Have you taken your child out of school to vacation?

[Mermanaid]

Disney Cruise Line is coming to Galveston next fall! Here's my dilema: school starts Aug 22 and Mallory will be in first grade.

I was thinking about booking a trip in October or November because the price is double on the weeks that she is out of school on vacations. Have you ever taken your kids out to go on vacation? If yes, would you do it again? If no, why won't you do it?

I'm thinking at this young of an age it won't be a problem but thought I'd turn to the experts!

[crl]

Yes. We took ds out of first grade for two days at Thanksgiving to meet his grandparents at WDW. It was fine and I'd do it again for something special like that. It made me feel better that it was to spend the holiday with family. ;)

Catherine

[LD92599]

Yes, we're doing the same next year except its Disney Cruise out of NY. We're going the last week of school so DS will miss 2 days (?).

[vonfirmath]

Disney Cruise Line is coming to Galveston next fall! Here's my dilema: school starts Aug 22 and Mallory will be in first grade.

I was thinking about booking a trip in October or November because the price is double on the weeks that she is out of school on vacations. Have you ever taken your kids out to go on vacation? If yes, would you do it again? If no, why won't you do it?

I'm thinking at this young of an age it won't be a problem but thought I'd turn to the experts!

I missed the first week of first grade because I was at Disneyworld with my parents. Didn't hurt me.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Yes but only short trips where he'd miss 2-3 days. I'm not opposed to it though if attendance is good and the academics are solid. It's elementary school nit finals time in high school.

Beth

[scrooks]

My kids are still small so no for us but I know my boss and his wife take their elementary age kids out for Disney every couple of years. In the future I would for our kids as long as it wasn't in the first couple weeks.

[ladysoapmaker]

We've taken the kids out for one or two days. There is a trip to Ireland in 2013 that if we had the money for, we'd be taking the kids out of school for a whole week so we can go.

I personally think as long as attendance is good and you tell the school ahead of time so you can get homework/schoolwork it's fine.

Jen

[sariana]

We took DS out of first grade for one day back in December. We went to Disneyland (which is only 30 minutes away, but we didn't want to go on a weekend). I justified it because DH had been deployed for a year and needed some time with the kids.

I don't like to take DC out of school b/c here in CA school funidng is based on daily body count. When DS is not in class, the district does not get his money for the day. That really hurts the schools (and is a terrible way to fund, IMO--and it doesn't matter whether the absence is excused--ill children cost the school, too). I don't know how TX does its funding; it may not matter for your DD's school.

[Mermanaid]

I don't like to take DC out of school b/c here in CA school funidng is based on daily body count. When DS is not in class, the district does not get his money for the day. That really hurts the schools (and is a terrible way to fund, IMO--and it doesn't matter whether the absence is excused--ill children cost the school, too). I don't know how TX does its funding; it may not matter for your DD's school.

I know TX used to be the same way ... I don't think it's changed. The school usually addresses this issue at the beginning of the year and greatly discourages you from doing it. But, we are talking a price difference of 4k. I just can't justify doing it over a vacation week when that much money is involved. I hate that many of these places take advantage of breaks to raise prices. I understand supply and demand ... just sucks!

[JBaxter]

2 days twice for Logan and Connor ( different years) Nathan will miss 1/2 a day this fall when we go to Disney. I would not take any of them out for a full week.

[sariana]

I know TX used to be the same way ... I don't think it's changed. The school usually addresses this issue at the beginning of the year and greatly discourages you from doing it. But, we are talking a price difference of 4k. I just can't justify doing it over a vacation week when that much money is involved. I hate that many of these places take advantage of breaks to raise prices. I understand supply and demand ... just sucks!

With what you'll save, you can donate your child's daily funding back to the school. (j/k :p)

Yet another reason I think year-round schools are a great idea.

[KrystalS]

We always take DD out of school when DH is on R&R. Usually for a week. The school always understands, but being military our situation is a little different.

[g-mama]

I have and I would in the first grade.

This is the first time we've done it that I kinda regretted it. My 4th grade ds fell behind and had a LOT of work to make up and had to go and spend some time after school with his teacher to learn some concepts he'd missed. We're fortunate that she was willing to do that for him. It was pretty stressful all around because he already has a lot of homework to begin with and his attitude toward doing it is not very good.

My first grader, however, had no problems whatsoever with missing the week.

[niccig]

We took DS out for the last week before Winter vacation last year, he's in K. We could get airmiles to Australia and save $6000. I talked with his teachers and they were totally fine with it. But DS's school does emphasize out of class learning as well as in class. As he gets older, it might get more difficult, we'll have to wait and see.

[egoldber]

We have a couple 4 day weekends in our school calendar, so I generally try to tack on 3 days to one of those to make a week vacation so that she only misses a few days to get a week.

Like g-mama said, it is harder as they get older. I can see where it would have been a huge issue for her this year. We are doing the miss 3 days to get a week thing next year in 5th grade and I am dreading it a little!

However, I would have no qualms at all about it for a first grader.

[crayonblue]

Yep, a week in first grade to go visit grandparents. Totally fine and would do it again! I asked the teacher for DD's homework but she requested that DD journal about her vacation instead. DD wrote pages and pages about her beach trip with grandma!

[Jeanne]

I have several times and would up to about 5th grade. That's when, while not entirely impossible, gets harder for work to be made up. However, our small private school is great about it so we are lucky that way.

I'd take them out even at an older age if we wanted to and wouldn't apologize for it. We are a dual working parent family and no one asks me whether the school calendar works with my work schedule. So a little wiggle room in both directions goes a long way.

[brittone2]

I would if my DC were in school. I know that tends to be an unpopular opinion but I would have no problem with it, provided DC was doing very well in school, and the experience would be enriching (time with family, interesting travel...).

THis is one of many reasons we love HSing. The flexibility is appreciated. We take our annual beach trip in Sept when everyone else is back in school. DH does a bit of travel with work and once the kids are a bit older we will occasionally join him if he's going to a more interesting city (here or abroad).

[BabyMine]

I take M out for his birthdays and this December he will miss a week when we go on our Disney Cruise.

[lcarlson90]

DS missed one day of K for a camping trip but I would not feel bad about him missing a few more days if we had a vacation planned. I don't think your DC will get too far behind by missing a week since it's only 1st grade.

[icunurse]

I always said that I would never take my children out of school for a vacation....and guess who is going to Disney in October?! :) We've had a rough couple of years here and have earned a vacation, we need to go during an affordable time, and, honestly, school seemed to do review the first few months anyway (and I am told this is how is goes during the early grades in our area), so I don't feel like they will miss much. As they get older, we will have to see what happens...

[rlu]

No, wouldn't do it. School is important and pulling from school to go on a mere vacation because it is more convenient sends the wrong message. I am not saying that vacations or family-time is not important, but if you could go during non-school and choose to go during school as it is more convenient I believe it sends the wrong message.

Sucks I know but that's the way I was raised and the way DS will be raised. If we can't afford to go on vacation during his time-off, we don't go.

That said, military families are in different circumstances and it may be others have different circumstances that simply don't allow family vacations during non-school time.

[dogmom]

No, wouldn't do it. School is important and pulling from school to go on a mere vacation because it is more convenient sends the wrong message. I am not saying that vacations or family-time is not important, but if you could go during non-school and choose to go during school as it is more convenient I believe it sends the wrong message.

Sucks I know but that's the way I was raised and the way DS will be raised. If we can't afford to go on vacation during his time-off, we don't go.

That said, military families are in different circumstances and it may be others have different circumstances that simply don't allow family vacations during non-school time.

I'm a nurse and can only get one week during the summer for vacation, prime time. Which is usually fine, but at some point I would like to take my kids to some place great, like Africa or something, which I will need more than a week for. (The idea is to be frugal with vacations now so we can have a few great ones.) Likewise I can never take vacation time during Christmas vacation and school vacations are tough to get time off for.

[geochick]

Our family goes to Mexico every fall/winter. We book when the rates are cheapest. My oldest is in 1st grade. My youngest is in preschool. This is the last year we're taking them out during the school year. I've booked our next trip for over the Christmas Break so we don't miss so much work. My kids' school gives them 1 week to finish all paperwork and missed tests after they return. We take about an inch of work with us on the plane. It's a pain, and not worth it any more. First grade and younger...not that hard to make up. Second grade and beyond...never again.

[maestramommy]

Yes. We go visit the ILs the week following Thanksgiving because DN is in the Nutcracker that weekend. Also, this past Feb I took Arwyn to CA to visit my family for a week. We figure we can keep this up until Dora is in 1st grade. After that I'd be hesitant to have her miss a week a school at that point.

[hbridge]

I HATE pulling DC out of school for non-illness/emergency related reasons. We are averaging 1.5 days of "unexcused" absences a year. In Kindergarten it took me quite a while to be okay with DC missing a day for "vacation" reasons, but it was the only time DH could take off within the season. SO, we pull DC out of school for one full day to go on a mini-ski vacation each year and generally there is another day that we pull DC out early for a random family reason.

I am not a fan of this and would never pull kids out for more than one or two days at a time. It definitely sends the wrong message as to the importance of education. Also, we have been fortunate that DC haven't had to miss much school for illness or emergencies.

[Moneypenny]

We did pull DD out of 1st grade for 3 days for a Disney trip and we're considering it for 2nd grade. As she gets into the upper grades I'm not sure if we'll do it or not since I think it depends on how she's doing in school and what activities she'd miss.

I actually think it's a great life lesson in determining pros and cons and realizing that everything has a consequence - if you miss school to go on vacation you have extra school work to do when you get home, you've missed out on class activities, etc.

[stefani]

We withdrew DS from the school for 3 weeks to travel overseas. His teacher was supportive, although she did say that as a teacher she cannot say take 3 weeks off for vacation :-)

So it was a withdrawal, like moving to another place, except that they know that he will be back. He did not have to make up anything. DS is doing well in school, so we were not worried. He shared about his travel with his classmates after he came back.

