Not sure I made right choice for vacation dates

[dealia]

Help..I planned our vacation for October. (non refundable airfare).Just read my school districs attendance policy and it does NOT allow for non-illness or non-emergency time out of school. I assume that means their absence will be UN excused. Any suggetions?

 

[brymolmom]

I'm not sure - but I THINK that is what MOST school policies are or at least similar. Bascially pulling out for vacation is an unexcused absence. That said, mny, many people do it anyway (myself included). What you need to check is how many unexcused absences they allow before pulling out the 'big guns' (ie: needing doctor's excuses or calling truency officer). I believe my district allows 10 unexcused before it does anything more strict.

I just let my kids' teachers know way in advance of their absence. And then let the attendance office know right at that time. And that's it - I don't worry about it. We did get a letter one year about one of my kids reaching the upper limit of 'allowed' total days missing...but it was near the end of the year and luckily she didn't get sick again (or esle we likely would have needed a doctor's note).

 

[dealia]

They will miss 5 days. My oldest is in high school. I am now worried about it counting against her. (she has great grades ect. so making the work up is not really an issue)

 

[jessp1021]

I believe that is standard policy as well..butttt I would recommend looking in to have some of the days cleared as excused for educational purposes. I have wrote notes in the past and had DS complete extra assignments (i.e. trip reports, journals, etc.) and with that combination they will typically excuse 2-3 of the missed dates!

 

[Hannathy]

They will miss 5 days. My oldest is in high school. I am now worried about it counting against her. (she has great grades ect. so making the work up is not really an issue)

wow High school. Did you check with her. There is no way my DD would have missed a week in high school. Does she have any AP courses? Science courses with labs, cause labs are buggers to try and make up.

And is she willing to take a hit on her GPA if the teachers give her zero's? If it is unexcused they may be able to not let her make it up and give her zero's. It is a lot to miss in highschool. Even if she can make it up, it will be very hard to learn a weeks worth of material on her own and keep up with the new in like Math or Chem/physics. Does she play sports? cause she won't be able to play, how about theater? You can't miss rehearsals.

 

[RMulieri]

If that is the policy, then you need to be willing to accept the consequences.Since your daughter is in high school, she is the one that will deal with any consequences and that may well include zeros for classwork..It is something to consider long and hard.If it were me, I wouldn't be doing it.My school district is pretty lax till 4th grade.After that they are considered unexcused abscences and zeros for classwork.

 

[mjkacmom]

They will miss 5 days. My oldest is in high school. I am now worried about it counting against her. (she has great grades ect. so making the work up is not really an issue)

Okay, I assumed they were in elementary school. I don't know what to tell you about HS - I'd never do it. They are in their rights not to allow her to make up the work, and some work can't be made up (ie - science labs). I think I'd have her talk to each individual teacher herself.

I took dd16 out in freshman year for 2 days - she was not happy with me!

 

[dealia]

I did check with her. She wants to go. My husband's work does vacation by seniority. We have never been able to get time at his work when the kids are out of school. I was hoping going in the fall of her freshman year would give her time to make up work.

 

[MSSANDRA]

High School is VERY different than lower grades and if they truly do count it as unexcused, she could be in a tough situation. No matter how good her grades are, Five days of 0's is going to kill her GPA and depending on the guidelines, cause her to loose credit for the entire class. Our high school has a 7 day absence polity per semester. Excused absence over that have to be made up minute for minute time wise on Saturday but unexcused can not be made up..period. This could truly cause her to loose out on scholarships and even collage acceptance. I hate to say it but it may not be a smart choice at all to go. We took DS out though middle school but after that...not a choice for us. Go talk to the staff and see what they say. sorry.

 

[bgirl29]

I really think you should call the high school and ask exactly what this does mean. Will she be able to make up the work or not? Then after you have all of the facts, decide along with your daughter if she is comfortable with the consequences. I have taken my children out even in high school, but it did depend on their classes and I made sure they understood that they really need to be able to catch up.

 

[sweetdana]

I really think you should call the high school and ask exactly what this does mean. Will she be able to make up the work or not? Then after you have all of the facts, decide along with your daughter if she is comfortable with the consequences. I have taken my children out even in high school, but it did depend on their classes and I made sure they understood that they really need to be able to catch up.

call the school.. I bet they are okay with it.. you are not the 1st family to take a vacation..

Though I personallly try to sced them on spring break/winterbreak summer ect... I would not skip spending time with family over this. I would however work details out up front..

5 days in the grand scheme of things is not much..... as long as she doesnt end with zeros over it..

