Do public schools ever actually "do" school???

[jeri]

I have two who go to public school here on the Army base on which we are stationed in Germany. So this is definitely an American school. I also homeschool four, primarily due to my concern for academic excellence.

 

Ok, so I knew that they would have a few days off in November. Specifically, Thanksgiving. What I was not prepared for when the scheduled was published over the summer was a no school day on Nov 6 ("training holiday"), and Nov 13 (no reason given). Yes, and then there is the Veteran's Day remembrance smack dab in the middle of Nov. But having connections to the military, I can understand that. But what has really annoyed me is the announcement, today, that October 30 is now a "1/2 day" meaning they dismiss at 11:00. Huh??? Why even bother getting kids up and dressed for 3 hours of school?

 

Are we that far ahead of the Indians, Chinese, Europeans, and Japanese that we can take time for this? I mean, we already only have school about 180 days a year (contrasted to the Japanese at 240). But perhaps it's more important that we enjoy life and have time to really celebrate Halloween.

 

Sigh. I think I'm mostly perturbed at how it messes up the schedule I have for our homeschool. Thanks for listening.

 

jeri

[bugs]

In my school district the kids really only have school 16 -18 days a month due to holidays and conference days, and teacher in-service, etc. I kind of feel bad for my kids because they actually work 25 -30 hrs per week foour weeks per month.

 

Okay, not that bad.

[Elizabeth Conley]

Chuckle - every time the public school kids get an early release or day off, they come knocking on our door.

 

I would pay them to stay away until we're done for the day! It drives my kids nuts to know every other kid in the city is goofing off. Even though they get field trips and holidays the public school kids don't, it still bugs my kids.

[LibrarianMom]

I think part of the reasoning for letting students out on Hallowe'en is that the school time would be wasted anyway. At least this way, they can count the afternoon as teacher institute rather than just letting the kids watch a movie. In our district, Hallowe'en tends to fall around the end of the 1st quarter and the time off allows teachers to figure grades and fill out report cards which then get sent home the following Monday.

 

I agree though about all of the crazy days off mostly because it's a pain to find a sitter since I work full time. (I post most frequently on the afterschoolers forum.) I was glad to see though that parent/teacher conferences were paired up with Veterans Day to give the students two consecutive days off rather than two sporadic days. I think my dd is being shipped to grandma's house those days.

[Linda1951]

I have a print out of the public school schedule. and they are off two three times a month and this is before the Thanksgiving week , a week they get off. then almost three at Christmas.

 

I am just glad that my 9th grader will know more than all the other 9th graders in this school district.

 

We do 6 wks on one week off. plan on being thorugh by Mid may.

[Georgiana Daniels]

Yep, they do it at my dd's high school too. I LOATHE the half-days where I drop her off and have to pick her up a few hours later. Total waste of gas and time. The elementary schools around here have half days EVERY Friday!! Thankfully I don't have to deal with that. Big change from when I was a kid.

[Sue G in PA]

This is why i do not feel bad counting 1/2 days as whole days and field trips, and DVDs and Nature walks and pretty much everything else we do toward out 180 days required in PA. My 3 oldest are in ps and the days off are ridiculous. PLUS, what they do in school bothers me! Assemblies, games for a good test grade, etc. I wonder why I send them.

[Desert Rat]

Your November sounds about right for schools around here. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the same schedule here.