I agree with this completely. In the ‘old days’, Summer vacation was every bit as instructive in its way, as the school year was. I probably learned MORE in the Summer, through independent reading and activities, time to contemplate and grow interiorly, etc., than I did in school.
I loved summer growing up! I could just relax and spend all day thinking about the world, without some obnoxious homework assignment or test getting in the way and ruining everything.
I still do that, which is why I am pretty useless overall, oops. Heh. The upside is that I've done that for so long I am almost too old to care about what the world expects.
I tend to agree with you. Especially with family trips to the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore, Philadelphia, and Washington, D. C.