Can you believe how our college age kids only went to kindergarten half day?!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely extend the day longer. Start at 940 instead of 740 and get out around 445. Most parents work until 5ish so that makes things easier for literally everyone.

Also agree that having off of school for 9 weeks in the summer is antiquated. Schools have AC now (and honestly , it’s super hot in August when they go back anyways so the AC argument is dumb). Have a 2 week break in June and a 2 week break in August and go to school for July.

Agreed so 9:409-5:00 have the kids walk home in the dark, especially those Kindergartners! Wait, just add some beds and dinner then you don’t have to deal with your kids at ALL until the weekend! I mean kids don’t need rest or a calmer environment, mass house them together. This is FINE!

They’re gone for the same number of hours….? I’d actually see them for more hours per day this way? Since I wouldn’t need the after school babysitter , I’d be at work the exact hours they’d be at school. Are you not very smart?

Anonymous wrote:11:20 is not a good time for my elementary schooler to start.

My kids 630am bus everyday is AWESOME!

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely extend the day longer. Start at 940 instead of 740 and get out around 445. Most parents work until 5ish so that makes things easier for literally everyone.

Also agree that having off of school for 9 weeks in the summer is antiquated. Schools have AC now (and honestly , it’s super hot in August when they go back anyways so the AC argument is dumb). Have a 2 week break in June and a 2 week break in August and go to school for July.

with these delays my elementary kids don’t start until 11:15. it’s so disruptive to parents who have to work. my 1st grader arrives to school and immediately eats lunch. my older elementary child has missed specials for 2 weeks (last week snow days and teacher work days, this week snow day and delays - his specials are 10:30am). if we added 2 hours to the end of their day they wouldn’t get out until 6pm and some kids wouldn’t be home until close to 7. that’s insane for elementary

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely extend the day longer. Start at 940 instead of 740 and get out around 445. Most parents work until 5ish so that makes things easier for literally everyone.

Also agree that having off of school for 9 weeks in the summer is antiquated. Schools have AC now (and honestly , it’s super hot in August when they go back anyways so the AC argument is dumb). Have a 2 week break in June and a 2 week break in August and go to school for July.

Agreed so 9:409-5:00 have the kids walk home in the dark, especially those Kindergartners! Wait, just add some beds and dinner then you don’t have to deal with your kids at ALL until the weekend! I mean kids don’t need rest or a calmer environment, mass house them together. This is FINE!

unless you are a sah your child will be staying with a nanny or daycare until you get back home at 530pm

Go move to Spain and you'll be accommodated. Our day starts earlier here and kids have lots of after school activities that would be horribly impacted with significantly later starts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sweetie, my elementary child should not be going to school at 11:00am.

Yeah, that’s too late. My middle schooler is going at 9:30, which is perfect. I guess we cannot have elementary, MS, HS go in at the same time. But if you had been enjoying elementary school start time of 9:30 kiss good bye to it and hello to the grind of having to get your kid to the front door by 7:30, getting out of your house before the sun is up despite daylight savings. And if your kid has to take a bus, they have to stand in the freezing cold and the darkness well before 7am.

All schools should start at 830-9 at all levels, that is life. schools should be planning around what is best for students not the bus drivers

+1, these pre-8am starts are ridiculous. Most people would rather go home in the dark during mid-winter than have to leave the house and get to school/work in the dark. Darkness tells your body it's time to sleep. That's okay when your are heading home to eat dinner and rest. It is not great when you are just starting your day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now add 2 hours on to the end of the day and tell me how they feel. Would they be happy getting home from school at 4:30 or 5:30?

Or we keep the shorter day but add on weeks to make up for the 2 hours that we are cutting from the day, so shorter summer.

Which is it?

1) Current schedule
2) Later release time
3) Longer school year but shorter days

You are thinking too narrowly. Public schools have a huge amount of wasted, non-learning time during the day. Breaks, transitions, for elementary students there are too many "specials", for older kids free periods. You could easily accomplish the same amount of actual learning in a shorter school day if you tried, with no need to extend the school day or school year.

But people get attached to the idea of "instructional hours" as an essential metric for school quality without thinking critically about how many of those instructional hours actually include instruction. It's so many fewer than you think. Your kids are dragging themselves to school at 7 or 8 am in order to spend half of their school day waiting, walking between classes, or engaged in an independent activity they could easily do at home.

