What Time Does School Start for Your Kids?

Updated on August 27, 2012
J.B. asks from Boston, MA
31 answers

I feel like the only one in the world not sending kids out the door super early in the morning. Here is my town's schedule:

K - 2: 9:00 - 3:20
3-5: 8:25 - 2:40
6-8: 7:35 - 2:05
9-12: 7:25 - 2:00

What's the schedule in your town? Do you like it? I wish that we would switch so that the younger kids started early and the older kids started late.

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J.K.

answers from Wausau on

K-6: 9:05 - 3.35
7-9: 7:45 - 2:55
10-12: 7:40 - 2:57

My kids are in 5th and 7th this year, so we need to adapt to the earlier 7th grade start. I agree that it would make more sense (scientifically, biologically) for the older kids to start later and the younger kids to start earlier.

M.M.

answers from Tucson on

I just have one in elementary school. 4th grade and its always started at 9:15 till 3:45, but out early on Wed at 1:45.
I think it is the latest starting school in the city.

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M.G.

answers from Seattle on

K-5 9-3:30
Middle school starts earlier and high school earlier than that. I don't know the times seeing as my two are only in elementary.

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C.B.

answers from San Francisco on

Ours is:

K - 8:30 - 11:50
1 - 3: 8:30 - 2:20
4 - 6: 8:30 - 2:40
7 - 8: 8:30 - 2:45
9 - 12: Not sure - haven't gotten there yet!

Some of the kindergarten classes start earlier - 8:10 but only if the school offers morning and afternoon classes. The schools that only have morning kindergarten classess start at 8:30.

It has never made sense to me to have the younger ones start later and the older ones start earlier.

Younger kids tend to get up earlier and are ready to go whereas the teens would be in a better frame of mind of they could start a bit later. Don't understand what their thinking is on that!

1 mom found this helpful
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K.P.

answers from Seattle on

My daughter's 2nd grade hours are 8:30 - 3:25.

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S.E.

answers from New York on

elementary k-6 starts at 835 middle school 7-8 is 820 and higschool the first bell rings at 805 but u have until 810 to get to your homeroom i cant remember what time the elemetary gets out but i know that highschool gets out the earliest, 8thperiod ends at 235 .. i believe the middleschool gets out at 3 and elementary is 330

A.M.

answers from Kansas City on

Not sure on the older kids times...and elementary varies by school in our district.

PreK - 8 AM (my son is in this one at a different school than our daughter)

K-4 8:45 -3:45

Intermediate and middle school kids are at the bus stop just after 7:15ish
(5&6 intermediate schools and 7&8 middle school)

9-12 are at the bus stop at 6:45

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A.S.

answers from Dallas on

K-5 - 8:00-3:00
6-8 - 8:50-3:50
9-12 - 7:20-2:15 pm

Our busing system uses the same buses for each time interval so this works very well. I actually like that the high school kids go early and get out early so after school activities happen after school and they still have time to get home and get work done. I wish the middle schools started and finished earlier.

M.D.

answers from Washington DC on

For our district, the elementary starts the latest at 845, so the bus comes at 822.

Middle school kids are at the bus stop when I leave for work at 615.

High school kids are out around 7.

It varies based on the district for elementary school, some start as early as 745 here.

L.A.

answers from Austin on

Elementary K - 5 in their seats at 7:40 - 2:30

Middle 6- 8th 8:30 - 3:30

High school 9 - 12th 9 - 4:30

Now I can understand them doing the middle and high schools earlier.. all of the after school activities can go late into the night. Practices, games, performances..

This also means late, administrators, coaches, bus drivers, stadium employees, custodians.. But boy it would have been hard to get our daughter up that early in those older grades. She would have hated it.

So I agree with you, The younger kids are in bed earlier, they can get up earlier. Is it a transportation thing there?

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K.M.

answers from Denver on

My sons kindergarten is 9-12 unless we do enrichement and then it is 9-4. I know that 1st - 5th is also 9-4. I cannot remember when the jr high and high school is. Earlier though I dont know how much earlier. I think the Jr high starts at 8 and the high school around 7 or 7:30.

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D.N.

answers from Chicago on

For K-8, middle school has the same time as K-5th, school is 8:25 to 3:05. From what I have read, HS staggers. Some kids start at 7:30, others at 8. My next door neighbor takes his sons to HS at 7:30 so I am assuming they are around 8:00 starters.

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M.D.

answers from Burlington on

They've increased the time this year at both ends of the day. This year it will be K - 12 8:20 - 2:50. The school buses pick everyone up in the morning, I'm not sure about the preschool children's schedule. They only attend twice a week. It is one school for all grades from two towns.

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P.N.

answers from Denver on

All kids go to same school and the school day is
8a-2:50p K-8th

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D.K.

answers from Pittsburgh on

My son's first grade starts at 9 am. They go until 3:40 - seems like way too long a day to me.

⊱.H.

answers from Spokane on

My 3rd grader goes to school from 7:50 to 2:25.

