Have a Christmas rant? This is the place for you!

[dogluva]

My high school aged kid is on her own. If she says she has work over break, I'll agree with her that is sucks and that will be the end of the conversation. But if my elementary aged kid gets work over break, I'm going to be really irritated.

Why? My elementary kid gets work and I tell her to do it (not it sucks) and she does it. End of conversation for us. Why would you be irritated? They shouldn't have to work? I think it is important, then maybe some will grow up knowing the difference between principle and principal.

 

[dogluva]

Yeah, but if you have planes to go out of town for any length of time, it can really screw things up. I see no need for teachers to give assignments over the holidays, with maybe the exception of reading. Our school district rearranged the calendar for that kids would have finals before Christmas break, that way no homework over the holidays.

Oh and sorry you don't have a break, but it is called your job. Most people don't get 2 weeks either, but these are kids and they aren't employed in a full time job and getting paid. Christmas break should be left alone.

ETA, None of my kids or my friends with kids have EVER complained about them being bored. They somehow find something to do.

I don't have two weeks but almost! Oh,well, I chose this proffession (not a "job", sorry) so I will just have to deal with the time off! Oh, yea and sometimes I actually don't do any work!! So really, it is a vacation for me. I will just wait until February and April (and the summer too!). Glad I went to school for teaching, I love my career!

 

[dogluva]

This really burns me up! Teachers don't get PAID for breaks or holidays. I don't know why everybody assumes we do, but we don't. I have a contract to work 200 days during the school year. I get paid to work only those 200 days (180 school days, 10 built in snow days that we never get but would be made up in work days, 10 in-service days.) As a teacher I put in HUNDREDS of hours that i don't "get paid" for. How many of you get paid vacation at work? Guess what? Teachers don't!

Seriously?? Is the world going to end if your kid has to do an assignment or 2? We (teachers) are all under the gun to meet requirements for state testing and No Child Left Behind, etc.
The question has been posed, do teachers work over the break? Yes, of course we do. I spend countless hours doing lesson plans, preparing paperwork, reorganizing the classroom, cleaning, and the list goes on. BTW, I work during the summer too.

Don't even bother. 24 years of teaching and it has always been this way. Some people really resent us. I have always had to defend myself but I should not even bother. Just know that what you do counts. Just watch the news.

 

[dogluva]

when did christmas rants turn into "kill the teacher"??

omg.

 

[Mkrop]

I dont have issue with teachers giving homework, but please make it individual work. No group projects over breaks, please! Trying to coordinate everyone with their visits to grandma etc, it is a pain to get them togther.

 

[jetskigrl]

Yes I work. Sped teacher who has a ton of kids being reviewed in January. So yes I will be writing reports and Ed plans. No real break for me. Teachers can't win anyway. You would have those parents who complain when there are no assignments. Their kid is bored!

I don't get why a parent would care, are you doing the project or your kid? I let my kids do their own work.

The parent cares when they have spent a bunch of money for a vacation and have to sit in a hotel room while you child does homework. The child is on vacation too and should not have to give up their vacation to do school work. And like my son's 4th grade Animal report, if it is an introduction to writing research papers, it does require the parent's assistance so now both the child and the parent are missing out on part of a vacation that they paid for.

I will respect the schools policy (ours is more strict than others) and the teacher's time/effort in planning by not taking my kids out of school during the regular school session unless they are sick. So I would like the same respect from the teacher by not expecting us to spend our breaks with the kids doing homework/projects. Isn't every weeknight and weekend enough already????

I have no problem with projects being given a week before the break and then turned in after. Or assigned before the break but not due for another week after the break ends. As long as there is one non-break weekend to do it (since weeknights are already fully spent doing regular homework). This gives the child and the parents the option to have the project completed without taking time out of their vacation.

Sorry, but I did LOL a bit at the kid being bored over vacation comment If the kid is bored, then the parent can come up with something for the child to do. That isn't the teachers responsibility over a school break. I don't expect the teacher to put their time into coming up with extra work just to keep my child entertained over a break.

