Homework may or may not effect grades where you live. In our schools, it certainly does effect grades from 1st grade up. You may do very well on test but your report card grade is going to reflect all areas of work! Grading scales and ways to reflect the work can be VERY different in every school district as well. Some school do not get letter grades till 3rd grade or higher and others get them from 1st grade on. Only you can decide how important these grades are to you and your family. In reality grades mean very little until high school and then they are VERY important. Sometimes middle school grades can effect a child's ability to take certain honors or AP classes in high school but in our district, that is not really the case. A WDW trip may cause a child's grades to slip. maybe a lot. Only you can decide if its worth it or not. We took DS out most years k-8, always made up the work, and his grades never dropped.
As I see it education is a partnership between the teachers and parents. If the teacher assigns homework it should be done or it leads the child to believe that what the teacher says in not important and even that education is not important. My dd is young but we went with my sister and her kids last trip. They got up every morning and did their homework while everyone was getting ready and eating breakfast (they were in a villa and had a kitchen). It worked well for them and they actually finished all their homework by the fourth day.
The while I'm the parent I will so what I want is not helpful to anyone. Neither is the whole I'm the teacher I know more about education than a parent. Everyone needs to work together to educate the child. Sometimes it may mean saying it may not be what I want but it must be important because the teacher wouldn't bother putting it all together if it wasn't.
I didn't read through all of the responses, I've read enough of these threads to know I don't want to. Anyway, I'm glad you got a light homework load and it's not that big of a deal. Our kids are now 15, 11, 9 and 8 and we have been taking them out for Disney vacations every year for the last 8 years or so and we have NEVER done homework during our vacation. Most of the time they just have to do a few things when we return. There have been a couple of times when the teacher has given us some work ahead of time and it has been done on the plane or car ride to and from Disney, but not at Disney. I, personally, would tell a teacher there is no way we are going to do homework during our vacation, but everyone is different and has to make the choice for their own family.I went to the school today and picked up the vacation schoolwork & homework folder. Surprisingly it was very, very light. So I glanced through and asked DD to do just a couple pages, telling her it was "extra credit" work. (It's a surprise trip, she has no idea we are going).
Everything was super easy, as she already knew all the material so she breezed through the ENTIRE packet in a little over an 1 hour. Haha! I was all worried for nothing really. The old adage proved true - most of the things we spend time worrying about don't actually happen.
We're DONE with the homework already and we don't even leave for another few days.
Thanks again everyone for your thoughtful replies!
"Keep Calm and Disney On" all you fabulous Dis angels!
I think you are lucky that the school will allow you your daughter to miss that many days for a vacation, and I don't think you should complain about her having to do her missed work while you are gone. Remember that she is will be missing class work not just the normal weekly homework. In many states third grade is when state testing starts and the increased work load reflects that.
The district where my kids went to school counts vacations as unexcused used abscences, and the kids get zeros for work that is missed.
I have read through the thread and agree with the above. I felt badly about taking our 4 kids (11th grade, 8th grade, 6th grade and 3rd grade) out of school for 3 days to attend their grandfather's funeral. I went to the 3 different schools and getting the absences okayed at the elementary and middle school were easy, however, the high school was a little tougher and all 4 of my kids are great students and there was makeup work for each kid.
There is a funeral on Monday locally for one of my husband's uncles. We asked the kids if they wanted to miss school for the funeral and they said no--too much to catch up.
Each district is different.
This whole discussion is why we decided to home school. We take our vacations when WE want and I don't give homework over them. I know my DD is learning even if she is having fun, they are not exclusive of one another.
This is terribly shocking and sad. If any school even hinted at giving my family a hard time about my children attending the funeral of their grandfather I would raise absolute H.E.double hockey sticks. Names would be taken, letters would be written, the school board would be petitioned and you can bet your bottom dollar that I do not need the school's "permission" for my childrens' bereavment absense. They have absolutely no right whatsoever to be anything but sympathetic in the situation of an immediate family member's death. How.Very.Dare.They.
My sympathies to you and your family for your husband's uncle's passing.