My blog has now moved to www.drrickblog.com.
Make sure to keep visiting for different education topics and news throughout the week, and comment with your own thoughts or topic suggestions.
I'll see you over there!
-Dr. Rick
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Four-Day School Week continued...
If you’re in one of these school districts that are trying to balance their budgets at the expense of learning, here are a few things you can do at least to make sure the kids don’t see this as a vacation from learning but just a change in venue. Home can be a classroom, too, after all.
1. Stay involved. Make sure the decision-makers in your community have exhausted all other options, have been creative in their thinking, before they make draconian decisions like this.
2. Read. With your kids, read for information (newspapers, magazines, online news) about sports, current events, entertainment, subjects of interest that may not be covered in school. Read to perform a task (directions on how to make something, put something together, cook something). Or best yet, read for the pure joy of reading. Read aloud, you to them, they to you. Talk about your favorite parts. Imagine a sequel.
3. Do math. Find ways to do math at home. Have the kids help you figure out shopping on a budget, mileage during errands, ways to organize household chores. Let them see that math is part of your life every day.
4. Write. Have the kids keep diaries or journals about their days, their interests, their imaginations. Write stories. Write notes to grandparents. Write letters to favorite athletes, entertainment personalities, or government officials. (See which ones write back.) Write to the local school board with ideas about saving money other than cutting back on school days.
5. Research. Use the extra day to do some fun (but secretly educational) research about a topic you’re interested in. Family genealogy, the history of your town, the life of a favorite historic figure. Go to the library or a free museum. You’ll be surprised how quickly the right topic will grow into a mini-obsession.
6. Keep routines. A four-day school week does not mean an automatic three-day weekend or that learning can be put on hold for a day. Keep to those healthy study/homework/test prep/mealtime/playtime/bedtime routines. Kids need routines to build positive attitudes and values. A three-day break from school routine can be too much for some kids.
7. Be positive. Encourage the kids to use the extra day to stay on schedule with long-range assignments, projects, reports, and studying for upcoming tests. Get work done early to have more time as a family.
8. Expand. Just because the school system cuts time from learning doesn’t mean you have to. Consider supplemental educational services like tutors, coaches, or other experts who can help your child keep up or get ahead.
Is your school district considering cutting back on services in the name of “fuel savings”? I’d love to hear your experiences, your ideas, and opinions. Share them with us!
1. Stay involved. Make sure the decision-makers in your community have exhausted all other options, have been creative in their thinking, before they make draconian decisions like this.
2. Read. With your kids, read for information (newspapers, magazines, online news) about sports, current events, entertainment, subjects of interest that may not be covered in school. Read to perform a task (directions on how to make something, put something together, cook something). Or best yet, read for the pure joy of reading. Read aloud, you to them, they to you. Talk about your favorite parts. Imagine a sequel.
3. Do math. Find ways to do math at home. Have the kids help you figure out shopping on a budget, mileage during errands, ways to organize household chores. Let them see that math is part of your life every day.
4. Write. Have the kids keep diaries or journals about their days, their interests, their imaginations. Write stories. Write notes to grandparents. Write letters to favorite athletes, entertainment personalities, or government officials. (See which ones write back.) Write to the local school board with ideas about saving money other than cutting back on school days.
5. Research. Use the extra day to do some fun (but secretly educational) research about a topic you’re interested in. Family genealogy, the history of your town, the life of a favorite historic figure. Go to the library or a free museum. You’ll be surprised how quickly the right topic will grow into a mini-obsession.
6. Keep routines. A four-day school week does not mean an automatic three-day weekend or that learning can be put on hold for a day. Keep to those healthy study/homework/test prep/mealtime/playtime/bedtime routines. Kids need routines to build positive attitudes and values. A three-day break from school routine can be too much for some kids.
7. Be positive. Encourage the kids to use the extra day to stay on schedule with long-range assignments, projects, reports, and studying for upcoming tests. Get work done early to have more time as a family.
8. Expand. Just because the school system cuts time from learning doesn’t mean you have to. Consider supplemental educational services like tutors, coaches, or other experts who can help your child keep up or get ahead.
Is your school district considering cutting back on services in the name of “fuel savings”? I’d love to hear your experiences, your ideas, and opinions. Share them with us!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Four-Day School Week
Fuel prices strike again! According to an article in Time Magazine the other week, the students of Caldwell Parish, Louisiana, will be going to school for four days a week instead of five this school year. The decision to cut a day from the kids’ schedule comes from a necessity to save money on diesel fuel, which runs the school buses.
Other school systems are cutting back on bus routes, field trips, and extracurricular activities that require transporting students from one place to another. Some administrators say this will save a lot of money. “Penny wise and pound foolish” comes to mind.
Other administrators say it’s actually good for kids and teachers. Oh? I haven’t seen any studies, but I’m skeptical. The research I’ve seen over the years seems to say that the more kids are in school, the better they do. Common sense.
Here we go again! Haven’t we learned?
I hate to start sentences with “I remember when,” but I remember when we went through this before, during the original oil crises of the 1970s. The school system where I was teaching instituted an “Energy Break” during the month of February. We closed schools to save money on heating hundreds of buildings and thousands of school buses. Everyone was interested in saving fuel. Advertisements for cars touted gas mileage, just as breathlessly as they do now. (Look at car ads from the ‘70s and see how little has changed.) Some people saved energy by jetting to Florida to swim and to Colorado to ski. Energy Week extended years after the crisis, even as we became complacent. What gas crisis?
It was nice to have the week off during the winter doldrums, but I still wonder how much educational benefit it had. Schooling is supposed to be all about the kids, remember?
Count me in the camp of those who believe our kids go to school too few days already. Is cutting a day off the school week really the most creative solution we can come up with? Contrast our school laws – 180 days in most states – with other major countries’ and guess who almost always comes up last?
Up next, I’ll cover tips to make sure kids don’t see a 4 day school week as vacation from learning…
Other school systems are cutting back on bus routes, field trips, and extracurricular activities that require transporting students from one place to another. Some administrators say this will save a lot of money. “Penny wise and pound foolish” comes to mind.
Other administrators say it’s actually good for kids and teachers. Oh? I haven’t seen any studies, but I’m skeptical. The research I’ve seen over the years seems to say that the more kids are in school, the better they do. Common sense.
Here we go again! Haven’t we learned?
I hate to start sentences with “I remember when,” but I remember when we went through this before, during the original oil crises of the 1970s. The school system where I was teaching instituted an “Energy Break” during the month of February. We closed schools to save money on heating hundreds of buildings and thousands of school buses. Everyone was interested in saving fuel. Advertisements for cars touted gas mileage, just as breathlessly as they do now. (Look at car ads from the ‘70s and see how little has changed.) Some people saved energy by jetting to Florida to swim and to Colorado to ski. Energy Week extended years after the crisis, even as we became complacent. What gas crisis?
It was nice to have the week off during the winter doldrums, but I still wonder how much educational benefit it had. Schooling is supposed to be all about the kids, remember?
Count me in the camp of those who believe our kids go to school too few days already. Is cutting a day off the school week really the most creative solution we can come up with? Contrast our school laws – 180 days in most states – with other major countries’ and guess who almost always comes up last?
Up next, I’ll cover tips to make sure kids don’t see a 4 day school week as vacation from learning…
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