Religious Holidays in Public Schools

[adorable]

I voted "I don't care" and I really don't care about holidays although I celebrate the ones where gifts or chocolate is involved.

My experience with public schools has been that they have certain times off a year - they don't refer to them currently by the Christian name, everything is a "holiday" but not defined. Kids who celebrate other religions are allowed to take off from school without a penalty.

Even if I wanted to pull my kids out of school for a random vacation for a week during the school year I can and they'll still pass.

One thing I think that I would like to see happen is a year round school year. I know as a home owner I pay school taxes, and that they would go up. I would rather pay more for my kids to go to school year round then I would to have to send them to camp for the summer. I was lucky that when my oldest was young enough for camp (and I was a poor single mother going to college & working as a waitress) that I found one sponsored by the little town that we lived in that cost $15 a week!!!!!! I was so lucky. I didn't have the money to send her to camp otherwise. That camp of course no longer exists.

This year, my youngest daughters camp cost me over $1200 for five weeks. (She does the fair thing with 4-H during the other weeks) so my expense was actually lower then what lots of other people have to shell out. I only had to pay for her, what on earth do people do that have more then one kid? Or that can't afford between $160 - $250 a week?? Normally that is paid up front. Even $300 is more then some people can afford to spend to replace a car, much less send their kids to camp. I'm lucky today to be able to afford it. I honestly have no idea what some other families do.

Yet, they have to go to work. The kids have to go somewhere. Preferably a safe somewhere and not home alone. There are daycare subsidies here for people who work that can't afford daycare expenses, but nothing like that for camp. The daycare's are generally full. Year round schooling wouldn't hurt kids at all and would help out parents, especially the working poor.

[Soon]

Originally Posted by adorable

I voted "I don't care" and I really don't care about holidays although I celebrate the ones where gifts or chocolate is involved.

My experience with public schools has been that they have certain times off a year - they don't refer to them currently by the Christian name, everything is a "holiday" but not defined. Kids who celebrate other religions are allowed to take off from school without a penalty.

Even if I wanted to pull my kids out of school for a random vacation for a week during the school year I can and they'll still pass.

One thing I think that I would like to see happen is a year round school year. I know as a home owner I pay school taxes, and that they would go up. I would rather pay more for my kids to go to school year round then I would to have to send them to camp for the summer. I was lucky that when my oldest was young enough for camp (and I was a poor single mother going to college & working as a waitress) that I found one sponsored by the little town that we lived in that cost $15 a week!!!!!! I was so lucky. I didn't have the money to send her to camp otherwise. That camp of course no longer exists.

This year, my youngest daughters camp cost me over $1200 for five weeks. (She does the fair thing with 4-H during the other weeks) so my expense was actually lower then what lots of other people have to shell out. I only had to pay for her, what on earth do people do that have more then one kid? Or that can't afford between $160 - $250 a week?? Normally that is paid up front. Even $300 is more then some people can afford to spend to replace a car, much less send their kids to camp. I'm lucky today to be able to afford it. I honestly have no idea what some other families do.

Yet, they have to go to work. The kids have to go somewhere. Preferably a safe somewhere and not home alone. There are daycare subsidies here for people who work that can't afford daycare expenses, but nothing like that for camp. The daycare's are generally full. Year round schooling wouldn't hurt kids at all and would help out parents, especially the working poor.

Hi Adorable,

From what I have read--even with year round schooling--there are still significant breaks throughout the school year where parents would need to find alternative means of supervision for their children.

In year round schooling, breaks range from 2 weeks spread throughout the year to 3-5 weeks for summer.



This calendar shows 3 breaks of 15 days off in b/w 45-30 days of learning and 1 break (summer) of 30 days. With either system, parents will need to find care for their children during the days away from school and, in fact, with the balanced (year round) system, I would think they would need to find more alternative means of supervision throughout the course of the year (as opposed to a chunk in the summer).

According to this article, year round schooling doesn't add more learning days to the (180 typical school days) calendar, they just spread the breaks more evenly thoughout the school year:

Instead of a three-month summer vacation, year-round schools typically have several breaks of three to four weeks spread throughout the year. The total number of school days and vacation days remains unchanged, but they are distributed more evenly over the calendar.


