Just not sure a cruise is really all that educational. That's not stopping me from taking my kids out once a year to vacation, I'm just not going to call a Disney cruise to the Caribbean "educational"!
Trying to say a family vacation has the same educational value as spending 6+ hours a day in a classroom with a professional educator is at best self delusion.
And asking a teacher to put together a homework package or make up lessons for your child isn't really fair either.
I still respectfully disagree. DW and I work in jobs where vacations are forbidden outright in February, May, July and November. 8 of the 14 weeks my kids were out are in those time periods, and we will had no problem.
But, full disclosure, DW and I decided we would do everything we could to to not have our kids miss school, even scheduling every doctor, dentist and orthodontist appointment around school hours. Both made it from K thru grade 12 without missing a minute of school for those appointments. So not missing school was a higher priority in our household.
I homeschool for many reasons. One of them is to avoid the non-learning aspects of brick&mortar school. Like the schedule stuff. I've experienced amazing things with DS...like when we've been sick for two weeks and one of us can't learn then the other can't teach (or vice versa)...he often has a HUGE leap in understanding without doing any sort of learning. He'll be struggling with something...math, reading, whatever, and suddenly he just GETS it, without any purposeful teaching or learning. Amazing. So I personally believe that a week off can be amazing.
We are using our upcoming cruise AS a big part of DS's education right now.
Researching San Juan and St Maarten's history. Researching Florida history. (we're going to focus on the shared history of San Juan and Florida...namely, Ponce de Leon, just as a place to "start") Looking at population, language, how people live, government (the French/Dutch aspect of St M is so cool!) etc. Gracious, it's amazing the educational things you realize you're experiencing when even just planning a vacation!
And then getting to BE there? Why do you think it's so traditional of schools to have 8th graders go to DC for a week? Because BEING THERE is so good for learning. Hands on museums and places like Williamsburg can bring home the book-learning like nothing else. If travel is valued when it's a school field trip, it's silly to think it's not of value just because a parent does it.
Thinking that sitting in a room for 6+ hours a day with an educator is the same thing as actively learning for 6+ hours is delusional as well. I think that most of us here went to school, and when we're honest with ourselves we can take the number of hours of actual LEARNING way down from that. If we truly learned during that whole time, homework wouldn't be necessary at all.
Why not? Plenty of teachers offer them, I've learned from thousands of threads on this site. And shouldn't they be made up already? Or do teachers make up their next day's stuff the night before, even if they have taught the same grades/subjects for years? That seems more complicated than having them worked out beforehand.
I think maybe you guys are taking "will s/he miss anything important" a bit too seriously. They want to know what is being covered; that's how they are asking. If that's the week long division will be discussed, that's a big one. In my own experience it was worlds harder than even the most complicated multiplication. If that's what is being discussed, I know I would want to know. I know that here at home some days/weeks we're discussing really hard subjects, and other days it's all pretty easy. Not everything is hard.
And we sure had enough "let's just watch a movie" days in school for me to know that there ARE some days where nothing at all academic is learned in school....
I homeschool for many reasons. One of them is to avoid the non-learning aspects of brick&mortar school. Like the schedule stuff. I've experienced amazing things with DS...like when we've been sick for two weeks and one of us can't learn then the other can't teach (or vice versa)...he often has a HUGE leap in understanding without doing any sort of learning. He'll be struggling with something...math, reading, whatever, and suddenly he just GETS it, without any purposeful teaching or learning. Amazing. So I personally believe that a week off can be amazing. We are using our upcoming cruise AS a big part of DS's education right now. Researching San Juan and St Maarten's history. Researching Florida history. (we're going to focus on the shared history of San Juan and Florida...namely, Ponce de Leon, just as a place to "start") Looking at population, language, how people live, government (the French/Dutch aspect of St M is so cool!) etc. Gracious, it's amazing the educational things you realize you're experiencing when even just planning a vacation! And then getting to BE there? Why do you think it's so traditional of schools to have 8th graders go to DC for a week? Because BEING THERE is so good for learning. Hands on museums and places like Williamsburg can bring home the book-learning like nothing else. If travel is valued when it's a school field trip, it's silly to think it's not of value just because a parent does it. Thinking that sitting in a room for 6+ hours a day with an educator is the same thing as actively learning for 6+ hours is delusional as well. I think that most of us here went to school, and when we're honest with ourselves we can take the number of hours of actual LEARNING way down from that. If we truly learned during that whole time, homework wouldn't be necessary at all. Why not? Plenty of teachers offer them, I've learned from thousands of threads on this site. And shouldn't they be made up already? Or do teachers make up their next day's stuff the night before, even if they have taught the same grades/subjects for years? That seems more complicated than having them worked out beforehand. I think maybe you guys are taking "will s/he miss anything important" a bit too seriously. They want to know what is being covered; that's how they are asking. If that's the week long division will be discussed, that's a big one. In my own experience it was worlds harder than even the most complicated multiplication. If that's what is being discussed, I know I would want to know. I know that here at home some days/weeks we're discussing really hard subjects, and other days it's all pretty easy. Not everything is hard. And we sure had enough "let's just watch a movie" days in school for me to know that there ARE some days where nothing at all academic is learned in school....
I would love a non traditional school calendar Would sure make it cheaper to travel! For our family, I've decided to pay a bit more to avoid taking them out of school.
I had no qualms at all pulling them out from Kindergarten to Grade 1/2. The kids starting Kindergarten was such a shock to this SAHM's system that I pulled them out as often as once a month to go on picnics, to the splash pad, etc. I regularly pulled them out for 1-2 weeks every year for vacation.
