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Post by missfrenchjessica on May 19, 2015 23:22:23 GMT
As a teacher who is white knuckling it the last few weeks of the school year, I have to say: I CAN.NOT.WAIT. for no schedules.
I'm very much looking forward to a much looser schedule with nothing "due". My kids have never gone to camps/activities in the summer other than being on swim team and having practices and meets. That, honestly, is more than enough!
This is going to be the first summer in about 3-4 years where I won't need to be taking classes so I'm looking very forward to "sleeping in" (6:30 at the latest for me...), having leisurely mornings, taking the kids on day trips. Ahhhh....sounds like absolute heaven for me right now.
Granted, we will definitely have time for summer homework and some reading time, but after an insanely long school year with lots of ups and downs, I'm ready for some relaxing.
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Post by freecharlie on May 19, 2015 23:28:54 GMT
I live it. I love not having to be anywhere or do anything unless it is baseball or I want to. I live going to the pool for an hour or three, going hiking, or one a toad trio
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moodyblue
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,173
Location: Western Illinois
Site Supporter
Jun 26, 2014 21:07:23 GMT
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Post by moodyblue on May 20, 2015 0:53:55 GMT
I'm a teacher. Our last day is June 2nd - and we go back at the beginning of August, so I only have 8.5 weeks off this summer.
I LOVE having lots of unstructured time. The best weeks are when I have nothing I have to do and nowhere I have to go. Doesn't mean I have to stay home, but I love having the option of doing whatever strikes my fancy each day. And some days that means staying home and doing as little as possible!
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Post by rst on May 20, 2015 1:05:24 GMT
I've never been a fan of summers. I love my kids, and I'd like to love spending a lot of unstructured time together, but the reality for us is not what it is for many other families.
I have a medically complex child who still wakes up at all hours and is awake and ready to start the day at 5 am no matter what time he (or anyone else) goes to bed. Summers are when we have to schedule his major surgeries (3 years in the last 15 which haven't featured a major surgery or lengthy hospital stay).
I have older teen boys who want to do all kinds of interesting things, but there's a lot of juggling of my time and energy and the car availability to try to make some of their hopes a reality.
I don't find summers in any way relaxing or magical, and the expectations of others that they should or could be just makes the reality harder. The only good piece is that there are fewer germs to deal with, generally speaking, so chances of ICU stays are about 50% lower.
I try hard not to be a hater, but listening to people rave about the joys of summer almost always makes me feel stabby.
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Post by elaine on May 20, 2015 1:13:45 GMT
I hate summer.
I loved it until I had two kids with autism. I grew up spending summers in the pool or on my horse. It was a magical time. Now it is a 3 month long punishment, with an occasional good experience here and there.
My kids do much better with school in their days and my younger son is so flipping dependent on me that even with school, he still demands about 5 hours of non-stop attention from me per day. When home he follows me from room to room - even when I go to the bathroom or take a shower. Imagine a 4 year old in a 13 yo's body. Sigh.
Moments to myself or to have a complete thought will be few and far inbetween.
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Post by melanell on May 20, 2015 2:07:57 GMT
Can I just voice a small summer vent?
We wake up at 6am or earlier around here on school days. And in the summer they get up at the same time!!! WHY?!?!? They use much more energy. They go to bed later. Yet they still wake up with the roosters. Ugh.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 3, 2024 5:12:46 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2015 3:22:08 GMT
I dislike the chaos of the summer. My two younger kids have Autism and they do so much better in the school year. We can't travel anywhere because of my youngest, so it gets boring quick. My oldest has had an awful year, so for that reason, I'm glad the year is ending. I'm not even checking his grades anymore. I give up.
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Post by Belia on May 20, 2015 3:33:29 GMT
My kids are much younger than yours, but we have a "structure" during the summer. Work day, then play day, then work day, then play day. On the work days I do some type of project around the house that I can't get to during the school year. Washing windows, running errands, laundering the window treatments, scrubbing the baseboards. On play days we go on an outing or have a playdate or do something fun. We don't really do activities during the summer, other than DS's speech therapy and swimming lessons one day a week each.