So, no matter what schedule, parents will still be responsible for finding and/or paying for adequate supervision for their children at various points throughout the year. I wonder--isn't that their responsibility anyway--as parents?

[adorable]

Originally Posted by HowSoonIsNow

Hi Adorable,

From what I have read--even with year round schooling--there are still significant breaks throughout the school year where parents would need to find alternative means of supervision for their children.

In year round schooling, breaks range from 2 weeks spread throughout the year to 3-5 weeks for summer.



This calendar shows 3 breaks of 15 days off in b/w 45-30 days of learning and 1 break (summer) of 30 days. With either system, parents will need to find care for their children during the days away from school and, in fact, with the balanced (year round) system, I would think they would need to find more alternative means of supervision throughout the course of the year (as opposed to a chunk in the summer).

According to this article, year round schooling doesn't add more learning days to the (180 typical school days) calendar, they just spread the breaks more evenly thoughout the school year:

Instead of a three-month summer vacation, year-round schools typically have several breaks of three to four weeks spread throughout the year. The total number of school days and vacation days remains unchanged, but they are distributed more evenly over the calendar.


So, no matter what schedule, parents will still be responsible for finding and/or paying for adequate supervision for their children at various points throughout the year. I wonder--isn't that their responsibility anyway--as parents?

Just because that is one model doesn't mean that is how it has to be done right? But even that model has benefits over the current system.

Sure it is the parents responsibility. Too bad all parents aren't all so equally responsible. There are plenty of single parents who are stuck, not by choice, trying to raise families on a very limited income. There are even two parent families that face hardships every day in this country and are worried about keeping the lights on. Not because they are irresponsible, but because they can't find work or they can and it's min wage.

I would personally, as a parent prefer to figure out shorter periods of time then such a large chunk. As someone who spent most of their life as a member of the working poor, I think that year round schooling - which other countries have done with some success - is a viable option to help parents that don't have the resources and it benefits the child educationally too.

Here is another article on it: http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/459031

I suspect that kids learn more without such large breaks or forget less depending on how you look at it. The structure remains intact without significant adjustments/disruptions for kids. Shorter periods of time where camp would be needed or alternative childcare arrangements saves money. Kids aren't going to learn less this way....and our kids need to be learning more, especially math and science.

[christie]

Originally Posted by adorable

Just because that is one model doesn't mean that is how it has to be done right? But even that model has benefits over the current system.

Sure it is the parents responsibility. Too bad all parents aren't all so equally responsible. There are plenty of single parents who are stuck, not by choice, trying to raise families on a very limited income. There are even two parent families that face hardships every day in this country and are worried about keeping the lights on. Not because they are irresponsible, but because they can't find work or they can and it's min wage.

I would personally, as a parent prefer to figure out shorter periods of time then such a large chunk. As someone who spent most of their life as a member of the working poor, I think that year round schooling - which other countries have done with some success - is a viable option to help parents that don't have the resources and it benefits the child educationally too.

Here is another article on it: http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/459031

I suspect that kids learn more without such large breaks or forget less depending on how you look at it. The structure remains intact without significant adjustments/disruptions for kids. Shorter periods of time where camp would be needed or alternative childcare arrangements saves money. Kids aren't going to learn less this way....and our kids need to be learning more, especially math and science.

Bratboy was in a school system several years ago that had a "year-round" schedule. For us, in great part due to his autism, it was a huge pain in the ass.

Routine and structure were so very important at that time, it seemed that just as he got settled in, BAM! Time for a two-week break. It would literally take the majority of the next grading period to get him settled back in then BAM! again.

It.wore.us.all.out.

It also increased my child care costs. I was already paying for before/after care and then I had a couple weeks every 6 weeks or so of fulltime care to pay. The summer break, while less in length, still necessitated camp or something. I didn't see it as a positive at all.

I realize this is just one not so great experience with a "year round" schedule and that other folks may not share the same views.

I have difficulty with adding to teachers' burdens. I think they are already overworked, underpaid and appreciated. I think the year round schedule just adds unnecessary issues because I think most children have difficulty in the re-adjustment after school breaks.