What School Schedule Would You Choose?

It sounds like a scheduling nightmare. How do families find full time care for school age kids that works 3 weeks on then 7 weeks off?

We have been doing the year-round schedule for 3 years now, and I HATE IT. They have just enough time off to forget everything they ever knew, so you have to spend their "vacations" doing school work. Also, have you tried scheduling summer camp with a year-round schedule? Yeah, it doesn't work. So, because of budget cuts, they've taken out all of the "extra" classes from school (like foreign language, gym class, art, music, computers), so you have to home-school that stuff, and if your kids want to do a summer camp (so they can do crafts, art, music, etc), you have to pull them out of school to do it. This year I'm pulling my kids out of the last 3 weeks of school so they can go to summer camp. It's completely insane.

Anyway, if we had the choice, I'd go back to a traditional schedule. I really have not found the year-round schedule with no summer break to be beneficial to my kids at all.

ETA: For those who are on traditional schedule but think it would be better for the kids to do year-round... that's what the common wisdom was in our district, too. However, in practice, the test scores have gone down. Part of this may be because the district can no longer support gifted/talented classes on each of the 4 "tracks," so the gifted kids are now in the same classrooms as the mouth-breather kids, and the teachers have to teach to the lowest common denominator... so basically, in practice, year-round has been HORRIBLE for the high-achiever kids, and the test scores are now showing this. Our district is transitioning back to traditional, as year-round has been a dismal failure. Of course, our school isn't going to complete the transition until it's too late for my kids, but that's a whole other post...

Summer vacation is sacred to me, but of course we live in a climate where we need to take advantage of nice weather when we have it. We have eight weeks of vacation and it isn't enough! So no, I would not give up any summer vacation.

I think year round school should be the norm, not the exception...Mamazita listed several reasons and I agree completely.

I get the neighbor thing, though...I have a similar neighbor. Children NEVER supervised, always in our yard or at our door or hanging out on our steps, mother a really poor mother in general - swear, screaming all the time - and the school thing isn't even an issue for us, because I homeschool. We HAD to put a stop to it, for our sanity and the example that was being set for my children...I just started telling the children "Sorry, you're not allowed in our yard unless one of your parents is with you." Well, the parents never want to supervise anything, so that ended that...eventually. It took a whole summer, but the last two summers have been fairly neighbor free. You might consider just putting your foot down (and hard!)

I can't imagine a year round schedule! We are camping out doors people though. I know thAt summer can be stressful and unless we work with the kids they forget the school stuff,but I wouldn't trade that time for anything! And my daughter actually likes going over school stuff during her breaks. It gives her something to do.
Here 're some tips to help with summer for those who have bored kids....build a fort, scavenger hunt,hide and seek, catch, fishing, hiking, bake a treat, do some crafts, have a pj day, have a movie day, watch the cloud shapes together, go for a walk and talk, go to a park, plant a garden, teach the kids some chores, help an elderly neighbor.....there is soo much to do with kids. Yeah it gets in the way and is work. I don't know about you, but mine are growing up fast! I wouldn't want them to be in school all year and miss out in the stuff we did growing up! I would have hated year round school!!!!!

@Dana - when they floated that year-round stuff here, that same question came up and all the daycares and such said they'd "adapt" ... yeah, wanna bet there'd be a nice fee increase to go with this ...??

What a tough decision-- the first schedule is a bit less pleasant for your kids, the second is understandably challenging for you.

That said, I do see that you personally have more power to deal with the challenges of the neighbor and her kids than your daughter has in dealing with the 'mean girl' situation. So, what it would boil down to-- for me-- is 'how bad is the mean girl problem, and does this problem seem lesser than, equal to or bigger than the neighbor problem?' I'd also wonder, for your daughter, is coping with the mean girl would be less/equal/greater than coping with getting into trouble with the neighbor kids.

I do appreciate your situation-- we have a family nearby in our lives who is similar to your neighbor. I've made boundaries with the mom over the years and while she is nice, I find myself stretched thin at times around this person. It's a blessing that her kids don't seem to be very interested in my boy (although it makes him sad- this is a sadness I can live with as there are other playmates to be had), or I could picture a potential situation like you describe. (To be frank, I was dreading our kids going to school together, but fortunately, their family decided to home school.)

All that to say-- I would have to say that I can completely understand if the mean girl situation was easier to deal with overall. You can use this as a time to teach your daughter how to stand up for herself with a bully. I'm not sure "stay inside or go away all summer so as not to deal with the problem next door" is as easily approachable, unless you plan to just burn those bridges or get super-direct with the neighbors.

ps---your husband sounds smart in having no opinion since he doesn't have to deal with the daytime stuff at home, maybe? :)

I would give my eye-teeth to be on a year-round schedule. I think that the "traditional" schedule with a long Summer vacation is not good for our kids' education. I'd do that.

