abtchonamission

I just got a letter in the mail today, which really surprised me.

When we moved out of Asheville, we moved to a different county as well. I had heard something about a year-round school, but really never thought much about it. I thought that it was probably the new school that's being built near Cold Mountain, since no one said anything to me at the school when I registered Tim.

Turns out, I was wrong. Tim goes back to school next Thursday...so, I have one week left for school shopping. Since I'm still not working, any donations toward Tim's back-to -school clothing and supplies will be appreciated. (j/k)

I feel kinda bad, in a way - the first year Tim ever gets to have a stay-at-home summer vacation, he only gets half the normal summer vacation. On the other hand...I am still on summer vacation...muaahhhhhahahahhaha!!

Lovestoomuch

I heard about those year around schools. I think they're trying to do something like that here in Florida. I'm not sure what the motivation is behind it......early graduation maybe??

Jewelz

wow Trisha I know Tim must be pissed. I know my daughter would be upset. I feel like summer just started. I feel bad for him but he might just be better off... he wont get the chance to forget stuff.

sending you and Tim many hugs

Jewel

ladyamalthea

Actually, there has been talk of that in GA too, and I think the biggest reason to consider it is that kids go away for the summer and retain so little of what they learned 8 to 10 weeks ago. Most concepts of year round school involve going for 10 weeks or so and then having 2 weeks off, plus whatever other time they would have normally had for winter break, spring break, etc. They don't spend any more time in the classroom, so graduation would not come any earlier, it's just a matter of learning retention, plus reducing burnout at the end of each term, since the terms now are currently twice that length (and trust me, as a teacher... 18 weeks is forever lol)

At least that's what I've been told

MeggieStar

Oh SNAP. That hurts.

Did you know that the U.S. only requires 180 days of schooling but Japan requires almost 280?? I believe there is a push in the USA to "step it up" so to speak and to lengthen the school year. Year round school is one way to start on that path, gets the kids in a different frame of mind.

However, as a future teacher, I still want summers off!!!

ladyamalthea

Oh, I agree! I am LOVING my summer (this is my first paid summer break ) I just meant that those were the rumors I was hearing...

Meggie, what are you going to teach?

Ann

Well dang, is nothing sacred???

To be a kid means having all summer to just hang out doing "kid" things. It means camp and picnics and ballgames and catching tadpoles at the pond and catching fireflies at night. It means campfires and weinies and swimming and catching poison ivy at least once. It means sitting on your porch in your jammies looking up at the sky and looking for shooting stars.

It does NOT mean school.

Does Tim know how to play hooky? *evil grin*

Taking5

We did year round school at my school in Indiana over 25 years ago. There was no increase in school days in that case, just 4 quarters of classes with breaks in between, like multiple spring breaks, a little longer in duration. But no 3 months off like traditional school.

tropikgal2

As a kid I lived overseas and we had year round school but it worked like this: 6 weeks on, 2 weeks off. It was good because we never got bored or "forgot" our lessons. I think it is a good system.

abtchonamission

ladyamalthea has it exactly, I think. All the schools got out June 8th, but they go back August 17, we go back July 19, but...in April, the other schools had one week off for Easter (usually the week before) but Tim's school had the week before AND the week after. He also would have had two weeks at Christmas at this school instead of one.

He's actually kind of excited about going back. He didn't really make a lot of friends here that he can play with outside of school yet, so he's antsy to get back to school and see his friends

MeggieStar

social studies and english

hope213

i live in n.c. also. i know about the yr.round schools.most of the kids like it.i do not have any kids in my home but my grand daughter went,she loved it so did my god child. if the mother works it helps them out alot with day care & ect. i think u go 9 wks & then out 3. i do not remember good luck with this.i hope tim likes it.

teke

my kids went to the first one in ga, that went yr round, it wasn't that bad, the only thing was if you had older kids like i did, the yr round students were out of school a lot of the time that the older kids weren't and i have to find daycare for those wks that they were out and the others had to go.

they averaged out about the same time out i think, they had shorter summer vacations but those days were taken at different times during the school yr.

marle

They tried adding days here in Michigan. They wanted to make it 200 but with our poor economy, they have given up on that idea. I like the idea of having year round school with longer breaks at Christmas and Easter. Kids will probably learn more because teachers don't have to reteach the previous year's lessons to get them up to speed. Marle

abtchonamission

Tim and I have a date to spend all day tomorrow at the local pool, and hope to do it once more before he goes back to school next Thursday. He's pretty excited, he knows who his teacher will be for third grade now, and he knows that there will be kids in his class that he may not have had the chance to meet last year, as he only went there from March to June of last year.

I'm hoping the kid behind us is in his class this year - it would be nice for him to make a friend that lives close enough to hang out with after school and weekends.

ladyjane

My daughter loved year round school when we lived in the city and then we moved to the county and it was back to the regular schedual.
By the way trisha, since you live so close to Cherokee, do you ever go to the Casino?

Wascally Wabbit

Hi Trish,
I love the idea of year round school. They stay out of trouble, always have something to do, and we get a break!!
Do they get any time off though?

abtchonamission

No, I've never been to the casino - I did go to Foxwoods once, though, back when I still lived in Massachusetts. Casinos aren't for me - I don't like being jammed into bunches of people like that.

BigSis

Well they would certainly have to change the SCHEDULE of the year round school here in Western Washington... we don't eve START summer until July 5!

But I can understand the concept. I remember spending the first month of return to school just reviewing last year's work. Perhaps with the shorter breaks, they kids will get a more solid understanding of the concepts.

Enjoy the quiet, ABOM!!

abtchonamission

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh....the quiet! That's exacly what I'm waiting for. I'm not working right now, and with Tim home I really hadn't put as much effort into looking as I might have were he in school...but, with him back in school in a few day, I'm going to be able to have the time to really job search, and the time to have "me time" while I search.

HP is really good at helping me find what I need.