So then, we come up to this question why we have this system of summer break even though we know that it has a bad effect on the children. This system is sometimes said to have started in the 19th century so the children would have time to help out on the farm, but I think this may not be the case. That is because the busy season for farmers is spring and summer when you sow and reap. I looked up on several articles and figured out that the purpose of the summer break is to get rid of the heat of summer and also take a rest.
I read an article about how the summer break is harmful and how homeschool is beneficial. The author is mentioning that summer break is harmful to children in two reasons. Firstly, the summer break will empty student’s mind and the content that they learned through the class, thus all of their effort and the teacher’s effort will be a waste. I found this has been proven by multiple kinds of research. For example, you can clearly see the decreasing of the score from the chart made from the data of 2015 NWEA RIT Scale Norms Study.
During the summer period, most wealthy and affluent families took all excuses to escape from the hot and harsh summer weather with their kids to the cool countryside. This affected school attendance and learning progress since school attendance weren’t mandatory at that time….. They all agreed that the idea of learning year-round was not ideal for kids since the brain is a muscle which needed to be rested. (Malki Ehrlich)
This way of thinking has continued until now, because this is a worldwide tradition for educational systems, and it’s not easy to change. On top of that, the summer break has an important role. Many families tend to have a family trip during this time of the year, and it helps them to build relationships within the family members. If you are homeschooling, you will have a lot of time to be with your kids, and you will be able to spend a lot of time with them and create relationships with them, but if the mother and the father are both working, it is difficult to spend a lot of time together and create relationship. Thus, the summer break is a great opportunity to do that. Studying is not the only important thing in life. Therefore, I think the summer break is necessary for a healthy development of the characters of the children.
In the article, Tracy Cassels also mentioned how homeschool is beneficial for her daughter. There is less bullying in the social group of the homeschoolers. That is because, among children, there is already the natural hierarchy based on age, not the artificial hierarchy based on clothes and so on. It also suits the kids’ needs and can provide learning in the best way for them, boosts their strong point and reduces the pressure of left-behind feeling for their weak point. I totally agree with all those points, but I have two questions. The first question is about the first reason she mentioned why she decided to homeschool her daughter.
My stepson went through the public school system in B.C. and we were not pleased with how it went for him. (Tracy Cassels)
She didn’t explain the reason clearly, so we don’t know what kind of problem that public-school system had caused. I understand that she was caring about her stepson’s privacy, but I think if she had made it clear, it might have been a really important argument about this topic. I think it would be better if she had made the relationship vaguer that people can’t tell that it is precisely about him, and give us the actual context that happened.
The other question was how homeschooling people treat some subjects that the children dislike. If you put weight on “enjoy learning”, it would be difficult to push the children to do what they don’t like. Just like a Syrian refugee, Mr. al-Jasem first disliked the smell of the fish, but he got used to it and got really good at cleaning the fish, there may be a lot of things which you will be forced to do at first, and then get accustomed to it, or even like it.
Initially, Mr. al-Jasem admits he was less than enamored with the time-consuming, smelly work of processing fish. But he grew accustomed to the odor and he got faster – he can now clean and fillet three fish a minute. (CAMILLA CORNELL)
I really want to know how the homeschoolers deal with this problem while keeping the learning itself fun. If we can introduce this to class, learning will be much more exciting for everyone.
【Reference】
Brait, Ellen. “Why one homeschooling mom says learning shouldn’t stop in the summer.” THE GLOBE AND MAIL, 18 AUGUST, 2016,
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/parenting/back-to-school/why-one-homeschooling-mom-says-learning-should-not-stop-in-the-summer/article31454851/. Accessed 16 February 2019.
CORNELL, CAMILLA. “Syrian refugee, fisherman’s friend: How a retiring couple found a new heir to their Lake Ontario business.” THE GLOBE AND MAIL, 29 July, 2018,
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/small-business/managing/article-syrian-refugee-fishermans-friend-how-a-retiring-couple-found-a-new/. Accessed 16 February 2019.
Kuhfeld, Megan. “Summer Learning Loss: What We Know and What We’re Learning.” nwea, 16 July, 2018,
https://www.nwea.org/blog/2018/summer-learning-loss-what-we-know-what-were-learning/. Accessed 16 February 2019.
Ehrlich, Malki. “Why Do We Have Summer Vacation?” GINGER, 30 July, 2017,
https://www.gingersoftware.com/content/why-do-we-have-summer-vacation/. Accessed 16 February 2019.
オルタナティブ教育について考える 