldn't be behind if they didn't continually raise the bar to proportions nobody should even be looking at. Yes, also I think some of this is technology driven. We know more and can measure things better... but that shouldn't equal out to higher expectations at an earlier age. That is not fair. Children are the same as they were 30 years ago, 50 years ago, 100 years ago. They are not physically or psychologically or mentally or emotionally different. Expecting more of them is abusive. It already makes no sense that now they expect someone flipping burgers at the local McD to have a college degree...., or to have a degree for any type of management position.. or to join the military. None of those things require anything but a working knowledge and some sort of experience related to the job.

I don't involve myself in things I do not agree with... ie I won't change my life for the desires of people who do something I don't support. I really don't mind what other people do, but I won't do what they do if that isn't what I feel is right for me. My point with this discussion is that everybody ought to have options - and the ability to opt out of things they do not want their kids exposed to, it's a parental right.

.....Hi there, Very interesting comments. We shall see if answers are forth coming because what is is and heads beat against a wall does not change it. Enjoy your summers with your children. One thing, I think those flipping burgers are not required to have degrees but they are taking the jobs that are available, which is part of my point but also an entirely different discussion. Cheers.

Well... I mentioned this to another poster - just because you CAN doesn't mean you should. If you can potty train an infant at 5 months - just because you CAN shouldn't mean we ought to raise the bar and expect EVERYBODY to do that. If you teach your 18 month old how to read, tie his shoes, and know the value of every coin and bill, that's fine too, but that again doesn't mean we should raise the bar and expect EVERY 18 month old to do the same. I am not against people who feel like doing that to DO that, but it's a personal choice. That should not be by any means an invitation to force EVERYBODY else to live up to that just because one or two or a thousand people made that choice. It isn't for everybody and who's to say those kids won't be somehow scarred by it down the road? There's no evidence to suggest that kids who learned to read when they were 4 are any better off as adults or any more successful as adults than kids who learned to read when they were 6 or 7. Does it make it EASIER to teach those kids and for them to have a bigger variety of ways to learn information? Sure, of course it does. Children however are NOT small adults, and they have a whole list of needs that are met mostly through aspects of free play, structured activities that are non-school-lecture-worksheet related, and bogging them down with more of that is not the answer. Again, I have nothing against having money spent towards summer programs for people who WANT to use them or NEED them for daycare, extra tutoring, whatever. What I have a problem with is forcing everybody to use those programs - when we don't all NEED them. That would be like telling me I have to use the free lunch program - when I wouldn't qualify in a million years. Besides, that would be like taking it away from someone who really needed it. I don't want to take any opportunity away from someone else, but I do want to be allowed to opt out of things I don't need. That makes good fiscal sense too.

My little one is in 1st grade, I really don't want to have to gear up to fight against the school system for the next 11 years, but I WILL if it comes down to it. She likes school, but I do not feel it should be any MORE than it is, if anything is added, it needs to be regular PE, regular music, regular art, things that enrich you, NOT more time for just more school work. I really get bent out of shape when I see the amount of adults and/or parents I see who talk like school is this great 'break'... like 'oh i can't wait till my kids are in school all day blah blah blah'. Well so lovely for you, I about had a heart attack the first time I sent my daughter away for 2 1/2 hours for preschool twice a week. I had a hard time when she went to kindergarten every day for a half day... and it was a little less tough this year when it was every day the whole day, but I am still really glad to see her after school!

You know I love you girl, but I disagree. I'll keep that month for vacation no matter what, and no matter what hoops I have to jump thru in order to do it. Someone else pointed out to me that my thoughts on this are mostly my opinion, yes they are, but it's my life, and I'm not the type of person to allow outside influences I disagree with to control my life. Just like people say it's my opinion, what they all say is THEIR opinion, and I clearly stated that a program could be implemented for parents who WANTED to send their kids to summer school all summer, every summer. Why not? I don't have a problem with even contributing taxes to that program but would I use it? No. There is enough crap that is 'mandatory' without reason, I am not going to get behind another one. I would never be for making the school day longer UNLESS everything was done AT school. If you added an hour to the day, you'd have to guarantee first that my daughter got to do PE or some sort of sport at school DAILY, and that she wouldn't be bringing home any extra work to do at home on top of a 7 hour day at school. She's six years old, I think that would be ridiculous.

I am so grateful that there seems to be a lot of support AGAINST extending the year or making it year round. I give kudos and props to all the parents and other adults who agree with me. I know a couple years ago when my older two were still in high school they sent this survey asking parents if we wanted to change to a 'modified traditional' year and put it on the same calendar as another district. I said no - because it would mean my kids would lose 3 weeks of their summer, and they only got 7 weeks to begin with! MOST of the parents vetoed the idea and our kids got their summer. All I can say is DUH! We are NOT stupid!

