Do You Know When Your Children Have Days off from School?

The school prints and distributes a calendar at the beginning of the year. I go thru my calendar and write in the information. The school also distributes a newsletter every Friday. It lists dates and activities including days on which there is no school.

I do think it's odd that the parents didn't know about the no school days. Sometimes I know that there will be a day off; in this case Memorial Day, but may not know specifically which day until I look at a calendar, not mine. But then I've experienced many holidays and know how it works.

Weird. I get a weekly email from the school principal about the school plus a weekly kindergarten newsletter that comes home with my daughter and a monthly calendar she brings home. I'd have to work hard to avoid knowing when her days off are.

i would have been shocked to but i just got an email five mins ago stating the kids have earlydismissal on the last day. I do NOT remember that from last year and i don't remember seeing it anywhere on a school calendar or anything. so i guess things slip by sometimes.

you also might have just caught them before they fully switched from work mode to parent mode.

Yep. It's on the school website.
But I guess you do have to exert a little effort to get it.

Geeeez...I know someone who is the same way. And they both work FT.
You'd think they'd be especially interested in planning ahead for their THREE kids, right? They'll never have high blood pressure.

My only thought on this particular weekend - if all of a sudden my kids were off Friday AND Monday then no, I would not have known about it! I've never heard of kids being off on the Friday before Memorial Day. Is this new in your school district? Is their son in kindergarten? If you can answer yes to either of those questions, then I'm not surprised they didn't know about the Friday off.

Go online to the school's website and print them off a school year calendar. It will list all the days closed.

As soon as the FINAL school year calendar comes out, I put all of those days on my calendar with a 1 week reminder, so I know for sure. We also get a monthly calendar home from the school. Or I can check it online.

The biggest part are the weekly reminder calls from the school.

I always know when my kids have days off. I'm a very calendar-minded person - I remember dates well, birthdays, etc, so I can usually remember most days off if you ask me anytime throughout the year. I do think it's kind of weird that, this close to the holiday, the parents had no idea that they had the day off. If you'd asked them in March, it wouldn't surprise me. But asking the week of, I find it really weird (though I certainly know people like that too!!)

You are very nice to be proactive and call them, so they weren't up the creek on Friday morning!!

There are no excuses - some people are just dumb. Can't fix stupid!

LOL that's pretty nutty. My husband has no idea when the kids are out of school but that's because he knows that I have it covered so therefore, there is no need for him to know. I get the district calendar as soon as it's available (usually in the spring before the school year) and update our electronic calendar as soon as I have time and our paper calendar in August, when I get my new 16-month calendar.

That said, this is not my first time to the rodeo. I think that when my oldest was in K or 1st grade I was less organized and was caught off guard once or twice. It took me a while to realize that I really did need to have both paper and electronic calendars and keep them synched.

Yes, absolutely. In fact, our school district has pretty much idiot-proofed it: they send out a calendar at the beginning of the school year with nearly every scheduled event on it AND there's an auto dialer that calls to tell you when school is going to be closed or have a late start day.

Unless it's a snow day, it's highly unlikely that we are surprised... unless you don't look at the calendar or check your phone.

Uh...At the beginning of the year, I posted a copy of the school calendar on my refrigerator...Really, not THAT hard to keep up with...

Our school calendar is my BFF! Seriously! Couldn't live without it!!

As you get down to the end of the school year, there may be designated days that are OFF days unless they have to be used for make up days due to bad weather or other emergencies. Sometimes those are hard to keep up with and some times the state or district designates them a different way. The parents should do a better job of keeping up with the kids days off, though!

Our school has their calendar on the web, posts it on the marquee in front of the school, and calls parents to remind them (the principal does a recording), and leaves a message if no one answers. There's no way we can't know when there's days off. And needing a sitter would make it all the more reason to know...

Yes, I do, I am pretty organized though. My kids also are in "year round" school so I have that calendar up and also marked everything on the regular calendar as soon as we received the schedule. Our principle is wonderful and is in constant communication with us, we get several emails a week and are always aware of what is upcoming at the school.

I do not understand how working parents could not be aware of the schedule...don't they have to request time off or make arrangements when the kids do not have school? Strange!

