CJLHoops could better answer that from a kids perspective. From a teachers, it is awful and I hate it! We do get the same amount of time off as a summer vacation but it is split up all year. We go to school for roughly 3 months and then have about 3 weeks off all year long~sometimes it is only 2 weeks off but others it is 5 weeks so it balances out in the end. It is kind of nice to have time off when everyone else is in school though because traveling is cheaper and less crowded.