Do you agree with year-round schooling?

Question

Do you agree with year-round schooling?

Answer 1

My family homeschools year round.  Learning is just part of daily life for us.   That being said, we favor an eclectic and child led approach to learning.   So the kids are "allowed to be kids" all year round, and not forced to sit 6-8 hours a day doing tedious busywork.   They are happy and healthy and enjoy many interests.

Answer 2

Yes, and no.

I agree with year-round schooling in the context that learning should be a constant, something we do from the time we are born until the time we die.  Learning should not be limited to 8-3, Monday-Friday, September-May and limited to a building called "school".  

My children are homeschooled, and we do our state-mandated 180 days.  However, they also do educational activities on weekends and during the summer, though we are a lot more relaxed then.  To us, homeschooling is not just something we do but a lifestyle.

This is my fifth year of formally homeschooling (my oldest is in fourth grade, and has always been homeschooled) and I find that the longer we homeschool, the more relaxed I get in general.  I.E. when we began, I had the "school at home" method in design and thought all of those unschoolers were insane.  Now, I find us leaning more that way (though not completely-my obsessive compulsiveness has not yet given way to being complete unschoolers, so we are a bit eclectic).

But, the unschooling method is that which I stated in my first paragraph-a lifetime of learning.

All that said, I do not believe in year-round schooling for public school children.  Those poor children need a break!  They have very little time to be children.  There is a morning rush to be up, fed and dressed and out the door.  They spend seven or more hours at school and/or on a bus, and they get home and have homework and then there is the evening rush to get fed, bathed and in bed so you can do it all over again the next day.  I think the public school schedule leaves very little time for children to have time to have fun, much less for quality family time.  

Summer vacation gives them a chance to have a much deserved break.  The drawback is that numerous studies I have read indicate that a good portion of each school year is spent re-teaching information that was forgotten over the summer.

Answer 3

Yes!  As an unschooling parent, I don't know how we could live any other way.  Unschooling is 24/7 year round.  It's a lifestyle.

Even for more schooly school I think that year-round is a good idea.  There is more continuity and that seems like it would be beneficial.  

I suppose the concern is scheduling to be available for the children when they have their breaks.  For people who rely on others for child care, it can be difficult to deal with the year-round schedule.  

:D

Answer 4

Does anyone really "know" why the summer break was started? It was for harvesting. Families harvested their fields in the summer and needed the children's help at home, therefore they did not go to school during those months.

So, for everyone commenting on "how kids NEED a break", just remember that "summer break" was not created to give children time off but to use their help in the fields and gardens.

Our family schools year round, but we do a very loose schedule. We attend a co-op every Friday and will start going 2 days a week in the fall. Friday is their electives day, P.E., cooking, spanish, sewing, and so on. So, we only do bookwork 3-4 days a week and only for about 3 hours a day. We have tons of field trips and are involved with 4-H. OUr whole life is about learning, it never stops.

What is the point of children having the summer off to sit on the couch whining because it is too hot to play outside, they are bored and have nothing to do. Then, when they go back to school they have forgotten about 1/3 of what was taught to them during the year? It makes much more sense to us to school year round and be able to take more smaller breaks during the year to enjoy camping and such in the fall and spring when it's not so hot, not so crowded and  my husband has time off from work so we can actually go on vacation and "do" something as a family.

Answer 5

Not year round workbook/pencil things.  But learning never stops.  Summer is great for projects for fine arts, science, history (fieldtrips) and hands on projects.  One year our boys dug a koi pond on our property lined it, put water plants in it, choose koi and purchased them, landscaped it, put in a fountain, and built a bridge over it. That was both science and fine arts. Our girl does lots of sewing and sells dog clothes in the summer at festivals/ carnivals.  That's math and fine arts (home ec).  The kids raise pigs to sell, eggs, and other things.  All that is learning.

Answer 6

No, tudents need breaks, and starting a new year is nice, because you can start over, with a clean slate.

Answer 7

We school year round, but my son gets tons of breaks. We only "school"  for 1.5 - 3 hours a day and he gets three days a month off. We will also take two weeks off for a family vacation this summer.

Answer 8

Yes and no....

2 weeks on 2 weeks off for Public school. This would allow for smaller class sizes.

I see no reason for homeschooling not to be year round. This bugs my parents to no end because we homeschool our son year-round. There are very few things we do that he doesn't enjoy. All breaks do is make the child forget the things they learned. 10 min - 30 min. is so much different then 6 to 8 hours. I could see the reason for breaks if the child started in public school but slowly go to year round.

Answer 9

I think if people keep fighting year round schooling they will just keep addind days to the school year little by litte until it is year round but the only difference is if we agree to year round we get the same amount of time out of school just spread out over the year when if we wait we will end up in year round school with not near the days off. So do I want to see year round school but I think it may be better to see it sooner rather than later. People don't stand up enough for what they believe in and the government gets to step all over us by making the decisions for us. I can't wait to see the day everybody stands up for our rights.

Answer 10

Jeez... I'm homeschooled and I have a summer break just like evryone else...I use Abeka.

Answer 11

My family homeschooled and we always had to be working on math and english, no matter what time of year.  Summer break for us meant no science, history, spelling, or assigned reading.  Music, dance, sports, art, and other activities went on throughtout the year.  But we took lots of breaks through the year for birthdays, family trips, field trips, visiting family, or just because we felt like it.  So yes, I agree with year-round schooling.

Answer 12

well with year round schooling i believe children still get as much break time but its spaced different. i believe they go to school for like 8 weeks then get like a 2 week break usually by year round they mean school is constant that ther is no extended summer break but the children still get time off school to enjoy there childhood

Answer 13

I don't agree with this because children need breaks and time to have fun if they don't then it would be as if they had no childhood.   The child might be learning a lot, but they wouldn't be having any fun so it makes them feel like adults because adults have to work year round and this is what the child is doing.

Answer 14

I absolutely do not agree with year round schooling. I think that its 100% ridiculous. Children NEED and DESERVE to be kids. You are only young once and it seems to me that education is throughout your life. Whether you are in school or not, you are always learning. You need to have a balance between learning and playing and having fun. Americans are way to focused on work, work, work and not enough of play. I believe more than enough education is required to have a high paying steady job.