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What is your summer policy?
Flexible--students can take lesson as their wishes and only pay for what they attend
Strict--students have to pay for all weeks of lessons and schedule make up lessons if they miss it
Moderate--let's say students missed total of 6 lessons during summer, they are obligated to pay for 3 lessons and schedule for make up lessons when they come back. They will just skip for another 3 lessons
Others: Please share!

What is your view for America's extended summer no schools for 2+ months?
Good--Students will break away from regular schedule to explore new things freely that they do not have chances during school year
Bad--Students will break away from regular schedule and being too wild and unable to come back to regular schedule when school starts
Others: Please share!

Thanks!!

Daughter's music lessons have no changes over summer. Some families leave and come back in the fall (no guarantees of their schedule).

What is your view for America's extended summer no schools for 2+ months?

I wish it was a solid 3 months off. I'd also like school to be an hour shorter each day. My daughter's biggest cognitive jumps have been over the summer. She is able to read what she wants to read (no pointless AR tests!), discover what she wants to discover, try different arts, crafts, and entertain herself (imaginative play, writing, time to think). It's fun - I come home and she has made a city out of cardboard and paint or brown paper bags. She taught herself how to knit. It's just a very nice relaxing time for her. There is camping, hiking, swimming, gardening and ice cream trucks to chase. She can look for specimens under her microscope and just be herself. In the evenings we have dinner, go for walks, hang out with friends. There is no frantic pace of dinner, homework, shower, bed.

Very flexible. I tell students and parents that I will be available for regular teaching hours all summer (minus a couple vacations), but I understand if they choose to take time off. I only have 1 student who's taking the whole summer off. I have one who's taking July off and starting again the first week of August. I have a few who are going away to sleepaway camp but I'll still be teaching their younger siblings while they're away.

I think summer break should be longer than 2 months! Kids need the break. In my experience it doesn't take most kids that long to settle back into the routine of school, maybe a week at most.

I strictly enforce that students avoid me in July, August, and September. If we encounter each other by chance on the street, we pretend not to know one another.

LOL!

Students take 5 or 7 lessons (based on if they have 30 or 45 minutes during the school year) and continue to pay the same rate per month as during the school year. They can schedule their lessons any time I have available (shown on my online summer calendar) and can reschedule with 24 hours notice.

I forgot to answer you 2nd question. I think a holiday is great, 2 months is okay for the kids who's parents can afford enrichment activities for them (camps, seminars, classes) which is why I schedule fewer but longer lessons in the summer.

Stanny:
Your online schedule page for Summer is excellent! A few questions for you:
1. Is this a public page that "everyone" can edit?
2. Do you had experience of parents deleting other kid's name and put their kid's name on the slot that has already taken?
3. Parents need to have google account to edit your document?

I would consider something like yours too if possible.

Thanks

Sue

I'm pretty strict, I guess, but I work with parents more. I tend to do hour-long lessons for students who take a week off to make up for the time. I am letting one family take the whole month of August off because they'll be at their grandparents' for three weeks. But generally, I expect students to either be at their lessons or let me know so we can make other plans. I've tried being super flexible, and I ended up teaching about three lessons a week because lessons would be cancelled on a whim. I can't afford to take the summer off. I tried requiring eight lessons all summer, with lots of advance notice of cancellations, and it was really stressful on the parents. So I just charge my normal monthly rate and make it easy to reschedule.

LOL - this is why we homeschool. My oldest went to school for 2 years. It was a academic high achieving, popular school with nice families and a long waiting list. He didn't learn anything there! More time for music too. Both my kids test way beyond grade level. I know that doesn't work for everyone, but it has saved us sanity wise from trying to get square peg kids to fit in a round hole.