We would very carefully weigh the pros and cons of doing that each time, but I know that it will be more difficult as he gets older.

[MMMommy]

Generally, I try not to take DDs out of school (kindergarten and first grade) for anything more than two days. But for a special trip like that, I think it is fine in first grade. If ever a time, I would do it in kindergarten and in first grade.

[crayonblue]

Interesting to read the different opinions.

I don't think taking kids out of school for a vacation sends the message that school isn't important. To me, it sends the message that spending time together as a family IS important.

[fivi2]

I don't have a philosophical problem with it, but check your district's absence policy. I am also in Texas (we are about to start kinder, so no btdt) and from what I hear, schools in my district are super strict about absences. Like refer you to court with a certain number even if they are all excused (or you gave a reason or whatever). That is the rumor around here, anyway, we don't have personal experience yet. So I would be careful for that reason only.

[Green_Tea]

I might take them out for a week, for a once in a lifetime opportunity. It's not something I would do on an annual basis, as I do think it sends the wrong message to kids about priorities (and because if something happens annually, it's not once in a lifetime :)). A week of school is a long time, even in the younger grades. I plan our vacation for times school is not in session, and if that means we go to more local, less expensive places, so be it. I think missing a day or two to tack on to a long weekend isn't as big of a deal.

That said, I anticipate that we will take exactly one trip to Disney World with our children, so I might consider pulling them for that.

[niccig]

Interesting to read the different opinions.

I don't think taking kids out of school for a vacation sends the message that school isn't important. To me, it sends the message that spending time together as a family IS important.

I think it also depends if you view learning as only happening in schools. Our school doesn't have that philosophy. When I talked to DS's teacher, she was all for it, because DS was going to experience things that it's impossible to do here at school. We kept a photo journal of our trip to show his classmates.

I don't want this to happen every year, but with me back in school, DS in school and DH's works as well as family schedules, we may take him out again here and there.

[hillview]

DS is almost 6 and we did this year and will next year for a week for Disney and a week to the UK to see DH's family. England is sort of educational -- we hit a few museums and do "English" things like tea :)
/hillary

[tribe pride]

Depending on the circumstances, I don't think it's a problem. My parents are farmers, so we could never really take family vacations during the summer since it was the busy time of year for them and they couldn't ever get away from work. But they had long winter vacations, so every year, K-8th grade, my parents would pull us out of school for 1-2 weeks (and a couple of times for 3 weeks) to go on our family vacation/road trip to Florida/Disney World. I once missed a couple of weeks in 11th grade, too, for a family trip to Europe. Since we missed so much school, we would get assignments from our teachers, and then do school work in the car or in hotels at night so that we didn't fall behind in our classes.

If families CAN take vacations at a time when kids don't have to miss school, then I think that's probably optimal in most situations. I know families who have pulled kids out of school for several days to take extended shopping trips/vacations, which is something I'd personally never do, because I think it sends the wrong message. But a regular family vacation? No problem. My DCs will likely go to private school, in which case we'll be paying for school and have an added incentive to not miss days, so that we get a good return on our investment :) But different families have different situations, and if someone thinks that pulling kids out of school for a family vacation works best for them, then more power to them!

[bisous]

In theory, yes, I would take time out of school for family vacation in 1st grade. I do think it sends a message that family time is important. I think for most kids it would be fine, although I would try to be as strategic and miss as little as possible!

In practice, I am NOT going to pull DS1 (who will be in 2nd) from school for vacation if I can help it at all. That is because between the health issues that require missing a certain amount of days, and his behavioral problems that are exacerbated by aberrations in routine, I just simply don't think we can afford to miss.

[Jeanne]

Interesting to read the different opinions.

I don't think taking kids out of school for a vacation sends the message that school isn't important. To me, it sends the message that spending time together as a family IS important.


Agreed Lana.

My girls never miss a day of school. They almost never get sick and they are very serious straight A students. We don't think pulling them out for a vacation once every other year sends the wrong message. We both work very very hard. We stress the importance of work and education. There are payoffs for jobs earned and we are not going to take our family vacation during the most crowded times when we surely would not enjoy it in the least.

If they were slackers, poor students, or we were like most of the parents we know who put school second behind enrichment activities and let their kids stay home and miss a day simply because they are tired, then I could see the argument against it. But otherwise, no. There are kids in my oldest DD's class that haven't completed a tenth of their required online homework. Getting away for a full week as a family at a quieter time is very important to us. And I think sending the message that being a responsible dual income working family who stresses the importance of all 3 is far more valuable to their work ethic in the long run.

[kijip]

Yes. For Kindy-2nd or 3rd grade certainly. We did and we would again. I have never sent a kid to school past that level (T was in 1st grade but the curriculum was accelerated to 2nd and 3rd) so I don't know for sure but I would guess I would not be ok missing more than 1-2 days after 4th grade or thereabouts unless the student was really strong academically or it was a trip to Africa onces in a lifetime deal-y. Ultimately, I think the decision is the parent's provided the child can complete the missing work before, during or after the trip. I know his first grade teacher really disliked us doing this but honestly, T learned more from our vacation than he learned at school in months.

If I had a kid who had a hard time with school or academics, I might feel differently. Also, I can't not take a vacation during winter break, ever. I often end up needing to work during Christmas Eve and New Years Day as it is. When my office got 4 alternate days off for Xmas and New Years because they fell on a weekend, I worked all but 1/2 of 1 of those days. A vacation in January is very important to us because of how much work I do in Nov and December. This is a bonus in my opinion to homeschooling. No worries about vacations and lower cost without any stress.

[MMMommy]

In our old school district (we moved a couple of years ago), they have a very strict policy with two of the elementary schools in the district. The two schools are overcrowded and impacted with people moving into the area for those two schools. They have a policy where, if you miss a certain number of consecutive days (I think 7 days) because of an unexcused reason (vacation or anything not involving a medical note from the doctor), you get transferred to another school in the district. These two schools have wait lists due to popularity and overcrowding, and I heard that they have in fact enforced the policy several times. Once for a child's two week international travel for a funeral. Seems extreme, but that is their way of saying that there are plenty of kids who do want to be there and will make the time to be there. So be sure to check your school policy on absences to be safe.

[Nooknookmom]

Yep, got work in advance. No problems :)

[ehf]

I think people have to make their own decisions, and there are all kinds of extenuating circumstances already explained here.

Two things I'm throwing out there to think about, though:
I just heard a wonderful presentation from Catherine Steiner-Adair called "Raising Children of Character in a Culture of Affluence." One of the many examples she cited of parents "breaking rules" that confuse their kids is taking school days for vacation in order to save money or be more convenient. Although she mentioned several reasonable circumstances, her point was that we end up teaching our children that responsibilities only count if they are convenient, and that we aren't part of a community that depends on participation and cooperation. She listed several other interesting examples and definitely gave me a lot to think about.

The other concern I have is from my perspective as a teacher. I actually find it extremely disrespectful when parents take their children out of school for non-essential reasons but then expect me to make sure their children are all caught up in class. I always do so, because I try not to blame kids for their parents' priorities, but it takes me more time than you'd think to gather class materials, somehow translate a lesson that was taught through verbal/visual/kinesthetic activities in class into directions that a kid/parent can understand, schedule time when I can supervise a child taking make-up tests or quizzes, rearrange group projects, etc. They probably also forget that I'm having to do all of that for kids who are out sick or on other essential absences.

I think parents also underestimate how much happens in a school day (and school night's worth of homework) and how hard it can be for their kids to catch up. HUGE DIFFERENCE here is that I teach 8th grade, so we're talking 1.5 hours of homework each night and classwork in 5 academic subjects. I can't really tell my 8th grader to journal about grandma and call it a day. I think it's likely less crucial in younger grades, but some of the responses here seem relieved but not necessarily very embarrassed about putting the teachers through extra trouble because WDW was calling...

Again, just food for thought...

[Jeanne]

I think people have to make their own decisions, and there are all kinds of extenuating circumstances already explained here.

Two things I'm throwing out there to think about, though:
I just heard a wonderful presentation from Catherine Steiner-Adair called "Raising Children of Character in a Culture of Affluence." One of the many examples she cited of parents "breaking rules" that confuse their kids is taking school days for vacation in order to save money or be more convenient. Although she mentioned several reasonable circumstances, her point was that we end up teaching our children that responsibilities only count if they are convenient, and that we aren't part of a community that depends on participation and cooperation. She listed several other interesting examples and definitely gave me a lot to think about.

The other concern I have is from my perspective as a teacher. I actually find it extremely disrespectful when parents take their children out of school for non-essential reasons but then expect me to make sure their children are all caught up in class. I always do so, because I try not to blame kids for their parents' priorities, but it takes me more time than you'd think to gather class materials, somehow translate a lesson that was taught through verbal/visual/kinesthetic activities in class into directions that a kid/parent can understand, schedule time when I can supervise a child taking make-up tests or quizzes, rearrange group projects, etc. They probably also forget that I'm having to do all of that for kids who are out sick or on other essential absences.

I think parents also underestimate how much happens in a school day (and school night's worth of homework) and how hard it can be for their kids to catch up. HUGE DIFFERENCE here is that I teach 8th grade, so we're talking 1.5 hours of homework each night and classwork in 5 academic subjects. I can't really tell my 8th grader to journal about grandma and call it a day. I think it's likely less crucial in younger grades, but some of the responses here seem relieved but not necessarily very embarrassed about putting the teachers through extra trouble because WDW was calling...

Again, just food for thought...

I respect the fact that teachers need to do extra work to accommodate this. I don't think this is taken for granted by those of us who do take kids out for a vacation. But I disagree with Catherine Steiner-Adair on this point. I haven't read her book so I have no idea what she addresses in it but needless to say, I won't go into all the reasons I feel taking a vacation during the school year is okay. It's likely to offend too many people.

Gone are the days where most woman were SAHM's. School calendars are not forgiving of dual working parents. The calendar seems to assume there's a SAHP. It cannot be assumed that people who refuse to take a family vacation during breaks are rule breakers even if it has everything to do with convenience.

