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I believe the school year is supposed to be 181 days in my state, that number hasn't changed since I was in school.

We no longer have Columbus day off and they have maintained a week off in February and April. In recent winters, the snow days have been a problem because the schools can't be in session past a certain day in June, so they've moved the start to Aug 31 and they're ending in the beginning of June.

I personally don't like the scheduled times off, as a working parent, the LAST thing I want to do is go on vacation with the rest of the state, but there's not much I can do about it!

We have a lot of one week breaks and single days off. As a full time working parent, it stresses me out!

They just have presidents week off and there is also spring break coming up. Then there's Christmas to NEw years and the few days around thanksgiving.

I'm not looking forward to the public school calendar. They have some amount of time off every. single. month. And school is done on June 16th. I think it's kind of crazy.

@Mamaof2: The week off in February isn't really for President's day but just that by having it that week it's only 4 additional days off. In the Northeast we generally have that week and another in April for spring break but we don't have 2 weeks off for the holidays, just the shortest time possible based on how xmas eve and New Year's day fall. Next year it's only one week Of course not every school operates that way but most.

As a teacher I of course have it easy in dealing with the holidays! The one issue is that we permanently must vacation during those times so $$!

@petitenoisette: I'd love your opinion as a teacher then!

What is your view on taking kids out of school for vacation? My son will be in kindergarten next year and I feel like that means September vacations are out of the question. But I don't want to be on vacation with everyone else, so the other option is to pull out of school.

@Mamaof2: so do you think it hurts the kids at all to miss school in September...I worry more about the social aspect than actual school work, honestly.

@Mamaof2: We typically do Disney trips in either Sept or October, the thought of my husband on a day with a crowd rating of anything more than a 3...I can't!

We also have family abroad, and every other year, we visit for at least 10 days in December. I can't see that stopping.

In Nova Scotia there are 195 school days Sept through End of June. Some of those are PD days.
No school Labour day, Thanksgiving, Two weeks for Winter BReak, Family day(Joseph Howe day), 1 week in March, good friday and Easter Monday, Victoria Day. THere are about 10 total PD days, so we have about 185 days of school.

With the exception of the new February Holiday, it's the same as when I was a kid.

I taught for two years in Northen SK, and we had Two seperate spring breaks, which made the winter more bareable, so I would ask for that.

@Mamaof2: We would switch that off, every other year, I think.

@petitenoisette: Thanks for your perspective, I appreciate it.

I feel really conflicted about what to do, good thing we have some time ahead of us before we have to make a decision. On the one hand, I remember as a child I did not like to miss school, no matter what for. But, we didn't go and visit family very often, nor did we go on vacation that often. On the other, it's difficult as a working parent, because everyone can't take the same week off, it's just not possible, so someone's got to go on an off week on occasion. Add family on another continent and you're limiting your options even more.

I don't know what the right answer is, truth be told. I feel like there are so many considerations.

I don't love them, but at least we have an option for care that doesn't require us to miss work. She can go to our daycare and we pay a daily rate when she's there.

Our state just changed from a required number of days to a required number of minutes. It gets to the same place, but our district is extending the day by 10 minutes this next year to try to allow wiggle room for inclement weather. I don't mind, other than they added the time to the start of the day, I wish it would have been at the end.

ETA: Our district does 3 days for Thanksgiving, the last two weeks of the calendar year, a week for Spring Break (next week) and a sprinkling of other days off.

Aaaaah, New South Wales Australia rocks the house. I am a teacher so I LOVE LOVE LOVE our schedule. We start end Jan/beginning Feb, have a 10 or 11 week term, 2 weeks off, a 9 week term, 3 weeks off, a 10 week term, 2 weeks off, then finally a 7-8 week term then a 6-7 week summer holiday.

I am actually pretty ready to leave the classroom, but will probably keep teaching while my son is little to get the same holidays as him.