School Days

A few years ago I blogged about the difference between school calendars when I was a kid and those they have now. 

But one thing I failed to mention is the advantage of the way it used to be.

Back when most public schools in the United States followed the same calendar schedule it was easier for kids who moved from one area to another. They knew school would start right after Labor Day, which national and religious holidays would give them a break, and that Summer Vacation would begin at the beginning of June. If possible, families scheduled moves so their kids would enter their new schools at the beginning of the school year.

But in the past every state had its own choice of curriculum, and even school districts within a state might be different. If a kid had to move during the school year the new school might be ahead of what they had learned in their previous school and possibly even studying different topics.

I'm no expert on the Common Core Curriculum and have heard both negative and positive things about it. However, I do think it must be easier for kids who move to have their classes in the old and new locations be similar.

If anyone can tell me more about the pros and cons of Common Core I'd love to hear what you think.

School Year

Some kids have already started back to school and most others will be doing that soon.

The school year was different when I was a kid back in the 1940s and 50s. In California, which was proud of having the best schools in the nation, all public schools started the day after Labor Day and ended the second week of June. In between we attended classes Monday through Friday every week except for two days off at Thanksgiving, two weeks off for Christmas and New Year's Day, and single days off for Washington's birthday, Lincoln's birthday, and what is now called Memorial Day. We also had a week off at Easter.

In those days it was okay for schools to celebrate Christmas and Easter because they only talked about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, which weren't considered religious. The Jewish kids in our school were sometimes upset that Santa Claus never brought them presents, though.

It's interesting that now some public schools discuss religious holidays of many different faiths, but still only mention Santa and the bunny when they talk about the Christian holidays. Others avoid mentioning any of them.

School calendars have changed in many ways and now there are year-round schools, charter schools, and different school districts have different calendar schedules. And now many students are home-schooled, which used to be illegal in our state when I was a kid.