Personally, I feel like I'm doing way more than my part staying in the workforce to pay for all these entitlements that were voted in. Someone's gotta pay for it when many people either choose to stay out of the workforce or have been downsized out. I'm hoping to prioritize to my girls that working hard does pay off in the end and it's not just about others ideas of what entitlement is. I'd love to quit but in this economy and with such unstable times, I wouldn't dream of being that self serving. It's something I couldn't personally live with.

And incidentally, my 3rd grader has 1.5 hours of homework now! My kingdom for the days of one homework sheet.

[baymom]

DS is in 1st grade (DD in preschool) and we took him out of school the week before winter break to take a three week trip abroad. Over the course if the year, he has missed various days to go camping, skiing and Monterey. We are in CA so attendance is tied into funding for schools. The caveat is the school still gets some money from the state if we call in sick, so that's what we do. I always tell the teacher that we will be out and she assigns him a journaling activity as well as his regular HW. I might be flamed here, but DH and I feel that exposing our children to travel and life experiences is as enriching as being in school. Of course, as they get into the upper grades, it will be more crutial to be in class each day. Until then, we won't feel guilty about it.

[HallsofVA]

We've taken the kids out of school for 5 disney cruises so far, but starting this August we've booked cruises during school breaks. Definitely cheaper to cruise during the school period!

Our last cruise was a 14nt transatlantic cruise last September. The kids had been in a year round montessori school, so we weren't concerned about missing two weeks or so of school. Then in August, we made the decision to move DS to public school for 1st grade. He had 6 days of school at his new school before missing the next 13 days of school. Needless to say his transition to public school took a little bit longer than it would of without the cruise. But the amount of science, history, cooking and other activities he did or learned while on the cruise was more than enough to make up for what he missed in those 2 weeks.

[bubbaray]

This is a huge issue of disagreement between DH and I. *I* grew up as school being mandatory and I don't recall ever once missing school except when sick or for things like sports or piano performances.

DH, OTOH, missed a lot of school (extended periods sometimes) for family vacations.

Personally, I am quite opposed to my kids missing school for *my convenience* (ie., cheaper vacations). It seems somewhat common (I know a few families that have done this in DD#1's class this year, for example). In the context of our particular educational choice (language immersion), when kids miss school, it puts the whole class behind. So, in my world, I am quite opposed to it. If my kids went to a "regular" school, my objections wouldn't be quite so strong.

I tell my DD#1, school is her job. I go to work, she goes to school. Its not optional, its what we do with our days.

JMHO.

[AnnieW625]

I am in the opposing camp, but I will make a few exceptions, but honestly I don't know what those exceptions are going to be yet. DD1 will miss probably half a day of kindergarten in the fall because we will be driving to a wedding, which is DD1's first wedding and she is super excited about it.

[wellyes]

I tell my DD#1, school is her job. I go to work, she goes to school. Its not optional, its what we do with our days.

Yes, but don't you get vacation days from your job? I get 4 weeks (on top of holidays and sick days). Employees are encouraged to take at least one 5-day block of time off, as opposed to random days to run errands, because work-life balance is important.

[bubbaray]

Yes, but don't you get vacation days from your job? I get 4 weeks (on top of holidays and sick days). Employees are encouraged to take at least one 5-day block of time off, as opposed to random days to run errands, because work-life balance is important.


Yes, I get vacation days. I take them during school breaks. Vacations cost more, but that is the cost of being a parent IMO.

This isn't about kids needing more time off IMO. Kids get plenty of days off school here -- and they go to school here more days than in most US districts (but, if you add in hours of busing, etc, its probably about the same). We have 194 (give or take, depends on calendar, leap year, etc) instructional days per year. They get 2 w at Christmas, 2w at Spring break and they are off for all of July and August, plus random statutory holidays and professional-development days.

I am in a profession where work-life balance is not rewarded. I don't think my kids need more days off than what they get. JMHO

[AnnieW625]

Yes, I get vacation days. I take them during school breaks. Vacations cost more, but that is the cost of being a parent IMO.


Agree with this too, part of the reason I never went on long extended vacations as a kid because vacations in the summer were expensive (also my parents couldn't afford it so it was a moot point).

I get 4 weeks vacation a year and we use it when daycare is closed.

[JoyNChrist]

My kids aren't in school yet, but I will say that the idea doesn't sit well with me. I understand extenuating circumstances, but I don't know that it's something I would personally feel comfortable doing just because it was cheaper/easier. I do think it sends a bad message to the student, and is disrespectful of the teacher's time.

[JoyNChrist]

Personally, I feel like I'm doing way more than my part staying in the workforce to pay for all these entitlements that were voted in. Someone's gotta pay for it when many people either choose to stay out of the workforce or have been downsized out. I'm hoping to prioritize to my girls that working hard does pay off in the end and it's not just about others ideas of what entitlement is. I'd love to quit but in this economy and with such unstable times, I wouldn't dream of being that self serving. It's something I couldn't personally live with.

I'm not trying to start a SAHM vs WOHM thing, and maybe I'm not understanding what you're saying here, but how is choosing not to be part of the workforce self-serving? I understand wanting to teach your children the value of hard work, but I don't see what being a WOH or SAH parent has to do with that. And I don't understand what you're saying here about entitlements.

I'm not trying to single you out or flame you, I just don't understand what your point was with some of this, or what it has to do with taking your kids out of school for vacation. It's late and I'm tired...maybe I'm just not getting it?

[C99]

No, wouldn't do it. School is important and pulling from school to go on a mere vacation because it is more convenient sends the wrong message. I am not saying that vacations or family-time is not important, but if you could go during non-school and choose to go during school as it is more convenient I believe it sends the wrong message.

Sucks I know but that's the way I was raised and the way DS will be raised. If we can't afford to go on vacation during his time-off, we don't go.


This, although I don't know if my parents ever pulled me out when I was little so that we could travel (I doubt it).


Yes, but don't you get vacation days from your job? I get 4 weeks (on top of holidays and sick days). Employees are encouraged to take at least one 5-day block of time off, as opposed to random days to run errands, because work-life balance is important.

I guess I don't understand your point here. My kids get 2 weeks of school off in December, a full week for spring break, 10 weeks over the summer and numerous 3- and 4-day weekends. It's not like I don't know the calendar in advance and can plan accordingly. They have plenty of opportunities for a 5-day block of time off from school.

[AdiMom]

But just this last december, my 3rd grader missed 3 weeks of school because we went back home abroad. Going in summer would be crazy (it is insanely hot back home). We had a wedding and a ton of relatives to visit, so we needed a minimum of 4 weeks to go. And between not having daily flights and flights costing anywhere from $1500 to $2200 per person, by the time I got the flights, it ended up being 5 weeks.

For us, december is the peak season to fly back home. But that is because it is extremely hot in summer and we would miss a lot more school if we went any other time.

We usually miss anywhere from 1-3 weeks of school during the holidays.

[liz]

I haven't read the other replies, but yes, we have taken DS1 out of school for vacation. We don't make this decision lightly but we value this time together very highly.
Talking to my SIL's (who have older kids in high schools and their kids do very well in school), they say that it gets more difficult for kids to miss school in the higher grades because things move so fast.

I also understand that some kids will catch up better and some benefit from not missing any school. So, no judgement from me either way.

[Jeanne]

I'm not trying to start a SAHM vs WOHM thing, and maybe I'm not understanding what you're saying here, but how is choosing not to be part of the workforce self-serving? I understand wanting to teach your children the value of hard work, but I don't see what being a WOH or SAH parent has to do with that. And I don't understand what you're saying here about entitlements.

I'm not trying to single you out or flame you, I just don't understand what your point was with some of this, or what it has to do with taking your kids out of school for vacation. It's late and I'm tired...maybe I'm just not getting it?

If I didn't work, I'd have the freedom to get loose and possibly take a vacation during school breaks. But I don't have this freedom. This is my only point on SAHP vs. WOHP.

The school calendar has never changed since the days of the one working parent household. Because of my seniority, I have nearly 40 vacation days per year and every single one of them is accounted for when the kids are off for various days during the school year as well as school end/begin, camp begin/end. The district doesn't ask if all these days work for those of us who work. We have to work around it and it's a struggle beyond measure. I also work for a company who's year end is calendar year end and as such, I'm barred from taking vacation two weeks out of every quarter including year end - Christmas break for the kids. It's hell to say the least because it's the company's busiest time.

Do I like this? NO! And I didn't sign up for this. I got stuck with this when the economy tanked. I have the job of 2 people and the company could care less that there's no work/life balance. I am not going to bail out of the workforce and tank my career and spend years trying to rebuild when I'm not young. I have college and retirement to save for. So my point in not being self serving is that it would be real easy to just chuck it all and be another person on unemployment - a drain on a system that is already in the hole. Or simply not contributing tax revenue at all. Or I can stick it out and implore a message to my girls that this is only temporary and it's life and it happens and part of being a responsible member of society is working hard and not only thinking of myself because it will pay off someday. The consideration for this can in fact be a week's vacation during the school year and not be seen as teaching them that our agenda is more important.

I'd rather take my kids out of school for a week and retain my job then be half the people I know who are loosing their houses or in debt to the point of never getting ahead simply because they don't want to work and sacrifice their time doing so. That is self serving. And we are all paying for that entitled attitude. Walking away from your house cuts the revenue to school. Apartment owners pay far less into the district than single family home owners do. So I do not think it's selfish at all to take my kids out of school every other year for a family trip that is so well deserved.

I also pay for day camp each summer. If I counted how much money I have paid over the years for weeks of camp/daycare we took over the summer for a full week's vacation, yet still had to pay those fees, it's small fortune. So the cost of a summer vacation is simply too expensive. And I'm not paying double to go somewhere over breaks when everyone else in the world is there and we would not enjoy it at all simply because the school calendar hasn't changed since the inception of public schooling.