 

[dogluva]

The parent cares when they have spent a bunch of money for a vacation and have to sit in a hotel room while you child does homework. The child is on vacation too and should not have to give up their vacation to do school work. And like my son's 4th grade Animal report, if it is an introduction to writing research papers, it does require the parent's assistance so now both the child and the parent are missing out on part of a vacation that they paid for.

I will respect the schools policy (ours is more strict than others) and the teacher's time/effort in planning by not taking my kids out of school during the regular school session unless they are sick. So I would like the same respect from the teacher by not expecting us to spend our breaks with the kids doing homework/projects. Isn't every weeknight and weekend enough already????

I have no problem with projects being given a week before the break and then turned in after. Or assigned before the break but not due for another week after the break ends. As long as there is one non-break weekend to do it (since weeknights are already fully spent doing regular homework). This gives the child and the parents the option to have the project completed without taking time out of their vacation.

Sorry, but I did LOL a bit at the kid being bored over vacation comment If the kid is bored, then the parent can come up with something for the child to do. That isn't the teachers responsibility over a school break. I don't expect the teacher to put their time into coming up with extra work just to keep my child entertained over a break.

You actually laughed out loud? Wow. Anyway, the point I was tryingto make is that "teachers cannot win". You will have those that want work, some don't. I don't usually care because my own kids just do it.

 

[jetskigrl]

You actually laughed out loud? Wow. Anyway, the point I was tryingto make is that "teachers cannot win". You will have those that want work, some don't. I don't usually care because my own kids just do it.

Yes, I did actually LOL. My kids are so burnt out on the excessive amounts of homework that they receive during the regular school session that I cannot imagine hearing "I'm bored, I wish I had more homework to do" out of them on their break

But I will agree that teachers cannot win. Although I do think more of the disconnect comes from the teachers vs. the state requirements than the teachers vs. the parents. I honestly believe that most teachers would rather the kids have time to enjoy their families and their vacations then sit at home doing school work on their breaks.


And to get the post back to the thread topic....
My boss has decided that our holiday break is a good time to upgrade our financial system at work. So I will be working over my 4-day holiday. And yep, I don't get paid any additional for that either

 

[OhMari]

How many inches of snow did you get SarahJayne. Lomira got 20 inches and 2 or 4 more. Hope it don't mess with your plans tomorrow. I got stuck in a parking lot. I went to do 8 loads of laundry At our local laundrymat around noon when the snow let up. While I was there I swear another foot of snow dropped. My car just kept spinning the wheels, when I was done and wanted to go home. I could not get my car to move. I called my dh at work and he said I will be right there. He drives in gets in my car and goes back and forth and drives right out. He yells out the window to hop in his truck and drive it home. I turn around and try to get in his truck and the door is locked with the truck running. I look in my pocket for my phone and realize I put it on the dash in my car. My dh is gone, because once he got my car moving he just kept going. I am freaking out and figure I have to walk home, but decided to try the passenger side door and it was open. By now I am cold, wet because the snow is the heavy, wet stuff, so instead of clicking the door open and running back around to the other side, I climb over the center counsel and snow is everywhere. I was like a human snowman, the snow just clinged to everything.

I took a different route home, Main Street and a well traveled road. OMG, the roads were horrible. My dh took the short cut through our local school area and he said nothing was plowed. We could not get in our driveway, the snow was 6 ft high. The only place the plows were today, were driving by my house and dumping my driveway full of snow. So I guess this was my Christmas rant. My dh doesn't help me do any Christmas preparations, but he always comes if I have car trouble, which isn't often and he never yells at me. He tells me and shows me what to do next time.

 

[jrmasm]

Why? My elementary kid gets work and I tell her to do it (not it sucks) and she does it. End of conversation for us. Why would you be irritated? They shouldn't have to work? I think it is important, then maybe some will grow up knowing the difference between principle and principal.

