I’m sure you’ve already heard, since the Net is buzzing with it… President Obama would like to lengthen the school year in the U.S. – either lengthen the days, or add days to the schedule, or both.

One of the reasons cited is that “Young people in other countries are going to school 25, 30 percent longer than our students here,” (Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the AP). “I want to just level the playing field.”

However, just a few paragraphs down it points out that our school children have more school hours annually than the kids in Asian countries who continually beat our scores in math and science.

So?

Maybe it’s not that simple.

Or rather, maybe it is that simple, but they’re looking in the wrong direction.

After all, a lot of schools and districts have already tried variations on this – lengthening the school day, lengthening the year, year-round school schedules…

One of the better ideas, I think, is the simple switch to “block scheduling” that schools here use: only 3 classes each day, for 2 hours blocks, alternating days to get the same six classes in. This lets teachers have less daily time spent on non-educational time (taking roll, etc.), and a long enugh stretch of time to really get into a lesson.

Progress, perhaps. A tiny step towards a common homeschool philosophy of doing something long enough it get it done, rather than cutting off at some arbitrary time.

But clearly, not enough.

I’ve heard a lot of lamenting in the last few years from friends with children in public and private schools alike – too much homework.

Some friends of ours with a nine year-old daugher say that they spend an average of three hours per day doing homework with her!

Three hours a day? On top of the seven or so hours in school?

Wow.

In three hours a day, homeschooling, I could complete all the “sit down and study” work that a child that age requires. Things like music, P.E., cooking, and field trips fall into a different category, naturally, and can be done when and how we want.

So if I have to spend that three hours working with my child anyway, why the heck should I send them to school?

And homeschooled children consistently out-perform their public (and privately!) schooled peers… So it would seem that it really is just that simple.

I truly believe that what the U.S. school system needs is not more school, but better school.

I’m not a school expert. I don’t know what the answer is for that national picture.

But for me and my house, better school is school at home. On our terms, in our time.

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