Dottie, I too blended most of the posts together.
I am a strong believer in free unstructured time. I think all kids need it, but this is especially true for elementary age kids. I have nothing against high school kids spending a substantial amount of their time at school, but I strongly disagree with any system that would require young children spending 9 to 10 hours at school.
It's up to the parent to decide where and how the children spend the time outside of school.
The kid has to be *somewhere* during those hours. Two years ago, my neighbor's 6yo and 8yo were unsupervised in their house for an hour before school and two hours after school, because their single parent worked 8 hour days.
That's what before and after school care does.
Exactly. I would go as far as saying that unstructured time in the after school care may be a great choice for many children.
I highly suggest looking at the number of hours kids spend at school in Europe (significantly less than here)
I dunno - I remember Saturday school from my year in Germany as an exchange student. Along with tracking that started in the 4th grade, so if you weren't identified as a high performer then, you had no ability to get into college (or even trade school, in some cases). Taiwanese schools go long hours / long year / lots of homework, and get higher scores than we do. Colin'sMum's in the UK, and her day looks a lot like I suggested.
I grew up in a system with significantly fewer school hours in elementary school. Last I heard elementary age children in Germany have shorter days than children in US.
I don't have enough time to search for more data, but here is a paper from the Council of Europe Family Policy Database. It shows the amount of time elementary aged children spend at school at different European countries. Admittedly some of the countries have long days, but many of them have short days (such as 8-12). There is no data listed for quite a few of the countries, but I know for sure that at least a few of them have schedules similar to the 8-12 mentioned above.
Some schools are open longer to provide after school care, but the academic lessons are a few hours per day.
http://www.coe.int/t/dg3/familypolicy/Source/3_4_2%20Timetables%20primary%20schools.pdfEstonia
The highest permitted weekly study load of students in the basic school classes is:
1) 20 lessons in year 1;
2) 23 lessons in year 2;
3) 25 lessons in years 3 and 4
The length of lesson is 45 minutes. The length of break can not be shorter than 10 minutes. The number of lessons and the order
Hungary
School time from 8 a.m./7. 15. p.m. to 7. p.m.
Academic lesson from 8 a.m. / 7:15. a.m. to 12. p.m. generally
School time can only begin at 7.15. a.m. if the student�s government and the parental-teacher gave contribution.
Italy
In general, children stay at school from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, but, if their parents choose a different timetable, they can leave school
at 1:30 pm.
Netherlands
1. Children who are 4-8 years of age tend to have fewer classes than children aged 8 -12. For instance, they may not only have the
Wednesday afternoon off but also the Friday afternoon, or they have a longer lunch break (finishing at 11.30 or starting at 13.45).
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