Does Anyone Else Feel That 12 Weeks of Summer Is WAAAYY Too Long?

It actually seems like it gets a few days shorter each year to me. I think kids need the break and time to just be kids, but I grew up with three full months off every summer.

I love, love, love summer! I'm never ready for it to end. :) I am a teacher, so I'm home with my boys in the summer, and we have a great time. I do understand how hard it must be for working parents, though. Let me tell you, I am chomping at the bit waiting for summer to start this year though!

We don't quite get 12 weeks -- it's more like 10. But I love summer and doing things with the kids and having my kids home. It goes way too fast for me. Maybe it's because that's the only nice weather we get around here. I just love the break for all of us.

As a child I looked forward to the summer time- it helps you know that there's MORE to life than school, and it gives you enough time to totally let go and be a kid and just have fun and be with friends and family. It always took me a bit of time to unwind after school ended, and then getting ready for school and geared up and getting BACK on the school schedule to be ready when it starts takes a couple weeks. I also LOVED that I didn't go to daycare OR summer camps. I had good old-fashioned at home time, and then we would go on vacation for 3 weeks. I was able to do projects that took a long time to do-and actually FINISH them...

As a SAHM of four, I look forward to the summer for our freedom- we can go anywhere, do anything for a time that works for us, not all packed in a 6-week period (or however long), where everyone is gonna do the same things at the same time... I want my kids for a long time- it is why I'm a stay at home mom. I don't like the school days because I only see them a few hours that day. I need a break from being REQUIRED to do this and that with my kids.

I wish summer vacation lasted forever (as a kid and now) :)

Nope! It's not long enough (this is coming from a teacher). :)

I don't think it is long enough! I love having all our kids home with me during the day. Usually in May we start our summer list of things to do. From September to May we have a coin jar that we put loose change in and then on the last day of school we take it to the bank and get the cash. The cash goes into an ice cream treat envelope and we celebrate the last day of school with an ice cream treat and then look forward to spending the rest of our treat money all summer. The kids love it! Enjoy this time with them, soon it will be gone and you will regret wishing your time away.

Well, I've always been home with the kids, never had to arrange childcare so that might make a difference in my opinion.

I LOVE summer, I LOVE just hangin' out with the kids, when they were little, and now they're teenagers, Can't get enough of it.

Sleeping in, no rush, maybe we'll go to the lake if the weather's nice, maybe a hike, maybe work in the yard.

Every year, I'm bitter about school starting. The KIDS are always ready, but I mourn the end of it til October, sigh.

However, I DO agree our country needs a total education overhaul, which I ALSO agree will mean the end of those lovely idle summers. After all, they came into play because we were a farming nation and kids needed to be home to help on the farm. Luckily, my kids will be all grown up by the time that happens.

Childhood is so RUDELY short, if they can't relax and slack off a little in the summer, what's the point in being a kid?! They do work VERY VERY hard during the school year.

37 more days, WooHoo!!!

:)

Not long enough! It seems like at the end of summer, I find myself saying "I wish I had just two more weeks!". It goes so fast, and we have such a great time with our kids. We love the freedom of going where we want and being on our own schedule, not the schools.

I love it. I wish we had 14-16 weeks!

The longer the better. But that's me.

We got 3 months off when I was in school and I wish my kids did too!

I agree with the other moms who said "the longer the better."

That being said, I homeschool - so summer is a break for me too LOL!

Last summer my younger son and I did math all summer (and he kept up with his reading tutor), and we are a bit burned out at this point. We are definitely taking official time off this year. We are both ecstatic thinking about it!

No Way!

Not long enough IMO!

I LOVE having my kids home for summer...it's our only time to do all the fun family vacations, swimming, just hanging out together...and it goes by WAY TOO FAST for us!!!

NO!!! (living in an area of the country where summer is only 6 weeks long... and school is 8-9 hours a day)... when my son was in public school I never got to see him!

Growing up my mum was my BEST teacher (12 weeks of summer, 6 hour school days... slightly more than half of our time was spent with family, rather than the vast majority spent with teachers), and we spent so much time with family and friends and living life... I'd expected to be able to do the same with my son. Nope. Morning madness, home & crash & trying to squeeze in homework, dinner, bed... I only got to spend "real" time with him on the weekends, and he never got to just PLAY and be a kid... and the weekends got eaten up (sport in the morning, bdays in the afternoon, extended family on sundays) UGH. No wonder people talk about being over scheduled. There's no TIME to fit everything in!!!

