When you take a day off, do you let your parents know if your taking a personal day or a vacation day? How do you classify a personal/vacation day? Do you actually keep track somewhere or do you just remember?

In the next 3 months I'm taking 5 days off, here and there. I have taken my regular scheduled Federal Holidays off but I'm almost not counting those anymore because all my families have those off. So really I have not taken anytime off since last March.

The days I'm taking off are do to school/college related activities with my children. My contract renewals are always in September, so I actually have 5 personal days/2-3 weeks vacation to still use if I wanted. I'm just not sure if I should use these 5 days as my personal days or vacation days or if it really matters.

This is only my second year of having "scheduled" time off and last year it was so messed up because of being sick so much that I didn't end up taking any time off except for being sick-.

So how do you guys do this?

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Just to make sure I understand..
You allow yourself 5 personal days? Paid? Per year I assume...
And then do you allow yourself seperate vacation time? paid?

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Um, no they are not paid. I would have to lower my income signifintly to have them paid. All the time I take off are unpaid days.

Yes, my personal days are 5 per year.

This is the competition in my area for childcare. I could have everything paid but like I said I would have to lower my rates pretty drastically.

"Full time positions available now! $295 a month for full time care in CERTIFIED child care. No complaints on file with the state. Doing this many years!"

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I always take my vacation days together (1 week summer, 1 week Christmas). So any other days I take here and there are personal days. I put it in my newsletter (ex. We will be closed on Monday, April 1st. This is a PAID personal day.) I should write them down to keep track, but usually I just keep a mental tally.

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I usually plan "vacation" days way in advance and save my "personal" days for being sick or dr appts./well visits/etc...I don't think it really matters though. Mine are all paid though, I couldn't afford to have that much time off unpaid.

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It doesn't really matter how you classify it if it's all unpaid. I keep track, I send a written reminder out that says something to the effect of: "I will be closing on Monday March 25. This day will be the second of my ten paid days off, and regular fees will be due for the week."

That way they can keep track easily, too.

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My days are paid, and I get 5 personal and/or sick days per year. I give notice when I can.

I had to use all 5 this year. I just sent home a letter letting the parents know that any further days would be unpaid for the remainder of the year.

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This is what I do as well.
I do have a 5 day limit for personal days, but it is separate from vacation. My vacation weeks are unpaid (wouldn't fly here) but I do get paid holidays and paid personal days.

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I have 10 paid vacation days per year. I take them five at a time - so a week off at a time. These are schedule in advance at the beginning of each year. I also have 5 paid personal/sick days. These are used as needed, and no scheduled.
I have a daily log I fill out for my own personal use to keep records of how the day went, any absent kids, illnesses, behaviors, etc. At the back of this log is a table to keep track of closures for sick/personal days - I include the date I closed, the reason why and the families the closure affected.

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