Honestly ... I have one child in elementary school (sounds like our kids might even be in the same district). I had NO idea my child had Friday off until he came home this past Monday and said something. Usually the school is really good about sending out e-mails and reminders with days off, but this time there was nothing. I was convinced he was confusing Friday with the Monday Memorial Holiday until I got onto the school website and looked at the school/district calendar. Sure enough it said "NO SCHOOL (Possible inclement weather make-up day)". I never would have known if he hadn't said something. I'm really glad he told me on Monday instead of waking up Friday morning and getting ready for work and being told at the last minute!!

I try to stay up on all of the school holidays/days off, but I'm a working Mom and sometimes I do miss something on the schedule. I am still scrambling trying to figure out what I am going to do with my son for the Summer!! It is just life ... it happens. So try to cut us "unknowing" parents a little slack. It's not for lack of interest in our child - just life being busy and maybe missing notices or not looking at the calendar often enough!

All they have to do is look at school,calendar. Every school sends one out. No excuse for anyone not to know when their kid has off.

I knew because I was a teacher in the same school district. Otherwise, nowadays, the schools have an all call that automates calls to parents to inform them of holidays a day before.

I have all the days off recorded in two calendars, digital and our wall calendar. I also check my calendar daily, but that doesn't stop me from spacing out during a conversation and saying, "oh there's no school on Friday?" Seriously, I get scatterbrained! Maybe they have the same issue...doing too much and working too hard. There's only so much that can fit inside this brain. School days get trumped quickly.

Yes I know days off.
Though minimum days sometimes don't get marked on the calendar, and I am embarrassingly caught off guard!

Our school district has always put out a calendar that shows days off.
We post it so we can reference it.
Since they don't seem to know, I would call the school whenever there
is a holiday, spring break etc to find out if they do not have school in
session.
You would think if they worked, they would know to look if their child has
the day off since they may have the holiday off.
I would just take it upon myself to call the school & ask or better yet.....
log onto the school district's website and see if you can access the
calendar showing the holidays off.

I always look at the information packet that I get when I enroll my daughter every August before school starts. I never take the time to read the entire thing (although I should), but I check out the page with phone numbers/contact info (so I'll know what to do to report when she's home sick or what the office number is), the page that tells me the time periods for her classes (in case I have to make a dr appt that has to be done during the school day), as well as the pages that tell me the "calendar" of what's going on during the year (so I know when the band concerts are as well as the days off and half-days off, so I can put those on the calendar so I can plan around them).

It's pure laziness on the parents part for not looking at this paperwork and writing down when there is no school. It would drive me fricken bananas not to know if my daughter is off or if she's coming home at lunch time because it's a half-day. How can I plan my days/time schedule if I don't know hers?

I'm a teacher, but my boys go to school in a different district with a different schedule. We have my calendar and theirs posted in our kitchen with the days off highlighted on both. Also, the schools send me emails each week letting me know of important things happening. I honestly can't imagine not knowing my children's schedules.

Sounds like a total lack of communication. I feel for you! We're notified by emails, have a printed calendar which is distributed each year, and the website has a calendar. Notices also come home in students' folders. We're always very aware.

If this is common, definitely contact the principal or superintendent.

Our school is great ... they send a weekly email full of reminders and school dates, what's going on, etc. They also follow-up with a recorded phone message. My husband and I both work full-time, so I certainly appreciate the school being proactive about things like this. I must say, the night before you're to be back to school, they also call with a pre-recorded message "Hello Leopards! Just a reminder that tomorrow is a full day back at school! Hope you all had a restful, fun time off!" With all the other stuff going on, dates that I must remember, school projects due, this and that, I really appreciate the school reminders.

We get a calendar at the beginning of each year..then bi weekly calendar flyers given out by the PTA. There is a calendar on the school website. The school sends out an automated message to all parents letting us know of upcoming holidays. The kids all get a folder that goes in their binder and it has the year's calendar on it.

You have to be totally unplugged or head in the sand to not know when your kid is off in our district.

Is this the first time this has happened with the parents?? If so, then let it go as a bad communication week. If this is a regular occurrence then I'd bring it up to them as a problem....you need to schedule him at your home...and into your own schedule.

Good luck and best wishes!!

Those days do kind of sneak up on you sometimes. Thank goodness my son's school has a google calendar with workdays and vacations/holidays. I import it into my google calendar, and poof, there are they are on the our home calendar. Honestly, I would probably be clueless myself without it.