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Parents of school-aged kids
What are your strategies for dealing with school being closed on non-holidays? (Let's not even talk about snow days yet, I'm in denial.)
Our daycare only has three "staff" days all year when the school is closed, and the rest of the closed days are on holidays when either DH or I don't have to work. But we are starting to look at the PPS calendar. Kindergarten starts 3 school days after our summer daycare ends, they are closed for the jewish holidays in september, there are random closures for staff days and then there is spring break.
I have little PTO and have been trying to save it for travel/vacation/Christmas. DH has plenty of vacation, but since he has been covering everything since I started working, he is low for the next few months.
I'm trying to brainstorm ways that we can cover the days that PPS is closed without using up all of our PTO. What do you do?
Re: Parents of school-aged kids
Find a friend who can watch them?
My DH doesn't get paid on days he doesn't work, so it all comes down on me basically. Fortunately, I can work from home though, and that's how I plan to handle it. Also, my company allows us to "buy" an extra week every year, so I did that this year as well just in case.
My three sons!
Yeah, I am going to start talking to a few friends in the neighborhood who SAH. One friend is a musician, so she might be able to take Heather on days that she doesn't teach. But all the other moms I can think of have 3 or more children, so it feels wrong to add to their burden. :-)
I have asked about working from home...but they are still working on the company policy, so it is a no-go for now. I may also be able to take days off unpaid, but that stinks. And I have thought about bringing Heather to work on rare occasions. She can draw for hours and could watch a movie on my laptop...
We're not there yet but already thinking about it for next year. I think it will just be a mix of dh and I using vacation days. For spring break there are a lot of options in our area for daycare, camps, etc. Dd's current BFF's mom is a teacher so if we are still friends I'm hoping that we may be able to use her on some days. She has already offered to watch dd next year on those types of days
Is there any other parents you could use? Maybe offer to watch their kids on one day and they watch yours on another, etc
I was just talking to the principal of Jackson's school yesterday to find out about his start date, the fact that it's staggered start, etc.
I'm lucky enough that my mom is able to watch him on days where school is closed. I'm approved for telework, but it's been 3 months and the required laptop still hasn't arrived from our IT department. However, we're not allowed to use telework in lieu of child care, so I can only do so much with that, but it at least eases her burden in relation to getting to my house for 8 am, etc.
Very, very true. Luckily, Gavin can be entertained easily with movies right now and my boss is understanding with flexibility. Now, if it was Conall, there is no way I could work and take care of him!
For the longer times off and summer, we'll use daycare.
My three sons!
We will be getting the forms to officially sign up for before and after school care at the elementary school this week. So if there is any care available on staff days, I assume it would be listed. But I doubt it will be offered on holidays and our current daycare does not have any care when PPS is closed.
Ditto Clare - I could totally get work done while Heather is playing, drawing and watching movies. Todd, not so much.
Amy, I had them mail the before and after care forms to me and got them Monday. I couldn't find anything on the days that they were available, beyond that they're closed when PPS are closed.
How time flies! Caileigh (9), Keira (6) & Eamon (3)