Parents Seek to Reclaim Summer

[Karin]

As far as its public schools are concerned, Early County in rural southwest Georgia is suitably named. School started two weeks ago, on July 22. In Chandler, Ariz., a booming suburb of Phoenix, schools opened that same week. In Florida, the last county to open schools is Putnam, east of Gainesville, where classes start Aug. 16.

“It’s crazy,” said Vivian Jackson, a mother of two school-age children in Marietta, Ga., where schools open in mid-August. "There’s no reason for it. I spent yesterday in the allergist’s office to get a note from the doctor because my child cannot ride in a school bus when the temperature is 90 degrees, and there’s not a day in August here when the temperature does not reach 90 degrees.

Along with thousands of other parents, Ms. Jackson is not just complaining. Through grass-root groups like Save Georgia Summers, which she helped to organize, Save Our Summers in North Carolina and Texans for a Traditional School Year, parents are barging into state legislatures, demanding change. In some cases, they are prevailing. Last year in North Carolina, a petition and e-mail drive led to a new law that says public schools cannot start their year before Aug. 25. Wisconsin recently set its start date as any time after Sept. 1. Beginning next year in Minnesota, public schools cannot open before Labor Day.

“Our voices are growing louder and louder, and we’re going back to the legislature next year and make this an election issue,” Ms. Jackson said. “We’ve made it clear we’ll endorse anyone who supports our position.”

A major impetus for an early start to the school year is standardized testing. In many states, district officials contend that shifting starting dates to July or August allows for semester exams before the Christmas break and for added instruction ahead of statewide tests that are used to measure progress for the federal No Child Left Behind program.

Some have added a few days of instruction, but most have shifted the academic year, traditionally from September to June, to July or August to May. Other districts have stretched the calendar to adopt what is known in some places as a year-round school year, rotating periods of instruction in 9-to-12-week blocks with vacation breaks of 3 to 4 weeks.

Read the whole article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/06/education/06calendar.html?ei=5094&en=519cbb2811265f95&hp=&ex=1123387200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

 

[Scout]

Parents are complaining about sending their children to school Too Early? We have a difficult enough time keeping up with the rest of the world where academics are conscerned. I say the more they’re in school, the better for them.

I’m not saying that I disapprove of Summer break. I’m all for Summer Vacation. Children do need a rest from school. But I don’t think their academic career should suffer for it.

Also, I don’t see what the big deal is. If they go to school after September, that just means they’re going to have to stay that much later in the Spring. Why are parents making such a big deal about this? And why is the State Legislature giving in?

Scout :tiphat:

 

[Catholic90]

I’m all for the in at Labor Day, out by Memorial Day calendar.

Kids need a break. Parents want a break!! Teachers need a break. ( I actually LIKE my kids and want to spend a full 3 months of the summer with them playing, swimming, biking, exploring museums we otherwise wouldn’t get to, gardening, catching bugs, sleeping in late, staying up late, etc, etc, etc.)

And then there is the whole summer job thing. Two of my boys have summer jobs that they could not have if they had to be going to school in the summer (July and August).:nope:

What I don’t understand is all the days during they year where kids have a Monday off here or a Friday off there for those"teacher workshop days". They are put into the schedule to supposedly make life easier for the teachers to “catch up” on paperwork, grades, etc., but most of the teachers I know don’t need them and also would prefer to be out earlier. (I work in a school, so I have talked to alot of teachers about this.).

Summers are for lazing around, being bored, going swimming, catching bugs, and doing all the other stuff that school doesn’t allow time for!

(BTW, I’m in Minnesota and am glad that schools don’t start before Labor Day! An early start makes it that much more difficult to get to the Amazing Minnesota State Fair (an experience EVERYONE needs to have!)).

 

[Karin]

Catholic90:

I’m all for the in at Labor Day, out by Memorial Day calendar.

Kids need a break. Parents want a break!! Teachers need a break. ( I actually LIKE my kids and want to spend a full 3 months of the summer with them playing, swimming, biking, exploring museums we otherwise wouldn’t get to, gardening, catching bugs, sleeping in late, staying up late, etc, etc, etc.)
give the kids, parents and teachers a break throughout the school year…2-3 weeks here and there…not all at once!

And then there is the whole summer job thing. Two of my boys have summer jobs that they could not have if they had to be going to school in the summer (July and August).:nope:

What I don’t understand is all the days during they year where kids have a Monday off here or a Friday off there for those"teacher workshop days". They are put into the schedule to supposedly make life easier for the teachers to “catch up” on paperwork, grades, etc., but most of the teachers I know don’t need them and also would prefer to be out earlier. (I work in a school, so I have talked to alot of teachers about this.).

