Do your kids miss school for vacation?

[JessicaR]

Or do you wait for holidays/summer vacation/spring break etc.?

What ages are your children?

My kids are older now - I have one that is a junior in high school. When they were younger we took them out one week every year. They are good students and maintained their grades so it was never a problem. If they struggled or didn't want to miss the week we wouldn't have taken them out.

Lately our family vacations have been falling over the summer break. I did take him out for a few days in October to go to HHN.

 

[CalDisneyMomof2]

Wow. I'm really surprised at how many people have their kids miss school- not angry or disappointed, just surprised.

With that being said, it's opened my eyes that vacations are important and missing school isn't the end of the world.

My parents didn't have the money to take us on vacations when I was a child so with my husband and I being able to do so with our own children it's incredibly important to me to take advantage of it. However, I find it incredibly stressful and difficult to plan around all of our schedules.

Thank you all for opening my eyes on the importance of family time and vacations. As I plan future vacations of course my first choice is to miss as little of school as possible but I won't stress over a few days missed every school year.

 

[Feralpeg]

When DD was young, I would take her out of school for up to two weeks at a time for our vacations. She would always get the work she would miss in advance and I made sure she did it while we were on vacation. She never had any issues catching up. She was a very good student.

When she was in high school, she needed to be absent on a regular basis to film a television program in which she was a cast member. The public school system had an issue with this, so I moved her to a private school that worked with kids involved in professional or sport related endeavors. She did 13 episodes of the program and never fell behind and maintained excellent grades. I have no regrets about letting her do this.

 

[low-key]

When she was in school I took her out a week a year to go to WDW, and let her take a friend. The Teachers were all real good about it, except one, it didnt matter she was getting A and B, and would do all home work she missed, this teacher hated me for it and wanted her to pay. To this day I hate that lady, rather you agree with me or not Im sure you all agree if someone messes with you ok, but DONT MESS WITH MY KID

 

[LSmith]

When she was in school I took her out a week a year to go to WDW, and let her take a friend. The Teachers were all real good about it, except one, it didnt matter she was getting A and B, and would do all home work she missed, this teacher hated me for it and wanted her to pay. To this day I hate that lady, rather you agree with me or not Im sure you all agree if someone messes with you ok, but DONT MESS WITH MY KID

Hell hath no fury! I agree. Do not mess with my kid. It won't be pretty.

 

[JessicaR]

When she was in school I took her out a week a year to go to WDW, and let her take a friend. The Teachers were all real good about it, except one, it didnt matter she was getting A and B, and would do all home work she missed, this teacher hated me for it and wanted her to pay. To this day I hate that lady, rather you agree with me or not Im sure you all agree if someone messes with you ok, but DONT MESS WITH MY KID

Totally agree! It is after all us the parents that are taking them out not the kids. Do not take it out on them! In grade school (think it was 2nd grade) my son had a teacher that was just miserable. I never asked for missing work or work to take with us as I felt that was asking too much of any teacher.

But to go out of your way to make a little kid feel bad that they were going on a family vacation - give me a break!

 

[MomofKatie]

DD missed anywhere between 3 days to a week every year of elementary school for WDW and other vacations. She never had any problems catching up.

We only took her out once in middle school- I think she missed 3 days around the Veterans' Day holiday in 7th grade. She told me afterwards that she had too much makeup work and she didn't want to miss any more middle school.

She is now a sophomore in high school- she took 4 days for WDW when she was a freshman, and has missed a day here and there for long weekend trips, soccer tournaments, or out of town concerts. So far, high school has been easier to make up than middle school was.

If she gets into the residential HS she has applied to, she won't be missing any more school for vacations. The school is very academically rigorous, so she really won't want to miss any time.

 

[ALD85]

I'll be taking my son out in January, he'll be in Kindergarten. I'll be taking him out for 5 days. I'm not positive of the schools policy, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter. We have this opportunity and were going to take it. It won't be an annual thing, and he won't miss unless he's genuinely sick anyhow. Besides he's a bright boy and I have no concerns about him falling behind- and if he does after 5 short days then I'll be reconsidering his schooling options.

 

[KulaMauiMouse]

It definitely makes a difference-the attitude of the school or teacher. We've had schools where they make it easy to take your kids out of school, especially grade school. Our kids are now in a school that is very restrictive about unexcused days so now were stuck with summers and breaks- a real downer.

 

[Bluestars]

I took my son out of school for vacations a couple of times until he reached middle school. At that point, he didn't want to miss school for vacations because he didn't like making up all of the work.

As long as the vacation doesn't negatively affect the child's grades, I don't see a problem with it.

 

[crazelion]

Nope We have plenty of days where kids don't go school in our school system We like go in the summer month when like vacation

 

[kkmcan]

Our kids are 17 and 14. We have taken them out for 4 days at the most but that's when they were much younger. Now we try not to but they might miss a day or two if we leave early or come home late after a break. It wasn't easy taking them out either. There was sooooo much work they had to take with them. Classwork, homework, reading, journals etc. It was a real headache trying to get them to work while on vacation. So we knew that wouldn't work for us.

We took them out in 2011 for 2 days to do a short cruise. Then no missed days for the past 3 years (except for illness) and then they missed one full day and 2 half days right before spring break for our trip to Hawaii this month. Airfare was really good (like hundreds cheaper) if we went that Wednesday instead of waiting until Sat (start of spring break). Those 2 half days they literally did nothing. The middle schoolers went to the high school for a tour and a play. Then the next day they did some games in class and saw the middle school drama perform. All assignments were due because of the end of the quarter on Wednesday so we just made sure they were all turned in before we left. If I can help it, they don't miss school but for Hawaii it was worth it.....and no work to bring with us.

