Thoughts For the Last Days of Summer

As summer draws to the end, I’m feeling a little nostalgic for years past, when I would take the kids to Staples for new school notebooks and binders. Being a little OCD, I do enjoy office supplies and containers, but mostly, I was just happy that my kids were going back to school. 

Despite the cliched images of summers, most families aren’t sending their kids to expensive camps or hanging out in the summer homes. Rather, summer is a tough time with inadequate childcare and inflexible work schedules. 

Truthfully, I am still scarred by my own experiences with two young boys during those fifteen long weeks that schools closed every summer. There was simply not enough camps or programs for the autistic kid, and I had no help. 

Back in 2015, I wrote an article for The Atlantic that discussed the notion of year-round school, where the standard 180 days school year is distributed more evenly throughout the year. For example, students might attend school for 45 days, and then get a 15 day break. Proponents say that year-round school reduces learning loss and keep the continuity of education going all year,

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