At what age do you stop taking kids out of school?

[RustManFan]

Our school district is very VERY opposed to pulling kids out of school for vacation. I haven't done more than a day when we added that to a NJ Teachers Convention visit years ago. Both DD and DS were in elementary school.

That being said, I was pulled out of school for 3 weeks during my freshman year of high school (1968) .... but mine was a very educational trip. My grandmother took me to Europe for 3 weeks and then we sailed home on the original RMS Queen Elizabeth. That sailing week was school vacation. I spoke to each teacher ahead of time and had a tote bag witth some of my school books with me. Did algebra and Spanish work on the ship! When I got home I showed my slides and spoke about my trip in Latin class (we had been to Rome, Italy and ancient sites), Spanish class (my teacher was jealous of the hotel we stayed at in Madrid) and in English class (where we visited Shakespeare country and other literary sites).

I was an A student and only my gym teacher was obnoxious about it. She gave me an incomplete. I got more exercise in that month than I got in gym class....

 

[niffer5150]

i stopped pulling the kiddo out for anything more than 1 day after elementary school. any time she's been sick since 6th grade we've pretty much had to accept that anything turned in will just go ungraded. even if it's approved time off and the teacher hands you the work, anything turned in late seems to get lost or forgotten too easily. it's just not worth it for a vacation.

 

[Magpie]

I also agree that learning happens everywhere. My husband missed all sorts of school as a teenager to help his dad renovate houses, and I know that this was an absolutely helpful skill that he has as an adult. If he had been going to school now, his father would be in huge trouble for his truancy.

Reminds me of my husband, who used to take a week off from school every spring to go hunting with his father. One of the teachers tried to give him a hard time about it, so his father went in and basically said, "Is he passing all his courses? Are his grades good? Then you can mind your own business." (Only not so politely - his dad was an auto mechanic in Northern Ontario.)

Let me think. It's school. I never take them out for any vacation. It's time to start learning. Vacations are for the summer or scheduled school breaks. Time to start learning about responsibility in life.

Despite regular spring hunting trips, my husband went on to get his engineering degree from Queens and landed a very, very good job. He's what most folks would consider a success.

By contrast, my mother (a professor) would have agreed with you. She felt that that pulling your kid out of school for a family vacation shows disrespect for education and sets a bad example. So I wasn't allowed to ever take a day off, unless I was literally vomiting that same morning (coughs and colds, even laryngitis, were not good enough). Sadly for her, I dropped out of university (though I did go back and finish my undergrad later) and have happily puttered through life never making much of myself. I have a terrible attitude towards school and academia in general.

Our kids took regular week long vacations during the school year all the way up to Grades 9/10 (something my mum considered highly irresponsible of me). They both ended up going to university with entrance scholarships, and the academically talented one is actually maintaining straight As, earning internships, and has funding to work in her department's lab throughout the school year.

Four people isn't enough of a sample size to draw any conclusions from, but it's enough to convince me that there are no lessons to be learned here. It takes a lot more than a family vacation to make kids either responsible or irresponsible.

Instead of, "Time to start learning about responsibility in life, " I could write: "Time to start learning to value family relationships." And I expect you'd say that's something that can be learned anywhere, not just on vacation. To which I'd say that "learning to take responsibility in life" is also something that can happen anywhere, not just behind a school desk.

 

[JJZMgailey]

Tying to planning out the next few trips, with various plans and desires, such as an EP trip at Beach Club during F&W, a Christmas trip, etc. but the next few trips all entail taking kids out of school for a week. At what age do you personally feel you shouldn't take kids out of school a week for a vacation? Ultimately what we decide will impact when we do the Dec trip and maybe change out plans for the next trip.

Stopping by to let you know that your thread was chosen to be featured on today's edition of the DIS Daily Fix! Thanks for getting this discussion going!

 

[Micca]

DDs are grown, I don't ever remember not taking them out of school because of school concerns. If we could afford it, we'd go.

ETA: This would have been late 80s/90s. The usual response from the teachers was "Will you take me with you?"

