Can you feel that buzz in the air? It’s the collective excitement of kids across the country who are thisclose to getting out of school for the summer.
And I’m getting caught up in it too. Oh, I know it’s no longer fashionable to admit to loving summer break. I’ve heard the debates about the irrelevance of the agrarian calendar in our 2015, about “summer slide,” about the difficulties summer break puts on working parents, and I agree with many points the summer-detractors pose. But to me, there’s something so intoxicating about the idea of an old-fashioned, lazy summer. It’s a throwback, yes, but the kind I’m loathe to let go of.
Because while I’ve heard arguments that a year-round school schedule would lead to less stress for kids and parents alike, spreading school workloads and child-care needs out over a year, part of me thinks it wouldn’t really work out that way. A two-week break is lovely, but when the return to the grind is imminent, it’s in the back of everyone’s mind all the time. And if the breaks were shorter, I worry that school would slowly start to seep in, the longer year seen as an excuse to pack in more, more, more.
I don’t fear summer slide, because there are things just as important to me as academic progress, like lying in the grass and watching bugs crawl, or splashing in the lake, or spending long evenings watching fireflies in the yard, without having to save brain space for worrying over whether I checked the kids’ homework logs or have a field trip coming up and did I buy brown paper bags for the sack lunches? Three months is more than a blip…it’s a true break.
Sometimes we – and our kids – just really need a rest from it all, and a three-month recess that clearly marks the space between one academic year and another gives us the gift not only of saying “goodbye” to one experience, but also “hello” to a fresh start later. At least, that’s the way I look at summer break, and so while I’m sure there are times I’ll be throwing up my hands in frustration because why are they all so loud when I’m trying to work and why are they begging for snacks every five minutes, overall, an extended vacation is totally worth the tradeoffs to me.
Besides, my teacher friends seem to universally love their three-month break…and I figure if anyone deserves the break after dealing with my kids this year, it’s their teachers!
In other news, I’ve got a busy June coming up! For the last two months, I’ve been rehearsing for a local production of the musical Nunsense, which will run every weekend in June. I play Sister Mary Leo, who is both a novice nun AND a ballerina. Now, I probably don’t have to tell you that I am not quite as young as Julie Andrews was in The Sound of Music, so playing a young “beginner” nun is a bit of a stretch. But ballet! I am also most decidedly NOT a ballerina, so I’ve been relying on our Sarah for tips on everything from landing a tour jeté to the best tights. (Did you know that Sarah was a professional ballerina in an earlier life?)
Anyway, it’s been a really fun process and I am thrilled with how the show is shaping up, but it’s been a huge challenge for me in more ways than one. Here’s a photo from last night’s dress rehearsal. Can’t wait for opening night Friday! And can I mention that if it weren’t for my kids having June off of school, it would be much more difficult for me to put in the late nights required to do something like this for myself?
Well, that’s my update for the month! As for our family this summer, we’ll be doing the usual – lots of hanging out with family and friends, trips to the park and beach, a road trip or two. Jon and I will still have work to do and a house to run, so more or less, life will just be life…albeit with a slower cadence, warmer weather and more chilled drinks.
Still, given the choice, I wouldn’t give up the next three months, and plan on relishing our summer “vacation” as much as possible.
What are your thoughts on summer break? Share them with us below!
Here are a few posts from the archives you might enjoy as we head into summertime…
That’s so awesome that you’re in another play! (I’ve missed this kind of post, by the way!) I share your feelings about summer. I am careful to review academic concepts with my son on a regular basis throughout the summer so he won’t “slide”, but I think the unstructured aspect of summer is so important.
We’ve got only a 5-week summer vacation, and sometimes I think we could use an additional week for just chilling. Between family vacation, a week of camp and a week with the grandparents, there’s not much left over. Having breaks here and there throughout the schoolyear is nice, but it seems like you need to be even more on top of scheduling things, e.g. the summer camp that I booked back in January.
Right now, our summers aren’t that different from most of our year. Our outside-the-home jobs are year-round, and Baguette’s day care has a summer camp from mid-June through August.
I’ve heard the same thing from a lot of parents at my son’s school, that when both parents work year-round jobs, the family schedule is pretty much the same in the summer. But when kids reach elementary school age, I think they will notice a big difference between school and summer camp. Even though the hours are the same, the dynamic is different. Summer camp is more play-based, more outdoorsy, relaxed, etc. At the preschool age there wouldn’t be a huge distinction, but I think there is for older kids, and I think they enjoy the more relaxed dynamic.
Oh, I think that’s probably true, which is why I said “right now.” We will have the added challenge of finding a camp that not only caters to our daughter’s interests, but also accommodates her autism. Right now we don’t have to worry about that, because we just keep doing what we’re doing all year, but we will in the future.
We are actually currently on a year round schedule with school and have kind of a love-hate relationship with it! I love the breaks throughout the year. We went on a family vacation at the end of October/beginning of November and it was amazing! Legoland was empty because everyone else was in school. We live in Vegas, so the summers are too hot to really enjoy or want to be outside, and it’s nice to be able to go to the park and swim at nicer times weather wise throughout the year. BUT. I’m dying a little bit over everyone’s out for the summer posts right now because we are still in until August 5 and start back again at the end of August. And when my oldest gets to middle school (which is still a long way off) we will have one on a nine month schedule and two year round, which will present its own challenges.