12th grade DS has pesach vacation till next Sunday. WHY??

amother

Papaya

Mon, Apr 09 2018, 5:54 pm

Ok. DS has been off for nearly 3 weeks already. I'm going out of my mind, because he's going out of his mind. He is getting ipod brain from playing game after game of candy crush. He gets up, goes to minyan and davens...and does nothing the whole day. What exactly should he be doing all day? Am I missing something? He's a great kid, but not interested in learning. How can this be a good arrangement for anyone? ?? Why doesn't yeshiva start again till Rosh Chodesh? This is clearly insane.

mha3484

Mon, Apr 09 2018, 5:58 pm

I assume this schedule works for yeshivos that have many boys that dorm so this is an opportunity to go home do anything they cant do at yeshiva like dentist, doctors, clothing shopping etc. When the yeshiva is primarily local boys I dont understand it at all.

thunderstorm

Mon, Apr 09 2018, 6:10 pm

My boys start on Wednesday but one of them may be postponed because their new building is not ready and they will postpone the zman until they can move in. I really hope they don't get delayed. That would be just crazy.
Before Pesach my boys played music on their instruments . They got a drum and new stuff before Yom Tov so they were either jamming all day or cleaning cars for Pesach and they made nice money.
Now that sefira is here they can't play music and that makes them feel antsy. But I came home from work today to a wonderful surprise. My house smelled yummy and then I found a huge tray full of freshly baked cookies that DS decided to bake. I love when they make these surprises.
My other DS cleaned the back yard.
I also had DS do my grocery shopping for the week etc.
They are willing to do anything to avoid boredom. They don't have access to any computer or anything until we get home so they could be monitored. So far, so good. But even they want to go back and see their friends already . Both are in local schools and there are only about 8-10 kids that dorm at both their yeshivas. But it is a time when people take advantage of the time off to take care of any necessary appointments and shopping etc.
It is really tough watching them just sit on the couch doing nothing. It made me crazy too until I realized they can figure out how to keep busy if they really wanted to.

amother

Papaya

Mon, Apr 09 2018, 9:04 pm

[quote="amother"]IMHO, the answer to your question, Why? is so he can develop some social skills. Sounds like he really needs your help with this. Especially because it is not long til he is out of school. Then what?[/quote

Excuse me??

amother

Lemon

Mon, Apr 09 2018, 9:13 pm

[quote="amother"]

amother wrote:

IMHO, the answer to your question, Why? is so he can develop some social skills. Sounds like he really needs your help with this. Especially because it is not long til he is out of school. Then what?[/quote

Excuse me??

You sound offended. Let me explain. I have slightly younger kids with similar issues. They don't know what to do with themselves when they have unstructured free time. They are so used to such long school hours that they don't know how to just call a friend and do something. Sounds like your ds is similar. Where are the other boys who are on vacation? What are they doing all day? Perhaps you need to do some behind the scenes orchestrating to get then together. Or to find a job that needs doing. Covering library books? Shopping for an older person? And have someone else make calls so that no one knows you were involved. You window of opportunity to help with this is rapidly closing.

amother

Amethyst

Tue, Apr 10 2018, 6:02 pm

My son sleeps a little later than normal so that's a great. Shachris at 930. He is catching up on reading material because he has no time.to read during the zma. He visits his elderly grandparents. Has a chavrusa every day for a bit. He went to a museum with friends today and tomorrow we will catch up on some.private time and go to an exhibit. He wasn't bored before pesach because his help was needed around the house so he worked pretty hard helping for Yom Tov. I think this time is fantastic...his schedule during the year is brutal (leaves b4 7 and home after 10) so this quiet time is very necessary imho.
(He also plays on electronics a bit but we try and limit it.

amother

Red

Tue, Apr 10 2018, 6:16 pm

my kids dorm so I am thrilled to have them home. They all love reading so spend time doing that, and they enjoy coding on the computer. My son learns a lot too. We did a bunch of fun trips on pesach and isru chag so probably not too much of that this week.