 

[Kona65]

It's up to the parents to decide if they take the kids out of school to go on a vacation. But, I always wonder way those same parents think that the teachers should be obligated to put together a school work package, or let the child make up the school work when they get back. Just a thought.

 

[GoMegGo]

I'm married to a teacher, so my chances of ever taking a trip during the school year are slim-to-none. He feels very strongly that children should not be taken out of school for vacations, but he teaches in HS, so I think he has a more stringent opinion about it than, say, a kindergarten teacher. I would feel comfortable pulling my children out up until 5th grade, as long as they weren't struggling in their classes.

 

[KrazeeK120]

I worked for a district that had a "no work sent on vacation" rule. The teachers didn't have to plan ahead for just one child. So the child was required to make up the work once they returned to school. Most of the time it was during lunch recess. The district I currently work for is a very much teach-to-the-test district the pace is really quick. Most families plan around long weekends.

Personally, We took our kids out just a few times. High school is impossible especially if the kids are in sports or "specialized" activities - it's not unheard of to bench a kid for missing practive. One year - I had a freshman & Senior, Thanksgiving week ended up being only two days. So we did take the kids out for those two days. But that was it!

I used to be a high school cheerleading coach and I made the girls sit out for missing practice for reasons other than illness or family emergency. I think I gave them one "freebie" but after that, it was 1 quarter sitting out for each practice missed. That was the policy of the coach before me and I carried it on.

We had voluntary practice in June and July before starting mandatory practice in August for football season, so it's not like I booked them solid for the whole summer with no opportunity to go anywhere. But missing practice affects the whole team (inability to practice certain stunts, etc.). It wouldn't have ever crossed my mind (or my parents' minds) to miss a mandatory practice when I was in high school!

 

[Trixie Belden]

My DS is in 8th grade and we're letting him miss a Friday and Monday for our next trip. Our school district doesn't have another break until Christmas (and they go right up to the 23rd!) and then spring break in March. He's going to have to miss our trip in December. I really wish we got a fall break like other states, or at least got out before Memorial Day.

 

[Dis703]

I think for us, when I feel that they will struggle too much to make up the work then we'll consider not pulling them out during school. They are only in Kindergarten and 3rd grade this year though, so I think we have some time.

 

[Silvermist999]

We only take our kids out of school to go to WDW. Their school year doesn't end till June 30th (or thereabouts), and its just too humid and rainy to be in Florida when they are off school in July/Aug (I've been to WDW in July and never again...).

We always go in late May because the weather is perfect - hot and little/no rain and we've done this four times over the past six years, including this year when DD was in 6th grade, and DS was in 4th grade.

When they went back to school, their classmates told them they didn't miss anything - and they didn't. I know that by early June, the teachers are done with the final report cards, and they aren't doing much for the last month of school, playing games/sports outside, activity days, etc.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Well since this thread popped up again I have to say I changed my mind since my post on page 2. I suddenly felt very uncomfortable about DD missing 6 days of school in December next year, so we moved our trip to Thanksgiving week. Crowds -Shmowds

She'll miss the Friday before we leave and on the next trip maybe 2 days after their fall break. I just don't feel right about pulling her out, no matter what grade. She'll be in 2nd next year.

We miss weather days every year (a week and a day right now actually) so I think she needs to stay in.

 

[cmarsh31]

Elementary school no big deal, MS stressful, HS very hard - but as a MS/HS teacher, I actually don't have a problem with my students missing class for family trips as long as they make up the work (although I might not stay after school to help them bc that's my time with my family). As a mom, we took the kids out for a week in 1st & 4th (and DS when he was in K) but usually just a day here and there. This year (3rd & 6th) they're only missing one day for our Oct US trip (bc it's already a 3 day weekend for them and a 4 day for me) and no days for our Feb DW trip (and we're literally paying the price for that in airline tickets). My kids have a week off in Feb and a second in April. I wish they'd do a week near the end of Oct/Early Nov, then a week in March. With only about 2 months between Feb & April, we can't really take advantage and have two great vacations that close together.

