Not that I am any kind of geezer who complains about the “Good Old Days,” but it bothers me a little that today’s kids go to school on a totally different schedule than what I had to observe when I was in school. Around here, they start back to school the first week of August, which is more than a month earlier than when we started back the day after Labor Day, and that ends their “Summer Break.”

Then, the kids here get off two weeks for what they call “Fall Break,” then they get “Winter Break” and then “Spring Break.” Notice the pattern? They have removed references to holidays. Also, they have shortened what we called summer Vacation to just 2 months, instead of three. That is because they spread that other 4 weeks out during the year to give them longer “breaks.”

Maybe the kids like to have “Fall Break,” but what on earth do all the parents who work do with their kids being home for two weeks in October? I don’t know many employers who are going to happily let the moms stay home for two weeks, especially no one who works in retail when they are ramping up for the Christmas shopping season. There is not much to do in October – it’s too cold to go swimming or fishing and there are no festivals or fairs or anything fun to do with kids.

I think the school administrators are trying to gradually force year-round school on everyone and by sneaking in a few days here and there they are hoping that nobody notices. That annoys me greatly. I don’t agree with year-round school and I LIKE having the kids out of school for three months in the summer. And I like having time for the kids to play sports, go visit family, and just have fun being kids. What do you think about year-round school?