I stopped all this in Grade 4/5 after a 10 day trip to WDW in late January. I was OK with their missing a week of school. However, soon after we got back, they both got a really bad flu and ended up staying home for an entire week. I was NOT happy about their missing 2 weeks of school and it was hard to catch up, especially as their work was getting harder.
Our school does not offer any makeup work, replacement homework, or even makeup lessons. If they missed the class, they typically miss whatever was taught that day. sometimes the teacher will get a classmate to show them the missed work, but its rather informal. Both kids have missed questions on tests and when I ask, they say they missed the lesson that day. So we already deal with that when they miss school when sick, or when pulled out of class for something (e.g cross country meet).
This year, I have even stopped pulling them for the occasional day off for a long weekend trip. This December, I wanted to pull them out on a Monday so I could take them to Kalahari for my DS' birthday. I ended up paying more for a Saturday stay so we could avoid missing a schoolday. $150 vs $109. *sigh*
Do you want an honest opinion from a teacher? Flame me if you want, but here is what your teacher will not tell you, unless you get a glass of wine in him/her
The students who are polite, respectful, follow directions, generally turn into assignments, ask questions and get help when needed, and have parents that treat me like a partner in their kids education: I am glad they are going on vacation, have a great time. It has nothing to do with academic aptitude, I am talking about all the other qualities. For those students, I will gladly spend 30 minutes out of my Sunday to put together a packet for you. Do it, but have a great trip!
The students who are terrible in class, disrupt the learning of other students, have a terrible attitude, have parents that never respond to my phone calls and/or say "My little Johnny would never throw a chair at you or call another student (insert curse word / ethnic slur / sexual orientation slur), you must be a bad teacher or it is your fault somehow. Those are the students that seem to get most of the vacations, and NEVER, I mean NEVER turn in the packets I make them. Those are the students your teachers and office staff resent, and when you have little Sally the terror on vacation, we are just glad they are gone so everyone else can learn. I had a student a Disneyland last week who makes it is daily mission to bring other students off task.
Be nice to your teacher, make them a partner in your kids education, and have a great trip. I have kids too, I know how much pricier things are at school breaks.
I dont know the point of this post, other than to give you some insight into the mind of a teacher about vacations.
Do you want an honest opinion from a teacher? Flame me if you want, but here is what your teacher will not tell you, unless you get a glass of wine in him/her
The students who are polite, respectful, follow directions, generally turn into assignments, ask questions and get help when needed, and have parents that treat me like a partner in their kids education: I am glad they are going on vacation, have a great time. It has nothing to do with academic aptitude, I am talking about all the other qualities. For those students, I will gladly spend 30 minutes out of my Sunday to put together a packet for you. Do it, but have a great trip!
The students who are terrible in class, disrupt the learning of other students, have a terrible attitude, have parents that never respond to my phone calls and/or say "My little Johnny would never throw a chair at you or call another student (insert curse word / ethnic slur / sexual orientation slur), you must be a bad teacher or it is your fault somehow. Those are the students that seem to get most of the vacations, and NEVER, I mean NEVER turn in the packets I make them. Those are the students your teachers and office staff resent, and when you have little Sally the terror on vacation, we are just glad they are gone so everyone else can learn. I had a student a Disneyland last week who makes it is daily mission to bring other students off task.
Be nice to your teacher, make them a partner in your kids education, and have a great trip. I have kids too, I know how much pricier things are at school breaks.
I dont know the point of this post, other than to give you some insight into the mind of a teacher about vacations.
Do you want an honest opinion from a teacher? Flame me if you want, but here is what your teacher will not tell you, unless you get a glass of wine in him/her
The students who are polite, respectful, follow directions, generally turn into assignments, ask questions and get help when needed, and have parents that treat me like a partner in their kids education: I am glad they are going on vacation, have a great time. It has nothing to do with academic aptitude, I am talking about all the other qualities. For those students, I will gladly spend 30 minutes out of my Sunday to put together a packet for you. Do it, but have a great trip!
The students who are terrible in class, disrupt the learning of other students, have a terrible attitude, have parents that never respond to my phone calls and/or say "My little Johnny would never throw a chair at you or call another student (insert curse word / ethnic slur / sexual orientation slur), you must be a bad teacher or it is your fault somehow. Those are the students that seem to get most of the vacations, and NEVER, I mean NEVER turn in the packets I make them. Those are the students your teachers and office staff resent, and when you have little Sally the terror on vacation, we are just glad they are gone so everyone else can learn. I had a student a Disneyland last week who makes it is daily mission to bring other students off task.
Be nice to your teacher, make them a partner in your kids education, and have a great trip. I have kids too, I know how much pricier things are at school breaks.
I dont know the point of this post, other than to give you some insight into the mind of a teacher about vacations.
Trying to say a family vacation has the same educational value as spending 6+ hours a day in a classroom with a professional educator is at best self delusion.
bumbershoot said:Thinking that sitting in a room for 6+ hours a day with an educator is the same thing as actively learning for 6+ hours is delusional as well. I think that most of us here went to school, and when we're honest with ourselves we can take the number of hours of actual LEARNING way down from that. If we truly learned during that whole time, homework wouldn't be necessary at all.
If there are an average of 25-30 kids in a class, and everyone took a different week, that teacher would be constantly preparing packets or grading work that is a week late, or staying after to help someone catch up. Add to that kids who miss for illness, family matters, moving mid-year, etc. and it's understandable why classes aren't moving as quickly as they should. I get rather angry that this week we have classes on Mon and Tues, but so many kids will miss that I'm sure they'll review all the work next week. Why should those who do attend have to go slower because others want to miss school?
My daughter left early on Friday (school related) and she just spent 6 hours making up the 4 hours of school she missed - chemistry, physics, calculus, and statistics - plus her regular homework. If she misses 2 days, she'd be in a panic.
Nancy