How do you Plan around School Calendar?

[Anal Annie]

Your school must get different holidays than ours. Do you get any other week long vacations that aren't listed in your message? I don't plan trips around 3 days weekends. We get one week at Thanksgiving, 2 weeks at Christmas/New years, one at presidents' week and one at spring break (which has always been the week before Easter Sunday). So, these weeks generally won't change. The days that change can be the teacher in service days but those are only one dayers. So, since I don't take my kids out of school unless it is a full week off from school it is very easy to figure out what days we'll have off. And, from looking at your message it would be easy for you to figure your Winter Break and Spring Break. So, your school is accomadating in notifying parents ahead of time.

P.S. I'm very active on my school board and you can change things you just have to persistent. Parents can presuade a lot more than you think!

WOW!! Your school district is very generous and predictable - could I persuade you to come work in Maryland for awhile!? Our kids only get the Th & F at T-giving (this past year they made Wed a 1/2 day for the first time). We only get one week between Xmas and NY and one week at Easter which changes depending somehow on when Easter is (sometimes it's before & sometimes it's after). Oh, and they will throw in either Good Friday if it's after or Easter Monday if it's before. We get President's Day and ONLY President's day.

 

[dgaston]

In our family DH is the HS teacher. My best tip -- TourGuideMike. We have visited WDW for 5 Christmas to NYE weeks, and lots of February or April vacation weeks. And we have gone in the summer time. We drink a lot of water and visit air-conditioned attractions, rest/swim in the pm, return for the later summer closings.

DH has been willing to take personal days for F & W, so we have been able to attend a few weekends as a couple.

This September, he's taking all 3 days so we can have a mini family reunion, and celebrate both his 62nd and his brother's 60 birthday.

I am looking forward to his retirement (he says either January or June 2010), so we can begin to explore less crowded times.

 

[Brian Noble]

Do you get any other week long vacations that aren't listed in your message?

Yes, there is one more---the mid-winter break, which is usually in late February and/or early March. Normally it coincides with the University's "spring" break, but once in a blue moon they don't line up. And, until the calendar is published, it's not a "sure thing".

from looking at your message it would be easy for you to figure your Winter Break and Spring Break. So, your school is accomadating in notifying parents ahead of time.

Absolutely, I have no complaints---they tell us what they know as soon as they know it. But, there are some things they don't (and can't) know right now---so even though I personally know and hang out with our princpal, it doesn't matter. She doesn't know any more than I do, because state law dictates that all other scheduling matters are subject to the collective bargaining agreement betwee the various districts and the union. And, that was my point. Sometimes, when a school district can't tell you when a vacation will fall, it is genuinely because they do not know for sure yet, it's not just because they are being obstinate.

 

[dopeygirl76]

Since we go twice a year - I try to plan our trip s around in-service days for the teachers so that DD only misses part of a week. For our trip at the end of this month they have no school on the 27th and 28th so she only misses three days instead of 5. That said I am not opposed to pulling her out now or in the future. DH must request his vacation in Oct for the following year and although he has three weeks he must choose 1 week in each four month block. At this point in our lives family vacations are a priority. We will reevaluate every few years based on school and the impact missing has on the girls.

 

[OurDogCisco]

WOW!! Your school district is very generous and predictable - could I persuade you to come work in Maryland for awhile!? Our kids only get the Th & F at T-giving (this past year they made Wed a 1/2 day for the first time). We only get one week between Xmas and NY and one week at Easter which changes depending somehow on when Easter is (sometimes it's before & sometimes it's after). Oh, and they will throw in either Good Friday if it's after or Easter Monday if it's before. We get President's Day and ONLY President's day.

However... our summers are VERY VERY short. They are around 10 weeks. I'd rather have a longer summer and get rid of all these holidays. But that is just me because cannot travel between Jan 1 and April 15th.. I didn't negotiate the school calendar just when it was published.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Yes, there is one more---the mid-winter break, which is usually in late February and/or early March. Normally it coincides with the University's "spring" break, but once in a blue moon they don't line up. And, until the calendar is published, it's not a "sure thing".