Summers are for lazing around, being bored, going swimming, catching bugs, and doing all the other stuff that school doesn’t allow time for! That is the problem…kids are forgetting all that they learned (or a large majority of it).

(BTW, I’m in Minnesota and am glad that schools don’t start before Labor Day! An early start makes it that much more difficult to get to the Amazing Minnesota State Fair (an experience EVERYONE needs to have!)).

Dont get me wrong…I love having my oldest home for summer vacation…but I actually believe that year round schools are a GREAT idea. Look at the months of Sept-Nov in the school year…what are the kids doing…recapping or relearning what they forgot from the previous year…IMO that is a waste of time instead of learning new things they are learning old things again!

 

[rayne89]

I’m a homeschooling mom and we take the end of June to end of Aug off although there’s plenty of hands on learning in the summer just no text books. Kids these days are burning out. Elementary kids are getting hours of homework. Kids can’t be kids anymore. And family time is disappearing. I think it’s great these parents are making effective changes in the system.

 

[Peace-bwu]

Seton Home School is GRRRREAT! We usually start around the same time as the public school here, Aug 26. We take a *longer *Christmas break, don’t take “snow days” can ususally work through “sick days” and take a different spring break than the rest of the world, or even a shorter spring break so that we can finish the school year early. I love that we can take our family vacations while the rest of the country is in school! We miss the crowded times at theme parks, beaches and such. My kids can participate in more extra curricular activities because they do all their work during the day… so no late night homework! Because of this they probably have as much or more “social time” while doing fun activities with a wider range of kids than most public school children.

Even when we are out of school, we take field trips, or work on special interest projects and workbooks. Because we know exactly where each child is at their academic level, the learning is just a way of daily life, even if we are taking a break from the set curriculum.

 

[Catholic90]

Karin:

Dont get me wrong…I love having my oldest home for summer vacation…but I actually believe that year round schools are a GREAT idea. Look at the months of Sept-Nov in the school year…what are the kids doing…recapping or relearning what they forgot from the previous year…IMO that is a waste of time instead of learning new things they are learning old things again!

I am totally against year round schooling. I don’t believe one can get the same sense of a long block of “do nothing” time with 2-3 weeks as one can get with 3 months off! And what happens if the 2-3 weeks one has off in the summer is the cold, rainy period?? What fun is that?? Additionally, our school is not air conditioned. Our July recently had many, many days in the 90’s with high humidity. Nothing would have been learned in school in that environment! No, childhood is too short as it is. We don’t need to add to their workload, stress, etc. by making school go through summer. In Minnesota, we have cold winters (as you may have heard!). I would much rather have the kids in school when it’s cold, rather than when it’s 90 and sunny.

 

[puzzleannie]

what concerns me more down here, where school will start a week from Monday, is that football practice and band practice are outside, not just in the morning but in the hottest part of the day, all during August. Every year Texas looses a couple of football players to heat stroke or related causes. We have very few days under 100.

Personally, having just spent 2 weeks with DD and grandkids, some moms can’t wait for school to start, I know I felt that way about the first of August.

 

[Karin]

Catholic90:

I am totally against year round schooling. I don’t believe one can get the same sense of a long block of “do nothing” time with 2-3 weeks as one can get with 3 months off! Why do you need three months of doing nothing??? This is why most kids forget things that where taught to them the previous year. And what happens if the 2-3 weeks one has off in the summer is the cold, rainy period?? SO what!! What fun is that?? You dont just need sunshine to have fun!!! Additionally, our school is not air conditioned. Our July recently had many, many days in the 90’s with high humidity. Nothing would have been learned in school in that environment! Then perhaps we should put a/c in all schools…I know my sons school has a/c it was paid for by the parents via fund raiserers. No, childhood is too short as it is. Yup and part of being a kid is LEARNING! We don’t need to add to their workload, stress, etc. by making school go through summer. In Minnesota, we have cold winters (as you may have heard!). I would much rather have the kids in school when it’s cold, rather than when it’s 90 and sunny.