I'll admit it's a hot button issue for me simply because our district, while such a good school district, has a brutal union. No contract for 2 years because they wanted a 5% raise. Well I didn't get a 5% raise. I got nothing and am told to put up with it or I can have my job shipped overseas. There are many many arguments to be made on both sides of the fence here but honestly, there aren't enough people employed right now to support the union demands and when you start adding up what people in private industry are putting up with these days in terms of mandatory hours, any talk of more rules and demands from a system that doesn't seem to care about how they are funded is really REALLY infuriating. When I add up my hours each year compared to teachers in my district, even though I make more money then them, I actually make less when down time is figured in. And this is not meant to start an argument for teachers. It's merely an example of why I am not apologetic for taking a family vacation during the calendar year. Consideration on both sides of the fence goes a long way.

And while my kids go to private school and there is a ton more flexibility and understanding, the calendar is still predicated on the public district calendar simply due to the busing issue. So while our school doesn't have all the early dismissals, we still have to deal with the district's schedule.

[crl]

I tend to the a few days off is no big deal view, honestly. Yes school is important, but so are other things. I would feel uncomfortable with more than a week per school year for vacation unless there were extenuating circumstances.

DH missed a lot more school as a kid than I did because they lived in Europe temporarily--military. His parents prioritized travel while they were there. So they traveled at every opportunity if the kids wanted to. Which meant dh in particular missed a good bit of school. (Plus he missed for school sports travel too.) He remains adamant that he learned way more traveling than he ever learned in school and he has zero issues with the kids missing school for travel.

Catherine

[JoyNChrist]

Jeanne - Thanks for clarifying! I was slow last night. :)

This is one of the things that makes me want to go back to teaching once my kids are in school, even though that's not really what I want to do. I just can't imagine trying to juggle childcare around holidays and breaks. It seems really overwhelming.

[carolinamama]

I tend to the a few days off is no big deal view, honestly. Yes school is important, but so are other things. I would feel uncomfortable with more than a week per school year for vacation unless there were extenuating circumstances.

DH missed a lot more school as a kid than I did because they lived in Europe temporarily--military. His parents prioritized travel while they were there. So they traveled at every opportunity if the kids wanted to. Which meant dh in particular missed a good bit of school. (Plus he missed for school sports travel too.) He remains adamant that he learned way more traveling than he ever learned in school and he has zero issues with the kids missing school for travel.

Catherine

There is an interesting article in last month's National Geographic Travel magazine about this exact same topic. To sum it up, the author is defending taking your kids out of school for family trips because of exactly what your DH states about the travel he did with his family in Europe. He states that these kids learn much more about the world in person than reading about them. BUT he also states that he isn't talking about a trip to the beach or WDW but somewhere a bit more educational/adventurous/exotic. DH and I both agree with the author that it isn't a black and white issue. To us it depends on what type of trip we are talking about. For the beach or Disney, that should be done while school is out. For a trip that includes exposure to a new culture or even a different part of our country, it is okay to miss a limited amount of school. Of course this is purely theoretical at this point as our oldest starts kindergarten this coming year.

[bubbaray]

. To sum it up, the author is defending taking your kids out of school for family trips because of exactly what your DH states about the travel he did with his family in Europe. He states that these kids learn much more about the world in person than reading about them.


In our family's context (language immersion), unless we were taking the kids to France (or another French-speaking country) AND SPEAKING 100% French ourselves (which is not going to happen), there would be a huge huge loss of language. It does set the whole class back when a language immersion student misses a large block of instruction.

Obviously, not every family chooses immersion, but for us, I don't care what extra benefit any particular trip could offer. If we take our kids out of school, they *will* fall behind.

[Jeanne]

Jeanne - Thanks for clarifying! I was slow last night. :)

This is one of the things that makes me want to go back to teaching once my kids are in school, even though that's not really what I want to do. I just can't imagine trying to juggle childcare around holidays and breaks. It seems really overwhelming.

No, my fault Stacy. You weren't slow. If I went blow by blow on all the reasons, the post would be way too long.

It is hard. Very hard. And I guess I'm just fed up with the prevailing work & school culture right now for dual working parents. I cannot wrap my my around how not being flexible on both sides of the fence isn't mutually beneficial to everyone. Quite simply, tax revenue supports public eduction. And it's obvious what high unemployment has done to school funding these past few years.

[kijip]

With regards to the teachers extra work, I can see that that would be true if the parents were expecting extra tutoring to teach missed concepts. However, all I ever needed for T was either before and after to get the homework packet and class assignment list for that time. since those were pre made in his class anyway, I can't see that as a huge deal. Other times we would get the homework before and a stack of class handouts after. we caught him up on all the work or he just read the worksheets and did them. It was seeing him do a weeks work of specifically classwork in a short amount of time that made me think that homeschooling would be best for him. Much of his school hours were spent between tasks, waiting or reading books on his own after he finished his work. Given the negative stuff that went on at his school, it became clear we could spare him that without endless amounts of effort.

[lilycat88]

This is a huge issue of disagreement between DH and I. *I* grew up as school being mandatory and I don't recall ever once missing school except when sick or for things like sports or piano performances.


I tell my DD#1, school is her job. I go to work, she goes to school. Its not optional, its what we do with our days.

JMHO.

:yeahthat:


DH and I agreed before DD was ever born that school was the priority and there would be no leaving early or missing except for sickness/doctor's appointments/emergencies. DD will leave early (about 1 hour) on her last day of school so we can make our flight to Disney and that even pains me. Unfortunately, due to weather, the kids have to go to school on the Tuesday after Memorial Day. They should be out already. I made the reservations based on allowing a couple of "extra" snow days and they needed one more than I planned.

[KHF]

We're taking DD out of first grade for a week in December to go to DisneyWorld. I will work with the teacher in advance to get any assignments and help her with them while we're gone. I don't agree it sends the message that school isn't important, I think it sends the message that family time is important.

[Melanie]

Not past Kindergarten. Well, if we ever managed to take some fantastic vacation with some educational opportunities thrown in - then sure. But not Disney.

[mommytoC]

Not past Kindergarten. Well, if we ever managed to take some fantastic vacation with some educational opportunities thrown in - then sure. But not Disney.

Quoting Melanie just to post in Disney's "defense" (or at least give my own personal perspective :)):

I attend a meeting in Orlando every other February. We've gone as a family the last 2 times (in 2009 and 2011), and are planning to go again in 2013 when DD#1 is in 1st grade. After that, I guess we'll see :). It's a wonderful time to go, and we definitely need a break from our long, long winter by that time of year.
We've done 2 to 3 Disney park days during each of our trips, and otherwise, have just enjoyed our family (and pool!) time.

My work doesn't allow for a Disney vacation over Thanksgiving or Christmas, or even most Spring breaks, and we wouldn't enjoy a summer trip (none of us tolerate heat/humidity well). So, while we'll plan other big family vacations over the summer break, we'll hope to continue missing a few days of school every other year
for our Disney trips.

[sste]

Actually, I do think it is work for the teacher if they have to get you a list of class assignments and collect and save class handouts and then give those to you/your child. And even if tutoring isn't required frequently the teacher has to remember to say "we did X" or "when you weren't here we talked about Mexico and now we are writing a poem about Mexico." Those aren't big things but they are multiplied across dozens and dozens of absences per year . . . and then they become burdensome in the aggregate.

All this said, I would take a child out of school to celebrate passover with family out of state if the school vacation did not fall on passover. I would also take a child out of school if my DH or I couldn't get our work schedules to cooperate and it was that or no family vacation. I have zero worry about our children not thinking we value school - - me, my husband, and both paternal grandparents are all professors and we all practically worship education!

Personally, I wish there was a system where you could pay the teacher $75-100 per week (sliding scale for income) for your child's vacation absence to compensate them for the extra hassle. The teacher would appreciate the extra cash and they should be paid for extra work IMO. And I would appreciate being able to vacation guilt-free!

[ehf]

This thread has further reinforced my belief that one's decisions about this issue reflects one's values. When parents take their kids out of school, they send the message they probably believe in--that they deserve a vacation (which makes sense if it's physically impossible to take it during the 8-12 weeks of vacation already provided), that family time is important (which makes sense if it's physically impossible to take it during the 8-12 weeks of vacation already provided), that learning is better in the field than in the classroom (which makes sense if it's physically impossible to take it during the 8-12 weeks of vacation already provided) , that it's nicer to have a quiet vacation than have to participate in the same schedule as people who (what? don't work? don't deserve your quieter vacation? I'm not sure) whatever.

The way they handle that time also sends messages. My suggestions: 1. Let the teacher and school know well ahead of time. That way 3 other kids aren't scramblng because your kid bails on the group project, or there's no final unit grade because your kid is suddenly absent during final presentations.
2. If your child is at all able, make sure your child ALSO talks to the teacher him or herself. Helps build self-advocacy, responsibility, etc.
3. Make it clear that your child will do whatever work is asked, whenever it's asked (not necessarily ahead of time or during the vacation, but when the teacher can provide it), and that you'll make sure s/he understands the content and gets it turned in without needing lunch and before school and after school conferences. Don't enlist the guidance counselor to make sure your DC is all caught up, or send the teacher 10 emails to ask whether work has been turned in or graded.
4. When you get back, if your child essentially has double homework for a week, help provide DC with help finding the time and the space to get it all done.

[Jeanne]

This thread has further reinforced my belief that one's decisions about this issue reflects one's values. When parents take their kids out of school, they send the message they probably believe in--that they deserve a vacation (which makes sense if it's physically impossible to take it during the 8-12 weeks of vacation already provided), that family time is important (which makes sense if it's physically impossible to take it during the 8-12 weeks of vacation already provided), that learning is better in the field than in the classroom (which makes sense if it's physically impossible to take it during the 8-12 weeks of vacation already provided) , that it's nicer to have a quiet vacation than have to participate in the same schedule as people who (what? don't work? don't deserve your quieter vacation? I'm not sure) whatever.

