tskeeter
Junior Associate
Joined: Mar 20, 2011 19:37:45 GMT -5
Posts: 6,831
|
Post by tskeeter on Apr 30, 2015 19:10:33 GMT -5
I think the question is how does your son feel about it?
Eleven hours is a long time for a teenager to be alone. I tried to do what you are doing. My school district has a pretty decent summer school program that is about 1/2 day for 2 3 week sessions. The kids did that for a few years ( until they started to complain how boring it was etc) The only way it was possible for us to get the kids to/from was with assistance of my in-laws. They had to pick the kids up at noon at ferry them home. Then my MIL fed the kids lunch and they hung around my house for a few hours so the kids were not alone for a long stretch of the day.
We did this with the advice of our family who had been through the teenage years already. They told us the worst/risks hours of the day were the early/late afternoon...when teenagers got into the most trouble. My in-laws had been our daycare providers, and we paid them for transportation and day care. When we asked them to shift over to keeping an eye on the kids unobtrusively at our house they were fine with the new role. They were both very active - FIL was happy cutting the grass, and MIL was happy cleaning the house. I never asked her to clean or do dishes, but she did it...so I told DH to just make sure she got paid for it. I had the impression that MIL loved doing what she liked to do and getting paid for it.
My in-laws stopped doing this for us when one of my younger BIL's got divorced and needed them to ferry his kids back and forth to grade school and provide daycare. Those kids are brats, and MIL watches them, but really does not love doing it like she did with my kids.
Idk, if your son does not want to go to camp, can he "help" one of your farmer neighbors with chores so he has some structure to his day - or ask the neighbors to stop in once a day and quietly check on the kids?
I like Bean's idea. Most farmer's have some chores for a teenaged boy. The up side is that after a summer of digging holes for fence posts out in the sun on hot, humid days, he'll be really psyched to make sure he gets into college so he doesn't have to do work like that for the rest of his life. Ditto if he gets to muck stalls or do some other fun work (For me, my motivation was painting a giant building when it was so cold the paint would freeze in the brush if you didn't move along and doing other construction work during northern MN winters. And spending 12 hour days on my feet in 100 degree restaurant kitchens.)
|
|
teen persuasion
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 21:58:49 GMT -5
Posts: 4,162
|
Post by teen persuasion on Apr 30, 2015 21:49:40 GMT -5
I ran into DS's Dad while out on my lunch walk and he's in the "keep him busy" camp. Still, I think I'm going to not sign him up for the classes the first couple weeks. So, he'll have 2 weeks off, then 7 weeks of camps or vacations, then 4 weeks off. Wait, your summer vacation is 13 weeks? Our norm is 10, very rarely 9 or 11 based on how Labor day lands. Holy cow! This summer will be different for us - DH is not a teacher this year, so he's not going to be home, DD3 is planning to get an apartment near school, so she won't be home. I work a few days a week (and a weekend day and a few evenings), but summer used to be my busy season with running SRP and Drama Club for the library kids. I just learned those duties are getting shifted to the new director, to free me up for a different set of duties, so I probably won't use my kids in those things quite as much as I did in the past. W/o DH home to transport them when I'm working, summer rec and swimming are probably out. DS4 will of course be biking to Captain's practices daily, but that leaves DS5 unsupervised, unless I bring him along to the village all day - I dislike the distraction. He'd love that minecraft camp! I might really have to push the Lego club idea along a little faster... and a weekly book-to-movie group and...
|
|
Deleted
Joined: Oct 12, 2024 3:29:27 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2015 21:55:50 GMT -5
Yes. Normally it's 12, but Labor Day isn't until Sept. 7th this year. They have orientation day on the 8th and starting on the 9th, so it's actually 13 1/2 weeks! Too long I think, but we're in an area where a lot of kids still work the family farms over the Summer and of course the teachers like it, so I don't see it changing anytime soon.
|
|
teen persuasion
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 21:58:49 GMT -5
Posts: 4,162
|
Post by teen persuasion on Apr 30, 2015 22:02:47 GMT -5
Just double checked - even with the late Labor day, we've got the normal 10 weeks. Graduation is June 27th, which is also relatively late, but the usual 4th Saturday of June.
|
|
Deleted
Joined: Oct 12, 2024 3:29:27 GMT -5
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2015 22:07:09 GMT -5
Our last day of school is June 4th.
|
|
teen persuasion
Senior Member
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 21:58:49 GMT -5
Posts: 4,162
|
Post by teen persuasion on Apr 30, 2015 22:23:42 GMT -5
Ha, Regents don't even begin until June 16, and run most of two weeks; HSers only go in if they have a test scheduled. I will say that the last week is pretty pointless for the ES and MS, though - two full days that include a picnic day, and two "half" days they get out at 10am.
As someone else (Thyme?) said, I'd prefer the long break from Christmas thru the end of blizzard season - just stay home rather than constantly guessing if there will be snow days, how many, will they need to take back other vacation days, will concerts and solo fests get cancelled after months of prep? I'd love to hibernate till spring.
|
|