amo_mea_filiis. Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Just curious why it is the way it is. (I know some schools are year round, and homeschoolers may have a different year, just in general) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amey311 Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Summers off for harvesting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bairnmama Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Well... where I grew up they originally worked around the planting/harvesting times. Kids were needed during the summer to help around the farm/ranch. Also, it was too hot to be cooped up inside a building with no air conditioning during the summer months. We didn't start classes until after Labor Day and we got out the 3rd week of May. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Summers off for harvesting? That is also my basic understanding. In countries that never had a yearly harvesting time there is no summer holidays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrappyhomeschooler Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Well... where I grew up they originally worked around the planting/harvesting times. Kids were needed during the summer to help around the farm/ranch. Also, it was too hot to be cooped up inside a building with no air conditioning during the summer months. We didn't start classes until after Labor Day and we got out the 3rd week of May. This is what I always thought, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forget-Me-Not Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 I've always heard the harvest/air conditioning reason too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Summers off for harvesting? :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 I have understood it to be a hold-over from needing children to be during harvest. Of course, that would only pertain to locations where agriculture was important, KWIM? And it wouldn't affect children from the upper class who didn't help on the farm. It seems to me (says the woman who has only known September-to-June school years, lol) that there was at one time more of an emphasis on terms, as in having a fall term and a spring term instead of a September-to-June school year. Isn't it like that in other countries, too? I just know that when I was hsing, it didn't make sense to have a school year that started in August or September, so our school year started January 1 and ended December 31.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amo_mea_filiis. Posted August 22, 2011 Author Share Posted August 22, 2011 That makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissKNG Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Since I will have to report to the state (in 2012), it's easier to just run my school year with the public school year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Interesting. I wonder if we should restructure our year. I've considered doing it before. July was so terrible, we could have completed a lot of school. Thanks, I'm bored and needed a new schedule to poke around with. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in Neverland Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 The harvesting thing and it is a western hemisphere tradition. On this side of the world most of the schools start the new year in January. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 The harvesting thing and it is a western hemisphere tradition. On this side of the world most of the schools start the new year in January. It's also related to tourism in the modern world here. NC actually has a state law limiting the school year between certain dates. It was lobbied for by the tourism interests who didn't want the summer shortened for academic reasons. By having the summer off, more families will vacation than would if they were off around Christmas time.;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Agriculture Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amey311 Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Interesting. I wonder if we should restructure our year. I've considered doing it before. July was so terrible, we could have completed a lot of school. Thanks, I'm bored and needed a new schedule to poke around with. :lol: I have cousins with children in the UK, and I copied down one of their school calendar dates and I'm going to try that this year. Their calendar is 6 terms, all about 30 school days in length, with shorter and longer breaks. In this list, Terms are done by school days (5 day work week) while breaks are calendar days (so they include weekends). Term 1: 32 days Break: 9 days Term 2: 35 days Break: 18 days (winter holidays) Term 3: 28 days Break: 9 days Term 4: 30 days Break: 16 days (spring holidays) Term 5: 35 days Break: 9 days Term 6: 30 days Summer break: 7 weeks. There are a couple of bank holidays in there too for different things. This adds up to 190 school days. I've always been more of a "we'll take a break whenever" kind of planner (and often based on when family was coming). I think this year I'm going to try this schedule. It's already a little off because DH and I are going away for 4 days in the middle of "term 1" and I'm not going to have MIL keep up with schooling. We'll see how it works out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 And here we have an extra week off in October for potato harvesting. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amey311 Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 I have a friend who went to school in rural NJ, and they always got the first day of Deer Season off. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Actually most harvesting is not in the summer but in the fall, but summers for planting/maintaining. You will observe in a lot of old books, the older boys don't come to school early in the school year because they actually are harvesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kewb Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 It definitely originated with agriculture and the fact the buildings have no cooling. The Winter breaks had to do with the cost of heating the school. If they close during the coldest time for a week they save money. Where I am in NJ it has more to do with tourism now. And I will admit, having been on the school starts the day after labor day and ends in June train all of my life I like it. There is a certain rhythm to my life. Of course, I do shake it up a bit by taking vacation when I feel like it without being a slave to the school calendar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akmommy Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Our school year was/is determined by the fishing season. Many people depend on their older kids to help with commercial and subsistence fishing. They tried to start after labor day one year, but it made the school year last into June. They received a lot of complaints from parents who commercial and subsistence fish and have never tried it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akmommy Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 I have a friend who went to school in rural NJ, and they always got the first day of Deer Season off. :) A lot of leeway is given here to older students who miss days due to moose hunting during hunting season. Too many families depend on it to eat through the winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peela Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 In countries that never had a yearly harvesting time there is no summer holidays. Or maybe our harvesting season is at the opposite time of year :) We do have summer holdiays in Australia- they just fall over Christmas. And they tend to be shorter than yours- more like 7 weeks or so- and then we have more holidays during the year, although overall we still have less. I tihnk I prefer our slightly shorter summer holidays, so that we can have more time off at other times. Basically we have 4 ten week school terms with 2 weeks holidays between each term- except for Christmas holdiays which are 7 weeks. I could never improve on that- its a pretty good system. I am not sure if our summer holdiays are related to harvest time, though. Generally summer here is too hot- I think harvesting is earlier than that. We might have just carried over form a British system, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2scouts Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 We actually still have this here--a big fuss when the school wanted to start so early that the children had to miss State Fair. The group of parents that felt State Fair is an important part of their children's educations was overruled. If you're in ps, you'll not be showing your horse/hog/lambs. Such a shame. Yet another reason to hs... Most of the schools around here start on Wednesday of this week. The first week of school always coincides with the county fair. Parents who have children raising animals just skip the first few days of school. I'm sure they're learning much more at the fair than they would be learning in the first three days of school! I was so thrilled last year when I started homeschooling and got to take my kids to the county fair for the first time ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WishboneDawn Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 And here we have an extra week off in October for potato harvesting. :D They had a potato break in PEI too. I think it might have been done away with recently though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom in High Heels Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 What an interesting thread. I've always hear for agricultural reasons, but it never really made sense. Don't you generally plant in the spring and harvest in the fall? If so, why do they not go to school in the summer? Isn't that time when they're just sitting around waiting for stuff to grow? Not literally sitting around, I know there's a load of stuff to do on a farm (well, I don't know first hand, but I've heard), but still it seems like spring or fall would make more sense as a time to have a break. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingmama Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Well in Australia we school Jan-Nov/Dec - but that's when our summer is and I just figured it was because it was too hot to go to school. We only get 6 weeks for summer holidays though because they have 5 weeks off over the school year as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Well in Australia we school Jan-Nov/Dec - but that's when our summer is and I just figured it was because it was too hot to go to school. Heheh, when I was in primary school, Mum would come and pick us up if it got too hot. None of the teachers ever complained. It WAS too hot to work and what was one less child lying on the floor playing Dead Fish? :lol: Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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