POLL: Do You Work And/or Do Your Kids Go to School on Federal Holidays?

I don't get many Federal holidays off per say. We get 6 floaters on January 1. I used 5 of mine for my cruise a couple of weeks ago. I worked yesterday. My husband was off and the kids were too. They get most of the days off as well. I just looked and this year they got off for both Columbus Day and Veteran's Day, along with voting and all of the professional days.

I have all Federal holidays off, except Columbus day. We traded Columbus day for MLK day a long time ago.

My daughter has the same holidays off. They do have half days for their teacher in service days, but never a full day. It is something like every first Friday of every other month.

Pretty much banks and government employees are the only ones that follow federal holidays. Schools tend to have a modified holiday schedule and the rest of us follow a traditional holiday schedule. So we get, what, seven a year if you count Thanksgiving as two days.

So my kids were out of school yesterday so I took a half day, they have teachers work day today so I am working a half day today. I could take the days off but I like to push work product every day so they don't miss me plus my kids are older.

I work in finance so I have all stock market holidays off, which can be kind of random as I'm sure you know. We have MLK off, but not Columbus Day. Good Friday, but not the day after Thanksgiving. Columbus Day and Veteran's Day are not stock market holidays, so I'm surprised that you get those off.

Anyway...my kids get every Federal holiday off, plus a bunch of other random days. Kind of maddening. I'm lucky I can work from home and cover many of those days.

I get federal holidays off, and my kids get most of them too.

I work from home. So really - I don't "do" holidays!! :)

Our school gets the following holidays for the 2012-2013 schedule

October 8 Columbus Day Holiday

November 22 - 23 Thanksgiving

December 24 - January 1, 2013 Christmas/New Years break

January 21- Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday Holiday

February 18 George Washington’s Birthday - Presidents' Day Holiday

May 27 Memorial Day Holiday

we get a ton of student holiday's too.....

We run our company from home so we just make our schedule work with daughter's.

She was off on MLK day and I did some office work but we are limited because the stock market, banks and postal service is closed. I mostly did paperwork.

you are soooo lucky :)

i get christmas, new years, memorial day, labor day, 4th of july...i think that is it??

it is a BUMMER trying to find childcare. grr.

Due to the nature of my job working the same schedule as the state, I do get Federal holidays off. I also get "inclement weather days" if it means that the bus lines are closed, signified by the city school for the city I work in being closed for the day and not just delayed opening.

My children get most Federal holidays off, but not all, so I'm often home on holiday when they're not. My husband also gets Federal holidays off now too since he works for the state.

As a teacher and a mom, our schedules are similar, but not exact.
My kids get:
Labor Day
Discovery Day (Columbus Day)
The week of Thanksgiving
2 weeks at Christmas
MLK
President's Day
A week in March for Spring Break
Good Friday
Battle of the Flowers (A San Antonio holiday in April)
Memorial Day

I have most off, but have professional development on Columbus Day and President's Day, so those two days we need to find daycare for the kiddos.

There are two kinds of Federal Holidays, movable and immovable (I forgot official terms). Immovable are those you can't change the date for... July 4th, Veteran's Day, Memorial Day and Caesar Chavez Day to name a few. Then there are holidays that may be moved to be celebrated another day. I work at uni and on our calendar, they actually tell you that during winter break, each day is taken off for some other holiday that occurred through the year (yes, I get Columbus Day at the end of December). It's how the schools give kids weeks off. So it's complicated because each district can set it's own days to pick when they take it off. Luckily for me, I work at a school so our holidays fall together, usually. If anything, they get days off that I don't since they have things like... teachers in-service.

I work for a state university. I was off yesterday, but I work on Veterans', Columbus, and Presidents' Days. I think that part of it might sometimes depend on how the holidays fall every year. If one that we would normally have off falls on a weekend, then they have the option of giving us another.

ETA: Azrieling kinda hit it.

The kids get off every federal holiday, (MLK, president's day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's) as well as election day. They also get a week off in Feb. (95% of the time it's the week of President's Day) and a week off in the spring.

I work in an office, we get the major 6, plus MLK, and the day after Thanksgiving.

