We are definitely interested in looking into this. Would you send your kids to a school with an "alternative" schedule?
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I certainly wouldn't mind it. You work year round, so going to school year round makes sense. Plus kids lose a lot during the summer.
BUT I think logistically, it probably wouldn't work for us. Since Hubs and I both WOH, we'll be relying on our daycare to do before/after school programs. They even bus the kids all to the elementary school. So unless the year-round school would come pick up my kid from daycare, it wouldn't really work for us.
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I think they make perfect sense, and where we used to live, summer vacation was only 6 weeks long, which is still too long if you're working parents, but it's better than 2 + months.
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I went to a year-round school where you got two weeks in the fall, two weeks at Christmas, two weeks for Spring Break, and six weeks for summer. It was awesome.
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I think it's an excellent idea that should have been implemented a long time ago. I have worked in a year-round system outside the U.S., so I appreciate the difference it makes as a practical matter.
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Yes. I think this is a great idea.
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@evansjamie: this sounds like such a good idea! I've never heard of such a thing. Must look into this...
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As a mom of a kid in a "regular" public school, with summer vacations, I'm not interested in the year round thing. I can see how it's good for working parents and other parents, but DS and I love our summers together. The freedom for a few months is so nice. He doesn't need the constant refreshment of his curriculum, though, so maybe that makes a difference. If he struggled in school, I would probably vote to keep the kids in year round.
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I just did a bit of research, and Asheville City Schools are actually going to do a pilot "balanced" calendar at one of the elementary schools. They will have 9 weeks of school then 3 weeks off throughout the year. I think that seems like a really good idea! It seems like it would keep kids (especially teenagers) from getting too burnt-out with schooling. I'm not exactly sure what that would mean for parents, though. I guess some day-cares will adapt to the new scheduling?
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There's a few year round schools around here and apparently the daycare thing isn't a concern. The daycares in the school zone just adapt to the school schedule, and the city puts on some daycamp like activities during each of the breaks. If we went with our local public school, our kids would have three months off a year: April, August, and December.
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LOVE the idea. Then kids don't have just one long break. Since both of us work, it would work out really well if we could get into a school that offers year round. Our current elementary school is traditional but the private school we're looking at is year round.
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I would love year round school. My dream school would be 8 am - 5pm with all the sports leagues going to the school for the kids. And year round. Vacations are so much easier in October anyway. Oh yeah and uniforms. But it isn't an option here. Luckily I have summers off too.
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As a teacher I like the idea. Kids (& teachers) need breaks throughout the year. I think having breaks makes everyone more productive.
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I don't know much about it. I'd have to research it first.
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I think it's a great idea! My Australian cousins and I compared school calendars, and I like their schedule better. A lot of kids lose out on a lot with summer break being so long here because they sleep in till who knows when and play all the time. Getting back into studious/concentrate mode is hard!
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I guess the scheduling would be convenient... However, I *loved* my summer vacations when I was a kid. I went to summer camp most years and those are some of my very best memories from growing up. I can't imagine taking that experience away from my children.
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@skibobrown: couldn't they still go to summer camp? I guess they could only go for a week or two, but that's all I ever wanted to go for, as a kid, anyway.
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@evansjamie: I'm a teacher and I would love a schedule like that!
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@allison: I went to summer camp for the entire summer -- 8 weeks most years. I couldn't imagine having school in session continuously over the summer for my kids. Also, another question -- would teachers get paid more if the school year was longer? It seems like that is only fair.
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@skibobrown: I'm thinking the school year isn't actually longer. The breaks are just placed throughout the year instead of one long summer break.
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@allison: Hmm... well that makes it much harder IMHO. Since DH and I both work, that means we would have to arrange for some sort of child care for random stretches of 1-2 weeks throughout the year. I'd rather have one long full summer where we can send the kids to camp or get them involved in some sort of full-day program.
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I like the idea of a year round school. DH and I were actually talking about this the other day.
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My niece and nephew go to year-round public schools in NC. Their school year isn't any longer, they just have breaks at different times. In that sense, it doesn't make it any easier for working parents. They just have to find care at different times of the year. The daycares/camps in the area have all adapted to the schedule so it's no more of an issue than a regular school year. The kids are fine with arrangement and it makes taking vacations easier...
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@allison: The school I went to recently adopted a more mainstream schedule, but as a student, I really liked it. I always got so bored toward the end of summer break.
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Interesting to hear teachers that are for it! Most teachers unions oppose it from what I've heard.
As far as I understand, the research is on the side of year-round school, so I'm for it. The most important thing, in my opinion, would be for the community to have camps or other programs during the breaks that aren't cost-prohibitive & that are on the same daily schedule as the school. Otherwise I could see it being a real pain for working parents.
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My mom works at a year round school. She gets 6 weeks at summer, 1 week in October, 1 week at Thanksgiving, 4 weeks in December & 1 week for spring break. The 6 weeks in the summer feels short to her but she loves the 4 weeks off in December. It wouldn't matter to me. My DH is a teacher so I would at least like the school he works at and our kids breaks to be the same.
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I'm also a teacher and think the idea makes sense. Both kids and teachers would benefit from short breaks spaced throughout the year rather than one long summer break. There also would be less learning loss. However, as a mom, I'd only want to work in a year round school if my child was also going to attend one. One of the benefits of being a teacher is having the same schedule as your child. It would be really annoying to be on two different schedules! I guess that's what people with other jobs deal with, but for me it was one of the pluses to becoming a teacher...
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I used to teach at a year-round school, and enjoyed it immensely. We got two, 2-week summer breaks - one in early July and one at the tail end of August. We also got a week in the Spring, a week in November, and a 2-week Winter break.
I would like my children to have a pretty identical schedule as I do, as my career is in education. I would prefer a year-round school situation for the both of us, but I'm currently on a public school schedule.
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