Because my elementary kid still requires supervision.

For the record, I would agree with my SENIOR that homework over break sucks and I did not misspell principal.

 

[castmemberb4]

I have a rant !
When this thread started I was in DISNEY WORLD !
Now I'm home where it gray and dreary and I have a COLD !

Christmas is coming along just fine.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

The parent cares when they have spent a bunch of money for a vacation and have to sit in a hotel room while you child does homework. The child is on vacation too and should not have to give up their vacation to do school work. And like my son's 4th grade Animal report, if it is an introduction to writing research papers, it does require the parent's assistance so now both the child and the parent are missing out on part of a vacation that they paid for.

I will respect the schools policy (ours is more strict than others) and the teacher's time/effort in planning by not taking my kids out of school during the regular school session unless they are sick. So I would like the same respect from the teacher by not expecting us to spend our breaks with the kids doing homework/projects. Isn't every weeknight and weekend enough already????

I have no problem with projects being given a week before the break and then turned in after. Or assigned before the break but not due for another week after the break ends. As long as there is one non-break weekend to do it (since weeknights are already fully spent doing regular homework). This gives the child and the parents the option to have the project completed without taking time out of their vacation.

Sorry, but I did LOL a bit at the kid being bored over vacation comment If the kid is bored, then the parent can come up with something for the child to do. That isn't the teachers responsibility over a school break. I don't expect the teacher to put their time into coming up with extra work just to keep my child entertained over a break.

Amen, jetski.

As a teacher, I expect to have to do work over the break or work longer before hand to get things done. I know my work load and can budget my time. I can make sure I don't have to bring work with me on vacation.

But when student projects, not a few worksheets but full-blown research projects, are distributed the last day before break and are due the day kids return, there's no budgeting time. This project is akin to a boss dropping a major project on your desk at 4:30 pm the day before you leave for vacation. I think most people have a name for that type of boss: Scrooge.

 

[acourtwdw]

Even though our store closes at 5pm on Christmas Eve, we are being told that is a soft close and we will open until at least 8pm. On the entrance door and the employee website it states 5pm but according to our Managers we will be there til at least 830pm if not later. Had I known that I would be scheduled that late, I would have requested to work early in the day so I wouldn't be missing Christmas Eve with my family. Since I just saw that schedule on Monday, there isn't anything I can to about it. I assumed due to the fact that everything says we close at 5, the latest I would be there would have been 7, which would have been fine with me.

BTW- we open at 7am. That gives our customers 14 hours to finish their shopping. That means we are open longer that every other retailer like ours on Christmas Eve.

So please do all retailer workers a favor- shop early on Christmas Eve so that we get to spend more of the holiday with our families. Most of us gave up our Thanksgiving for our stores, now they are cutting into our Christmas too.

 

[jahber]

I'm a former teacher (homeschooling full time this year). I taught middle school, and I would agree that assignments due when school resumes are completely unfair. Even IF you had time beforehand, there should still be time to work on them the week school resumes. It's only fair to parents and students.

I would argue that AP classes are different, though. The time available is so limited and the tests creep up fast. A few worksheets to keep the math fresh seems reasonable. I took several AP classes and I recall well the stress of returning from Christmas break and counting down the days until the test. And AP is a whole different level of commitment.

Of course, I have been known (actually, I'm infamous at my previous school) for requiring students to read one book over the course of 6 weeks during the summer. So clearly I am a lunatic taskmaster.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

Even though our store closes at 5pm on Christmas Eve, we are being told that is a soft close and we will open until at least 8pm. On the entrance door and the employee website it states 5pm but according to our Managers we will be there til at least 830pm if not later. Had I known that I would be scheduled that late, I would have requested to work early in the day so I wouldn't be missing Christmas Eve with my family. Since I just saw that schedule on Monday, there isn't anything I can to about it. I assumed due to the fact that everything says we close at 5, the latest I would be there would have been 7, which would have been fine with me.