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Post by freecharlie on May 20, 2015 3:39:00 GMT
I hate summer. I loved it until I had two kids with autism. I grew up spending summers in the pool or on my horse. It was a magical time. Now it is a 3 month long punishment, with an occasional good experience here and there. My kids do much better with school in their days and my younger son is so flipping dependent on me that even with school, he still demands about 5 hours of non-stop attention from me per day. When home he follows me from room to room - even when I go to the bathroom or take a shower. Imagine a 4 year old in a 13 yo's body. Sigh. Moments to myself or to have a complete thought will be few and far inbetween. Does he not qualify for ESY? Could he? Then you could have some sort of structure even if it isn't as much as a school day.
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Post by doesitmatter on May 20, 2015 3:41:12 GMT
I love it! I love the flexibility ...but we always have activities and impromtu lake or day trips and lots of company
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Deleted
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May 3, 2024 5:12:46 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2015 3:45:58 GMT
I hate summer. I loved it until I had two kids with autism. I grew up spending summers in the pool or on my horse. It was a magical time. Now it is a 3 month long punishment, with an occasional good experience here and there. My kids do much better with school in their days and my younger son is so flipping dependent on me that even with school, he still demands about 5 hours of non-stop attention from me per day. When home he follows me from room to room - even when I go to the bathroom or take a shower. Imagine a 4 year old in a 13 yo's body. Sigh.Moments to myself or to have a complete thought will be few and far inbetween. That's my youngest as well. Imagine a 18 month - 2 year old in the body of a big 6 year old. No fear of danger and so very very fast.
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Post by lattemomof3 on May 20, 2015 3:46:31 GMT
My kids are much younger than yours, but we have a "structure" during the summer. Work day, then play day, then work day, then play day. On the work days I do some type of project around the house that I can't get to during the school year. Washing windows, running errands, laundering the window treatments, scrubbing the baseboards. On play days we go on an outing or have a playdate or do something fun. We don't really do activities during the summer, other than DS's speech therapy and swimming lessons one day a week each. I like this idea!!
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Post by lattemomof3 on May 20, 2015 3:51:39 GMT
Can I just voice a small summer vent? We wake up at 6am or earlier around here on school days. And in the summer they get up at the same time!!! WHY?!?!? They use much more energy. They go to bed later. Yet they still wake up with the roosters. Ugh. My younger 2 do that too, it doesn't matter how late they go to bed, they're still up early!
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Post by elaine on May 20, 2015 3:51:57 GMT
I hate summer. I loved it until I had two kids with autism. I grew up spending summers in the pool or on my horse. It was a magical time. Now it is a 3 month long punishment, with an occasional good experience here and there. My kids do much better with school in their days and my younger son is so flipping dependent on me that even with school, he still demands about 5 hours of non-stop attention from me per day. When home he follows me from room to room - even when I go to the bathroom or take a shower. Imagine a 4 year old in a 13 yo's body. Sigh. Moments to myself or to have a complete thought will be few and far inbetween. Does he not qualify for ESY? Could he? Then you could have some sort of structure even if it isn't as much as a school day. He does go to ESY which is now only 3 hours a day for 4 weeks. Because his school starts so early, he is back before lunch. And it is only for July. We have half of June, all of August and the first week of September with no school. Not that I'm counting the days, or anything.