I like this... I think you hit the nail on the head - or at least one of the nails I ran into this problem last year to a point, near the end of the year my daughter started complaining that they weren't doing anything in school. I thought she was just saying that until I started hearing some of her friends say the same thing. These were kids who were in the same excel group - they were all bored. Turns out they really WEREN'T doing anything new because the teacher had to review for the kids who were still behind! She works independently pretty well, so I just told her to keep doing things if there were things to do, so she would write words, numbers, read books, etc. This year in first grade she has an excellent teacher who is doing well teaching and keeping EVERYBODY challenged, so I'm not as worried about what happened last year happening again. I try to explain to her that I want to see her learn new things and figure out how and why they matter so she can use them in her life for herself, NOT just to get 100% on a test or show an adult that she knows. That's not why we learn, and that's not why it matters.

My daughter's school has really cool assemblies (that our parent teacher committee puts money toward and sponsors and works on lol) but we don't have field trips. If they would let me, I would set up some free ones if the school could use a bus for transpo, but I don't know yet if they are allowed to do that. I also would only be able to arrange something for one class, and I don't know if they consider that fair to the other students. Anyway, I think a lot of people forget that learning is lifelong. Learning is not only in school, and really, the majority of REAL learning ought to take place at home, as in behavior, learning how to take care of yourself, your things, the world around you, being responsible, being safe, learning about your likes and dislikes and perhaps WHY you like or dislike things... and organized school - that is for those lovely state standards that you are 'required' to know in order to advance. To me, that is like one tenth of the whole, it is hardly the whole and should not be treated as such. So much focus is put on that 10% to the exclusion of the other 90%, and that bothers me. Of course most adults focus on the wrong things anyway, we lose so much on the journey from child to adult. I tend to like the way kids view things better... they still believe in 'if I think I can I can' and 'I can change the world' and 'I can be anything I want'. You talk to an adult and they come up with a list pages long of why nobody can do any of those things and you wonder why everybody is in therapy and on medication for depression and anxiety lol.

LOL! No kidding. I'm already unwilling to ever go along with anything like that. Some parents regularly take their kids out of school for a week or two during the year multiple times to take trips places, I would just take my daughter out of school at the end of May and not send her back till Sept. If they didn't like it, oh well. She'd test out fine and they wouldn't be able to say anything to me about it.

If our level of education is low in the US, wouldn't we need to do something to fix the problem rather than just try to force MORE OF IT? That is NEVER going to fix the problem. If someone told me 'because 8 out of 10 people performed poorly on a test, now YOU have to go to class 7 days a week' I'd flip em off, because first of all, I'm one of those 2 out of 10 who didn't perform poorly, and second of all, fix the root of the problem, don't PUNISH people because of the problem! If you punish me for other peoples' problems, I'm definitely not going to be on board to even help FIX the problem. We have to come up with a solution that works, something variable so we can meet a variety of needs, not make everything one-size-fits-all. It surely doesn't.

Bleh. I will continue to advocate for MY DAUGHTER and all the kids I know that they can learn more in less time and have more time to enjoy childhood. You and I both know once it's gone, it's GONE. We don't get to go back to being kids. I don't want my memories of family vacations and fun I had to be something that is just memories and not something I can enjoy again with my daughter while she still wants anything to do with me lol. You know that preteens and young teens start trying to separate from parents and it becomes all about friends. In less than 10 years, she will be 16.... I intend to make good use of every bit of those 10 years thank you very much. No thanks Obama, I will do the school year MY WAY. Bug off.

I wonder if I asked just the kids what sort of response I would get. Granted, I don't have the issues that parents who work full time or work two jobs have - I don't have to find daycare for my daughter or worry about covering my shift(s) if she's off and I'm not. I also actually LIKE being with her. I take care of my friends' kids when they work so I always have kids here at some point. I strongly feel that the education system is busted - it's not about MORE TIME put in, it's about HOW it's taught, and making it interesting and relevant to more kids so they CARE about it. If I don't care about something, I'm not going to learn it or find it important, until I CARE. It's true that people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. This is true for adults, for kids, for anybody. It's what bridges the distance between people, strangers, friends, regardless of your life experience or lack of it.

I'm not the typical parent I guess when it comes down to it. When I sent my daughter to preschool, I only wanted it for social reasons. I know that using a 'prestigious preschool' where your kid goes every day for 5 hours and they get 'graded' doesn't mean you are getting your toddler into Yale. I think people who act that way are going way overboard, like what if she wants to drive a racecar instead and have 10 children? Heh. I value education but traditional education has its limits. I'm not willing to trade my whole life and all my time for it. BALANCE is key and it's better for kids to learn balance as KIDS. Otherwise you raise overstressed workaholic obsessed worried adults who end up going to therapy for the next 15 years. Work hard, play harder. Trading your life for some unachievable goal is never going to make you happy. Be happy. There's no reason to do things for other people, just for you.