Absolutely, I have no complaints---they tell us what they know as soon as they know it. But, there are some things they don't (and can't) know right now---so even though I personally know and hang out with our princpal, it doesn't matter. She doesn't know any more than I do, because state law dictates that all other scheduling matters are subject to the collective bargaining agreement betwee the various districts and the union. And, that was my point. Sometimes, when a school district can't tell you when a vacation will fall, it is genuinely because they do not know for sure yet, it's not just because they are being obstinate.

As a parent, I had to demand more because my dh works as a CPA and cannot take vacation between Jan 1 and April 15th. Prior to starting school vacations was an important part of our lives. So, I need to know when school ends and when it starts and when all the holidays are. The school schedule is a bargaining unit for our teachers as well but in reality it doesn't need to be. You still need to go to school X amount of days per year as dictated by state law. I don't expect every inservice day to stay the same but I do expect the major holidays to. Otherwise, they just need post the schedule at least 15 months in advance. You can easily show them how much money they lose by not posting the schedule. Our school loses about $50 per day for everyday a child is absent that includes illnesses. So, our school district it was in their best interest to publish the school schedule early. This has nothing to do with the principal it is the school district. In fact, in February our school loss $12,000 for absences. They claim most were due to vacations but I'm not sure. I don't know what happen. I'm very careful and check the calendar frequently. As you can probably guess I own a lot of timeshares.

Another thing not everyone can vacation when school is out. Look at the above poster who needs to put in vacations request the year before in October. Some people have seasonal type jobs and cannot vacation in the winter or summer. I think, it is in the best interest of the school to post the schedule early. Otherwise, I personally think they have no say when someone misses school because they couldn't post a schedule in a timely manner. But that just me...

 

[mfd25wife]

DD is in HS and cheers so we go year round to some degree. However, we have been planning our vacations for the middle of June for several years. It's usually earlier than most kids are out of school (according to the CM's at Disney) and about 3weeks after school ends for us. I can never take off the first week of our fiscal month so we have to plan well. Camps are usually scheduled July-August. This year was close because they added a week to school due to ice and our first camp is the Monday-Thursday of the week we are leaving on Saturday.

It is crazy to plan because DH bids on vacations in Oct of the previous year.

 

[TiggerD]

Our grandson will be in 1st grade come September and we found out that school starts earlier than most years, so he will have two weeks in school so my son and his wife just booked their trip for September to be there the same time we are and in the same resort. We are so excited to have all of us together for another Magical trip. I think taking them out early in the school year is ok. We did it when our DS was young and no problem.

 

[DVCAmy]

We take our kids out of school for vacations as my parents did with us. I don't want to vacation when everyone else is on vacation so that works best for us. I don't ever expect a teacher to give us work to do for makeup but I always give them plenty of notice and let them know that if there is work they would like done we will make sure the kids do it. We view school as very important but not more important than family and this is what works for us. I do understand the school's perspective on this but they don't get to decide for our family. With that said our kids almost never miss another day during the year for illness or anything else and school is easy for them.

Amy

 

[FOTM_Ring_Bearer]

We usually vacation during the summer. We have gone the week of Thanksgiving and the week of Christmas. We can't do Thanksgiving anymore because oldest DD is in college and does not get off the entire week. The other two DD's get the whole week at Thanksgiving due to parent teacher conferences.

We took them out early for Christmas break in 1999. The oldest DD was in 6th grade and the school system sent us a letter. The elementary school told us to have a great time.

Once they get in middle school, it's really hard to miss days. And high school is even worse, especially ap classes.

 

[tidefan]

We go either Spring Break or Early Summer. Luckily for us, Spring Break usually falls in mid-March, so we miss most of the craziness around Easter. Also, School is out here in Alabama in late May, so a late May or early June trip is good on the points...