All Posts in "school year"

Last day of school.  The kids were excited about that, especially since it is so much later than what they were used to.  Six weeks of vacation is nothing like 12.  Already, they’re wishing it was six years.  They have not realised that they may be involved in lifetime learning and now’s not the time to bring that up.[ad#ad-1]

Because summer vacation (or holiday) is so much shorter than in the US, I hope they learn to appreciate the time and make it worthwhile.  Though we had a TV in the US, it was one of those old analog models that cannot pick up signals very well without the use of cable or satellite.  So, it was only used to watch videos or DVDs.  Now, we no longer have a TV, but we do have laptops.  And they are hooked on YouTube.  I would hope they do not waste their time with that for the duration of this break.  But, they did mention they wanted to go to Nanny’s tomorrow because there was a movie on TV they wanted to see.  Sigh.

The school year is divided very differently from the US, and despite the half-term and end-of-term breaks, the number of days off for holidays is still far fewer than in the US.  It is so hard to gauge whether the increased school days translate into more or better education. 

Things have changed so much according to my husband and critics have complained that education has been dumbed down.  The method of teaching using various historical themes is very different.  This year, it has been WWII, the Tudors, the Romans and Anglo-Saxons.  For each period, they made “topic books” and they brought them home at the end of each term.  However, the last one is to be returned at the beginning of next year so that their new teacher can see it.  The topic books contain everything they did related to the period and it looks almost like a complete scrapbook.  It makes it so easy to save and store for future reference.[ad#ad-1]

The themed study made it fun and interesting for the girls and I’m glad they had that.  I have to say that I have been impressed with their writing.  I cannot comment much on their reading skills as assessed by the school.  I know they both have great reading skills but I have to say that I was a bit disappointed in the lack of teacher-assigned reading as well as requisite reading for their level.  Let’s hope that the summer reading program will make up for that.

Yank by — July 22, 2009 in School 1

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One of the concerns I had about transferring the kids to schools in the UK was the change in the school calendar.  I knew that schools here let out for summer vacation much later than in the US.  What I did not realise was that they get a week break every half-term, and two weeks at the term break.  So, in effect, they are in school for about 6 weeks, followed by a break each time, with 6 weeks for summer break.  Then, of course, there are a few bank holidays as well.

In the US, we had several holidays, some similar to the UK bank holidays, but they were usually dispersed through the year.  The bank holidays here are in May and August.  Other holidays, such as Christmas and Easter always fall during the school breaks.  Since Easter varies each year, the spring term may vary in length, with the summer term adjusting for the length of the spring term.

I’m not working at the moment, so for me to get adjusted to the schedule was relatively easy.  In the US, most people would book their vacations/holidays for the summer break, and sometimes spring break.  Here, there are more opportunities for holidays when they get a full week for half-term as well.

What I wonder about is how the kids will like it that they have to stay in school longer than they used to.  One advantage to them is that they will actually get to celebrate their birthdays during the school term now.  It used to be difficult to get invitations out in the summer and to have adequate attendance.

Yank by — February 16, 2009 in School 0