BTW- we open at 7am. That gives our customers 14 hours to finish their shopping. That means we are open longer that every other retailer like ours on Christmas Eve.

So please do all retailer workers a favor- shop early on Christmas Eve so that we get to spend more of the holiday with our families. Most of us gave up our Thanksgiving for our stores, now they are cutting into our Christmas too.

That's so not right.

I hope you get out earlier!

 

[aaarcher86]

Just got a phone call from the Uncle-in-law....

Said there will be no ex wives at Christmas Then proceeds to say he has been dating someone for a while who will be there with her daughter and that she's pregnant

So... to sum it up...

This will be his 4th child with the 3rd woman while he's still in the middle of a divorce from wife #2.

Really getting tired of explaining random women and mystery children to my own kids.

 

[Cavy]

:We can't afford Christmas gifts! I don't want to ear what everyone else is doing for Christmas. I don't want to hear how DH's boss just got to go to Disneyland while we are struggling to pay bills and groceries! I am thankful that we have grandparents who love to buy our kids toys. I am just praying the toys the boys want are in stock right before Christmas.

Sorry to hear this...my DH and I had that Christmas a couple of years ago, and it was awful. I hope things do get better.

My rant? I'm getting tired of nonessential places being open on Christmas. Starbucks? Sonic? McD's? Really?!? I'd like those workers to have a day they can spend with their families. I don't even work retail, and I'm sick of it.

 

[marthachick]

My rant? I'm getting tired of nonessential places being open on Christmas. Starbucks? Sonic? McD's? Really?!? I'd like those workers to have a day they can spend with their families. I don't even work retail, and I'm sick of it.

DS is an EMT and has to work but that is essential. And I really hate that he has to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. But at least I know he is there because people truly need help, not just a double macchiato latte or whatever.

 

[dogluva]

Because my elementary kid still requires supervision.

For the record, I would agree with my SENIOR that homework over break sucks and I did not misspell principal.

Sorry, that was not directed at you. Just a pet peeve of mine. I can't really talk, I am not a great speller.

My daughter does not require "supervision" to do her homework (grade 4). The homework she does is to reinforce what she has learned during the day or week. She may ask a question or two but for the most part, she is able to do it independently.

One thing I do not do is complain about her teacher to her. What her teacher gives out has to get done and that is the end of it. Teachers do different things. I may not agree with a ton of homework (especially over break) but if she gives it, I say nothing to her. As a teacher myself, I have to show respect to her teachers regardless of how I feel or do things.

 

[dawn1620]

It's about that time...MIL getting pissed about, well anything really.

MIL and my mom both planned the Christmas family get-togethers for tomorrow. DH's extended family will be starting to arrive around noon and theirs could go for 5+ hours, no real schedule set. My mother wanted hers to start around 2 but pushed it back to 4 so we could go to DH's side. Also just to note..my mother holds her Thanksgiving dinner the Saturday after Thanksgiving so my brother and I can spend time at the inlaws so MIL should not be that cranked out about this. We also go to MIL Christmas morning so she gets plenty of time with her son and DD...me I'm sure she would care less if I was there or not..

Well, DH told me last night he reminded his mom that we would need to leave her house around 3 as it takes an hour to get to my parents....and now she's . He reminded her she knew about this weeks ago but she of course is acting like this is the first time he has told her. He even reminded her my mother changed her time so we could make it to both but of course now she's trying to lay on the guilt and act mad. But we also go to MIL house on Christmas morning so she should not feel that put out.

Just so tired of trying to please everyone and being made to feel like this....

Well, DH and I made the decision this is the last year...next year Christmas Day will now be just ours with DD...no running around, just laying around all day enjoying the peace and quiet, maybe go to a movie...who knows...and that is the beauty of it. Also, MIL and FIL basically hate each other but won't divorce right now (that's a whole other story) so Christmas morning will feel like this while we are over....

We were planning our next Disney trip for the first week of December 2013 but now are enteraining the idea of spending the week of Christmas at Disney>