I am home today with my sons. There was a big snow storm in our area which has all the schools closed. We are enjoying a luscious snow day – complete with pancakes, pajamas till noon, LEGOs galore and more. Lots of fun, plus some household chores (cleaning the playroom!) are getting done. This afternoon, we will bundle up and explore the snow. Many others are enjoying snow days these days. Are you?
Well, yesterday I heard from a mom who lives in the mid-Atlantic region. They were hit with a big snow storm earlier this week. As she and her children were ready to enjoy their snow day, she received an email from her children’s school – a “Snow Day Learning Packet”! Yikes!
As this mom writes: It is a “Snow Day Learning Packet” with a list of suggested online activities for the kids, with a list of 30 -THIRTY!!!- recommended websites for the students to visit. As I read the email, I wanted to jump up and block the computer screen to protect my kids from the school and yell back, “It’s a snow day! Leave my kids alone and let them play! Let them have a day or two of playing in the snow, sledding, making a snow fort, just finding out what it’s like to tromp around in the snow, having fun and making memories, without having to think about school.”
I agree wholeheartedly with this mom’s reaction to the school’s email – she wanted to protect her kids from the message sent. For me the email is insulting, and implies that families can not come up with their own ideas for how to spend this unexpected free time. It is an encroachment on family life (even though it may be well-intentioned) and will make some parents second-guess the value of how they were planning on spending the day. Playing board games, baking muffins, tromping outside, reading a book, taking a nap – these are all worthwhile pursuits on a snow day! The fact that the school focused on websites, and getting the students to go online just adds to the insult of it all. Just say no to “Snow Day Learning Packets!” and say yes to child-directed and parent endorsed downtime.
Now, let me get back to my sons and our snugly snow day!
Well I guess this must be a popular trend. My daughter, who goes to school in Newburgh, also got a “snow day packet” sent home on Tuesday afternoon. I was so disgusted! Heaven forbid they actually use the snow day to play in the snow! Luckily, I also had a snow day since I am a teacher. If not, I don’t know where I would have found all the extra time to help her complete the packet…
Oh my goodness! I had never heard of this before Tuesday, but perhaps it is a bigger trend than I even realized. The amazing thing is that the students (so far) have all been in elementary school. Makes it even a harder pill to swallow! I’d love to know how the other parents in your daughter’s class reacted to the packet. (And what pressure the teacher is feeling to send it home in the first place.)
This is absolutely disgusting. It’s bad enough schools feel a need to send home mounds of homework every night, which only serves to tell me how to spend my family time, now they want to dictate how families spend their snow days. Perhaps school administrators can spend their snow days reviewing the research that indicates the value of play. Thank you. David
The snow is creating real havoc in the High Peak, the pavements are still very icy and many children have been hurt walking on the icy paths at my local school.
I am in a district that has more than used up all their snow days. I would like to see schools come up with a solution of a snow day packet/online etc to do so that they don’t have to extend the school year. Maybe the school was doing that in the district you wrote about. I’ve heard of it and found your page trying to find out what part of the country has implemented this. Makes far more sense to me than keeping the kids in school on planned national holidays, losing spring break, or extending into the summer.