Do We Need a Longer School Year?

Apparently, President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan think so. Obama and Duncan believe a longer school year as well as a longer school day would benefit children in the United States and make the education system more competitive with other countries.

"Young people in other countries are going to school 25, 30 percent longer than our students here," Duncan told the AP. "I want to just level the playing field."

My first reaction was to dismiss this out of hand. I don't want to curtail my kids' summer vacation, and I have a feeling this is going to be the overwhelming view.

That said, there are some intriguing aspects of the program, and the benefits to less advantaged children would be significant. In addition, experts believe even a 10-minute per day increase in math class would provide big gains.

Still, the costs would be huge, and with the ongoing health-care debate, I can only imagine the education debate would also prove heated with more emotion-based arguments (such as my initial reaction) than actual reflection and thought.

What do you think? Can a longer school year and day help? What will be the effects for families, from the low-income to the well-to-do?

I'm interested to know what you think.

Words of the Week

My football teams are hurting. When does college basketball season start? This week's quote comes from the Washington Post's story on the Redskins loss to the Lions.

"No question, yeah, we've got some problems. They [the coaches] do what they're supposed to do. They're putting us in position that you think would work on the field. They're putting us in position to execute. Even though to the public eye, the fans or the audience it looks like we ain't in the right position or we ain't making plays, they're calling the plays we think will work. But we've got to do something. We've got to get it worked out and come out and ball. And we got to hurry up and do it."

- Washington Redskins free safety LaRon Landry

Update: Soccer Two-Step

After Monday's post about the Soccer Two-Step, I found this entry from the Washington Post's On Parenting blog. The article cites a Purdue University study that found parents learn as much from youth sports as their children, from social interactions to balancing time.

Tightening the Belt

Everyone knows the economy is in bad shape, and almost everyone I know has had to make tough choices and changes to adjust to the times. Old Wahoo has struggled with this, though, and needs to re-examine the family budget, particularly discretionary spending.

Quite simply, I think I still spend too much money on needless things, from a cup of coffee or smoothie at Biggby's to the Netflix account. Something needs to change, and the Simple Dollar blog offers 100 ideas for a money-free weekend.

Here's an example:

32. Scan your old pictures. If you have a digital scanner laying around somewhere, bust it out and scan in the piles of old prints you have laying around. If you have a screensaver of pictures, scanning in old prints and adding them to the rotation will make your screensaver all the more amazing. Plus, it becomes easy to just attach them to emails and send them to friends and family.

Some are great ideas, some are simple and some I absolutely won't try. (I will never quilt. Sorry). But it's worth trying, I think, for two weekends a month. I'm curious how everyone else is finding creative ways to save. What are some things you do for a money-free and fun weekend?

Words of the Week

I think I need to pray a lot more.

"Ye fathers, provoke not our children to wrath."

- Ephesians 6:4

Soccer Two-Step

I have new-found respect for all soccer moms, hockey dads and baseball parents. I knew it was tough ferrying kids around to practice and shuttling back-and-forth between games, but this weekend I had the pleasure of experiencing those good times first hand.

It's a pain. Big-time, from putting uniforms on the kids to finding the right fields (which sounds simple, but I managed to screw that up once this weekend).

That said, I also know that we have it easy. We have just two kids playing right now. We are just doing recreational, house leagues - no travel teams. Practice time is minimal (which is easy for me to say, since I'm at work and Mrs. Wahoo has to handle all of that running around).

Plus, I think the weekend was worth it. Both boys had fun, which is the important part. And both boys had coaches who helped them learn and kept it fun, which is an even tougher balancing act (and coaching is an even bigger time issue and potential headache).

Another Father's Thoughts

John Richardson, an old apartment-mate of Old Wahoo's from the University of Virginia, offers his thoughts on fatherhood.

Age? 35

Number of children and their ages? 2 – 4 and 6

Occupation? Manager of Natural Gas for Dominion – Virginia Power

What is the best part about being a father? Seeing them everyday and knowing I had a part in their creation

What is the toughest challenge you face as a father? Discipline and understanding how they learn in order to help them

How do you balance career and family responsibilities? What kind of challenges does you career present? My job is generally flexible but sometimes I do miss out on events that occur during the day

How has fatherhood changed since you were a child? How are you a different father than your father? I think fathers are more involved in their kids daily life; I am not sure how I am different than my dad since I am sure I will change as a father as my kids get older; I can’t really compare apples to apples since I don’t remember what type of dad my father was when I was my kid’s ages.

What’s the best advice about fatherhood that you’ve received? No matter what, always let them know you love them….

When My Mind Turns to Mush ...

I will be sitting for story time at the library, with 20 million 2-year-olds shaking tambourines while I sing "CRASH! ZING! BOOM! BOOM!" I know it's all about the kids, but ...