The way they handle that time also sends messages. My suggestions: 1. Let the teacher and school know well ahead of time. That way 3 other kids aren't scramblng because your kid bails on the group project, or there's no final unit grade because your kid is suddenly absent during final presentations.
2. If your child is at all able, make sure your child ALSO talks to the teacher him or herself. Helps build self-advocacy, responsibility, etc.
3. Make it clear that your child will do whatever work is asked, whenever it's asked (not necessarily ahead of time or during the vacation, but when the teacher can provide it), and that you'll make sure s/he understands the content and gets it turned in without needing lunch and before school and after school conferences. Don't enlist the guidance counselor to make sure your DC is all caught up, or send the teacher 10 emails to ask whether work has been turned in or graded.
4. When you get back, if your child essentially has double homework for a week, help provide DC with help finding the time and the space to get it all done.

Not sure what the point of your post is other than to be annoyed that other people do in fact have a handle on things and do make school a priority despite taking vacation during the school year. My girl's grades and the Terra Nova's that came home today are proof positive we are making school a priority.

[Twoboos]

We pulled DDs from school for one day before April vaca to leave on a trip. I felt fine. DD1's teacher (gr 1) was nice enough to let her take her spelling test early, which I know he didn't have to do.

There is a week in Nov where they have 2 days off in the same week, I am debating taking them out for 2 more days and going somewhere. When we had just gotten back from Disney I was totally on board with it, now that I've come down from my cloud (lol), so I'm not sure. I have to see what's up with the schedules for next year first.

For us, I think occasionally for one or two days (total for the year) is fine.

[kijip]

Actually, I do think it is work for the teacher if they have to get you a list of class assignments and collect and save class handouts and then give those to you/your child. And even if tutoring isn't required frequently the teacher has to remember to say "we did X" or "when you weren't here we talked about Mexico and now we are writing a poem about Mexico." Those aren't big things but they are multiplied across dozens and dozens of absences per year . . . and then they become burdensome in the aggregate.



In lower grades, I have never seen a classroom without a desk for each child. Simply placing all of the work passed out on the absent children's desk in a folder in not extra work, it is being passed out anyway. Also, much homework with placed in a folder or packet anyway. I assume and frankly expect that a teacher has planned ahead and has a lesson plan. While for upper grades where there is not a set desk for that child all day long I see how it can get complicated, I
have low to no tolerance for the idea that it is too hard for teachers in primary grades with desks right there to set aside work for missing students- sick, vacation or whatever. It seems it would in fact be easier for plan ahead vacations than emergency absences. I can think of no professional level job where you don't have to think ahead, plan and be somewhat flexible. Teachers are professionals. Not widget makers in a factory. They are plenty smart enough handle far more complicated things than absences.

I value education a lot. I don't see why valuing other things- like family time, like interesting travel- a lot means I don't value education.

[lablover]

This thread has further reinforced my belief that one's decisions about this issue reflects one's values. When parents take their kids out of school, they send the message they probably believe in--that they deserve a vacation (which makes sense if it's physically impossible to take it during the 8-12 weeks of vacation already provided), that family time is important (which makes sense if it's physically impossible to take it during the 8-12 weeks of vacation already provided), that learning is better in the field than in the classroom (which makes sense if it's physically impossible to take it during the 8-12 weeks of vacation already provided) , that it's nicer to have a quiet vacation than have to participate in the same schedule as people who (what? don't work? don't deserve your quieter vacation? I'm not sure) whatever.

The way they handle that time also sends messages. My suggestions: 1. Let the teacher and school know well ahead of time. That way 3 other kids aren't scramblng because your kid bails on the group project, or there's no final unit grade because your kid is suddenly absent during final presentations.
2. If your child is at all able, make sure your child ALSO talks to the teacher him or herself. Helps build self-advocacy, responsibility, etc.
3. Make it clear that your child will do whatever work is asked, whenever it's asked (not necessarily ahead of time or during the vacation, but when the teacher can provide it), and that you'll make sure s/he understands the content and gets it turned in without needing lunch and before school and after school conferences. Don't enlist the guidance counselor to make sure your DC is all caught up, or send the teacher 10 emails to ask whether work has been turned in or graded.
4. When you get back, if your child essentially has double homework for a week, help provide DC with help finding the time and the space to get it all done.

Most people in this thread are talking about kindergarten or 1st grade. My 1st grader has weekly homework. It is sent home on Monday and turned in on Friday. He can complete the homework for the week in 20-30 minutes if he needs to do it in one sitting. There are no group projects, presentations, or graded work. We pulled him out for a week in March and it was a non-issue. I don't regret it, DS knows that school is important, and as he gets older we will probably stop taking vacations during school. The teacher happily gave him a vacation journal to write about his vacation while we were gone and told him to have a great time.

[ehf]

Jeanne,

I, in turn, am actually puzzled by a lot of your responses. I think your attitude toward SAHMs and particularly your understanding of their effect on the economy is ignorant. In terms of lack of clarity, this sentence makes no sense: My girl's grade the Terra Nova's that came home today are proof positive we are making school a priority.

I thought the points of my post, on the other hand, were crystal clear. My first point was that I think there are very legitimate reasons to take vacation during the school year. I think MANY (not all) people rationalize doing so when in fact they don't need to in order to fulfill all of their values.

The second part of my post was clearly a list of suggested do's and don'ts for parents who take their children out of school for vacation. It showed no annoyance toward parents who have a handle on things. It showed a lot of annoyance toward parents who generate demands rather than requests in dealing with a problem that the parents themselves have caused. Of course not all parents react this way. They have a handle on things. They're not the ones that annoy me.

I don't see how my previous post was any attack on you, and I am offended that you chose to lash out at me. I'm mad enough to reply in kind.

Cheers.

[ehf]

Most people in this thread are talking about kindergarten or 1st grade. My 1st grader has weekly homework. It is sent home on Monday and turned in on Friday. He can complete the homework for the week in 20-30 minutes if he needs to do it in one sitting. There are no group projects, presentations, or graded work. We pulled him out for a week in March and it was a non-issue. I don't regret it, DS knows that school is important, and as he gets older we will probably stop taking vacations during school. The teacher happily gave him a vacation journal to write about his vacation while we were gone and told him to have a great time.

Yes, sorry! In a much earlier post, I acknowledged that I teach 8th grade, which is a VERY different scenario. I totally hear what you're saying. This thread got so long that I should have re-prefaced my post.

[g-mama]

Once your child is beyond 2nd grade, IMO, the work they miss is not going to be made up by simply gathering up worksheets that were done as classwork or homework.

I took my kids out of school for a week in February and will not do it again because of how difficult it was for my 4th grader. He did not just get a packet of worksheets to fill out. He missed class discussions, a debate, time working with his group on a group project, a test, which he had take afterwards when the material was no longer fresh in his mind and so he got a poor grade on it, etc. etc. etc. It was not worth it.

[geochick]

Okay, so taking kids out of school actually seems to work fine (occasionally) for some people. Others choose not to do it. That's fine too. I think the big problem comes from repeat offenders. I also think it depends on the kid. A bright kid with good comportment can certainly stand to miss a week of kindergarten. A kid who struggles more should probably not be taken out of third grade for a week. Being judgmental of any parent who knows their kid's learning style and ability better than you do is laughable! I've been a teacher. It isn't really all that hard to pull a kid's paperwork while they're gone. It's harder to pull it a few weeks before the rest of the class does that work, and in some cases, I've told parents that I'll collect the papers while the kid is away, not before. They are responsible for teaching missed concepts, not me. The kid is still responsible for the material and exams. I give a deadline for returning missed work.

Some people on this thread are downright nasty about this topic. Who cares? If someone takes their kid out of class for a week, that's more attention the teacher can give your kid.

[Jeanne]

Jeanne,

I, in turn, am actually puzzled by a lot of your responses. I think your attitude toward SAHMs and particularly your understanding of their effect on the economy is ignorant. In terms of lack of clarity, this sentence makes no sense: My girl's grade the Terra Nova's that came home today are proof positive we are making school a priority.

I thought the points of my post, on the other hand, were crystal clear. My first point was that I think there are very legitimate reasons to take vacation during the school year. I think MANY (not all) people rationalize doing so when in fact they don't need to in order to fulfill all of their values.

The second part of my post was clearly a list of suggested do's and don'ts for parents who take their children out of school for vacation. It showed no annoyance toward parents who have a handle on things. It showed a lot of annoyance toward parents who generate demands rather than requests in dealing with a problem that the parents themselves have caused. Of course not all parents react this way. They have a handle on things. They're not the ones that annoy me.

I don't see how my previous post was any attack on you, and I am offended that you chose to lash out at me. I'm mad enough to reply in kind.

Cheers.

Yes I quoted you because you point blank replied about SAHM vs. WOHM's and what time they deserve to take a vacation. I clarified to another poster here why I take an occasional vacation during the school year and it is because I am a WOHM. Think it ignorant all you want. I have not implied a thing. You are reading into that. As I pointed out previously, my only point in SAHP vs. WOHP is lack of flexibility. I get zero quiet time to myself. I work each day. So yeah, I do deserve a little quite time with my family when we can take it. It's the trade off we make for being a dual income contributing tax family. You can't fund schools without taxes so I guess it's just better for me to chuck a good job and let everyone else worry about how things are going to be funded just to play by the rules of an established schedule that hasn't changed to fit the needs of this horrible economy? This doesn't teach responsibility for me personally. Many who are out of work consider a good job a gift in times like this and there would be hundreds of people lined up to step right in should I chose to bail. I made no argument on the virtues of SAHP vs. WOHP. I value the volunteerism at my girl's school immensely and have pointed that out in other threads over the years.

I edited my typo's while you were quoting me I guess. My girls have straight A's, have a 94 & an 99 in Terra Nova's, and only do one enrichment activity during the school year because school in fact does come first for us. No, the 8 to 12 weeks that school elects to be closed doesn't work for me in Corporate America and I suspect it doesn't work for a lot of people. Just fact.