 

[rodeo65]

When the kids were in school we took them out for a week or so every other year. The last year we did that was when they were in fourth and fifth grades. The school was fine with it and helped with catch up when we returned.

We now home school and with that we deliberately plan our vacation / break times outside of regular school breaks. We don't take PD days at all, for Christmas break we finished a week later than their friends and we change the week(s) for spring break. They were in private schools before pulling them so they always had an extra week at Christmas, spring break and finished a week early in June.

We went to FL for three weeks in late January / early February this year but they did not have spring break when their friends did. One of the pluses of home schooling for us.

 

[tvguy]

Before our kids were born, DW and I decided that not only would we not take our kids out of school for vacations, but that we would not take them out of school of Doctor, Dentist or Orthodontist appointments. Really wasn't hard, they didn't miss a minute of school for any thing other than being sick. Both are out of high school now.

I'll be honest, in our family, the vacation problem has always been with DW and I, not the kids. In a typical school year, they were out of school for 16 weeks. I get 3 weeks, DW 5 weeks. And we are forbidden to take time off in February, May, July and November.

 

[dollarmite]

My kids have missed up to 7 weeks of school in one hit to travel overseas. There's never been a problem with the school; quite the opposite in fact - the teachers were/are all very supportive and excited about the kids experiencing other cultures/food/languages etc. Sometimes we take school work with us, sometimes not. It has never affected their grades or overall school performance. In some areas it has actually enhanced their studies as they're able to apply their hands on experience to the topic. Quite a few of their friends and classmates have missed school to travel as well (interstate and overseas), and no one blinks an eye.

This year they are in grades 9 and 12 and will miss 3 weeks of school later in the year. We'll be away for 5 weeks total and only 2 of them are school holiday weeks. We're coming to the US, and there's no way I'm only going to restrict ourselves to the 2 weeks of sanctioned school holidays. It'd just be a complete waste of our time and money. We're spending 2 of those weeks just at Disneyland, let alone the other places we'll also be visiting.

Based on what I've seen on the many different US sites I frequent, there seems to be a different (and positive) attitude here in Australia to children missing time off school for (overseas) travel than their counterparts in the US. We have about 6 weeks school holidays over Christmas. Sometimes it works out for us to take the overseas trips then, but if not, we need to do what's best for our family financially and in terms of scheduling at other times of the year.

I travelled overseas as a child. Can I remember anything I did at school those years? Nope. Can I remember the details of those trips many, many, years later? You betcha.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

We are on vacation now with my son. We pulled him out of school. He is in the first grade and his teacher gave him his math homework and also a vacation journal. My son is highly gifted. He should really be in 2nd or 3rd grade but I want him to be with kids his own age. We are driving down to disney and used the drive down as a mini geography lesson. His teacher gave him a vacation journal to do in place of spelling. My son is a human dictionary. It's been a lot if fun and my son is learning a lot on the drive down!

 

[Darcy03231]

I did when my kids were in elementary school and there was a different district policy in place. I think the most they missed was three days.

Our school system goes to block scheduling once they hit middle school and into the high school so it was too hard to make work up. Also, the district policy changed so that any unexcused absences your child gets zeros on all work missed unless the teacher wants to give/take make-up work when DD#2 was starting high school and DS#2 was in middle school.

 

[teller80]

For those who say "never".

I wasn't that strict, but I did say "not once they hit high school". Then when my DS was in 9th grade we found ourselves on the oncology floor with him getting chemo. He'd play with kids who were scheduling their wish trip. Holding his head while he was puking, seeing him cry... Seeing a girl who was about 12 with a freshly amputated leg... And just last week going to a funeral of a 20 year old girl.

I have a whole new attitude about missing school.

 

[sam_gordon]

Not intentionally, and DD is now paying for it. We scheduled a trip for the week after school let out of her 7th grade year. Because of all the snow days that year, the makeup days conflicted with our vacation. We cleared things with the principal and teachers and she missed the last two days of school. It didn't affect her grades.

What we didn't know however was during one of those last two days they notified students whether they'd be able to take HS Algebra I as 8th graders. DD never got that notification, and we even asked at the office the week before 8th grade started whether she was supposed to and told "no". No big deal, right?

We found out too late in her 8th grade year that she WAS supposed to be in the HS Algebra class. It didn't affect her 8th grade grades, but it put her "behind" a class in HS. So now as a Sophomore, she's taking both Algebra II AND Geometry (both "pre-AP" classes) in order to catch up.

Sure, we enjoyed our vacation. But seeing the struggles DD is having NOW from taking her out of school for two days three years ago DOES have me regretting the trip to some extent.

And yes, the vacation memories are going to stick with you more than school memories (and probably be more enjoyable), but you can have those memories whenever you go.

 

[ICF]

Not usually -- schools have vacations for a reason...and school is very important and I dont want my kids to think it's something that they can blow off as they see fit.

The only time we removed for a vacation during the school year was my son for 3 days before fall break while in Kindergarten. They've also missed the last day of school (which is pretty much a do nothing day) while in elementary a few years ago. Now that they are older (5/8th) they almost certainly wont be missing school for vacations.

Now people in their schools do take off for all sorts of odd reasons (one girl missed a month for some sort of horse jumping camp?!?!?!) and I'm sure most of them will go on to live perfectly normal lives -- our family just wouldnt feel right taking kids out for vacation.

Now, if a family emergency / funeral or something came up during the school year I would take them out without a second thought --- but not for something like vacations which for most people can be at any time....and yes I know here on the Dis it seems that half of you can only take vacation for one week a year so that one week is the ONLY time you can take a family vacation and your kids just have to miss school.