School Starts

[mytwotinks]

We start August 15th and 16th (Kindergarden) and we get out May 22nd.

I really wish that we had more breaks during the year so we wouldn't have to take our kids out of school for trips. We do not enjoy being on vacation when it is 100* outside and super crowded!

 

[luvmy2sams]

August 17th...it'll be here before we're ready.

 

[jmom]

In the UK we have 13 weeks of 'school holidays', some counties have fixed the school year so the terms and holidays are even and stay the same from year to year (so much easier to plan holidays!). Some however, like Dorset, are not fixed and change depending on where Easter falls. For 07-08 Autumn Term is 15 weeks long and we break up on 21st December! Spring is relatively short (9.5 weeks) and Summer LONG again (15 wks). As a Mum and teacher...thank goodness for school holidays!!

How many weeks holiday do you get in the US? Does it change from state to state?
What happens if you take children out of school in the US? We now have to 'unauthorise' any absences in any month apart from June/July...this is really difficult for our local population as we live in a tourist hot-spot and many parents can only take holidays 'out of season'...plus the cost!! (I'm not even going to go there!! I always have to pay full-wack!!)

 

[LisaNJ25]

Sept 5th... day after we get home from WDW

They got out June 25th

 

[cancer_survivor_06]

My dd starts Aug 6th this year. We are doing public school this year but the private shools start towards the end of the month.

 

[Fionasmommy]

DD starts Aug. 20 and gets out the first week of June.

 

[momof3poohlovers]

We live in S. CA and we start Aug. 16th and don't get out until June 6th!

 

[sk!mom]

8/16 for me and 8/27 for DD. We get out May 30th.

We have Labor Day, Thanksgiving week, 2 weeks at Christmas, MLK day, 1 week in March, and Memorial day as holidays. We will also most likely have an extra day on the March Spring Break and a 3 day weekend in early May as we have two "Snow days" on the calendar for possible make up but school is rarely cancelled in my area. It's been years since we missed school due to weather.

 

[emdav]

We have year round school. We start July 25th and will end early June with time off in October, January, and April.

 

[madge]

When does school start for you all??

August 2 or August 7, depending on the school district.

 

[ThreeAngels]

Our kids start back on August 6th. This year their last day was May 25th. We're in Jackson County in NE Georgia.

 

[WeLuvDiznee]

My DD's start aug.20th here in central florida,and get out last week in may

 

[CharmedLife]

Our state passed a law that starting this year because of "tourism" we can't start school until the 4th monday of August, so kids start the 27th and teachers the 20th. School is out May 29th. We lost alot of vacation days because of the new calendar!

Wisconsin has a similar law in that public schools can't start until after Labor Day, unless the district holds a referendum and votes to start earlier. So most schools won't start until the day after Labor Day (9/4), and get done sometime in mid-June.

My kids go to Lutheran school and start August 27. Done on May 30. We don't have a lot of miscellaneous days off during the year, which I like.

 

[jcc0621]

DH is a teacher here in Philly. The teachers are due back Septemeber 4th and then the kids come back the 7th. They are ususally done around the
20th of June.

Janet

 

[mericletwins]

How many weeks holiday do you get in the US? Does it change from state to state?
What happens if you take children out of school in the US? We now have to 'unauthorise' any absences in any month apart from June/July...this is really difficult for our local population as we live in a tourist hot-spot and many parents can only take holidays 'out of season'...plus the cost!! (I'm not even going to go there!! I always have to pay full-wack!!)

It is hard to say how many weeks we get because it varies not only from state to state, but in my state it can vary from school district to school district. For instance in NJ, there are over 600 school districts that can independently make their own school calendar. This is the amount of public schools only. I have no idea how many catholic and private schools there are.

The only consistent thing, at least in New Jersey, is that all public schools have to be in attendance a minimum of 180 days a year. We usually go back the day after Labor Day, this year it is September 4th I think. The only breaks we have that are a week are Christmas/New Years and Easter, which changes year to year. We get out of school for the year in mid-June and then don't return until September again. In addition to our two long holiday vacations, we have 3 days in October off (not together and two are teacher work days) four days in November (not the same week), one day in January, two days in February and one day in May.

We also live in a tourist hot-spot and my DH runs a seafood restaurant so we can never go away in the summer. I teach and can't take any days off during school to go away, so we can only vacation in the supremely crowded and expensive Christmas and Easter weeks. I would love for our school calendar to change and go back in August and get a random week thrown in somewhere, but since we are a huge tourist area, it would impact our local economy so I don't forsee it ever happening.

On a side note, DH just applied to go back to school for nursing. Someday we may be able to go on vacation in the summer!

 

[jmom]

Thanks Lisa for your reply...very interesting. I'd love to know what our parents here would think to the length of your summer holidays...lots of my school's parents think that 6 weeks is too long...needless to say the staff don't share that view! lol!
My DH can never take holiday from Nov - Feb so Christmas hols are always just me and the kids - we see DH for two days if we're lucky! Bt least he can have time in our summer break! Thus trip to WDW in a week
Do you teach primary (4-11) or secondary 11-18) sorry I get really confused with the US system's names...
Some counties in the UK have gone to a fixed 4 term system - where they get 2 weeks off in Oct, Christmas, Easter and then 5 in the summer. But to go on holiday (as you and I know) in school holidays is sooooo expensive...especially flights to the US!
Hope your DH's career change leads to many fab summer holidays! Jane

 

[mericletwins]

Thanks Lisa for your reply...very interesting. I'd love to know what our parents here would think to the length of your summer holidays...lots of my school's parents think that 6 weeks is too long...needless to say the staff don't share that view! lol!
My DH can never take holiday from Nov - Feb so Christmas hols are always just me and the kids - we see DH for two days if we're lucky! Bt least he can have time in our summer break! Thus trip to WDW in a week
Do you teach primary (4-11) or secondary 11-18) sorry I get really confused with the US system's names...
Some counties in the UK have gone to a fixed 4 term system - where they get 2 weeks off in Oct, Christmas, Easter and then 5 in the summer. But to go on holiday (as you and I know) in school holidays is sooooo expensive...especially flights to the US!
Hope your DH's career change leads to many fab summer holidays! Jane

I teach middle school which is 11-14 year olds. I teach literacy which consists of reading, writing, grammar, spelling, etc. It is a very interesting age. I used to teach elementary (pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, first grade and second grade) roughly 4-8 year olds.

 

[greeneyedchic75]

My dd starts back Aug 23rd She goes to a Department Of Defense Elementary school on Ft Bragg where we live.

 

[angiedora]

We're in GA and we start Aug.6

 

[arielsleepingbeauty]

DD starts second grad on Sept. 5th.

My other DD will start Kindergarten on Sept 10th.
We have Kindergarten open house on Sept 5th and then she has a screening on Sept. 7th.
The first day after labor day is usually when we start school.

We get out around the third week in June.