Published: February 17, 2009 11:28 pm            

No braking while on break

While some students are putting in extra study time this week, many are hitting the parks, shopping or hanging out with friends.

Dalton, Murray and Whitfield public schools along with Christian Heritage School are on mid-winter breaks through the end of the week. While school breaks can be a babysitting nightmare for some who have to take off from work or find childcare, other families say they welcome the extra time with their kids.

At Al Rollins Park in Dalton on Tuesday, Casey Ledford was enjoying a day with her two children, niece and nephew on the playground. The stay-at-home mom said school breaks are a good time to wind down with the kids.

“We usually study and have little family get-togethers,” she said.

The family had a old-fashioned dinner recently with other members of Valley Baptist Church. Women dressed in bonnets and aprons and men wore overalls.

“We didn’t have (any mid-winter) breaks when I was a kid,” she said. “We just had (it) for two days.”

However, her nephew, Jericho Ledford, a freshman at Southeast High School, said he’s still spending much of his time this week in school-related activities.

“We have track practice still, and I have to study because I have to pass my finals,” he said during a brief break from the wooden playground.

Asked what her favorite aspect of mid-winter break was, third-grade Varnell Elementary School student Chloe Medlin said, “Staying home with my family.” She and her mother, Bobbie Medlin, came to the North Georgia Skateboard Center on Tuesday to hang out with friends. They also went bike-riding and Chloe plans to host friends at a sleepover before the week ends.

Her mother said they haven’t completely closed the books just because school is out. They recently bought a study guide for the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test, a state-mandated exam third-graders must pass in reading to be promoted to the next grade.

“We’ve done like the first eight pages of it,” Bobbie Medlin said of the study book.

Kellie Smith and her second-grade son Gage McBee said they had been to the skate park for the past three days. Gage said he likes racing dirt bikes in his spare time and was enjoying his break from school.

At Carmike Cinemas 12 behind Walnut Square Mall, Ai-Nhi Nguyen was working a few more hours during her mid-winter break. The Southeast High School junior said she has been working at the concession stand since the theater opened last month.

“When I don’t work here, I volunteer at the nursing home, Regency Park,” she said. “I want to be an RN when I grow up.”

Chatsworth residents Johnny Blair and Keshia Cochran were out with their two children and nephew at Walnut Square Mall on Wednesday. Cochran’s daughter, Hope, was spending money she had saved from her ninth birthday.

“She’s been saving it to get a bird but decided she wanted an iguana instead,” Keshia Cochran said.

        

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