Is it O.K. for kids to miss a week of school for DW?

[wife5080]

As a teacher I HATE when parents ask for their child's homework in advance. Lesson plans rarely stay on schedule. I always tell the parents that their child should just enjoy the vacation and make up the work when they get back.

 

[PEANUT1]

we do it (only one of ours is in school and its only preschool)...we will continue to do it as long as they are doing well in school.

 

[melancholywings]

We did for K, 1st and now 2nd. But DD misses very few school days through out the year. I really think there is no right or wrong answer, but it depends on the child, school and situation.

 

[melancholywings]

Wanted to add to that our school has so far done homework differently than when I was a kid. We get a monthly packet that contains all the homework, as well as a brief sheet describing what they are learning and what we can do at home to help those studies. I LOVE getting it in bulk. I hope second grade is the same.

 

[roxmic]

I think its a great release for kids to get away from the stress of school these days. BUT, it should only be ok if their grade are good enough to miss school.

 

[buckeyebill1995]

As a teacher I HATE when parents ask for their child's homework in advance. Lesson plans rarely stay on schedule. I always tell the parents that their child should just enjoy the vacation and make up the work when they get back.

I can see your point, but I can tell you that my daughter got her work early and did it all on the plane, did a trip report style journal that she summarized to the class when she got back and wasn't stressed at all. Her friend from the same grade but a different teacher was not allowed to get her work until she got back and she felt very stressed and 'behind' having to make up a week's worth of work. For what it's worth, my daughter enjoyed every minute of her vacation and was relieved not to have anything to make up.

IMHO, I am sure teachers have enough of an idea on Friday of what they're doing the following week to be able to give them the work ahead of time.

 

[badblackpug]

Let me warn you 1st...this has been a hotly debated topic...don't be surprised if things turn ugly.

*donning flame retardant suit*

I said "no." I cannot justify removing my kids from school for a whole week for a vacation. I want them to consider school their main priority, and I don't think I convey that message by taking them out of school to play. We plan our vacations during school breaks.

Our school also has strict attendance policies. Vacations are unexcused absences. Even if this weren't the case I still wouldn't do it.

 

[mom4graceandlogan]

It really depends on your school, it could be a bigger problem than you think. I think kids that aren't falling behind should definetely benefit from quality vacation time if they can't make it work around the school year. However, it certainly can be abused by some. More than a week out of school for vacation would be too much in my opinion, but a week is probably o.k. I ran into problems last year when I took my daughter out for 3 days to go to be a flower girl in my brother's wedding. It was going to take 2 days to drive there. Her teacher was very suppportive of her getting to go and thought it would be an awesome experience. My daughter was in the top 5% of her class and was just missing review work as she had already done part of the curriculum at a different school the year before. I presented a detailed travel guide for ther teacher of all the educational stops we would make on the Way( Monticello-Jefferson's home, State Parks etc.) The teacher thought it sounded great! But it is not up to her on how the absence gets counted. We did all the make up work, but she was required to receive zeros for it because the absence was unexcused. ( per principal/county policy not teacher). We also did a detailed travel Journal with photos which she did a presentation on in class. I know of people in my district that have been turned into the Truancy officer for having over three unexcused absences( one was for a trip to Disney). Now did they go to jail- no, but it certainly was not pleasant to deal with. If your school recieves a certain kind of federal funding, they lose money for children's absences. One of the reasons my district takes it so seriously. If a child misses 15 days excused or unexcused the school loses all federal funding for that child. 15 sounds like a lot but it is not. We kept my daughter out in November 3 days for the wedding. She had an unexpected slew of illnesses in the spring including an infection that led to hospitalization. She missed 14 days total. I would have felt bad if I had kept her out a whole week like we wanted and then the school lost her funding( and I would be very unpopular with her principal.) So I would bring it up with teacher's now and see how it is going to be treated. I would not assume that if your kid is a good student and promises to do the work while gone that things will be fine. Also, be sure that no statewide-school wide testing is being done the week you are planning to be gone. I hope it works out for you and the school does not give you any problems. Oh and if you notice my signature, we get a full week off each September. I check my daughter out 11:10 earliest to leave and not be counted absent and then we stay through the next Sunday. I love our Fall Break.

 

[melancholywings]

I know of people in my district that have been turned into the Truancy officer for having over three unexcused absences( one was for a trip to Disney). Now did they go to jail- no, but it certainly was not pleasant to deal with. If your school recieves a certain kind of federal funding, they lose money for children's absences. One of the reasons my district takes it so seriously. If a child misses 15 days excused or unexcused the school loses all federal funding for that child. 15 sounds like a lot but it is not.

OT. There are so many things that are just so wrong with that policy. I understand schools trying to stop abuse to missing days, and I'm sure there are saddly many parents who don't value their child's education (plenty who simply don't value their children). But it pretty much encourages parents to send their sick kid to school out of fear. Or forces them to haul their sick kid into the doctor (paying $ they may not have for the sniffles) just to get a doctors note to excuse the absence. It's a broken system.

 

[Del]

we take them out for 2 days only and tack it onto a weekend. For a week....for us...that's too much school.

Del

 

[holleetigerlilly]

In my school district, vacations are not considered excused absences, even when "excused" by the parent. So, a child going to Disney for a week would get marked with 5 unexcused absences. If they get more than 15 in a semester, then they can be considered for failure. Really, the theory is that if a student misses more than 15 days a semester, they really SHOULDN'T be passing.

