If you could set the public school schedule

[HS Mom in NC]

Let's pretend you rubbed a magic lamp and the genie in it allowed you to set the ps schedules according to your wishes.  (I'm not sure if all local districts are autonomous when it comes to scheduling or if it's state-wide in some places.)

1. How would you schedule the public school year and why would you do it that way?

 

2. How do your local and other school districts' schedules affect you as a homeschooler?

[Ravin]

I would schedule our public school district so that their breaks coincide as much as possible with the local university--which is VERY large and has MANY employees and students with children in their schools.

 

I certainly wouldn't schedule fall break during university midterms.

 

I would also synchronize it with the adjacent school districts in the county, so that my kids (one of whom goes to our district zoned school, and the other of whom is in an enrichment program run by an adjacent school district) have their breaks at the same time (and at the same time as DH).

 

 

[vonfirmath]

I would also synchronize it with the adjacent school districts in the county, so that my kids (one of whom goes to our district zoned school, and the other of whom is in an enrichment program run by an adjacent school district) have their breaks at the same time (and at the same time as DH).

 

This is what our public school appears to be. It is synchronized with one adjacent school district. (We even went to week long Thanksgiving break a year after they did.) Unfortunately, there are more than 2 school districts in the area.

 

Edited August 2, 2016 by vonfirmath

[Garga]

I would schedule our public school district so that their breaks coincide as much as possible with the local university--which is VERY large and has MANY employees and students with children in their schools.

 

I certainly wouldn't schedule fall break during university midterms.

 

I would also synchronize it with the adjacent school districts in the county, so that my kids (one of whom goes to our district zoned school, and the other of whom is in an enrichment program run by an adjacent school district) have their breaks at the same time (and at the same time as DH).

If all the school systems coordinated, then it would be like common core for the school calendar. :)

[Farrar]

Honestly, I think ours does an okay job of it. If I was in charge and had any stake in it, I might extend the school year a few days earlier into the end of August and a few days later into June to give a couple more long weekends and the like. I might try to make Emancipation Day into a four-day weekend any time it falls on a Tuesday or Thursday by also giving the Monday or Friday off (that's a holiday specific to here). I might give kids Eid off if it fell in the school year.

 

It really doesn't effect us hardly at all as homeschoolers. It effects the summer hours for the pools. Um, that's all I can think of though.

[Carrie12345]

Let's pretend you rubbed a magic lamp and the genie in it allowed you to set the ps schedules according to your wishes.  (I'm not sure if all local districts are autonomous when it comes to scheduling or if it's state-wide in some places.)

 

1. How would you schedule the public school year and why would you do it that way?

 

2. How do your local and other school districts' schedules affect you as a homeschooler?

 

1.  I wouldn't.  Unless "Each day, when I woke up, I could decide whether or not it would be a school day" is an option!

 

2.  It doesn't, really.  Sometimes I'll forget they have the day off and find myself stuck in a packed grocery store.  Or I'll forget school's in session and get stuck behind a school bus for 15 miles.  I should be more aware.

[Loowit]

I don't feel a need to change it as a homeschooler.  If I were in the public schools all the late arrivals and early dismissals every week would irritate me as well the the high school's 9 bell schedules.  But I don't have to worry about that because it doesn't effect me.

 

I do pay attention to school holidays, but only in as much as it effects scheduling for things like scout outings, dance and other outside activities.  DD's dance studio doesn't normally take off any school holidays or inservice days except for winter break, Thanksgiving day, and Halloween.  It would be nice for scout outing scheduling if the two local school districts that border each other would be on the same schedule.  They have different first and last day of school and inservice days, although holidays are usually similar.  But overall we just keep a calendar for each school that we have scouts for and work it out.

[Ravin]

I will add that DD's motivation to do anything resembling schoolwork when she knows her friends aren't in school is about -300%. So the public school schedule has always affected us.

[wapiti]

I happened to catch a recent FB discussion about this on a local school-related board.  Most of the teachers seemed to favor the current district calendar, which starts in early to mid Aug (for my kids, next week) and ends in the end of May.  There is a fall break.  Most of the parents in the discussion seemed to prefer a more traditional calendar.

 

June weather is a bit iffy, but August is beautiful virtually everywhere.  Color me annoyed with the early schedule - wrecked our vacation plans with extended family this year, with school just a wee bit too early for us... we were at school today for some testing.  Interestingly, the private high schools here tend to run mid or late Aug to mid or late May but with no fall break.  I much prefer that, as at least it wouldn't spoil our early Aug vacation.