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Post by lattemomof3 on May 20, 2015 4:10:19 GMT
We get out for the summer May 29th and go back August 17th so eleven weeks off. I don't drive, I'm a SAHM, and we're rural so we don't do a ton of summer activities out of the house so summer is a more relaxed, less scheduled season for us - sleeping in (alarm goes off at 640 during the school year); later dinner time; later bedtimes... Mornings are for housework/yardwork and reading and any summer homework that needs to be done. After that I encourage the girls to play outside before 11am (we're in Florida - 11-2 is indoor time)..this is when I scrapbook or sew or have mummy-time. Once a week Simon takes the girls to the $1 summer movie. Afternoons - family game, arts and crafts, computer time, indoor play, a family movie or an episode or two of a TV show (we have netflix not cable/dish/over the air), baking, this is when Cathleen hides in her room and writes usually. We do go to the county pool nearly every day from about 430 until it closes at 7 (we go earlier on Simon's day off (but not usually much earlier than 3 which is when the daycare groups leave) and miss it entirely on his late shift each week - he works 7-4 usually) so that gives a nice structure to the day that everyone looks forward to and the exercise/fresh air helps as well. Dinner is late-ish - 8 or 830 and Annabelle'll take her bath while I cook and go to bed soon afterwards - we aim for 9 or 930 for bedtime for her in the summer (she's the only one with a bedtime) - I'll read her a bedtime story after dinner . I go for a walk then - about 5 miles - and then veg. Simon joins me. Cathleen and DH have computer or TV time. We have some new friends and I think we'll probably spend a morning at their flat once a week - probably in the pool - and have them over here once a week as well. Probably going to try and plan it so one of those two days falls on Simon's late shift to break up that day a bit. So just enough structure to prevent chaos but plenty of downtime as well. This is a great schedule! We set our alarm for 6:40 during the school year too:).
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Post by betty on May 20, 2015 4:12:52 GMT
I'm looking forward to the chaos. I hate the 5:55 am alarm to get ds to the bus stop each morning, usually in the dark most of the school yr. I will sleep soundly until the sun is fully up each day! My kids are finally old enough that I can run to the store or an errand without dragging all 3 along so it is less chaotic than it used to be. We have an epic 2 week road trip planned - Florida to Niagara Falls with 3 kids stuffed in the back seat of a rental car. What could be more relaxing?
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Post by 950nancy on May 20, 2015 4:15:25 GMT
My baby just graduated, so everyone in my house is already on summer break. I have three more days and I start my "eternal" summer. I love summer. I loved the getting up late and just making each day fun whether we did something or not. I live in an amazing city for hiking and fun attractions so we were never bored. Now that they are all grown up it will be weird.
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Post by Scrapper100 on May 20, 2015 4:38:58 GMT
I am looking forward to it but only have one child and don't have anything planned. He has already been warned he will not be spending all day attatched to electronics. He would spend the whole summer watching tv, you tube or playing video games. We are going to go to the library for books, go hiking at the local lake or in the canyon behind our house. He is going to learn to cook and is going to be doing a lot of chores (paid). He is still going to have a lot of fun. I am hoping to find some new places to explore as we have lived here less than a year. I am not going to let him become s couch potato. Not sure exactly what the schedule will be but I am not going to let him stay up all night. He would stay up late if I let him and he still gets up early. He is going to have to do some reading, thinking s bit of math to. Some outdoor exercise and or chores and helping with cooking s few days a week.
He gets out June 5 and goes back August 5th but will have a day or two the week before when they get their books and schedules.
Hoping for a road trip in there to.
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Post by freecharlie on May 20, 2015 4:43:30 GMT
My kids will often take off in the morning and maybe come home for lunch if someone else hasn't fed them. Or they will show up here with a bunch of their friends for me to feed. There are days that I don't see them for 5 hours. Then there are the days they want to play xbox all day. It really swings from one to the other.
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Post by maryland on May 20, 2015 10:36:50 GMT
It's funny, but when my kids were all in 8th grade and younger, I loved when they were home for the summer. I never understood why parents wouldn't look forward to seeing their kids all day. And when they were too young for school, we were loving all the time spent together. Then came cell phones and crabby teens!
Last year (with 5th, 9th and 11th graders) was the first time I was sad about school being out. I knew I would never get anything done, the house would be messier and being around the crabby kids all day was depressing. But after the first week, I was used to them being home and it was fun! It just isn't the same as it used to be. They were fine with spending the day at the pool and doing whatever I suggested.
But I will be happy with not having to make lunches every day, and no activities (except dance). I just hope the want to go to the pool with me and their younger sister!