As far as the poster taking the position that their child would be too far behind if they took a trip away without assignments being given ahead of time...The only thing I could say is that you're making the decision as a parent to take your child away on a (possibly) unexcused absence. At my school, even if I get the work together ahead of time, I'm not allowed to grade it for credit. The student should be getting zeros on all days that were unexcused. For reference, I work at the High School level, so I can't comment on Elementary policy. I do know that vacation policy is district wide, though.

IMO, I would never take my child out of school for anything more than a day. Even that is unlikely. While in education - your breaks are at Christmas, Spring, and Summer. In many, many, many other jobs you have "scheduled" vacation time - so why should I teach my children that they can take off whenever they want? A student's "job" is to learn at school - so I treat it as such.

 

[mom4graceandlogan]

OT Re: Days missed and funding. You are absolutely right that it is a faulty system. I believe many kids are probably sent in sick because of the policy if they have already missed a certain amount of days. I guess it is hard to draw the line hence the reason they use a truancy officer to try to figure it out before they get close to missing 15 days. I used to work in child welfare and I know kids that missed alot of days because mom did not feel like getting up that day or mom would have one child stay home to babysit the younger ones. These parents often see a jail cell. It might be one of the reasons that my school is strict on the students that have good grades and good attendance records. As a principal if I were turning one parent into a truancy officer for not getting her child into school because of laziness/child care issues etc. I would not feel good if her come back was "Oh Yeah. well my son said little Johnny missed a week for DisneyWorld, what did you do about that?".

 

[Tricia1103]

We are going in Sept and I am taking my kindergartener and 2nd grader out. We are going for 9 days but they will only miss 4 days of school do to a teacher in service day and 2 weekends. My kids go to private school and the school actually encourages family vacations.

 

[ChrisandDon'sMommy]

In my school district, vacations are not considered excused absences, even when "excused" by the parent. So, a child going to Disney for a week would get marked with 5 unexcused absences. If they get more than 15 in a semester, then they can be considered for failure. Really, the theory is that if a student misses more than 15 days a semester, they really SHOULDN'T be passing.

As far as the poster taking the position that their child would be too far behind if they took a trip away without assignments being given ahead of time...The only thing I could say is that you're making the decision as a parent to take your child away on a (possibly) unexcused absence. At my school, even if I get the work together ahead of time, I'm not allowed to grade it for credit. The student should be getting zeros on all days that were unexcused. For reference, I work at the High School level, so I can't comment on Elementary policy. I do know that vacation policy is district wide, though.

IMO, I would never take my child out of school for anything more than a day. Even that is unlikely. While in education - your breaks are at Christmas, Spring, and Summer. In many, many, many other jobs you have "scheduled" vacation time - so why should I teach my children that they can take off whenever they want? A student's "job" is to learn at school - so I treat it as such.

Yes, many jobs have scheduled vacation times. Unfortunately, more often than not, they do not coincide with school breaks.

 

[Vijoge]

As a teacher I HATE when parents ask for their child's homework in advance. Lesson plans rarely stay on schedule. I always tell the parents that their child should just enjoy the vacation and make up the work when they get back.

This is pretty much what the teachers said when we took our granddaughters. Neither teacher saw any reason to send homework with them. They just told them to have fun!

 

[heartsy77]

We always take kids out of school ; this year they will in 7th and 4th. grade. I have always had the theory that family time is rare these days and missing 5 days of school is worth a week full of family memories. My DD upcoming English is a person whom I am friendly with. She does not agree with our decision. I respect their input; however, ultimately it is a family decision. I always make sure my kids don't miss any state administered test etc. The first week in DEC they will miss review for state tests in Jan, which has both positive and negative attributes. I believe life is to short my kids will still pass, graduate HS and go on ot college regardless if they miss a week of school every two years. I will also it helps that my kids don't take a lot a sick days either.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

Like others have said, it depends on the child. My children seem to catch up quickly so I would do it. My DD has a friend who is missing a week of school for a horse show. I think I had rather go to Disney.

 

[thechef71]

Wow thanks for all the great replies and discussion. I probably wouldn't take them out of school if they were older. I've been putting more emphasis on family activities vacations etc. and less on work or goals. I've had so many people tell me how much they regret not taking their kids somewhere like Disney World when they had the chance but never did because of work, school, etc. So I say it's a go!

 

[wife5080]

IMHO, I am sure teachers have enough of an idea on Friday of what they're doing the following week to be able to give them the work ahead of time.[/QUOTE]


Sure I have an idea of what I would LIKE to do the next week but it doesn't always work out the way I planned. Perhaps I have to spend more time on a certain subject than I expected and wasn't able to move on. I don't have students stay in during recess to make up work, my feeling is if you miss 4 days of school, you have 4 days to make it up.

I would not take a child out of school for a WD trip if they are older than 3rd. grade. IMHO

 

[mommytoone]

This topic sure has alot of mixed reviews, some are very valid.

I just wanted to give my input. I will be pulling my DD7 out of school this Sept to go to WDW, she will be in 2nd grade. This will be the last time I pull her out of school. I don't think after this grade we will be able to do so. She is in gifted classes and picks up on things really fast, but I don't want her to miss to much school. I do agree that family vacations are necessary and we do not get to take them in summer do to DH's work schedule so this will be it. Actually, DH is not even coming with us, because of work. He is OK with this. If DD did have a problem or was not in gifted classes I would NOT pull her out. You have to do what's right for you and your family, you know what works best. What ever you choose, good luck..