 

[CatholicCid]

As a Kid who will be starting School in a week’s time (Earlier than last year) I like the “3 month break” when it’s actually shorter than that…
Year long Schooling is just No Way…
2 to 3 week breaks occasionally is not enough time to rest up and recover…
The problem is that the Parents of Today, whether they want to believe it or not, had it easier when they went to school…
I could go through any day in my past year’s planner and come up with an assignment I had to do… Even the first day of school…
The only way I could see “year long schooling” would be eliminate ALL homework… If we can’t have a nice, long break, then we can catch up on it after school…
Kid’s today have more assignments, more homework, and more stuff they have to learn… Extending the period of time we have to do it and cutting our break will only lead to burn out.
If they forget the material in (less than) 3 months, then it wasn’t taught properly or your kid should retake the class because he didn’t pay attention the first time around…

 

[kmktexas]

Public school here (Texas) starts next week but my kids are in Catholic school so we start the day after Labor Day. Those Texans for a Traditional School year were evidently successful and schools in Texas will start after LD next year. It won’t save much summer, though, since they will stay in later into June.

I need summer to do all of the supplementary work that my kids aren’t doing in school. That would be even more if they were in public school (which would be over my dead body ). We actually do most of our “vacationing” during the school year - I hate going anywhere with the crowds.

I am totally against year-round school years – although not against year-round education. Our kids need to separate from the bad socialization and indoctrination that they get in school. Parents need some time to deprogram them. My kids play with friends and do lots of activities in the summer but it is mostly with different friends than they see every day during school.

Band, football and soccer all started already. When I was in school, there was a law that they couldn’t practice until late August - and that was in New Jersey!!! They don’t seem to care as much here, even though it’s hotter.

I would actually prefer a good long summer and a month off at Christmas like they do in South America. But then, I like being with my kids.

 

[Catholic90]

Originally Posted by Catholic90
I am totally against year round schooling. I don’t believe one can get the same sense of a long block of “do nothing” time with 2-3 weeks as one can get with 3 months off! Why do you need three months of doing nothing??? This is why most kids forget things that where taught to them the previous year. Do they?? Not really. I work in a school and I don’t see it quite this bad. Three months off is fabulous. Our school spends about 2 weeks reviewing last year, and then we are up and running on new stuff. And what happens if the 2-3 weeks one has off in the summer is the cold, rainy period?? SO what!! Well, no swimming, biking, running around outside, playing in the lakes, going fishing, getting a suntan. What fun is that?? You dont just need sunshine to have fun!!! Sunshine is WAAAAAY more fun than rain!! You can’t swim in the rain, play in the sun in the rain, bike all day in the rain, picnic in the rain, etc. A perfect day is 85, sunny, with a light breeze. That is summer! Additionally, our school is not air conditioned. Our July recently had many, many days in the 90’s with high humidity. Nothing would have been learned in school in that environment! Then perhaps we should put a/c in all schools…I know my sons school has a/c it was paid for by the parents via fund raiserers. That will never happen here. It’s been looked into and it is way too expensive. No, childhood is too short as it is. Yup and part of being a kid is LEARNING! And part of being a kid is SUMMER! Just think how much learning would be lost via the backyard, the lake, lying under a tree, swimming in a lake, roaming around on bikes, exploring a woods, etc. Not all learning happens inside the school building. We don’t need to add to their workload, stress, etc. by making school go through summer. In Minnesota, we have cold winters (as you may have heard!). I would much rather have the kids in school when it’s cold, rather than when it’s 90 and sunny.

---

 

[Gearoidin]

Catholic90:

I am totally against year round schooling. I don’t believe one can get the same sense of a long block of “do nothing” time with 2-3 weeks as one can get with 3 months off! And what happens if the 2-3 weeks one has off in the summer is the cold, rainy period?? What fun is that?? Additionally, our school is not air conditioned. Our July recently had many, many days in the 90’s with high humidity. Nothing would have been learned in school in that environment! No, childhood is too short as it is. We don’t need to add to their workload, stress, etc. by making school go through summer. In Minnesota, we have cold winters (as you may have heard!). I would much rather have the kids in school when it’s cold, rather than when it’s 90 and sunny.

I’m a teacher working in southern Japan. We have no air conditioners and temperature reaches into the 90s every day from June onwards. The humidity is also extremely high, especially during the rainy season. In winter we have no heating!
Our school year starts in April and ends in March. We close around July 20th to Sept 1st, around Dec 26th to Jan 6th, and again from March 22 or 23 to about April 5th. As you can see, there is no really long summer vacation On top of that, all kids from about 2nd grade up get summer homework and have tests when school reopens after the holidays. Most junior and senior high school kids attend club activities almost every day at school during the holidays and many get extra tutoring in their weak subjects. Some students attend “juku” (cram school) every day during the holidays. We work too hard here!
Sometimes I think it is too much for both the teachers and the students. I would love to see about 2 months in summer without club!!! However we rarely have to repeat material because students have forgotten it during the holidays and with the very competitive educational system here, we wouldn’t have time to repeat. I guess we would have to change to whole system if we are to get long holidays.