 

The most critical point in the discussion I saw in favor of the earlier schedule (early Aug-May rather than closer to Sept-June) is that AP exams are in early May.  But, the private high schools seem to manage quite nicely, so perhaps fall break is the real issue.  It's nice when I need to schedule doc appts, but that's about it.  ETA, perhaps this is yet another thing I can blame on the College Board, in an indirect way.

Edited August 3, 2016 by wapiti

[Joker]

I actually really love our schedule here. They start the first week of August (we've already started) and end the first week of June. They get two weeks each for a fall, winter, and spring break. I love the breaks and they come at then end of each grading period so the students get to recharge. Also, the weather is really nice for the fall and spring breaks and there is enough time off to really enjoy it. 

 

The only thing I would change is the start and end times of each day. Here, they start at 7:30am (which is just too early for high school) and end at 2:50pm. 

Edited August 3, 2016 by Joker

[importswim]

I would run it from January to December with only a few extended breaks in between (spring break, summer break, fall break, christmas break)

 

The local schedule doesn't affect us other than the fact that we live in a touristy area and I tend to avoid going certain places (the beach, kid attractions) when school is out.

Edited August 3, 2016 by importswim

[lllll]

nm

Edited November 5, 2016 by cathey

[abcmommy]

We are on balanced calendar and I quite like it overall.  8 weeks summer break, 2 in fall, 2 in winter and 2 in spring.

[Guest]

I would move several of the teacher work days to weeks where no students are in session and cancel some of the days off around holidays. That would eliminate the massive number of four day weeks, and students would be done at Memorial Day. With January Regents week, I would send the majority, who arent testing and are spending the week hanging out, to school to learn some of the optional material or review material they havent mastered. For students who take Jan and Feb off to go back to their country, I would offer virtual school or the packets they would get in summmer school for credit recovery.. then let them take the exams with everyone else. Many will pass, and that would cut the cost of summer school, freeing up money for other needs.

 

We are rural. School is the community pool, so when school isnt in session, the swim club cant practice.

The local public school district here has a lot of half days, seems like one a week, either late start or early dismissal.  This is a headache when scheduling extracurriculars especially because the half days are spread out among the schools even within this one district -- one may have it on Mondays, another Tuesdays, etc.   I believe our school district has a required number of instruction days, but not total hours, so all these half days count as much as a full instruction day.

[regentrude]

I would cut the long summer break to 6 weeks and have shorter two week breaks throughout the school year, like it is done in my home country:  in October, at Christmas, in February, in the spring.

Most importantly, I would shorten the school days in elementary and have them done by noon.

[HS Mom in NC]

We follow a neighboring district's breaks so my youngest can maximize her time with her best friend who attends ps there. We have 2 extended family members who work for different districts. I'm ambivalent about the schedules themselves. 

 

I like the 2 week breaks in October, December and March and I like being off by Memorial Day because there's no point in torturing teachers (including me) with kids who are mentally done for the year, but the last week of July start for the neighboring district and the first week of August start for this district messes up peak camping season here.  The afternoon rains are more likely to come in August in the mountains and can affect fire bans and how dry and dusty the woods are. (Rain is a great big, freaking deal here.) The public pools we enjoy here on public school property and are only open on weekends once schools starts in late July.  You can go a few weeks after schools starts, but only a small part of it designed for wee ones (zero entry, knee deep with baby slides) are open and older kids aren't interested.

 

Not all the country is on a early start, so vacationing with more distant relatives is a challenge. Some private and public charter schools are on even later start and end dates which can mess up local extended family vacations and group activities for church youth groups, sports, and parents employed by different districts than their kids attend.I would've preferred our local cc and the state uni here to be on more closely matched breaks because it would make family vacations with my older two and their fiances easier to coordinate.

I know you can't please everyone all the time but I wondering if there were better options.

[Arcadia]

My kids enjoy summer camps so that is where the public school districts schedule comes into play.

 

While I don't like the long summer holidays, I have many neighbors whose kids fly to stay with grandparents during summer. So it makes the airfare more economical to stay longer.

 

I like the public school schedule I had as a kid.

School holidays were 1 week in March and September, 4 weeks in June and 6 weeks in mid November to end December.

School finish by 1pm for 1st to 10th grade.

For 11th-12th grade, school day ends at 4:30pm

[Tracy]

We are very affected by the ps schedule since my dh is a teacher.  If I had my way, I would schedule the first semester to end before Thanksgiving and then start the second semester after the New Year.  I find that by Christmas, we really need a break  :ack2: , and it is taken up with the festivities of Christmas :willy_nilly:.  But I have to stick with the ps schedule, because I am married to the fun dad  :biggrinjester:, and no work is actually going to get done with him home.  

[raptor_dad]

I would schedule our public school district so that their breaks coincide as much as possible with the local university--which is VERY large and has MANY employees and students with children in their schools.