At this point the only 2 school modalities I'm willing to do are homeschool & boarding school. 9 hour days (10 w/ commute) and 6 weeks of summer just doesn't give me enough time with him. I'm mum... not the baby sitter. 2 hours a day and a few weeks once a year? Nope. Huh-uh. Not gonna do it. Not unless something tragic happens.

I love it. If you didn't know more than 70% of the inhabited land in the USA is farming. During the summer you need all hands do work so school schedules comply.

I also want to homeschool next year so my breaks from school will be mandated by me!

I'm on a 9 month contract for work--so I get summer break too--and it is glorious. I can't wait to go swimming, hiking, barbecuing, and gardening with my little boys...and recover from this last year! It's my light at the end of the tunnel and I'm worse than my students counting down the days!

I LOVE the summer!! I dont think we get a full 12 weeks though....we could and it goes too fast for me to notice...lol! I love the pool, bbqs, frozen drinks, long daylight nights, sitting on the porch, flip flops, popsicles.... i could go on forever. Please don't rush summer.... life is one big rush as it is :(

I love long summer holidays. It may be h*** o* some parents, but school isnt daycare either. There are summer camps & all sorts of organised programs, day camps etc for kids.

Wow, if you're already thinking this way, it's going to be a looooong summer for you!!!!!!!!

Not long enough for me! My son and I always have so much fun doing things together during the summer break. Of course he spends a lot of his time playing with his friends as well. Not too crazy about the summer heat here in Texas though, but I'll deal with it just to have that special time with my son. That time with him will be over before we know it, and I will miss it. I do understand why it's h*** o* some parents that have jobs outside of the home. That can be very difficult.

I love 12 weeks, but I don't have childcare needs.

We get about 10 weeks and I'm sooooooooooo looking forward to it. My oldest is just finishing kindergarten! I have a bunch of things planned this summer-and Daddy is coming home from Iraq in July! I already bought a couple 1st grade workbooks for us to do this summer. I don't want him to get out of the school habit either! Check your local theaters. Our theaters have a summer movie schedule where they show old movies for $1--when I say old, I mean last year's movies. Also, a good sprinkler and hose will fill many afternoons around here!

We only have 9 1/2 weeks. No it's not too long. Sometimes it seems too short as the time just seems to fly by and we can't fit in all the things we want to do.

There are school districts that have a totally different schedule. They go for 3 months off 1 month and then back again. For example in school Jan - Feb - Mar - off April then back at school May June July off August. They say it is actually better the kids retain more info. And because the kids are off at different times of the year vacations are not so expensive and a lot less busy.

Yes it's way too long especially when they are teenagers and parents work.
That age of 11-15, where they can't drive, but they can just drive their parents crazy.
Year round school would be great in my opinion. 12 weeks is just long enough for them to get out of their routine and habits of school then have to start all over again.
Then when they are in high school and the schools like to start extra curricular activities from 10-12 in the morning for working parents to figure out how to get them there. Long summer breaks off I think are a lot easier when their is a parent at home, I was one at one time. When both parents work it makes for a long 3 months, especially trying to keep track of them.

Nope - ours is more like 10 weeks and it is perfect.

l

Ruby I love that schedule.
In Monterey Ca we had abotu 6 weeks in the summer, a week in Oct, days in Nov, 2 weeks in Dec, 2 weeks in March then out end if first week in June and back end if July or first of August.
My son was in 7th and 8th and did so much better, actually had A's and B' for the only time in his life and was able to attend in class.
I homeschool the youngest two now and we started in August last year, we will finish up right after Memorial Day.

12 weeks goes by way to fast for us.

As your children get older they are busy during this time. My daughter is 16 and we have 1-3 weekends available to do something as a family due to her cheerleading activities. This is when they prep for the upcoming year, have camps, training, etc. When she is not doing something extracurricular, even in summer, she is busy babysitting and earning extra money.

We would love to have some time with no firm plans!!

They grow up way to fast.... don't wish this time away. They'll be off to college before you know it!

No, I mostly like it. It can take a week or two to adjust to having them home together and we don't get much done around the house, but I love the summer. We mix it up with programs and downtime, going to the waterpark, zoo, etc. Time usually gets away from us and we don't get everything in. There are so many fun programs to choose from it can be hard to narrow it down! I'm not a working parent, but in my area we have a lot of programs available for working parents. It does get a little harder when the kids are in the stage of not wanting programs but not able to be home to drive. An older high school or college age nanny or manny who can drive can be a big help.

I personally think 12 weeks is too long.