 

[Kate'sDad]

We have taken our kids out multiple times for all kinds of trips including Disney World all the way from Kindergarten up through last year when my older daughter was in 7th and we took her out for 2 weeks to go to Hawaii. That was one of the more difficult ones but with communication and planning ahead (plus doing work on vacation since there was more down time than a typical Disney vacation) she was able to stay on top of everything and she still had straight A's. This year she will be in 8th grade and we decided it would be the last time we took her out of school so we threw together a "last minute" plan to go to Disney World/Universal for 10 nights where she will miss 6 days of school.

Every situation is different but I think with kids that work hard and have support at home it is not the tragic situation most schools would have you believe. And my entire family is teachers/administrators. Father, Mother, Step-mother, 2 sisters, brother-in-law so I understand the sensitivity to having teachers have to deal with absences but I think if the parents are on top of it and the kids works hard to make up the work it is manageable.

 

[casperthegm]

Our son is in 10th grade now and we're taking him out in January for a week. It's a special week for his Catholic HS, where there are no classroom assignments, tests, etc. The principal was understanding, which helped a lot, as we didn't want to have to argue over the absence. We made it clear that we'd work to make sure that all assignments (if there had been any) would be done, either before or after the trip- whatever they wanted. I know not every school looks at it the same, but it worked out well for us. No missed school work and a slower, cooler time to visit Disney.

 

[clawmachine]

I want to add that in areas like ours, where you have large numbers of students whose families have recently immigrated to the U.S., children routinely go abroad with their families for even a MONTH at a time. Now obviously most families try to schedule trips when school is out, but in many cultures, if there is a family wedding abroad, then you are all expected to go. School year schedules vary widely across the globe. These families who take their kids out of school typically are very hard working and conscientious and value education greatly. It just so happens that they value family more and I can't say I disagree with that.

 

[littleladykaty]

My step kids will be missing one day for our trip during teachers convention. My step daughter will be a senior and step son will be 9th grade. They miss school for sports stuff and marching band. One day for what will be our last family trip before DD goes to college won't be a huge deal. Both kids are straight A students. I'm not worried about them missing one day of instruction. If the school has no problem with missing for sports they will have a hard time convincing me that one day before teachers convention will be ruin their education. We have never taken them out of school before but this was the only time we could all go. So we are and we are all so excited!!!

 

[CampbellScot]

My step kids will be missing one day for our trip during teachers convention. My step daughter will be a senior and step son will be 9th grade. They miss school for sports stuff and marching band. One day for what will be our last family trip before DD goes to college won't be a huge deal. Both kids are straight A students. I'm not worried about them missing one day of instruction. If the school has no problem with missing for sports they will have a hard time convincing me that one day before teachers convention will be ruin their education. We have never taken them out of school before but this was the only time we could all go. So we are and we are all so excited!!!

We're doing the same thing. Adding a day before teachers convention! Super excited!!

 

[DLmama]

Our son is heading into 3rd grade and he will be missing 1 day for our WDW trip. It happens to be the last day of school, where he won't do much of anything anyway.

He missed 3 days last year when we scheduled our DL trip because the school changed the weeks of his holiday vacation. His teacher sent a packet of work with us, which he completed during the rest of his break.

With that being said, I prefer not to pull him out of school. He's a good student, but thrives on routine, and vacation definitely hinders that. I won't pull him out of middle or high school. I think once kids are older, it's harder for them to catch up. I know it was for me when I missed school at that age.

 

[babesboo99]

I think it depends on what the parents think their child can handle. My twins are going into 4th grade and I have no worries on taking them out for 2 weeks my daughter always gets a's and my son has ADHD so the teachers say this is good for him to break everything up and come back refreshed and when he does he is better for it. Like I said before I have been lucky with teachers all my kids have to do are write essays on what they learned and experienced from the trip . I do ask them for some work since we drive down we do some in the car to keep them busy and it makes the time go faster. I will continue to take them out until they reach the upper grades . But like I said it is up to the parents to see what their child can handle and with common core in NY my kids need a break from that junk.