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K.B.

answers from Detroit on

My daughter just started K and through 5th grade, it is 8 to 3. Not sure about the middle school and high school - haven't gotten there yet! :)

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A.W.

answers from Chicago on

The grade school my daughter goes to starts at 8:40AM and they get out at 3:00PM. She gets on the bus at 8:20AM and is supposed to get off at 3:05PM but the bus has been running really late all week so she's been getting home about 3:30PM

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J.F.

answers from Tallahassee on

K - 6: 8:25 - 2:50
6 - 8: 9:25 - 3:50
9 - 12: 7:25 - 1:50

DD is in kindergarten right now, but I already dread the middle school hours. We're going to have to go from only paying for afterschool care to paying for before and afterschool care so it we'll be paying almost twice as much as we pay now. I thought we could let her ride the bus home and then by the time we get home she wouldn't be home alone all that long, but that's not going to work. We live almost 2 miles from the middle school and their website says that we're within walking distance and don't have bus service. There is no way I would allow my DD to walk that far home by herself. We've had repeated reports, over the last few years, of men trying to get kids into cars with them and a couple of those were in our neighborhood. We live one house down from the corner that DD catches the bus at right now. I know that middle school kids used to get picked up and dropped off there as well, but I guess that has changed.

T.S.

answers from San Francisco on

K-5, starts at 8:00 or 8:50 (staggered schedule for early/late reading groups)
6-8 starts at 8:45
9-12 starts at 8:00
I wish high school started an hour later. It's been pretty well documented that teenagers need more sleep in the morning because they have a hard time winding down at night (I remember feeling that way myself as a teen, and there were no cell phones or home computers/internet to keep you up at night then!)

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M.T.

answers from New York on

My high schooler is in school from 7:05-1:50, but stays after pretty much every day but Friday for some activity or other
My middler schooler's day is 8:05-2:45
I work in an elementary building, students are in school from 9:10-3:20.

X.O.

answers from Chicago on

We're at a Catholic school, K-8. Hrs are the same for the whole school: 7:47 am - 2:15 pm.

I am LOVING it!

Last year my son was in Pre-K until 3 pm, and for that last hour of the day, when he was really tired (but wouldn't nap), he was going bonkers. So far the 2:15 dismissal for his age is working well, and leaves me with plenty of time spend with him before I have to start making dinner.

A.S.

answers from Iowa City on

8:05 - 3:05 for elementary.
8:20 - 3:20 for middle school.
8:25 - 3:25 for high school.

V.W.

answers from Jacksonville on

They all start at 8:00.
But, the elementary kids get out at 2:30.
Middle school is dismissed at 3:25.
High school is dismissed at 3:45.

We live far out in the county, and my kids' bus picks up at 6:15 a.m.
They are dropped off around 4:35 pm in the afternoon.

I drive them to a different stop in the mornings, where they get picked up at 7:00 a.m. instead. It is 2.5 miles from our stop/neighborhood, but still 20 miles on the interstate from the school.

J.P.

answers from Lakeland on

My daughter goes to private school and all the grades (k-12) start at 8:20. I am not sure about the public schools around here I think they start around the same time.

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C.M.

answers from Chicago on

Our school is in a poor district so the kids are allowed to arrive as early as 7am to cut down on the instances of young kids being left at home alone while mom/dad go to work. They are allowed to go in the gym and be supervised and they have to sign in.

School starts at 8:00 and goes until 2:00.

Not us. We homeschool. So we start...whenever we want!

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D.G.

answers from Dallas on

Wow ! I would love the 9:00 start time ! Our's are:

K-4: 8:00 - 3:30
5-6: 8:30 - 3:40
7-8: 8:45 - 4:00
9-12: 7:25 - 2:45 (I think - not there yet ;)

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T.A.

answers from Seattle on

Our k-8 school runs from 9:20-3:50 every day, I know the high school starts earlier. I love the late start! Better for getting sleep!

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D.P.

answers from Sacramento on

In our area different schools start at different times. My kids used to go to a Catholic school and they started at 8am, I put them in a public school this year and that school starts at 830am.

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A.C.

answers from Savannah on

My son's in kindergarten, and it's 8:20 I think? They start bringing them in from the school yard / playground at 8:15am and pick up is 3:15pm.

I like it just fine. It's about what we had when I was growing up, it's fine. We wake up early naturally---Joseph hasn't needed an alarm clock yet, lol. He gets up NO LATER than 6:45 on his own, usually 6-6:30 and I'm already up, done some stretches and a little quiet time, and showered. Husband may be just getting up some days, or he may be leaving at 6:45, just depending on what's going on at work. We're also really good with an evening routine which allows for mornings to run super smoothly. My kindergartner gets up, showers just a couple minutes to wake up good, eats, brushes his teeth and hair, finishes dressing (he eats and brushes his teeth shirtless), we have time to talk a little, read the Bible, pray, and then walk a mile to school together. He gets there about 7:50 on purpose because he wants to be able to play with some kids before classes start. It's not too early at all. I've heard that kids that ride the bus are getting up ridiculously early though. Yipes! We're a mile away, and if we didn't walk or bike, I'd drive (bus doesn't provide service in our neighborhood because we're too close).

B.C.

answers from Norfolk on

Elementary (K-5) 7:50am - 2:19pm
Middle school (6-8) 8:50am - 3:38pm
High school (9-12) 8:45am - 3:43pm

I wish the older kids went earlier.
With starting early they have more time for after school activities plus some kids have jobs after school = they can work/babysit, etc.
But they want the high school kids who drive to do it when rush hour is almost over, plus older kids have a hard time waking up early (but then who doesn't?).

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