In yet another manner my generation is losing it’s collective mind, we are trying to do away with summer.
I started noticing it when on staff at a church and Christian school in Georgia. One year school began the third week of August. Soon after we left to come to Michigan, it jumped to the second week of August.
It was announced that the town we live in will start going to a year round school calendar in two years. There will be more breaks throughout the year and a much shorter summer break.
Just yesterday, my sister-in-law who teaches in a Christian school, announced her last day of summer yesterday, July 29th. Teachers come in early in order to train and prepare their classrooms.
May I ask what we are doing? Why are we cutting summer short? Are we tired of parenting and find it easier to ship our children off to strangers? Do we truly think more hours in a stuffy classroom will benefit their lives? What happened to summer jobs and experiences that can only be found outdoors?
It is the continued worship of institutionalized learning.
Kids learn more and better when put it real life scenarios that allow them to see successes and failures. Summer break provides more of these types of opportunities than sitting behind a desk does.
We have been home schooling for two years now. Our school year begins the day after Labor Day and dismisses on May 29th because Winston’s birthday is the 30th and he absolutely must be finished with his work by then or he will lose his mind. Good for him. Phineas and Ferb would be proud. We are certain to get our 104 days in.
I would love to put these parents and administrators in a time machine and go back to when they were still in school for the sole purpose of suggesting year round school for them. I wonder what the response would be.
Go ahead and lock your kids in a room and chain them to a desk year round.
Mine will be living life.
Joel Stiff's Adventure 