School always started the Wednesday after Labor Day and ended right around Brother's birthday, the 22nd of June. For some reason, schools here in Tucson think it's wise to let the kids run free when it's 104 degrees in the shade and no one is playing outside. Summer Break starts in mid-May and school begins again the 1st week in August.
So, vacation is halfway over this week, and I haven't begun any of the Grandma's Garden projects that are on the To Do List. I haven't called the irrigation specialist nor ordered the cedar planters nor figured out where the tubing is for the hanging baskets we received from a Federal grant program.
It's a matter of an hour or so, and then the actual work. I just kept looking at the calendar and seeing May and June and feeling like summer vacation was a while off.
Wrong-o, Turkey Toe as the Cuters and I used to say.
What's the rush, I wonder? Who stole summertime, that lazy space between 4th of July and Labor Day? Personally, I want it back.
August afternoons, hot and unscheduled, used to make me smile more than any other time of the year. After camp, after my summer job, before school began, there was a hiatus. I promised myself on one of those afternoons that I would always, each and every year, take a walk and feel the sun and the heat and the lack of anywhere to go or anything to do.
Knowing the scholars are at their desks interferes with the whole notion of down time.
Wouldn't it make more sense, if you're sticking to a 9 month school year, to start in January and end before Thanksgiving? Families could travel and visit and be with their loved ones over the holidays without worrying about missing school.
Plus, here in the desert Southwest, you can actually enjoy the outdoors for extended periods of time during the Fall and Winter months. Why not keep the kids in air conditioned comfort during the hottest months of the year, and let them enjoy their time off without sweltering, many of them in un-airconditioned homes.
Just a thought.
The Fresno schools let out in early June and return mid August. It's actually a good time for school to start as the air is usually the worst in August and the kids can be in air conditioned buildings, not at home where many do not have AC but they do have asthma. I always wait to return to the classrooms to read books until after Labor Day. That gives the teachers time to get to know their students, get them trained to school routine, and everyone feels a bit more settled before I sashay in and convolute the whole routine. 😆
ReplyDeleteI do some sashaying of my own and
Deletehappily bollix things up, too. I'm in the garden early on, but I stay out of classrooms for a week or two, as well.
a/b