On the topic of scheduling summer, we have one teacher who I think is doing it well. In April, the teacher puts out a calendar of the times he will be teaching. He teaches 10 to 12 weeks, not remembering. The minimum number of lessons he requires is 8 (he will make exceptions, but you have to be a beloved advanced student with a unique summer to get around it probably). You can chose to have 2 lessons one week and zero the next. You can chose daytime lessons when that works, and evenings when kids are in day camps. The only thing I wish this teacher would change about summer sign up is giving a window of opportunity for blocking your current lesson time as your first choice for particular weeks.

If students want priority scheduling in the fall, they need to take a minimum of 6 lessons in the summer. Most students do more than the minimum. I usually give them a selection of 8-9 weeks I am available to teach, and which days within those weeks; the rest I have off. They pay for all the lessons at one time (I make exceptions in some circumstances).

I like having the change of schedule, and I enjoy seeing my students in a less frazzled state. I also need the summer to do my own musical endeavors, so it really is a good "break" for everyone, but not so much of one that they regress.

All the more reasons to send kids to piano competitions during the summer!

To answer Ez's second, broader question, and to answer it seriously: I think the American and Canadian custom of roughly ten to twelve weeks off for students each summer is a poor one academically. It seems too long a time away from sequential learning, without sufficient benefit. As a piano teacher, however, I have decided not to fight this, and instead use my summers to do other things and come back refreshed.

There *are* school districts in N. America that are now using different models of shorter vacation periods (4 weeks or so). Good for them, I say. In continental Europe, I believe kids are generally back in school after a summer break that is much shorter than our norm. I'm sure we have PW posters who can fill us in more on such competing models.

Peter: In Greece kids get out of school of June the 15th and get back on September the 15th (with a lot of breaks after that)... Of course it's Greece and we need to be honest with ourselves: Too much heat!

I'm trying to get more info on home schooling in Greece, but I get a feeling that it's currently illegal. Once I know more I'll repost.

For me summer is vacation for the kids and composing ( = vacation ) for me!

Generally in Australia we have 6 weeks off in summer, from just before Christmas until the end of January. There are shorter breaks through the year - where I am there are 2 weeks in autumn, 2 in mid-winter and another 2 in spring. So we probably have the same number of school weeks as you do in the US (about 40) but more evenly spread over the year. I find the 6 weeks break for the Christmas/summer holidays are just long enough to have a real break but not long enough to forget everything you've been doing.

The only time I thought it wasn't long enough was when I was school teaching.

Whether summer vacation is too long in American schools seems to be a major debate these days. I think both camps have a point. For some kids, school is the major place for learning to happen, and for them, summer is indeed way too long. Studies have shown how much these kids forget by the time the new school year starts. For other kids, summer is an important learning time----academic camps, music camps and festivals, work and research experience, etc.---- and for them, summer could be a bit longer. Surveys have shown that middle-class kids actually go back to school in the fall with improved academic performance. In other words, some kids forget what they've learned after a long break; other kids improve a lot academically during summer. Our district has free summer academic schools for kids who are "at risk" (kids enroll by teacher recommendations), as well as music intensives and such for those who want to keep learning in the summer.

We try to send kids to music camps and other camps in the summer. It's nice to have a broader experience.

Yes, and that disadvantaged kids learn at the same rates as the middle class kids during the school year, but backslide as soon as summer comes, getting a little further behind each year.

This shows the importance of learning during the summer, and I think suggests it is time to abandon a school year based on an agricultural economy that no longer exists.

I don't think summer means no schools. It only means you need to pay extra for the schools. And since your are paying a la carte, you got to choose and have a sense of freedom.

The freedom, of course is a double edged sword, good for some, and bad for the others.

Variety is the spice of life as they say!

Summer is variety! Time to do something different. Take a break from the schedules. Get out and play at the lakes, pools, playground, baseball parks, or just sleep in.

I think if more mothers were home, that would improve kids lives, and homes in general!

It will work for some, not for all... For kids whose schools can provide what they need, yes, more schools. For those whose schools don't quite provide what they need, summer is precious learning time.

I think Mark Twain said this: I never let my schooling interfere with my education.