Gearoidin

 

[Karin]

IMHO it seems to me that “parents” are more concerned with kids having “fun” then having their kids get an education. Not all learning needs to take place in the classroom, as one parent stated, but swimming, tanning etc. are fun activities not to be confused with what a school teaches. These things are needed but you dont need to take 2-3 months off to do them, IMHO.

 

[Karin]

Gearoidin:

I’m a teacher working in southern Japan. We have no air conditioners and temperature reaches into the 90s every day from June onwards. The humidity is also extremely high, especially during the rainy season. In winter we have no heating!
Our school year starts in April and ends in March. We close around July 20th to Sept 1st, around Dec 26th to Jan 6th, and again from March 22 or 23 to about April 5th. As you can see, there is no really long summer vacation On top of that, all kids from about 2nd grade up get summer homework and have tests when school reopens after the holidays. Most junior and senior high school kids attend club activities almost every day at school during the holidays and many get extra tutoring in their weak subjects. Some students attend “juku” (cram school) every day during the holidays. We work too hard here!
Sometimes I think it is too much for both the teachers and the students. I would love to see about 2 months in summer without club!!! However we rarely have to repeat material because students have forgotten it during the holidays and with the very competitive educational system here, we wouldn’t have time to repeat. I guess we would have to change to whole system if we are to get long holidays.

Gearoidin

Could it be that you “work to hard” or so hard because in Asian countires education is very important and an educated mind is highley valued??

 

[Gearoidin]

Karin:

Could it be that you “work to hard” or so hard because in Asian countires education is very important and an educated mind is highley valued??

Both! Too hard in the sense that the kids rarely get time to play and so hard because education is highly valued here. Many parents are fed up with the pressure placed on kids to to get into good schools, the suicide rate is high, there is a big problem with bullying and many kids are refusing to go to school at all. People want change without lowering the standards.

Gerry

 

[Karin]

Gearoidin:

Both! Too hard in the sense that the kids rarely get time to play and so hard because education is highly valued here. Many parents are fed up with the pressure placed on kids to to get into good schools, the suicide rate is high, there is a big problem with bullying and many kids are refusing to go to school at all. People want change without lowering the standards.

Gerry

There is a happy medium somewhere but taking two to three months off so kids can play is not it, IMO!

 

[Gearoidin]

Karin:

There is a happy medium somewhere but taking two to three months off so kids can play is not it, IMO!

A happy medium would be nice (^-^) and we will never get 2 or 3 months off in summer but some parents have suggested it for high school level and allowing the kids to get some work experience during this time. At present, many schools don’t allow their students to have part-time jobs during the term or holidays. 3 months is certainly excessive.
How long are school holidays usually in the US? Is it the same for elementary school and high school?

I would be happy with the present holidays, if we didn’t have to go to school almost every day because of club activities and extra tutoring. This is the opinion of many teachers. The holidays are long enough, any longer would be too long and the kids would forget, but that holidays need to be holidays.

Gearoidin

 

[rayne89]

Karin:

IMHO it seems to me that “parents” are more concerned with kids having “fun” then having their kids get an education. Not all learning needs to take place in the classroom, as one parent stated, but swimming, tanning etc. are fun activities not to be confused with what a school teaches. These things are needed but you dont need to take 2-3 months off to do them, IMHO.

Children are children not mini adults. These days there is so much pressure put on children in school starting all the way from Kindergarten. When I was in kindergarten we spent all of about a 1/2 hour doing schoolwork. (This would be in the late 70’s), the rest of the time was playing with the giant size dominos and tinker toys, playing house and Go Fish for pete’s sake. Now kids in kindergarten have homework!

The pressure to read at an early age is ridiculous (it starts in pre-school!). And considering that studies done that early reading does not give children a major advantage because usually by second grade most are at the same level whether they were early or late. More hours at school do not necessarily make smarter kids. They certainly make more tired overworked children.