I'm not sure how you would get rid of transitions. I do feel strongly that "specials" are important. For some kids there may just be one part of the school week where they feel successful. That might not be math or reading. It could be art, music or PE. I didn't always appreciate this

Elementary schools in Denmark don't have a lot of specials but most kids attend a program after school that runs until parents pick up after work. That's where they get what we would consider specials in the US -- gymnastics, music, art, etc. It is also a way to extend the school day to accommodate parents working. Classes also don't start as early in the morning as they do in the US. At my niece's school, kids can begin arriving at school around 8:30, but will just gather in the cafeteria or multi-purpose room to read, do homework, or socialize until classes start formally at 9:30. Sometimes there are choir or other extra curricular practices in the morning as well. But kids can also arrive at 9:30, which is a more humane time to start actual classes IMO.

Not saying we should automatically do what schools in Denmark do, just pointing out that often when we talk about changing school in the US, people freak out and say "but we CAN'T do that!!" as though the American education system is perfect and has the right priorities, all evidence to the contrary.

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely extend the day longer. Start at 940 instead of 740 and get out around 445. Most parents work until 5ish so that makes things easier for literally everyone.

Also agree that having off of school for 9 weeks in the summer is antiquated. Schools have AC now (and honestly , it’s super hot in August when they go back anyways so the AC argument is dumb). Have a 2 week break in June and a 2 week break in August and go to school for July.

Agreed so 9:409-5:00 have the kids walk home in the dark, especially those Kindergartners! Wait, just add some beds and dinner then you don’t have to deal with your kids at ALL until the weekend! I mean kids don’t need rest or a calmer environment, mass house them together. This is FINE!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sweetie, my elementary child should not be going to school at 11:00am.

Yeah, that’s too late. My middle schooler is going at 9:30, which is perfect. I guess we cannot have elementary, MS, HS go in at the same time. But if you had been enjoying elementary school start time of 9:30 kiss good bye to it and hello to the grind of having to get your kid to the front door by 7:30, getting out of your house before the sun is up despite daylight savings. And if your kid has to take a bus, they have to stand in the freezing cold and the darkness well before 7am.

All schools should start at 830-9 at all levels, that is life. schools should be planning around what is best for students not the bus drivers

Anonymous wrote:Now add 2 hours on to the end of the day and tell me how they feel. Would they be happy getting home from school at 4:30 or 5:30?

Or we keep the shorter day but add on weeks to make up for the 2 hours that we are cutting from the day, so shorter summer.

Which is it?

1) Current schedule
2) Later release time
3) Longer school year but shorter days

Agree. My kids have loved the later start time but would not love getting out two hours later. I could go for a longer school year with shorter days though.

We actually like the current HS schedule though (without the delay). MS is rough, and our MS is a longer commute than our HS so it feels like more than 40 minutes difference, but it is only two years. (Easy to say when you are at the tail end of four year for your family, I guess).

Anonymous wrote:My middle schooler is much more jolly in the morning! On a normal day, she’s all tired, and skips breakfast. This past week she’s well rested, has enough time, and actually eats!

Gee. I guess she's better off with home schooling then?

My middle schooler is much more jolly in the morning! On a normal day, she’s all tired, and skips breakfast. This past week she’s well rested, has enough time, and actually eats!

Anonymous wrote:My middle schooler is so much more rested and happier to go to school this should be the real start time.


Same with my highschooler

The school day is filled with so much BS that they could easily shave off 2 hours, and students would still learn the necessary academics. Maybe high school should be a full day for college/workforce prep, but 5-11-year-olds do not need to be in there all day.

Anonymous wrote:Sweetie, my elementary child should not be going to school at 11:00am.

Yeah, that’s too late. My middle schooler is going at 9:30, which is perfect. I guess we cannot have elementary, MS, HS go in at the same time. But if you had been enjoying elementary school start time of 9:30 kiss good bye to it and hello to the grind of having to get your kid to the front door by 7:30, getting out of your house before the sun is up despite daylight savings. And if your kid has to take a bus, they have to stand in the freezing cold and the darkness well before 7am.