[wellyes]

This thread has further reinforced my belief that one's decisions about this issue reflects one's values. When parents take their kids out of school, they send the message they probably believe in--that they deserve a vacation (which makes sense if it's physically impossible to take it during the 8-12 weeks of vacation already provided), that family time is important (which makes sense if it's physically impossible to take it during the 8-12 weeks of vacation already provided), that learning is better in the field than in the classroom (which makes sense if it's physically impossible to take it during the 8-12 weeks of vacation already provided) , that it's nicer to have a quiet vacation than have to participate in the same schedule as people who (what? don't work? don't deserve your quieter vacation? I'm not sure) whatever.
.

Having read through this thread , I am puzzled by the 'don't deserve your quieter vacation' snark. Where did that come from? And multiple posters have mentioned reasons beyond physical impossibility why the 8-12 weeks of vacation already provided does not work for all families.

[Melanie]

Yes I quoted you because you point blank replied about SAHM vs. WOHM's and what time they deserve to take a vacation. I clarified to another poster here why I take an occasional vacation during the school year and it is because I am a WOHM. Think it ignorant all you want. I have not implied a thing. You are reading into that. As I pointed out previously, my only point in SAHP vs. WOHP is lack of flexibility. I get zero quiet time to myself. I work each day. So yeah, I do deserve a little quite time with my family when we can take it. It's the trade off we make for being a dual income contributing tax family. You can't fund schools without taxes so I guess it's just better for me to chuck a good job and let everyone else worry about how things are going to be funded just to play by the rules of an established schedule that hasn't changed to fit the needs of this horrible economy? This doesn't teach responsibility for me personally. Many who are out of work consider a good job a gift in times like this and there would be hundreds of people lined up to step right in should I chose to bail. I made no argument on the virtues of SAHP vs. WOHP. I value the volunteerism at my girl's school immensely and have pointed that out in other threads over the years.


Whoa, are you insinuating those who have a single-income family are somehow degrading the public school system by not earning an additional paycheck to have taxes removed from to benefit public schools? I Hope not, because that is terribly offensive.

AND FOR THE RECORD my single-income family contributes to a public school system that we don't even use. So there you go, a gift on behalf of another single-income family. Or maybe one with two wage-earners and 3 kids or perhaps one with two low-wage earners and one child...or let's see ? Maybe a widow with six kids. Who else is just siphoning off of the system in your scenario? I'm happy we contribute.

[bubbaray]

Okay, so taking kids out of school actually seems to work fine (occasionally) for some people. Others choose not to do it. That's fine too. I think the big problem comes from repeat offenders. I also think it depends on the kid. A bright kid with good comportment can certainly stand to miss a week of kindergarten. A kid who struggles more should probably not be taken out of third grade for a week. Being judgmental of any parent who knows their kid's learning style and ability better than you do is laughable! I've been a teacher. It isn't really all that hard to pull a kid's paperwork while they're gone. It's harder to pull it a few weeks before the rest of the class does that work, and in some cases, I've told parents that I'll collect the papers while the kid is away, not before. They are responsible for teaching missed concepts, not me. The kid is still responsible for the material and exams. I give a deadline for returning missed work.

Some people on this thread are downright nasty about this topic. Who cares? If someone takes their kid out of class for a week, that's more attention the teacher can give your kid.


Speaking for our particular situation, I have to disagree. When a child in a language immersion program misses a week, its not just "here, have a packet to do at home". The parents are specifically NOT expected to teach missed concepts -- they are not even expected or asked to speak the new language at home. If the children do a journal duriing vacation, they need to be somewhat fluent in the new language (ie., beyond K) in order to be able to write the journal entries with zero parent involvement.

If even one child misses time from school, the teacher makes up the time with that child IN CLASS. So, it is LESS attention that the teacher gives my child/the children who stayed in school.

[Jeanne]

Whoa, are you insinuating those who have a single-income family are somehow degrading the public school system by not earning an additional paycheck to have taxes removed from to benefit public schools? I Hope not, because that is terribly offensive.

AND FOR THE RECORD my single-income family contributes to a public school system that we don't even use. So there you go, a gift on behalf of another single-income family. Or maybe one with two wage-earners and 3 kids or perhaps one with two low-wage earners and one child...or let's see ? Maybe a widow with six kids. Who else is just siphoning off of the system in your scenario? I'm happy we contribute.


NO! I am not! If you had read my earlier threads, you would know this. School break vacations don't work for us. I've said that a ton of times already. Please don't read things into this. I work. Our family taking a vacation during the school year is the trade off for us as a dual income working family. Period.

[Melanie]

I'm very glad that's not what you meant by it, then. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. What was it that you did mean by:

So yeah, I do deserve a little quite time with my family when we can take it. It's the trade off we make for being a dual income contributing tax family. You can't fund schools without taxes so I guess it's just better for me to chuck a good job and let everyone else worry about how things are going to be funded just to play by the rules of an established schedule that hasn't changed to fit the needs of this horrible economy?

[crl]

Speaking for our particular situation, I have to disagree. When a child in a language immersion program misses a week, its not just "here, have a packet to do at home". The parents are specifically NOT expected to teach missed concepts -- they are not even expected or asked to speak the new language at home. If the children do a journal duriing vacation, they need to be somewhat fluent in the new language (ie., beyond K) in order to be able to write the journal entries with zero parent involvement.

If even one child misses time from school, the teacher makes up the time with that child IN CLASS. So, it is LESS attention that the teacher gives my child/the children who stayed in school.


Immersion education is the exception rather than the rule in the US, which I think is where most of the posters are living. I do see your point; it just seems unlikely to apply to most of the people participating in this thread.

Catherine

[geochick]

Speaking for our particular situation, I have to disagree. When a child in a language immersion program misses a week, its not just "here, have a packet to do at home". The parents are specifically NOT expected to teach missed concepts -- they are not even expected or asked to speak the new language at home. If the children do a journal duriing vacation, they need to be somewhat fluent in the new language (ie., beyond K) in order to be able to write the journal entries with zero parent involvement.

If even one child misses time from school, the teacher makes up the time with that child IN CLASS. So, it is LESS attention that the teacher gives my child/the children who stayed in school.

Then don't take your child out. It sounds like it would be too hard to make up missed work. But that doesn't mean that in SOME situations it works out fine.

[Jeanne]

I'm very glad that's not what you meant by it, then. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. What was it that you did mean by:

Simply put, some here feel that we should all play by the rules of an established calendar. Yeah, exceptions are being made for extenuating circumstances as highlighted by many people here. However, I am taking my girls out to go to Disney in October and I am not apologetic for that. It's not world travel and they won't learn anything valuable. It's simply a reward for hard work.

If I had the flexibility of being a SAHP, I'd be the architect of my days. But I'm not. Ever. If I had this, I'd have a ton more free time to tolerate a vacation in crowded places. And that is just ME. That doesn't mean it applies to anyone else. And that is not a statement about SAHP vs. WOHP's. It's a factor of time. Because I don't have this, I have zero patience for precious time wasted when it's sorely needed.

And I don't think it's at all responsible of ME to bail out of the work force when the last thing we need is higher unemployment. I'd be hard pressed to get the support of many for giving up a good job in a crappy economy. So lack of flexibility and this sacrifice, and it is a sacrifice to work like this despite working never being highlighted as such, is what drives our decision to take vacations when we do. Schools are funded by tax money. The more people unemployed, the less money there is for anything.

[Tondi G]

yes we took our DS1 out of school for a vacation. A cruise in the spring. we made sure it wasn't during their state testing period and he was so far ahead at that point in the year we were ok with pulling him for a week. It was worth it and I would do it again in the same situation.

Hope you do it and have a fantastic Disney Cruise!!!!

[bubbaray]

Immersion education is the exception rather than the rule in the US, which I think is where most of the posters are living. I do see your point; it just seems unlikely to apply to most of the people participating in this thread.



Its the exception rather than the rule here too. There are people on BBB who have their children in immersion education, its been discussed before.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I am 99% sure my schools are paid for by property tax in my school district. Just adding that b/c it could vary for poster to poster whether having a job and paying taxes that way is what it boils down to.

Beth

[crl]

Its the exception rather than the rule here too. There are people on BBB who have their children in immersion education, its been discussed before.

My point stands. Immersion education is an unusual situation. I understand your point, but doubt that it applies to the OPer or to the other people on this thread saying that missing a few days of school for vacation is okay with them.

Catherine

[bubbaray]

My point stands. Immersion education is an unusual situation. I understand your point, but doubt that it applies to the OPer or to the other people on this thread saying that missing a few days of school for vacation is okay with them.




I did say, in posts 45 & 59, that I was talking about my particular situation. However, the post you quoted was a reply to post 75, which was basically saying its not a big deal, the teacher gets to spend time with the students who stay in school and you can just get extra work. I think that that is not accurate. It definitely is not accurate in language immersion. I would think that it is not accurate in a gifted program or special needs program -- but I can't speak to those as I don't have children in those kinds of programs. I actually don't think its accurate in all "regular" schools, it would vary widely. I know that here, teachers don't have to give the extra work, even if it is work they would otherwise give that child.

I'm not sure why you are singling *me* out. There are others on this thread who have posted unique situations too.

Have a great day!

[crl]

I did say, in posts 45 & 59, that I was talking about my particular situation. However, the post you quoted was a reply to post 75, which was basically saying its not a big deal, the teacher gets to spend time with the students who stay in school and you can just get extra work. I think that that is not accurate. It definitely is not accurate in language immersion. I would think that it is not accurate in a gifted program or special needs program -- but I can't speak to those as I don't have children in those kinds of programs. I actually don't think its accurate in all "regular" schools, it would vary widely. I know that here, teachers don't have to give the extra work, even if it is work they would otherwise give that child.

I'm not sure why you are singling *me* out. There are others on this thread who have posted unique situations too.

Have a great day!