 

[dsneprincess]

Ok, I am gonna get hammered for this one. Another option to consider at least is....LYING. Out of state death, funeral, sickness of relative, whatever can take 5 days & is covered by the school absence policy. There has to be some consideration for these situations. Family vacations are just as important, if not MORE important than 5 days of school & will mean more down the road. You have to consider your priorities. You could always seek alternative education options & she can learn a lot by traveling, sometimes more than in school. I am not saying you SHOULD, just an option to look at prior to calling school & putting them on alert. Just don't post photos on an internet site while you are there. I don't think the school should be able to "punish" a child, no matter what grade level we are talking about, for a decision made/dictated by the parent or the parent's job. All that really matters, IMO, is if your daughter can make up the work on her own in reasonable time &/or accept the lower grades for 1 semester? Look at the big picture, weigh your options and make the best decision for your family! Good luck!

 

[beansmom]

you need to check with your school district. We are taking our grandson to Disney in october and he will miss a few days and he's only in first grade so he won't miss much...the written policy of the district is that they discourage missing school for vacation but realize sometimes it's unavoidable and that students must makeup missed work within 2 weeks of return.

 

[Hannathy]

accept the lower grades for 1 semester? Look at the big picture, weigh your options and make the best decision for your family! Good luck!

You realize that lower grades for 1 semester can wreck havoc on her GPA? It could take her out of the top 10% of her class or if she is a really good student the top 10 of her class. All three things could have very real consequences on the "big picture" as far as college and scholarships etc.

 

[JMTStone]

I'm one of those horrible Mom's that take their kids out of school for vacation. Last year it was 9 days total. As both girls do well in school (one in grade school, the other in college), it was a 6 day excused and the other days were unexcused.

Needless to say, both girls didn't get into trouble.

I would email the principal and ask about policies. Explain the situation.

 

[Wendybird55]

My son is in 1st grade this year and he will end up missing 6 days total for Disney trips. In Oct. he will mis a Fri & on to go to MNSSHP and in Jan he will miss a Mon-Thur to go on a family Dinsey cruise. Part of me feels bad doing this, but I've seen other parents do this and as long as I make sure he keeps up with the work and homework I'm sure he will be fine...and yes, it is 1st grade.

Kids miss days of school for various reasons other than vacation. Last May students in my son K class were missing a week or more of school due to some kind of bug / virus that was going around. That's my only concern now...hopefully he will stay helathy and not miss much additional school due to illness.

But as others have mentioned...I think it will be fine as long as I inform the teacher of the days off in advance and ask that he be given any work he will be missing to keep on top of it.

And as far as HS...though it was a long time ago...I was more concerned about missing days in HS due to the fact I wanted to be with my friends and not miss out on anything. I was an honors student and alwasy felt that by keeping up with my work and doing well if I missed days it wouldn't go against my grades. As long as I wasn't missing a test or important project due date I was OK.

 

[chimilady]

Taking kids out at elementary school isn't bad, but High school? They can't just say yes, she can make up the work. I mean she'll likely have 6 or 7 teachers! And no, you can't just make up labs. Doing a trip report or journal may be fine when you're young and in the same class all day, but in HS I would have had to make one arrangement for my math teacher, history teacher, science teacher, etc. That would be 7 trip reports! And even then, if it's not relevant to the topic she's learning (Doing a report on the hall of president is not going to work if I'm learning about Mesopotamia or World History). Isn't October PSAT time? I'm sure some teachers will let her make up assignments, but some will not. 5 days of unexcused absence at my school meant detention.

But what's done is done, you can't let yourself worry about it now. I would just check the school's webpage to see that at least you can overlap it with some time off, like exam days, or other holidays, so that she's really only missing 2-3 days of school.

 

[littlebit0863]

I would lie. Say someone died out of state and then it will be excused. Of course if your daughter is going around class talking about her trip then it will blow up in your face. That, or withdraw her from school and re-enroll her after the trip. Not going to be your most popular answer but if your school district is like mine their money comes from attendance and it is not going to be excused.

 

[dealia]

Thank you everyone for the advise. I did get it worked out with school. However...I will NEVER take a High Schooler out again. I did not realize what a hassle it would be.

 

[Leajess99]

wow High school. Did you check with her. There is no way my DD would have missed a week in high school. Does she have any AP courses? Science courses with labs, cause labs are buggers to try and make up.

And is she willing to take a hit on her GPA if the teachers give her zero's? If it is unexcused they may be able to not let her make it up and give her zero's. It is a lot to miss in highschool. Even if she can make it up, it will be very hard to learn a weeks worth of material on her own and keep up with the new in like Math or Chem/physics. Does she play sports? cause she won't be able to play, how about theater? You can't miss rehearsals.

I have to agree here. My daughter missed 4 days of school last month due to a funeral out of state and she has hated trying to catch up. She is in Honors classes and is really smart but the struggle to catch up what she missed while staying current was a lot. She will not miss anymore school unless she is seriously ill and this is coming from her.