Look and Listen

Recently, the Father Factor blog asked teen-agers what they expected out of their parents. The results reminded me that we should take time to listen to our children, not because they are always right, but because sometimes we are not always right. Plus, some of the items can apply to children of all ages, not just teen-agers.

Don't be my coach. Be my parent. Just be there and tell me I did a good job, but let the coaches do the coaching.

Communication is really important to avoid hurt feelings.

Trust us to do the right thing. You raised us right, so let us make decisions.

Give us space when we ask for it.

Notice when we do things right, not just when we do things wrong.

Spend time with us and really listen to what we say.

Don't embarrass us in front of your friends or tell people stuff about me.

Take time to understand what is going on in my life so you know what I'm going through.

Don't always be a parent...sometimes be a friend, because I tell things to friends that I wouldn't tell to my parents.


Listen to us, because we might say something you hadn't already thought of.

I'm interested to know what everyone else thinks. Do you agree? Are some points more valid than others?

Another Father's Thoughts

John Clexton is a librarian and father of three who lives in Grosse Pointe Park. Two of his favorite movies are "Better Off Dead" and "Strange Brew," so he's pretty cool. His wife, Kim, writes a blog at Mad Mommy Meanderings.

Age? 39 I think (sometimes 18 , other times 83)
Number of children and their ages? 3 Kids 13,11,7
What is the best part about being a father? Being able to be part of their growing up experience
What is the toughest challenge you face as a father? Trying to be the cool dad, yet not be a total nag
How do you balance career and family responsibilities? What kind of challenges does you career present? I don't know, just kinda happens, lots of time I'm consumed with "so called drama or emergencies" that I really shouldn't have to deal with or worry outside work.
How has fatherhood changed since you were a child? How are you a different father than your father? I don't think it has changed too much, except for maybe more demands on working. Somtimes I find it scary that I'm very alike my dad.
What’s the best advice about fatherhood that you’ve received? Best advice is that remember how you thought at that age and take it from their precpective.

Words of the Week

In honor of working moms everywhere, and for all the sacrifices they make (while acknowledging most have it much tougher than a professional tennis player).

“I can’t believe this has happened, it’s still so surreal, that in my third tournament back I won my second Grand Slam. It’s a great feeling to have, but it’s confusing in a lot of ways that it happened so quickly.”

- Kim Clijsters, mom and 2009 U.S. Open champion

The King and I

The 5-year-old just asked me to address him as "Your Majesty." He must think he's going to KING-dergarten, not kindergarten.

When the Unthinkable Happens ...

... Old Wahoo prefers to ignore it, pretend like it never happened and lay low for the entire fall. Still, despite a stupefying setback and the good news that UVa has perfected the rugby-style punt (Yipee!), I vow to raise my children as Wahoos. I will tell them to root for lacrosse teams and soccer teams and baseball teams. I wish I could tell them to root for the basketball team, but that program has rarely been relevant in the past decade-plus.

On the Law of Primogeniture

As an older brother, Old Wahoo always believed in the Law of Primogeniture, a custom in which the eldest son inherits all of the estate from his parents, or at least in the Law of I Am Always the Boss of My Younger Brother.

As a parent, though, Old Wahoo and Mrs. Wahoo, herself the eldest of three children, watched in horror as our oldest son bossed his younger brothers around. We wondered if we were that way, too, as older siblings, and it took about two seconds before we realized the truth: we were.

With that in mind, we've tried to keep the eldest from being too demanding and the youngest from being too whiny. Nevertheless, certain traits have burst forth. The eldest son loves to give instructions. The middle son wants to please everyone. The youngest son demands to be included in everything.

A recent article in The New York Times examined birth order, and I imagine it will resonate with many people. Birth order can have lasting effects, as the author Perri Klass, M.D., states in the story.

Everyone takes it personally when it comes to birth order. After all, everyone is an oldest or a middle or a youngest or an only child, and even as adults we revert almost inevitably to a joke or resentment or rivalry that we’ve never quite outgrown.

But Klass argues that temperament matters more than birth order and makes a convincing case.

“Birth order doesn’t cause anything,” Dr. (Frank J.) Sulloway said. “It’s simply a proxy for the actual mechanisms that go on in family dynamics that shape character and personality.”

How has birth order affected you? Do you notice birth-order traits among your children?

And did anyone else believe in the Law of Primogeniture?

Words of the Week

School's in session.

"Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other."

- Edmund Burke

First Day of School

Rob and Alex ventured off to school this morning, Rob for his first day of second grade, Alex for his first day of kindergarten.

The morning went amazingly well - likely, it won't go so easily the rest of the year - but we'll take it. The Moose wanted to go to school, too, even putting on a backpack and skipping breakfast to join his brothers outside. For him, the school playground is a big hit.

How was the first day of school for everyone? Any good/funny stories?