You have made the argument multiple times in this thread that it isn't okay to take kids out of school in your situation, i.e. immersion education. I'm pointing out that I believe your situation is unique to the posters on this thread so, while your point is valid, I don't think it is generalizable. I tried to point this out and you responded with an argument that other people on this board have their kids in immersion education. I am not sure if you disagree with me that your situation is likely unique amongst posters on this thread or if you just wanted to argue with me for the sake of argument?

You have a great day too.

Catherine

[ett]

I am 99% sure my schools are paid for by property tax in my school district. Just adding that b/c it could vary for poster to poster whether having a job and paying taxes that way is what it boils down to.

Beth

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the schools here are funded from property tax, not income tax.

[crl]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the schools here are funded from property tax, not income tax.

Property tax is usually the way schools are funded.

Catherine

[Jeanne]

Property tax is usually the way schools are funded.

Catherine

Our district is funded by property taxes and an employment tax. So a double hit for me as a working person. Our tax burden is also higher for home owners than apartment owners.

ETA that local businesses have a hefty tax burden that helps to keep property taxes in check which also supports the school district.

[ett]

No, the 8 to 12 weeks that school elects to be closed doesn't work for me in Corporate America and I suspect it doesn't work for a lot of people. Just fact.

True, but there is no schedule that the school can set that will satisfy everyone. A long Christmas break at the end of the calendar year may work well for some working people whose company closes between Christmas and New Year. Just saying I don't think the school calendar is biased to single income families.

Taking kids out of school for vacation is a personal decision for each family. It really doesn't bother me whether so and so in my DC's class has taken time off from school for vacation.

[Jeanne]

True, but there is no schedule that the school can set that will satisfy everyone. A long Christmas break at the end of the calendar year may work well for some working people whose company closes between Christmas and New Year. Just saying I don't think the school calendar is biased to single income families.

Taking kids out of school for vacation is a personal decision for each family. It really doesn't bother me whether so and so in my DC's class has taken time off from school for vacation.


I agree. Doesn't bother me either if some families choose to take vacation during the school year. And while the calendar is not intentionally biased on discussion, nothing has changed since the inception of public education from a calendaring POV for many states. And I don't expect it to change nor am pushing for change. Just simply clarifying that flexibility on both sides is mutually beneficial for all parties.

[AdiMom]

I am the poster who routinely takes his kid out of school for 2-3 weeks each year for vacation. And this year my son is in 3rd grade, so yes, he is in higher grades.

I WOHM too and the public school vacation schedule sucks for me. It is annoyiong how so much of the school system is geared towards SAHPs. I wish the school system would grow up and adapt to the new age.

Every time my son missed school, his teacher put aside work for him that we picked up after getting back. Frankly, my son was caught up within a few weeks of getting back by doing extra work in the evenings. Again, I am WOHM, so we don't get more than 45min of homework timemost evenings. I think it is ironic that he is learning so little at school that he can catch up so easily, in 3rd grade, in a school district that is known for its high standards. School here in the US for elementary grades is not taxing and that is something my DH is very unhappy about.

We value education very much in my house (both DH and I have advanced degrees and come from a culture that emphasizes education above everything else). So I don't worry that I am sending the wrong message to my DS. He knows exactly how important school is. But Mom/Dad and a home life is important too. And we need a 4-5 week block of time that is not summer. And it is not about money, holiday time is insase for travel. I pay $2000/person for a ticket instead of $1400/person. But I do it anyway.

[ett]

I WOHM too and the public school vacation schedule sucks for me. It is annoyiong how so much of the school system is geared towards SAHPs. I wish the school system would grow up and adapt to the new age.



I'm curious what kind of school schedule would work better for WOHP's. I'm a SAHM but I honestly would not mind having a week or 2 more in the winter and a little less in the summer. For example, it is very hard for us to schedule a trip to Disney (or anywhere in the south) without missing school because we don't want to go in the summer when it's too hot and plane tickets are really expensive to go during the school breaks.

[egoldber]

Personally, I would love a year round school schedule with periodic 2-3 week breaks vs. having one long summer break.

[g-mama]

Every time my son missed school, his teacher put aside work for him that we picked up after getting back. Frankly, my son was caught up within a few weeks of getting back by doing extra work in the evenings. Again, I am WOHM, so we don't get more than 45min of homework timemost evenings. I think it is ironic that he is learning so little at school that he can catch up so easily, in 3rd grade, in a school district that is known for its high standards. School here in the US for elementary grades is not taxing and that is something my DH is very unhappy about.



While your ds may be caught up in terms of completing assignments that he missed, do you really think that he didn't miss anything by not being present in the classroom? Especially in the higher grades, do you not think that he missed out on important experiences of learning that aren't simply paperwork?

I am not questioning taking your child out. I am questioning that a parent would think so little of their child's school that they think nothing is lost as long as the assignments were completed.

If I felt that way, I would probably consider moving to a different school district. I know for a fact that my 4th grader has a vast array of opportunities for learning concepts that can not be replicated if he is not there.

[bubbaray]

Personally, I would love a year round school schedule with periodic 2-3 week breaks vs. having one long summer break.


:yeahthat: The "balanced calendar" was proposed in our district last year and voted down. :(

[ett]

I think it is ironic that he is learning so little at school that he can catch up so easily, in 3rd grade, in a school district that is known for its high standards. School here in the US for elementary grades is not taxing and that is something my DH is very unhappy about.


Perhaps you should look into private schools if you find your public school system lacking.

[egoldber]

g-mama, before this year I would have said absolutely she did not really miss anything in terms of important content.

But this year, 4th grade, the curriculum is very different. There is much more experiential learning and in class work. They do extensive writing projects that are only done in class. They are focusing on the writing process and do that in groups and with the teacher's hands on supervision and feedback. Social studies is done in a similar way.

The science is also done in groups and they do in-class science experiments that really cannot be replicated at home and would be a huge pain if not impossible for the teacher to replicate, and I would not ask her to.

Math I honestly feel would not be an issue for *my* kid, but math is very much her strongest subject and the one that DH and I feel by far the most qualified to help her.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Personally, I would love a year round school schedule with periodic 2-3 week breaks vs. having one long summer break.

The problem with that is that unless all the schools in the area are on that schedule then you won't be able to easily find camps or back up childcare that frequently runs (at least where I live) over school breaks. I could easily find day care or camps that run specifically over spring break, the Friday after Thanksgiving, around Christmas and over the summer. But, when my year round friends have a random week off in Oct. those are not running.


Back to other poster, I am not sure how school breaks really are set for SAHP vs WOHP. Aren't all breaks and deviations from the normal school schedule a challenge no matter when they fall? Unless they go to school year round I don't see how any other set of days off would be better or worse unless you are looking at how much it would be to travel (peak/ off peak).

Beth

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

Hmmm, we are a dual WOHP family as well and I never considered that as a reason to miss school. I would rarely take a week off at a time from work without coupling it with a holiday because I only get 15 days of vacation a year. PP with 40 days??? That seems unreal. 8 weeks of vacation time, I can't even imagine. I will have 4 weeks starting next year and that is the max at our company.

I feel like by enrolling my children in the school, I agree to follow their rules. So in general, I do not agree in missing school for vacation.

That said, we may take DS out of 2nd grade for 1 week next year along with either Spring or Winter break. We want to go to China and the cost is prohibitive in the summer and the weather/pollution is not good at that time either.

ETA - My nephew attends a charter school that sets their own schedule. They have several 2 week breaks in the calendar because the school population has a high percentage of Europeans who take longer vacations to travel home.

[MMMommy]

For those that say that the scheduled school vacations do not fit their work schedule, what do you propose? I am not asking this in a sarcastic way. I am truly just curious as to what solution you would propose that would work for all parties involved. The school district obviously can't please everyone and have "customized" vacation schedules for different families, which would be a logistical nightmare for teachers and staff. Would a year-round school schedule work better for you? Also, if all schools switched to a different schedule, eventually the travel market would adjust to make those the new peak seasons and charge more anyways (for those where peak versus off seasons costs dictate travel).

[ett]

Personally, I would love a year round school schedule with periodic 2-3 week breaks vs. having one long summer break.

I have friends in North Carolina on this kind of schedule and I've always wondered how camps and stuff fit into this kind of schedule.

[egoldber]

Travel on and off peak is part of it. There are also many places I would really prefer NOT to visit in the summer.

We only get one week in winter, so we have to choose to 1) see family, 2) vacation or 3) holiday at home. And vacation is $$$ at Christmas time. Similar $$$ issue at spring break.

I would only want it if the entire district did it. But our district is HUGE (over 100K kids) and if they did it, camps and child care would align around it because that is their revenue stream. It's the advantage of going to a larger school system.

[g-mama]

g-mama, before this year I would have said absolutely she did not really miss anything in terms of important content.

But this year, 4th grade, the curriculum is very different. There is much more experiential learning and in class work. They do extensive writing projects that are only done in class. They are focusing on the writing process and do that in groups and with the teacher's hands on supervision and feedback. Social studies is done in a similar way.

The science is also done in groups and they do in-class science experiments that really cannot be replicated at home and would be a huge pain if not impossible for the teacher to replicate, and I would not ask her to.

Math I honestly feel would not be an issue for *my* kid, but math is very much her strongest subject and the one that DH and I feel by far the most qualified to help her.

Even in the same school district, this varies. I would say all these things you mentioned began in 3rd grade for my ds, and then stepped up again in 4th. And, of course, it varies from child to child. My ds struggles with math, and only math, and that is the one subject he is pulled out to do "regular" and not GT. That is where he suffered and got a D on a test b/c he could not remember how to do what they'd learned prior to his week away. He is not as proactive as he could be (understatement) and that made it even more difficult. I kept reminding him to approach his teachers but he'd come home and say he forgot. :shake: He viewed the week's vacation as a free pass and it bit him in the end. His grades suffered as a result.

[bubbaray]

The problem with that is that unless all the schools in the area are on that schedule then you won't be able to easily find camps or back up childcare that frequently runs (at least where I live) over school breaks.


