Year round school?
By 4monsters4me
@4monsters4me (2569)
United States
October 5, 2006 1:52pm CST
What do you think of schools going year round (like 3 months of school with 3 weeks off through the whole year)?
The school near where my dad lives (which is where my kids would have gone if we hadn't moved) is now year round. My daughter was supposed to start her first day of Kindergarten on July 1, 2005, but we moved the month before. My friend's two daughters go there and their first day of school for this year was August 1. It was the hottest day of the year (105 with heat index of about 115).
The school is very overcrowded so they now have four tracks so there are never more then 3/4 of the school population in at one time.
My daughter's schedule would have had her go all of July, August off, in school for September, October and November up until Thanksgiving. Then she would have had Thanksgiving through the first week of January off (all of December), then in school for January, February and March, off in April and back to school for May and June and July, etc. I'm glad we moved.
1 person likes this
4 responses
@amy0214 (1513)
• United States
8 Dec 06
I think that it does help keep the class sizes down as long as they have different tracks. When my brother was in elementary school they tried it at his school but it didn't really make sense because they only had one track. A lot of parents at the schools that had different tracks didn't like it though because if they had more than one kids at the school they sometimes got put on different track and it made it more difficult to find sitters. I personally would prefer my daughter to be on a regular schedule than a year round
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@4monsters4me (2569)
• United States
8 Dec 06
I still can't figure out why they just didn't turn that high school into a middle school or junior high instead of opening it up as an alternative school. They could have split the elementary school into to. Kindergarten-5th at the grade school and 6th-8th at the other shcool, you know. They would have had a lot of room to expand then.
In the little town I went to college in they had 3 elementary schools and combined them into one large building at the school campus (where the high school and junior high were). Within about 2 years the school was overflowing and they had to build another building. They now have one school for Kind-2nd grade (the primary school), one for 3rd-5th (elementary school), the middle school (6ht-8th) and the high school. Last I heard they were talking about building an early education building so they could offer preschool. That school would hold the preschool (3 and 4 year olds) and the kindergarten, freeing up space at the primary school.
The town only has 17,000 people but it buses in kids from all over the area and it is a big school. I with the Chicago public schools would consider splitting up schools like that.
@crystal8577 (1466)
• United States
19 Mar 07
They have been closing down a lot of private schools as I am sure you know. All of the public schools have been fighting for those schools. I have no clue why they did not make it a middle school. I would not send my girls to Hancock anyways. I would make you homeschool them first lol.
@crystal8577 (1466)
• United States
8 Dec 06
Their class size did not go down once they started year round school though. My oldest went to school for Kindergarten as a normal schedule. Then it started once she was in 1st grade. The school seems to just take in more kids that we really can't fit. The 7th-8th graders were having to go to the local high school. This year just the 8th graders are there.
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@crystal8577 (1466)
• United States
8 Dec 06
It is only our school in the area. It is so crowded here in all of the schools that unless you send your kids to a private school you have no choice.
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@4monsters4me (2569)
• United States
8 Dec 06
The school by West Lawn is year round, too. They went year round the year before your school, I think. They have the same problem of overcrowding. And it is true. There aren't any other choices in that area besides the Catholic school which you can't afford if you are a single income family. I have no idea how my dad did it for 16 years. He put 2 of us through 13 years each (actually 14 years for my brother since he failed a year). It staggers the mind to think of the amount of money he put into our education. I could never afford it. The high school I went to is now almmost $7000 a year. It was $3500 when I went there.
@courtlynne77 (4839)
• United States
1 Dec 06
I went to school year round for a year when my family lived in California. I don't know how my mom felt about it, but we loved it. We went two months on, one month off, it was like summer break was never more than two months away. I would definitely be for my children's schools doing this if they were over crowded.
1 person likes this
@crystal8577 (1466)
• United States
8 Dec 06
Well I will answer, since ou are talking about my school lol. It has taken a lot of adjustement, especially on my part. My girls are so young that they do not realize that they do not attend school like everyone else. I don't think they have accomplished much by making us go year round. The class sizes are still on the large side. They still have a number of kids in their class that do not speak English. It is almost impossible to make plans to go visit family & such since we have opposite schedules. My family is off of school in the summer & we only have July off.
@4monsters4me (2569)
• United States
8 Dec 06
I felt so bad for you guys in August. We were sitting on the porch and it was so freaking hot out and all I could think of was that the girls were in school right then. It sucks. The idea didn't bother me before my daughter was in school but now that I have had a year with summer off I'm not sure how we would adjust to year round school. Our biggest adjustment will be Owen doing all day Kindergarten next year (they just started it this year). I wanted that for his sister but half day was so nice. There was still time in the day to do stuff.
