When Are Your Kids Getting Out of School for Christmas Break?

In NYC the first day of break is basically always 12/24, no matter what day of the week it falls on. So that sounds normal to me. If you want "travel time" before 12/24 you would need to pull them out of school early. Just like if you want travel time before the busy travel day before Thanksgiving.

My kids go to the 22nd, so the 23rd is their first day of break.

Next year, we are starting after Labor Day, so I imagine all breaks will be cut short. Honestly, I take my kids out to make "life" work for us. If I needed to travel earlier, I'd call them in sick or something :).

That makes a good point. We aren't traveling and one kid hs , gets out last day 12/22 and the other 12/15 last day. They are out about 2 weeks straight so not the entire break together. Really messes up but I never thought about the traveling issues one would have getting out day before the holiday! I'd take the kid out a few days early if I was traveling

You have to remember that no everyone celebrates Christmas, not everyone travels for Christmas, and the school can't accommodate everyone's plans for all the holidays. Personally I'd just call them out of school on the 23rd if that's going to be your travel day.

22nd is our last day, break starts 23.

At Thanksgiving, the kids had off starting Wednesday before through Monday after, so 2 extra days there.

And Thursday through Monday off for Easter (I'm not sure why there are any days off for this one since it's not a federal holiday).

But, we started 2 weeks before Labor Day, which I feel is really early considering we go into June. I guess it was necessary since we have so many days off during the year. Personally, I'd rather get rid of some of the extra days around holidays (which neither my husband or I have off anyway) and get another week or more of summer back.

ETA: Yes, JB, it drives me crazy. Thank goodness my work is somewhat flexible. I have no idea how people do it if they have an inflexible work schedule. Even if you can cover the cost of the childcare (which is expensive), it's hard to find someone willing to babysit on those days.

Believe it or not, it used to be worse. A few years ago there was pushback, and they at least got rid of all the early release days - which were on top of all the days off. Now the kids either have school all day or they don't have school.

My boys go to different schools. One is done on Dec 16th and the other on Dec 21st. Since they both get 2 weeks off, they will return on different days. So instead of having 2 weeks off together, I have 1 1/2 week with both of them and a few random days with them individually. Guess I'd better capitalize on that one-on-one time with them :-)

We have an early release day on 12/23. I would be beyond irritated if they got out before then.

ETA @ mynewnickname that schedule would drive me crazy! We really put a lot of pressure on our school committee over the past few years to cut out the extra days off and half days that were sprinkled throughout the year and always caused scheduling chaos for families with both parents working. We went from over 10 half days to 7 (four for parent-teacher conferences and the rest precede holidays), and aside from federal/state holidays and vacation weeks, there are only two additional days off for professional development and one of them was election day. It's so much better than in prior years. We start right around Labor Day and go to mid-June.

My kids are on vacation 12/19 - 1/2.

We are out on the 23rd too. That day will be filled with parties and fun - pull them out and go.

My kids last day is 12/16 and that's a 1/2 day.

Our last day this year is the 22nd which I find highly annoying and I might end up pulling my kids out a couple days early, but not because of travel. We do not celebrate Christmas, we celebrate Yuletide which starts on the solstice and lasts 5 days though Dec 25, this is the first year in a very long time that our break has not started before the beginning of our celebration.

wow, that's brutal!
i'm an old crone, reminiscing fondly about the long winter, spring and summer breaks we got. i don't even actually remember how long they were.
it sure doesn't seem as if kids get much these days, though.
ah, my fabled youth, when it was sunny all the time, and there were oranges on trees just waiting to be picked.
:) khairete
S. (who grew up in bermuda where this was literally true)

My kids' last day is 12/16 this year and they get out a little early that afternoon. We go back on Jan 3. Next year, they will have school through 12/22 and return 1/8. For us, it just depends on what day of the week Christmas falls on.

The new trend of starting school before Labor Day makes me SO frustrated. 2015-16 was the first time we had an August start date. It really sucks. That doesn't affect our winter break at all... just figured I'd throw it out there. :P

The 21st is their last day, and they return on the 4th.

With Christmas on the weekend this year, my kids' first day off is 12/23. My older kids are saying how other kids talk about skipping the 22nd as well (high school) maybe even the 21st. Break is from Dec 23 to Jan 6.

We have a half day on the 16th and then they are out until the 2nd of Jan. My kids go to private school. Our public schools get out the 15 and are out three weeks

Blessings

This year they are off school from Friday, December 23 through Monday, January 2. In 2014 & 2015, winter break began on Dec 24. Sometimes in the past it has technically started on the 21st or 22nd if you count Sat/Sun.

I just noticed that Hanukkah is from Dec 24th to Jan 1 this year, so this year's break is an unusually perfect alignment with that.

Same here..

Although anytime I've had to travel for holidays, I send an email to my kids teachers a week beforehand. That way they know ahead of time..

I honestly don't know. They each are in different districts but we aren't travelling so I guess it doesn't matter to me much. lol Good luck!

This year mine is out on the 16th but in years past it's been closer to Christmas. Since we get our schedules in August we have plenty of time to plan for travel (though we usually stay home, we hate travelling during the holidays.)

Wed Dec 21st is our last day of school before winter break.
We go back to school Tue Jan 3rd.
We're not planning on going anywhere!

He has school until the 23rd. I'm planning on the long drive up to Grandma's (@ 10 hrs) starting very early on the 24th, which will make for an odd Christmas Eve. I could probably pull him out a day early, but honestly I need the time for preparations. He goes back on Jan. 3rd.

Our calendar is different every year. There have been a few years when we only had 2-3 days before. This year, with Christmas falling on a Sunday, they actually have the entire week before out. The last day of their fall semester is December 16 (Friday). They return on January 4 (a Wednesday).

Of course, our kids begin school sooner than many other areas, it seems, also. Their first day of school this school year was August 3. Sooo....

21st is the holiday winter party day. and the 22nd is no school

Our kids go through that Wednesday.

If you are the parent you have the right to take your kids out of school for any reason you want. You can even keep your kids home for a vacation day at home. They might have an unexcused absence but they can have a certain amount of those per year. If you need to take that whole week off then just let the school know your kids will be gone.

They can send work with them to do on vacation or they can have them catch up when school starts back up.

Last day is 23rd. First day back is 1/3. It's just not a very long holiday...