Keep Your Paws of My Summer Hooplahs! - Rachel

More school? Obama could trim summer break.

This is the headline on msnbc.com.

Not only that, he and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are proposing extending school hours by 3 hrs a day and potentially adding Saturday to the school schedule.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? 3 HRS and SATURDAYS? (yes, I am yelling in all caps)

Maybe I am a weird mom who likes to not only see my children, but raise them also. There are many things needed to be learned outside the school building that happen before and after the hours of 8am-3pm. My time with my children is precious and I try hard not to take a minute for granted. I love being the one who teaches them, too, not only academically (on a smaller scale), but also socially, emotionally, and spiritually. I believe it's our jobs as parents to be the primary caregivers of our children...and having them at school 9-10 hrs a day makes that seemingly impossible.

On top of that, what are teachers going to do? Teachers are wonderful and work hard enough as it is. I'm waiting on pin and needles to hear the scoop fro my teacher friends...yeah, I'm pretty sure they are livid.

Now, I am not so naive in my little suburbia to know that there are many children who need a safe place to be after school before a caregiver can pick them up - but to paint the entire country in that scenario is unrealistic and wasteful. There are thousands of afterschool programs to aid these children and I am in full support of them.

BUT I'm not about to give up any part of summers with my children or have them at school 9-10 hrs a day just because our Asian counterparts do.

So, Obama and Arne, count me out of this plan...not gonna buy it.