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    #88270 10/28/10 09:44 PM
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    Val Offline
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    Hmm...put me in what appears to be the minority who favors long summer breaks. As a child I loved, and my kids love now:

    * Day camp (Games! Arts & Crafts! Sports! Swimming! Picnics!)

    * Lazing around and dreaming the day away

    * The beach! Sandcastles! Meeting random kids! Hey, was that a fish? Beach barbecues!

    * Fun long term projects every day (hang gliders, treehouses, forts, exploring)

    * Comic books, matinees at the cinema

    * Sleepaway camp

    * Vacation, even if it was just down to Boston to see the cousins (I lived in NH)

    And all of this fit into a long, leisurely summer. I was never rushed from mid-June to Labor Day. And neither are my kids.

    Sorry if I'm the odd one out here, but I wouldn't trade any of that for more running around, more homework, and more creativity-stifling test prep --- never, ever ever.

    wink

    Val

    Last edited by Val; 10/28/10 09:54 PM.
    Val #88271 10/28/10 10:17 PM
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    Val, would all of that be impossible in a six week long summer, which is what you get with year-round school? And how much fun would a family trip skiing be? Or a week of ballet camp four times a year?

    Year round school has no extra school days, they're just more evenly distributed so that kids get regular decent breaks throughout the year.

    Last edited by Tallulah; 10/28/10 10:18 PM.
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    Val Offline
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    Originally Posted by Tallulah
    Val, would all of that be impossible in a six week long summer, which is what you get with year-round school?

    Pretty much, yes. It would have to be rushed and scheduled in carefully. A lot of the spontaneity would be gone. What I love about summer break is the extended, very long period of downtime.

    Obviously, if year-round school works for you and your kids, that's great. Don't think I'm trying to tell you what to do. I was only pointing out some of the wonderful things that a long break offers. Yes, some kids forget stuff, but six weeks is enough time to forget, too.

    I lived in Switzerland for a while and am close to a teacher there. They have a six-week summer break, and from what I could see, the kids are in school for a few weeks, then out for a week, then in, then out.... One problem with this is that settling in after a break takes time. Kids also get wound up before a break, so they have more periods of reduced concentration. Plus, they don't get an extended period of learning.

    The much-celebrated Finnish schools have a 2.5 month summer break. Canada has a long break too, and is also known for its good education system. Countries with short breaks (Japan, Korea) are known also for good education, too. Switzerland has a short one, and it's somewhere in the middle internationally. So, in this quick examination anyway, I don't see a correlation between length of summer break and the quality of the school system.

    I think that Americans tend to look for simple solutions to problems, especially in education. We commonly hear that the problem is teacher pay, class size, and funding. Yet even a brief examination of systems in other countries shows that some of the best school systems are below us in all of these respects.

    Sure, some of the simple solutions work for individuals (e.g. a shorter summer break), but for a population as a whole, we need a thoughtful, multifactorial solution.

    The US is currently in a period of stress over education, with test scores (national and international) driving a lot of the stress. In our push to force a solution to the problem, we seem to have lost sight of the purpose of an education system, which is to create a thoughtful populace. From what I can see, our current focus is to create kids who can get passing scores on high stakes tests. In a way, that handicaps us from day one.

    Just my two cents.

    Val

    Last edited by Val; 10/29/10 10:11 AM. Reason: Clarity
    Val #88306 10/29/10 12:10 PM
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    Originally Posted by Val
    The US is currently in a period of stress over education, with test scores (national and international) driving a lot of the stress. In our push to force a solution to the problem, we seem to have lost sight of the purpose of an education system, which is to create a thoughtful populace. From what I can see, our current focus is to create kids who can get passing scores on high stakes tests. In a way, that handicaps us from day one.
    Val


    I agree. I wish we had a national discussion on how to have "school" look more like "summer break"

    That is what some homeschoolers and unschoolers have done, right?

    As in, " Learning happens all the time... " It happens more when kids feel safe and are engaged and happens less when kids are stressed and rushed.

    I'd be up for year-round school that had:

    * Lazing around and dreaming the day away

    * The beach! Sandcastles! Meeting random kids! Hey, was that a fish? Beach barbecues!

    * Fun long term projects every day (hang gliders, treehouses, forts, exploring)

    * time with parents, community, people of all ages

    * etc.

    Val #88312 10/29/10 01:48 PM
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    And on the other side, a teacher friend of mine says that after a couple of months they are just done with learning and need a break. Kind of like how you need to sleep in between studying for an exam and sitting it so things settle into your memory.

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    Just for the comparison. There are some slight variations from state to state but this is the public school system in NSW:

    The Australian school year ties in with the calendar year. The year is broken into 4 terms of approximately 10 weeks, with about 2 weeks break between terms. The school year ends in December, just before Christmas. Summer holidays are at this time - usually about 5 or 6 weeks. This totals about 200 days (minus a few for public holidays. Also the first day of first three terms are teacher development days so no students attend on those days.

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    I used to teach high school math and science - and I think for most kids, year round school would be very helpful. Most parents don't bother to encourage their kids, or even check to see what they are learning. So I always spent the first month of school reviewing the things they didn't remember after taking the entire summer off. It was an awful waste of class time, if you ask me.
    On the other hand, my son (and a few others that I know) spend the summers learning advanced material, and actually working out their brains more than they do during the regular school year. I think it would be more of a hindrance to him to take away his summer vacation.
    Perhaps it would be best to have year round school, but make sure that the classes are appropriately leveled so that every student gets a challenge in class. There has been a trend over the past few years to do away with levelling classes to spare people's feelings. In my opinion, this only makes those who are struggling feel stupid and bores the advanced students to tears. No one benefits from it.

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    I find it interesting how they handle extended school programs here. The larger school district AISD has a few elementary schools that are extended schools but these are only in the poor areas of town and once they reach middle school there is no options for extended.

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    Originally Posted by AlexsMom
    We could do aftercare at the school now, but it consists of sitting in the cafeteria reading a book while the kids around you shriek. I suspect she'd have a better opportunity to learn if she were doing just about anything else, including sitting in her usual classroom.
    I haven't read the whole thread, but this comment resonated with me. That's about what before and afterschool care looks like here as well. Dd10 hates it when she has to go. From what I've seen, our schools do not excel in enrichment or downtime activities. I expect that my kids would be much happier with shorter days and downtime at home than longer days with more downtime at school built in.

    As Dottie mentioned on the first page, there would have to be some serious funding changes in order to add anything on at our schools. Our local district cut $12 million dollars out of their operating budget this year and has now been asked to give back another something like $14 million to the state due to state deficits. There is some temporary funding that will cover the amount they need to "give back" for this year, but they are in serious budget trouble. We also have three ballot initiatives being voted on that would further reduce the district budget by $50 million/year. That is over 25% of their total budget.

    As far as the concept of year around school, I do think that it would be a lot easier as a working parent, but I don't think that it would benefit my children educationally or otherwise.

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    Originally Posted by matmum
    Just for the comparison. There are some slight variations from state to state but this is the public school system in NSW:

    The Australian school year ties in with the calendar year. The year is broken into 4 terms of approximately 10 weeks, with about 2 weeks break between terms. The school year ends in December, just before Christmas. Summer holidays are at this time - usually about 5 or 6 weeks. This totals about 200 days (minus a few for public holidays. Also the first day of first three terms are teacher development days so no students attend on those days.

    That is so balanced in comparison! How is childcare arranged in the breaks?

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