And I do wish our summer break wasn't so short. We used to have 3 months off but they have been adding days to the school year (not as many days off). We get out June 5th and have to go back earlier each year. This year we go back Aug. 26th. We used to go back after Labor Day for a few years and everyone loved that. We get out June 4 and go back around August 18/19 so I feel your pain on the short summer. Also, DS has band camp all day (they come home at night) starting around August 1st so that brings summer to a halt quickly! I also understand about having surly teenagers. The band at our high school (which includes the color guard and poms) also has two weeks of all day practices in August. The kids for the most part have a good time (not too hot in our area in August) but they do feel like their "summer" is over when practice starts. We are usually at the beach for 4 weeks, and get home a couple days before school starts. The nice thing is that because we are at the beach, we aren't in the "school starts" mindset, so we feel our summer fun lasts longer. When we used to be home in August, it was kind of depressing, because all everyone talked about was school starting, so you didn't focus on summer, but on school. That sounds crazy, but we did feel our summer lasted longer when we were away from all the school talk.
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Deleted
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May 3, 2024 5:12:46 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2015 10:40:22 GMT
I LOVE SUMMER!!! Summer is staying up late playing every night. Swimming every day with snowcones on the way home. Endless time with friends. Being lazy. Fireworks every Friday. It's the beach and road trips and family time. Summer makes me feel like a kid again. It's like a fairytale - no work, no responsibilities. It's like my family exists inside the magic bubble Galinda floats in at the beginning of Wicked. And the real world can't touch us. To me summer is the embodiment of everything that is good and pure and innocent. I have some seriously strong feelings about summer, lol, I look forward to it all year and then get a little depressed when it's over. This is us...our fireworks are every Thursday. There's no bedtime. The only thing we have a "schudule" about is Wedensday & Fridays from 7am-10:30 when Im at work. Usally by the time I get hone they have gotter up, ate, showered, read, straightened up and are ready to go. My 16 & 11 year old know no TV, computer, internet in the morning.During the summer, TV is only on in the evening, if we are home. The computer and Internet only after lunch. Other than that it's whatever we want. We have such a packed schedule when school is going, summer our vacation.
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Post by gar on May 20, 2015 10:43:38 GMT
I could sing and dance, I love summer so flipping much! However, I don't work and I have one very independent, very laid back, very enjoyable 13 year old to spend it with. She's the easiest person ever. If you want to lay in the grass for the entire day and chat, she's your girl. If you want to plan something and go crazy all day, she's your girl. She loves being with her friends. She loves being with me. She loves being alone. She's entirely stress free. But I can completely understand having more than one child, different personalities, different family obligations, different activities, etc. There's no way summer can mean the same thing to everyone. My daughter does do a week long service project in June, goes to a sleepaway camp for a week in July, and we go on vacation for little over a week and have another mini vacation in August, so she's got some things scheduled throughout the summer. We also volunteer one day a week at an animal shelter, so it's not totally free of activities. Exactly.
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momto4kiddos
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,151
Jun 26, 2014 11:45:15 GMT
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Post by momto4kiddos on May 20, 2015 10:43:37 GMT
Love it! By the end of the school year, we are burnt out!! We always enjoyed the lazy weeks, weeks of camps/activities, etc., but just the general change up of things. With that said, by late August we're all craving a schedule again
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teddyw
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Posts: 6,821
Jun 29, 2014 1:56:04 GMT
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Post by teddyw on May 20, 2015 11:20:29 GMT
I don't mind it but my kids are older. I work part-time.
My oldest is looking for a summer job. Not having much luck. Last summer she was a lifeguard at the zoo's water park but they sell beer. She was freaked out by how many toddlers she had to save & how many people do not know how to swim. My youngest will have conditioning for fall sports every day so she'll be tired & drive me crazy lying around. I'm finding art classes for her too
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BarbaraUK
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Surrounded by my yarn stash on the NE coast of England...............!! Refupea 1702
Posts: 5,961
Location: England UK
Jun 27, 2014 12:47:11 GMT
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Post by BarbaraUK on May 20, 2015 11:43:47 GMT
My 'kids' are adults now but the schools here in England break up around the middle of July and the new school year starts again at the beginning of September. This is generalising.....but the six weeks are usually spent with families here enjoying a more relaxed time within the normal routine where possible, with days at the beach and some days out visiting various attractions. The family two week holiday, usually somewhere abroad, comes within the six weeks also. So here the Summer isn't total chaos or very structured - it's somewhere in between I guess!
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