I agree kids need a break, I just don't think it all needs to be at once. I would LOVE year round school; same number of days off but interspersed throughout the year. My neighbors are from England, they get 8 weeks in the summer and some longer breaks during the school year and said they love it. I work so mine go to day camps in the summer which actually ends up being a break for me since they are gone longer at daycamp than they are during the school year (I'm off when they get home) and I have a couple hours a day to myself. Even with that I would rather the summer be shorter, they are itching to go back to school by the beginning of August.

I love, love, love the break from nagging about homework. However, I agree that it's so long. My kids are in preschool (youngest) and camp (oldest) half-days while I work but it's always tough to fill those afternoons. By the end of the first month, I'm out of creative ideas and the "I'm bored!" complaints arise.

I think it's WAY too long. I am a stay at home mom and I LOVE it when the kids are in school. It's my only break! I am dreading this summer

I've always thought that each grade should be separated into 4 terms with a 2-3 week break in between them, coinciding with summer, Christmas, spring and maybe Halloween (or something). This way, kids get plenty of down-time, but not SO much so that they forget everything they've learned the year before.

I remember being in school and just doing 'review' work for the first month!

I think it is entirely too short. A TON of time is wasted in public schools. Our kids could actually learn a lot more in a lot less time if so much wasn't wasted. That's a big reason why I will home-school our kids when they get of age. Kids deserve to get to be kids and nkt spend their childhood in school all day. Education is of utmost importance, but so is getting to play and not be rigid all the time. I look at free time for kids as just as important to their development as school time. It sounds to me like you really want them to go to school so you don't have to deal with them. There ard always things to do and get creative with!! Enroll them in art classes or a t-ball team. Take them to the park a lot. Take them swimming. Plant a garden together. Go to the library. Volunteer at your local humane shelter. Take them to a church with an awesome kid/youth program. They are always doing things. Thete is so much you can do!!

My son loves taekwondo day camp.
He gets to run around, play outside and read all he wants without having to worry about homework and deadlines.
I miss having summer vacation off (like when I was growing up) but I get 4 weeks vacation per year which means we can go somewhere for a week in during the summer. The rest is used up at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Spring break.

It was really hard when I had 6 at home and I had to work but we managed with a combination of child care activities. It became harder when they became teens and the summer camps don't want 14 year olds and older teens. Yet they would still be too young to work at a traditional job.

My mom retired and would take them with her vacationing around the United States. Fun times for them freedom for me.

This year my 16 year old will be working and the 15 year old will be vacationing in Florida and parts of New Jersey all with relatives. Having a large family really helps.

I'm kind of torn really. I like the idea of having and extended break between grade levels. I can supplement education at home during this time and when I was growing up my family always went on road trips to historic sites and kept up the learning that way. But I agree that many children lose some of what they have learned over the last year.

On the other hand I look at my cousin's children and they have all year school except that it is 6 weeks on and 3 weeks off throughout the year. I'm not sure I like that either. Sometimes kids just need an extended break. I know I would get burned out if I did not have summer break (I did that in college and was worn out when I graduated). But again they have less chance to lost anything during the break.

i prefer closer to 8 or 10 weeks off personally! no matter if you are SAHM or working mom, keeping kids entertained is hard work. by week 3, my boys are at each other's throats due to boredom. as much as i love the break from homework, i hate the stress that having them at home constantly brings. i do love my children but they do better behavior wise during the school year and i like my me time while they are in school.

I do think 12 weeks is too long, but 6 weeks is not long enough. As mentioned, kids do need to spend some time being kids. But I wish the school year was another 2 weeks or maybe 3. I graduated 8th grade mid June and High School equal to a week longer than that. My kids' school will graduate 8th grade at the end of May, and they will be out of school the first Friday in June. Granted they go back the last week of August but......too much time out.
But they don't get away from school work because they do sign up for a reading club with the library (required by me) and I make them complete study books to keep the work fresh but it is only about 1 hr a day so they still get to have fun.

Love it! Can't wait for all the fun, learning and lazy days we will enjoy together. Our littlest guy will love having siblings to play with everyday. We also get sooo many projects done around the house because there are more hands to help.

I can see how it is tough for working parents...and more expensive to boot. ...but we don't have that issue to deal with cuz I am home full time. I have gone through year round school myself as a student and with our older two for a couple years...we HATED IT!

My suggestion to you would be to make your own "school type schedule", schedule activities and schedule down time to just simply play, schedule chores.

We love school and we love our breaks!!