Consider it to be a good opportunity to work on setting boundaries with your neighbors even more. :-)

I wish year round school was an option for us, I'd take it in a heartbeat. Regular breaks, less burnout for both teachers/staff and students, opportunities to travel during non peak seasons. I love the "idea" of a long summer break but the reality is most kids lose a lot of what they learned over the summer and there's a good two months of just catching up and review.

I absolutely would do year round. In a heartbeat.

We are also on year round and have four tracks. If you have four track choices, A B C or D, like we do I think I would change schedules, but also choose a track my neighbors weren't on since that is a big thing for you. If there are only two tracks I think I would change schedules and just continue to try keeping the boundaries between you and your neighbor. Maybe it will be easier having had a year of practice saying "no". If you only have two choices, that is a hard decision. Good luck!

I would LOVE the 3 week summer vacation? Why, you ask? Because summers are ATROCIOUS here!

my kids never did year-round when they were in school. when we homeschooled we did school year round, but truth to tell, we lightened up a lot in summer. summer is my lazy bliss time.
but i have lots of friends and family members who have kids in year-round school, and it's not coming close to living up to the lofty expectations.
oops. that's not what you're asking, is it? sorry. the soap box is hard to resist, but i'll puuuulllllll myself off it.
;)
i think in your situation i'd change the schedule to make school a more positive experience for your kids (always a good thing) and work really hard on finding more ways to be firm and create good boundaries with the obnoxious neighbors (difficult but ultimately a really good thing if you can figure it out.)
khairete
S.

It seems you're getting a lot of answers about other people's opinions on year-round schedules and holidays, but few about the real question -- which is the influence of the neighbors, the alpha-girls and your son's best buddy's schedule on your own choices here. Is that right?

I would ask: Can you step back and possibly consider this choice while taking out all these factors? Can you look at what you would choose if there were NO neighbor issues, if your daughter's class had no problems, if your son's friend weren't in the mix? What would be the best schedule for YOUR family; what would work well for your kids' personalities and ability to get along with each other over the holiday; what would work best for the adults in your household? Can you weigh those things while putting aside the social issues?

I'd try to do just that--make the decision based on what is best for your family, not on worries about what might or might not happen with the neighbors or the other students. It sounds from your post as if the short summer option is better for you in most ways other than with the neighbors, as it would put you on their schedule and possibly open you up to the mom's imposing on you yet again.

If the short-break option is best, go for that. You will have to deal with impositions from neighbor mom again but that is something you must deal with, period -- please take care that you don't end up hiding .behind the school schedule so you can say, "Well, our kids are on different schedules again so she can't always ask for my help." Do the schedule you want and when she starts to ask for favors, work on that "no" that you're already getting better at saying. I would not let my neighbor's lack of social radar and inability to read my cues dictate what the kids' school schedule was. Don't let neighbor mom's ways push you to make a choice that's not quite right for your family.

One other thing -- your daughter has only five girls in her class?! That seems very small in an overcrowded school. Have you looked into what's going on with that, and have you (and maybe other parents) ever talked with the teacher about how the tiny group of girls is creating a clique that is generating real social issues for these girls? I would hope that could be worked on at your school. A group of only five in one class is a real recipe for a "mean girls" situation unless all the parents and the teachers are very alert and willing to get involved. Yes, kids have to work things out themselves mostly -- but such a small group with nowhere to turn for other friends would be a big issue for me.

I'm not as appalled at short breaks as some parents on here say they are. The long summers in the US are a leftover from long-gone days when kids were needed down on the farm. We don't need a three-month break and kids lose a lot of learning over the summer. In Britain, where my husband's from, they have year-round school -- and our niece and her family love it because they get much longer spring and Christmas breaks than we do, and still have about five weeks off in summer months.

Sounds like the second option, changing schedules, makes the most sense from what you describe. We were on year round for a long time and I miss it!! And if the school does it right, it should have no impact on test scores as you probably know. In fact, not having to review so much when school starts after long summers tends to keep them up there, but you probably know all of this!

The only other thing I'd ask is what kind of schedule the middle and high schools have there. While everyone loved year round here, most people with more than one child looked for the track that mimicked the middle school schedule the most. Otherwise, there was little overlap in elementary and middle school schedules which was tough. So maybe thinking ahead about that. But from what you describe, I'd change!