How We Make the Best of Our Modified, Year-Round School Calendar

Once upon a time, our kids weren’t old enough to go to school. I look back on those days and miss the ease of our vacation planning.

Without school schedules to plan around, we could travel whatever days we wanted. That usually meant renting a beachfront condo with my parents in May. The prices were cheaper then because kids were still in school, yet the weather was still beautiful where we wanted to go. Almost perfect, really.

Over the years, we also did quite a few off-peak trips. We went to London and France once November, and another November we went to Greece. We filled in with weekday trips to water parks and fun stuff that would be hard to do if our kids were on a regular school schedule.

But alas, our kids are ages 6 and 8 now. My oldest is in third grade and my youngest is in 1^st, yet they think they’re going on 25.

Fortunately, I’ve come to realize we are actually pretty lucky when it comes to school schedules. Instead of the traditional schedule, we’re on modified, year-round school. Here’s how that works and how we have learned to maximize it.

Year-Round School for the Win

My kids aren’t really on “year-round” school; it’s more of a variation of year-round. Basically, they get 8 weeks off at summer, 2 weeks off in October, 2 weeks off for winter break, and 2 weeks off for spring break.

When I was growing up, we had more than 3 months off for summer break, one week over Christmas, and a single week off for spring break. I have to say, I very much appreciate this new set-up they came up with.

Here’s why I love modified, year-round school and how it helps our travel plans:

Fall break is a great time to travel.

Fall break is easily the best thing to come out of modified, year-round school. I love having two weeks off in October when nearly everyone else around the country is in school.

Fall is also off-peak to two places I travel to the most – Europe and the Caribbean. We scored some crazy deals to Spain and France for this fall break, but we try to do something different every year. Heck, fall is even a great time to go down to the beaches of Florida or Alabama. The weather is pretty and the water is still warm, yet the crowds aren’t there and prices are low.

Getting two weeks off for breaks lets us be flexible.

Another benefit of modified, year-round school is the fact that we get two weeks off for all breaks aside from summer. I really like this because it allows us to be more flexible with our travel dates, even if we’re only traveling for a week.

We always go to Jamaica for Spring break yet, every year, it is considerably cheaper (in cash or points) to fly to MBJ on a Tuesday – Tuesday or Tuesday – Monday. Because we have two weeks off, we don’t have to fly in and out on busy Saturdays when travel is at its peak.

The Bottom Line

If your area is considering some variation of year-round school, make sure to read the details. I thought I wouldn’t like it at first, but I’m so glad I saw the upsides and learned to use it to our advantage as a family.

By vacationing off-peak and having more flexibility, we’re able to see the world with our kids at prices we can afford.

What is your school schedule like? Have you ever heard of modified, year-round school?

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