My son gets Labor Day, Thanksgiving break, Christmas break, MLK Day, President's Day, and Memorial Day. If they had already hit a certain number of snow days, he would have gone for MLK day. For work I get Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving (and day after), Christmas Day, and New Year's Day.

I am a teacher & do not get Columbus day or Veterans day off. My children do not get those days off (I teach in a different district). None of us get election day.

I work for a financial institution and we're closed when the Fed is. The "federal holidays" my kids are off school is MLK Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. They have "spring break" over Easter.

My kids are both in high school so I don't have to take off to watch them when they have semester breaks, etc. but I do sometimes take off just to spend time with them. We were all home yesterday, but I work next Monday when they're off for semester break.

In California, they get every holiday you can imagine off. I have to hire a babysitter for many of the holidays so I can work. I'm self-employed, so if I'm not working, I'm not earning any money.

It seems to me that our kids are out for some cause or another at least once per month nowadays. It's odd to me and I'd rather they were in school.

We start early in August, then get out for Labor Day. Then Fall Break in some time in October for that Thursday and Friday. The an occasional day out for one reason or another likr professional day or parent teacher conferences. Then Winter Break from December 20 something until the first full week in January.

Out for MLK day, A professional day and a parent teacher conference day in February, no presidents birthdays or anything anymore. Then Spring Break and only more made up days out plus some built in snow days until the last week of May.

I worked, DH worked, and both kids were in school yesterday. DH and I work in the private sector (finance) and work every holiday except maybe Christmas and Thanksgiving. I think the kids have off Presidents day, but that's it for the normal federal holidays.

Franklky, i don't understand how the entire federal government can shut down for all these week day holidays. If DH and I were to take all those days off our productivity (and thus our pay) would plummet.

I work and no I do not get federal Holidays off. He gets MLK day and included with MLK is teacher inservice on the Friday before. Also get Presidents and Veterans.

I do not get all federal holidays off. My old office gave us Veteran's Day once and then sold itself to a large corporation which took it away again.

DD has most federal holidays off and today she is off for teacher inservice. A lot of places are quietly not celebrating Columbus Day anymore. I'd happily trade that for Veteran's Day being a bigger deal.

I currently work from home so it's not a big deal, but when DD was small or when the big kids were in school and needed care on a day we did not have off, either we took the day (traded off who did it) or arranged for a family member or sitter. We have some dear friends who are teachers who would sometimes babysit because they were off as well.

I don't get all of the federal holidays. We get MLK, Memorial, 4th, Labor, Thanksgiving and that friday, Christmas and New Years. The only extra holiday my dd gets is Presidents day which I will have to take a vacation day for.

I'm lucky to have a flexible schedule and a network of moms that works well to cover the days he gets off, but I (we) don't.

DIL in medical field. Gets thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, July 4, Memorial Day and Labor Day. Kids get a lot more plus long weekends for some holiday. Then there are the breaks. Christmas, spring.

I'm a public high school teacher, and I get most federal holidays off. My kids go to school in a different district, and they get most federal holidays off, too. We don't get Veteran's Day, though. I always find it interesting that I get Cinco de Mayo, but my kids don't. That's a big holiday in Texas (where we live), and I'm surprised my kids don't get the day off. Other than Veteran's Day, I think we get all federal holidays off.

My son is off all this week for a break between Jan term and Spring term. Thankfully he is 16 and can be home alone. His school has so many random days off that I don't know how parents manage who have youngers and have to work on those days.

Some of that is Ohio -- I'm in Columbus, and we don't get Columbus day, but then they had a day off a week later - I believe it was for an in service day. We also have "Capital day." I'm at home, so it doesn't make a difference to me schedule-wise, but a lot of people are home for Columbus day when their kids are at school, but then they have to get child care for in-service days one week later! I never saw that in Pennsylvania, but I think Ohio is screwy with the holidays!

ETA: That being said, I worked at a very liberal private college in PA and we started fall semester ON Labor day and spring semester ON MLK day.

I am glad that they took Columbus D. off of the school calendar. So, yes, I would send them to school on Columbus D..