 

I certainly wouldn't schedule fall break during university midterms.

 

I would also synchronize it with the adjacent school districts in the county, so that my kids (one of whom goes to our district zoned school, and the other of whom is in an enrichment program run by an adjacent school district) have their breaks at the same time (and at the same time as DH).

 

That sounds great, but I would actually go the opposite way..

 

Take every high school in America and its tree of feeder middle and elementary schools, so most families are together, and at most have them start and end the school year at the same time regionally for summer camps etc... otherwise have all breaks be fully randomized. I'm tired of airfare and local hotels being 3x as much at President's Day or MLK or the local union conference which is a statewide holiday... This is the hazard of have one HS and one PSed.

[Guest]

Ah, yes. Regents Week is peak ski lift ticket $$$. If the area schools alternated weeks off, the entire season would be $$$.

[vonfirmath]

That sounds great, but I would actually go the opposite way..

 

Take every high school in America and its tree of feeder middle and elementary schools, so most families are together, and at most have them start and end the school year at the same time regionally for summer camps etc... otherwise have all breaks be fully randomized. I'm tired of airfare and local hotels being 3x as much at President's Day or MLK or the local union conference which is a statewide holiday... This is the hazard of have one HS and one PSed.

 

A lot of people have kids spread out among schools -- one in HS, one in MS, one in elementary or something like that.  So it is really a good idea for a district, at least, to have their breaks at the same time all the way across the district.

[TX Native]

I would just take all of February off the school calendar and not worry about making up the days. Especially for elementary aged. The February blues are real in the homeschool and public school world for many kids who follow a typical school schedule. I've seen firsthand that kids in school just drag through February. High School would be an exception since it takes the full school year to go through a credit's worth of material.

[AdventuresinHomeschooling]

I don't like starting until the last week of August or even after Labor Day, and I like being done by Memorial Day.  I am dialing it in in June.  Hate going to school in June.  I like long summer breaks.  I don't need a fall break if I have a week off during Thanksgiving, but I really just need the Wed and Fri off most years unless traveling.  I would keep a week of spring break and 2 weeks for Christmas and have an 11-12 week summer.  10 is the shortest time summer should be.  We had 8 weeks this year, and it was far too short.  I need time to recharge and get some house projects done as well as a vacation before I am in active school prep again.  The PS schedule affects me greatly now that we homeschool through a charter.  Before, not at all.

[TKDmom]

I would have breaks in October and March when the weather is beautiful and everyone wants to go out and enjoy it. Then, we'd have school during the summer months, maybe with a 3-week summer break. If that was totally unfeasible I'd give the kids a week-long break in February, just to break up the monotony of winter semester.

 

It's too hot to do anything outside here June-Sept, so I always want to do school in the summer and let dc play outside when it's cooler. But most of their friends go to school. And their friends call us up daily because they want to come over or go to the beach or to the pool or go fishing... While I just want today in my air-conditioned cocoon with some books.

[TKDmom]

Most importantly, I would shorten the school days in elementary and have them done by noon.

Ohmygosh, yes!! Long school days and no recess for my 2nd grader was the last straw that drove me to pull oldest dd out of school. I could have dealt with the other issues if she only had time to play and pursue her own interests.

[Mom22ns]

I don't have any complaints about our ps calendar. I'd love it if school days were shorter in early elementary, but I realize that most families have 2 working parents and would not appreciate that at all. If it was put on a ballot, it would lose. 

 

As to how it impacted us, well, we followed the ps calendar roughly with any changes we wanted. Dd was a competitive gymnast and for years went to a gym that switched to morning practices during the ps's summer break. If she had been trying to do school and had practice 8:00-12:00 it would have been a nightmare. My kids liked being off when their friends were off anyway. So each year I took the ps calendar, made it my base and made the changes that fit us and went with it.

 

I could never have given myself the option to take a day off whenever I felt like it. We would never have had school if I did that.

[maize]

For my family, shorter school days, say from 10:00-1:00, would be nice. 

 

 

[sweetpea3829]

The only issue I have with our public school calendar (ok...two issues) is that the PS academic year ends on June 30th and the new year begins on July 1st.  This means they want my quarterly reports, final assessments, et al in by the end of June.  

 

The problem?  We school year round, which means my 4th quarterly and final assessment reports are either "late" or missing two months of school work, which I then have to add to the first quarterly report of the next year.  

 

This year, I set my report dates so that my final quarterly wouldn't be due until 8/31...which they allowed.  But it did conflict with their exam schedules when they wanted my kids' test scores by 6/30.  

 

Other than that...the only other thing I would change about the school year is to make it year round.  I honestly think year round schooling is better in the long run for kids.  There's greater retention for sure.