Englishmum

Some English friends of ours over here are flying off to London tonight to spend Christmas and the New Year. They have children aged 3 and 1 so they're not tied to school holiday dates for quite some time.

I would have liked to have gone home for Christmas.....but in our town the school doesn't break up until Friday 23rd December - at normal going home time. School begins again on Tuesday 3rd Jan. They don't like parents taking kids out of school, especially at the High school level.

So we're staying here (again). (Our daughter is arriving from London on Sunday though

I really, really dislike the school calendar year here. My sister-in-law in Hampshire (Yateley) was telling me yesterday that their schools break up this Friday 16th for Christmas and go back on 3rd Jan....the local colleges and unis there don't go back until Mon 9th January. They also get a fortnight at Easter, half term break at Whitsun and of course a decent Summer break of around 6 weeks - but obviously not as long as the school Summer hols over here in the US.

It occured to me today that considering we're living on a different continent, we've hardly had any family holidays in the US as except for the Summer the breaks are very short - they take odd days off for the Jewish holidays in our district. In Europe and SE Asia we would always go away somewhere in the school hols (October half-term, Christmas at least a fortnight, Easter at least a fortnight and of course the 6 week Summer break)

You would think there would be ample time to take holidays here in the Summer but our experience is that our son had to be back here in early August to report for training most mornings (for an hour or two only) to try out for a place on the school soccer team (hence we've had to cut short our annual Summer visit to England for the last three years ).

I was thinking how nice it would be to go to somewhere like Sedona and go touring in a campervan in the Spring and before the desert temps get too hot....but there is only a one week 'Spring Break' and as this country is so vast and you lose a day either side for travelling from the North East then we would only get 5 days.

Oh well.

He gets one day at Easter - Good Friday.

Angry White Pyjamas

Ours get a week or so for xmas, 2 days for easter then 900 years for summer. Marvelous. Not.

Sarah

Obviously they do this to prepare kids for the magnificient 0-10 days a year vacation they'll get once they enter the workforce.
The no-holidays aspect of the US really does suck the big one.

AmerLisa

Sorry, didn't read your entire post, but why does your child not get two weeks off at Christmas? Is your child in a private school? Typically public schools always do two weeks at Christmas and a week at spring break. At least they do where we are. And that was the norm when I lived in California. I'd be pretty annoyed as well if school holiday breaks were so short! Our school breaks December 21st and while it doesn't concern my four year old, it does me, I work there! Yeah two weeks off!!

Englishmum

Beats me...

He's at a public school. He's had a number of odd days off since the start of this academic year for Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanna, NJ State Teacher Conference etc.

Come to think of it, they don't even call it the Christmas holiday here.....it's called "Winter Break".

You wouldn't believe the fuss in the schools in our district over which songs and music can be performed in the school concerts....has to be totally 'secular' with no reference to any religion so 'Jingle Bells' is OK but not "I Saw Three Ships" as it has the word 'Christmas' in it. I don't know why they don't have at least one Christmas carol, one Hannukah/dreidel song, a Kwanzaa song etc. so that the kids get exposed to another culture rather than pretending they don't exist. Bah humbug!

I think I'll have to get out my DVD of "Love Actually" to remind me of the English school nativity concerts......

Bob

Depends where you are I guess...around here, holidays are short because they figure in snow days when kids can't get to school, so try and make the time up...bit of a pain that...but wouldn't get anything done in the winter, especially in some districts

NC Penguin

If you homeschooled your kids, wouldn't you be able to determine when and how long they have for "school" vacations?



NC Penguin

britvic

Who in there right mind would home school there kids, dont we do enough already

Lizzi

My kids are in public schools in Virginia and get a week off for xmas too, a week for easter and weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks for the summer holidays It's poo. Actually it's premium poo.

robskatie

I have just recently pulled my eldest daughter from the school here, after the principal told me he could not guarantee her safety in school, I never would have thought that I would homeschool but when it comes down to safety I had no choice. We will be looking into private school next year if she decides to stay in the US and not move back to the UK to be with her Dad.
On the plus side I am really enjoying spending time with her and she is flourishing, homeschooling is bloody expensive though.

britvic

Well of course I can understand you for doing that.

jjmb

must depend on the state you are in as our kids finish school this Friday - 16th and don't return until the 3rd. My daughter finished Uni on Monday - 12th and doesn't return until 17th Jan.

AdobePinon

Yeah, on Christmas Day you'd better send the kids out to fix the roof, rake the leaves in the yard. and sweep the neighbour's driveway to make sure they get the right idea. Can't have them slacking off at this early age...

Celtic_Angel

Yeah summer is way too long..it's stupid cos you spend the days cowering in the a/c...i wish they had shorter summer hols and a bigger break during Spring/Fall when you can do more outdoor activities....many a gorgeous spring day has been wasted indoors...and then with all the homework they get you can't even enjoy the evnings

Lord Lionheart

You could help them do their English homework in the evnings