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Like many threads on this board, my family is thinking about relocating to Raleigh. I've have seen all the threads about Wake County schools and that's a bummer. One thing I read about was the year round schools. That is such a strange concept to me. What do people typically do for childcare when both parents work? it's one thing to find a summer program, quite another to make arrangements multiple times per year. I have struggling to get my head around this.
Almost all local childcare facilities as well as the Y, gymnastics, sports, horseback riding facilities, etc offer "track out" camps throughout the year. We love year round school. Making arrangements a few times a year is no worse than planning for a full summer's worth of programs. It gives kids a chance to easily try out different kinds of camp due to the variety offered.
Thanks for the replies. I assume the area childcare would support the schedule. It's just so unusual to what I'm used to.
How does it typically work? How many weeks are you on and how many weeks are you off? Is this just the elementary schools or does it extend to middle and high school as well? I was wondering how it works with sports teams and other activities.
My kids get three weeks off, 4x throughout the year. Just as you would expect to find with traditional calendar schools, local businesses cater to the "track" system. There are plenty of "camps" and care available. Whatever care you're used to having in summer, is available during "track outs".
As others have mentioned, every place around here offers track out camps and programs. There is no shortage of childcare options for YR schools. For the most part, any program that has a summer program offers YR track out options as well.
It is only some elementary and middles, no high schools.
There are definite upsides to year-round (as an observer, not a participant): getting to vacation at off-peak times (= cheaper), more frequent vacations, kids will forget less from the previous round after 3 weeks rather than 12.
In Wake County, year round is for elementary and middle schools. All the public high schools are on a traditional calendar. Not sure how it affects sports in middle school but maybe someone else can comment on that.
I wonder how the cost of track out camps compare to filling a whole summer's worth of activities (if both parents work) or if the cost is the same, just spread out over the year instead of in one chunk. The Motherlode blog over at the New York Times did a thought-provoking post on it a while ago. Comments were interesting to read. American families will spend $16.6 billion keeping children busy this summer. - NYTimes.com
I admit that I did love my long summer vacations in retrospect but as a kid they just seemed so long!
The camps all pretty much cost the same. They usually charge per week and the cost is the same whether it's in the summer or track out. Everyone has the same number of weeks off, it's just divided up differently. As for middle school sports, if you are tracked out, you still play and go to practices, but obviously the YR schools are used to kids tracking out and going on vacation with their families. I don't think it's much of a problem. Same for programs like band.
The idea of year round schools definitely seems daunting at first but it's worked out really well for my family. I've got two kids in elementary. As previous posters have mentioned all kids activities here are organized with year round schedules in mind. So, when the kids are off school "tracked out", there are plenty of camps and options for child care. It also allows for family vacations during less busy times, which is less hassle and also saves you money. I also find that it's really nice just to have these breaks throughout the year, but since the breaks aren't so long, the kids don't seem to get bored or lose much in their academic skills
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