Just curious...why is the school break 2 mths long? - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Just curious...why is the school break 2 mths long?
I like having my kids at home. I am a Stay at home mom and having a break from school and activities is nice..really nice. But I also find that the summer holidays are abit too long. It would be better to have 2 wks less summer holidays and for it to be put in somewhere in the middle of the school yr. So, why are the summer holidays soo long? Is it economics? Why
My understanding is the school calendar was developed to provide farm labor when we were a farming community. When my kids were young, there were discussions of year round school with short breaks several times of year. Most people didn't like the idea.
Thanks!!!! For us, harvest is in Sept and Oct...hmmmm doesn't make much sense. I did hear that they didn't want to keep the a/c on in the schools so they wanted the kids out. But for our area, we are lucky if we have a wk or two of 90+ temps here. It would be better to keep the heat lower in the schools during winter instead and give them some time off. Somehow, I am thinking it comes down to economics...always appears to be that way somehow
I would love the yr round school so I can take holidays when others don't have them
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Actually, no-one knows why kids have a 2-3 month break. Historians say school used to be from December to March, and then from May to August. School also used to be voluntary and not compulsory. "Public" schools did not exist - parents either paid the teacher outright or bartered food and/or lodging, or both.
There is always talk of year-round school around here. The problem is with scheduling time off for the kids. With the 2 months +/- that they get in summer, child care is fairly doable. However, if there were breaks every 9 weeks for 2 weeks (9 weeks on, 2-3 weeks off), it may be hard for parents to find child care.
Year round school with 2-3 week breaks from time to time would make it so much easier to visit WDW in the value season. I'm just sayin'.
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I'm all for going to school year round, but our schools don't have air conditioning. I can't imagine there would be too much learning during the swelter of summer.
Public schools are archaic and mostly scheduled around an agrarian calendar, with slight modifications as farming techniques moedrnized. "Easter" break was intended for church as well as planting, summer was for tending crops (back in the day when you didn't have chemicals) and "fall" break was for finishing up the harvest.
Year round school has always had its proponents, but it's too much of a paradigm shift for most people. I remember the discussion when I was a PS teacher and there was outrage that we were going to be "expected to work all year".
I, personally, enjoy the traditional PS calendar as it clears the parks for us to go midweek and enjoy shorter lines and lighter crowds.
I've been teaching year round for 13 years, and I love it. I'd have a very difficult time going back to the old way. I know when my kids moved on from Elementary School (only ES is year round here) they really disliked the long break in the summer. Our schedule is 60/20, meaning we do roughly 60 school days and then have about 20 days off. It's great being off different times of the year. It makes traveling easier, and the kids were never bored or burnt out(teachers either) during school. My son is having his first full summer break, and he's been ready to go back to school for weeks already. Thank god for math camp starting tomorrow.
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In Australia we have 4 x 10wk terms with 2 wks vacation in between except for the christmas break when the vacation is roughly 6wks (and yes, my kids are yearning to go back by then). Our public schools run to this schedule and private schools start earlier each day and take longer breaks (but we pay higher fees for this-lol).
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We have year round schools in our area for Elem and MS, but you have to opt in and usually win a lottery. We chose not to apply when my son was entering kindergarten because of the lack of daycare/camp choices during breaks thirteen years ago. Those gaps have been filled in now and if we were to make a choice at this point, we would probably go with it, as there many enrichment opportunities and camps available now. High Schools have never gone to year-round because of sports schedules and college application/testing/admittance.
Our kids get about a 10 week break in the summer. Not this summer though...DD decided to take an online course, so she's doing school work all week now. Plus she has a bunch of AP summer assignments to do (yet to really start them! yikes).
We always had a 3 month break growing up. Generally off between Memorial Day weekend and going back right after Labor Day. Now the kids are off mid May and back the first week of August and many comment that summer is getting shorter and shorter...but as a parent I have to say, they are ready to go back to school.
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Our schedule is off in early June and back the end of August. I would love to have it shortened by about 2 weeks and place those breaks in fall or early spring. That would make a great time to visit WDW
I've been teaching year round for 13 years, and I love it. I'd have a very difficult time going back to the old way. I know when my kids moved on from Elementary School (only ES is year round here) they really disliked the long break in the summer. Our schedule is 60/20, meaning we do roughly 60 school days and then have about 20 days off. It's great being off different times of the year. It makes traveling easier, and the kids were never bored or burnt out(teachers either) during school. My son is having his first full summer break, and he's been ready to go back to school for weeks already. Thank god for math camp starting tomorrow.
I want YOUR school system!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would put my kids in yr round school yr in a heart beat. You are sooo right. They are out and it is too long and they forget so much, then, they are back in for a long time and the teachers and kids all get on each others nerves. There is no happy medium with this present school system.
We have 8 wks off. My dh can't get summer holidays off so I am basically a single parent of 2 kids and live in the country This past wk, I am sure that almost each day something has happened. I just found my ds leaving the freezer open abit all night. He says that I can just refreeze things I was soooo He is helping me to clean it out when I can get to it. I am almost pulling my hair out lately. 2 mths is too long for them and me. For people around here with daycare, they can't keep up to all the kids needing to be looked after and their siblings and then they take time off too. Unreal. Something should change but I doubt I will see it. To be able to take holidays on non prime time, would be great too.
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Last edited by Starbright; 07-25-2011 at 03:29 PM..
Only two months? Ours is nearly 3. We get out in early June and go back in early Sept.
Apparently a good portion of northern MN has a tourism-based economy, and they've fought hard against any efforts to restart the school year before Labor Day.
I think year round school sounds like a great idea. Our problem would be, though, that my husband works in a very small department -- only 2 people. At least with a 10 week summer break, they can split up who's gone when. If the vacation windows were only 2 weeks, the guys would never get to take any time off.
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Last edited by Carousel96; 07-25-2011 at 03:26 PM..
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Thank god for math camp starting tomorrow.
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This past wk, I am sure that almost each day something has happened. I just found my ds leaving the freezer open abit all night. He says that I can just refreeze things
He is helping me to clean it out when I can get to it. I am almost pulling my hair out lately. 2 mths is too long for them and me. For people around here with daycare, they can't keep up to all the kids needing to be looked after and their siblings and then they take time off too. Unreal. Something should change but I doubt I will see it. To be able to take holidays on non prime time, would be great too.
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