It certainly gives our public schools more time to brainwash our kids and mold them into the wonderful liberal citizens they want them to be. After homeschooling for 5 years you realize kids do most of their learning by doing not sitting at a desk for 6 hours a day. We are so geared toward competition in education it’s gotten out of hand. Each child has to be the top of the class, the best in the school, “My child is an Honor Roll Student” bumper stickers are everywhere. Some how this means we’re the better parents because our children are honor roll students. We have kids on Prozac in elementary school because of “anxiety disorders”.

What I want for my child is love learning not to rattle off all the capitals in the United States that will mostly be forgotten in a year. I want her to love to learn. My daughter reads at about a 8th grade (probably higher) reading level and she 9. She didn’t start reading until the middle of 1st grade. But books in our home surround her; there are books in every room in the house. She loves science because we go to the zoo, the science center, the nature center, take walks in the woods and she does hands on experiments with her dad – not because she reads a chapter in her science book everyday. Certainly she does have textbooks we rely on but her math really comes alive when she’s helping me bake, or helping me which item is cheaper per ounce at the grocery store. Kids are sponges. They are learning all the time. My daughter reads a lot of non-fiction on her own because she loves to know things. Spending hours in school diagramming sentences isn’t going to make her a better learner.

Kids need time off to play baseball with their friends for fun, not because their team has to make the state conference. Ok I’ve rambled on long enough. I have friends whose kids are in the system and I’ve seen the enormous pressure these kids are under to be the best in everything. Being good at something isn’t good enough anymore. Our children are not trophies we put on a shelf, their little people all with individual needs and talents of their own. And it is ok (gasp) not to be the best sometimes.

ps. Most parents who want year round school are the same parents who want all day kindergarten because they work and want year round child care.

 

[Karin]

rayne89:

Children are children not mini adults. These days there is so much pressure put on children in school starting all the way from Kindergarten. When I was in kindergarten we spent all of about a 1/2 hour doing schoolwork. (This would be in the late 70’s), the rest of the time was playing with the giant size dominos and tinker toys, playing house and Go Fish for pete’s sake. Now kids in kindergarten have homework!

The pressure to read at an early age is ridiculous (it starts in pre-school!). And considering that studies done that early reading does not give children a major advantage because usually by second grade most are at the same level whether they were early or late. More hours at school do not necessarily make smarter kids. They certainly make more tired overworked children.

It certainly gives our public schools more time to brainwash our kids and mold them into the wonderful liberal citizens they want them to be. After homeschooling for 5 years you realize kids do most of their learning by doing not sitting at a desk for 6 hours a day. We are so geared toward competition in education it’s gotten out of hand. Each child has to be the top of the class, the best in the school, “My child is an Honor Roll Student” bumper stickers are everywhere. Some how this means we’re the better parents because our children are honor roll students. We have kids on Prozac in elementary school because of “anxiety disorders”.

What I want for my child is love learning not to rattle off all the capitals in the United States that will mostly be forgotten in a year. I want her to love to learn. My daughter reads at about a 8th grade (probably higher) reading level and she 9. She didn’t start reading until the middle of 1st grade. But books in our home surround her; there are books in every room in the house. She loves science because we go to the zoo, the science center, the nature center, take walks in the woods and she does hands on experiments with her dad – not because she reads a chapter in her science book everyday. Certainly she does have textbooks we rely on but her math really comes alive when she’s helping me bake, or helping me which item is cheaper per ounce at the grocery store. Kids are sponges. They are learning all the time. My daughter reads a lot of non-fiction on her own because she loves to know things. Spending hours in school diagramming sentences isn’t going to make her a better learner.

Kids need time off to play baseball with their friends for fun, not because their team has to make the state conference. Ok I’ve rambled on long enough. I have friends whose kids are in the system and I’ve seen the enormous pressure these kids are under to be the best in everything. Being good at something isn’t good enough anymore. Our children are not trophies we put on a shelf, their little people all with individual needs and talents of their own. And it is ok (gasp) not to be the best sometimes. I totally agree…but as a parent i know what my kids best is…and failing or pulling C’s is not the best!

ps. Most parents who want year round school are the same parents who want all day kindergarten because they work and want year round child care.
That is funny…I am one of the parents that think year round school is a great idea!! I do not work so I do not need the daycare… I have actually felt this way since I was in school…so this has nothing to do with my being a parent!

IMO the pressure for a child to do well in school is because parents view education as IMPORTANT. My son has a good time during the summer…we travel and he learns about history and other cultures and we also apply science and math to everyday activites…he does not require having 2-3 months off from school though to do these things, IMO.