Our district was going to make the whole district (all public elementary and high schools) move to the balanced calendar. Presumably, the camps and child care facilities would have also moved to a calendar to support the proposed (and voted down -- can you tell I'm bitter?) calendar. I know our childcare was very aware of the proposal and would have worked with parents. ETA: if it was done on a school-by-school basis, I think it would be a disaster.

[ett]

For those that say that the scheduled school vacations do not fit their work schedule, what do you propose? I am not asking this in a sarcastic way. I am truly just curious as to what solution you would propose that would work for all parties involved. The school district obviously can't please everyone and have "customized" vacation schedules for different families, which would be a logistical nightmare for teachers and staff. Would a year-round school schedule work better for you?

I guess if you want your kid's school schedule to fit into your own schedule, you would go into secondary school teaching. Then all your breaks would match up for the most part.

[brittone2]

I have friends in North Carolina on this kind of schedule and I've always wondered how camps and stuff fit into this kind of schedule.
There are "track out" camps advertised in all of the free local parenting publications, etc. Everything from pottery camp to dance and drama and jewelry making, etc.

We lived in NC until recently, but we are/were HSers and not in a district that operated on a non traditional schedule (although there was one elem. within the district that offered a year round schedule, and parents had to opt in for that. There was no public transportation for the year round elementary, which brought a lot of interesting socioeconomic factors into play, but that's another story....).

[Jeanne]

For those that say that the scheduled school vacations do not fit their work schedule, what do you propose? I am not asking this in a sarcastic way. I am truly just curious as to what solution you would propose that would work for all parties involved. The school district obviously can't please everyone and have "customized" vacation schedules for different families, which would be a logistical nightmare for teachers and staff. Would a year-round school schedule work better for you?

The only thing I propose or ask for is a little consideration and flexibility from the school and no harsh judgement from other parents.

I do have 40 days of vacation because I've been with the company for 14 years. It's a combo of personal and vacation days and I use every single one of them for my kids.

We have a good camp here for summer and I get my kid's school calendar for the next year in September. I am able to plan my entire year in advance of this and do so around the school calendar. Unless there were camps or something set up to accommodate 2-3 weeks breaks every quarter for a year round calendar year, I don't think that would work for working parents either. And the task of changing everything is daunting.

So quite simply, I only ask for no judgment, consideration of my contributions, and a little flexibility.

[MMMommy]

The only thing I propose or ask for is a little consideration and flexibility from the school and no harsh judgement from other parents.

So quite simply, I only ask for no judgment, consideration of my contributions, and a little flexibility.

I don't judge other parents who take their kids out of school. Their kids, their choice. You are in the best position to determine what works for you and your family, and I wouldn't begrudge you that.

[Jeanne]

I don't judge other parents who take their kids out of school. Their kids, their choice. You are in the best position to determine what works for you and your family, and I wouldn't begrudge you that.

Thank You!

[MelissaTC]

I have friends in North Carolina on this kind of schedule and I've always wondered how camps and stuff fit into this kind of schedule.

I live in a county in NC that has many year round schools. There are tons of options in terms of camps and programs. Everyone seems to have one, from the YMCA to the ice rink. It works great for M since his private school doesn't follow the public school traditional calendar. There is always something available when he is off, due to the year round schedule.

[AdiMom]

I agree that I cannot replicate the learning opportunities that a 3rd grader gets at school at home. But then again, the school can't replicate the experience of meeting an extended family once every 2 years either. Or I would go so far to say, the fun and joy of disneyworld or the beach. And when I said my son was caught up, I meant caught up on the really important stuff, the stuff that has an impact years down the line. Maybe as one poster said, it is different in 4rth grade. We'll see.

As a WOHM parent I would love a more balanced vacation schedule. Instead of 10 weeks in summer, 2 weeks in december and one week in spring, it would be nice to have 5 weeks in summer, 4 weeks in december and 3 weeks in spring.

That way, if I worked at Amazon, I would send my kids to camp in december but take a really long break in summer instead. Each summer I have interns come work with me, but I skip out on them to vacation with my kids. I would love to be there for them the whole summer and take all my vacation in spring and december. See, everyone gets more flexibility this way.

As one poster said, I cannot go back home to visit family in summer, it is insanely hot. And I fly half way across the globe with a 13 hour time difference. It takes me a week to become a normal human being again. And costs me as much as buying a small car to go on the trip. 4 weeks is the minimum I need. So I am forced to skip 2 weeks of school in december and spend high holiday airfares to visit family.

I make the choices that I see fit. I just had to respond to some of the attitudes in this thread that skipping school for vacation sends a bad message to kids or is just not the right thing to do or whatever. The right think to do is whatever works for you. Life is too stressful anyway, why stress about missing some third grade school.

If my employer, manager and co-workers can deal with me taking vacation any time I want, why can't a school teacher deal with my DS taking vacation. Sure I cannot take vacation during an important release at work, neither will we miss school during testing time. But co-workers and employers deal with different vacation schedules of different workers all the time.

Thanks for letting me vent.

[sste]

For those that say that the scheduled school vacations do not fit their work schedule, what do you propose? I am not asking this in a sarcastic way. I am truly just curious as to what solution you would propose that would work for all parties involved. The school district obviously can't please everyone and have "customized" vacation schedules for different families, which would be a logistical nightmare for teachers and staff. Would a year-round school schedule work better for you? Also, if all schools switched to a different schedule, eventually the travel market would adjust to make those the new peak seasons and charge more anyways (for those where peak versus off seasons costs dictate travel).

I proposed this last year on a thread about this very topic! If the district looks at the situation and can say 50% or more of our vacation-related absences are for off-season disney touring or other off-season vacation travel then I think they should shift a week from the "typical, national" spring break window to an off-season window. Obviously, the inquiry must be specific to the socio-demographics and travel habits of the district kids. But, my main point is that schools are creatures of habit with respect to the non-holiday breaks rather than "client-centered" in their approach. Not saying this would eliminate the problem but "off-season break week" would significantly reduce it!

As mentioned, I would also be willing to pay for an absence. I really can't argue the point that it causes a degree, likely small, but a degree of disruption to the teacher and class. For me it all goes into a cost-benefit analysis of gain to my family versus loss to my child's education plus costs to others. I would be perfectly happy to pay the teacher to compensate for the time/aggravation added and take that out of the equation. I am actually surprised schools haven't developed fees to discourage this sort of thing . . .

[edurnemk]

Wow! 12 Pages... I've only read a couple.

I have no issues with taking my kid out of school for vacation. Of course he's only 3 but I plan on doing it again. I think I'd never do it for more than 8 days when he gets older, but I have no issues with it.

My parents did it all the time with us, up until I was in high school. Of course as I got older we had to let my teachers know to plan ahead and I did have to make an extra effort to catch up or hand in projects ahead of time, etc. My parents have a time share in Orlando, we love the theme parks but we hate standing in line for hours (and no way we could stand the heat in the summer). So we'd usually go there for 2 weeks, but would leave a week before the winter break started, so we'd have a full week of almost empty theme parks.

In our school there was a limit to the number of absences you could have in a school year, so we knew we had to save them up for those occasions. Also, I was always an honor roll student and a rule-follower, this was the only "exception".

We're going to WDW the first week of December this year, so of course DS will be missing a week of school. Plane tickets are waaaay cheaper than later in the season, so we can travel without straining our finances. We always travel for the winter break as well, to spend the holidays with family, and flying in mid december, instead of around the 20th or whenever school is out saves us almost 50%.

[alien_host]

I have to go back and read the entire thread but we have taken DD out of school 3 times in 2 years.

Twice was during preschool, which honestly I don't really count. She missed probably 4 school days between the two trips (only met MWF).

This year she is in K. I took her out for a trip to Disney. She only missed 2.5 days since 2 days the K students only were out of school b/c of incoming K open house. I didn't feel bad about it and did not worry about it. We were gone for 7 days (including weekends) but it worked out well that she didn't miss that much school. I'd say at least 4-5 other kids in her class have taken 5 consecutive school days or more for vacations. Here in K they don't really have homework and I gave about 8 months notice that I was doing this.

ETA: I started to read the first 2-3 pages and it is kind of funny that a lot of people are going to Disney (world, land or cruise) when they take their kids out. Perhaps Disney should work on some sort of program where kids work on school projects etc while there....they'd make a killing. ;)

[gordo]

I am a school social worker, so my breaks do match up with my children's. That said, I still pulled her out of Kindergarten for 2 days this year to go to Disneyworld. It allowed us to go at a much less $$$ and much less crowded time.

Whether legitimate or not, I reasoned it away like this

1) If we didn't go at that time, we weren't going to go at all.
2) She is in 1/2 day Kindergarten and had the Kindergarten standards mastered before she even started.

I will probably feel differently next year when she is in an all day 1st grade, but I won't say with absolute certainty that I wouldn't pull her out of school again. I already know she may need to miss a day or two in November for my brother-in-law's out of state wedding.

[jenstring95]

However, I am taking my girls out to go to Disney in October and I am not apologetic for that. It's not world travel and they won't learn anything valuable. It's simply a reward for hard work.

I actually disagree with this (although I don't think there is anything wrong with a trip as a reward either). I think Disney has some fairly educational aspects, especially at Epcot. Really, I think all travel has some educational value. We took our DC to WDW last December, and DS (5 but not yet in kindergarten) learned the names of the states that we drove through to get there. This was not an earth shattering lesson or anything, but he now knows what the landscapes of several other states are like, and he was also exposed to new ideas/concepts at WDW (the countries at Epcot, different animals at AK, etc.). I'm not saying this is a substitute for school, but I am saying not everything that is worth learning needs to be learned from a book in a classroom. I do think parents and kids need to put in extra effort to catch up on work upon returning home (or be proactive about getting it in advance). It basically comes down to a cost/benefit analysis to determine whether the vacation is worth the missed work and catch up time.

Or maybe I will just try anything to rationalize our way into another Disney vacation? ;)