Do your kids miss school for vacation?

[roliepolieoliefan]

We used to. We would go to WDW every October. The last time I pulled DS was 2 years ago for a DCL and Universal trip. It took him forever to catch up on his schoolwork

My son is now a freshman in high school so no way.
With his advanced classes, he would miss way too much.
Plus now his grades are way too important for him to fall behind.

I do let him miss days here and there though.
On monday, he and his buddy are missing school to go to the Pirate home opener.
The Monday after we are going to Kalahari.

 

[Southernmiss]

No. High school students have too much on their plates. Missing a few days equals a lot of catch up work. Also, after missing a few days, they have to make up 'seat time' kind of like study hall on Saturday, even for sick days with drs. excuse.

 

[mnrose]

Not anymore. Before they started taking high school classes (last year), we used to play pretty fast and loose, and add days on to the holiday schedule at school. Now that they have high school classes and it matters in terms of GPA, etc, we do not. It just isn't worth it. Plus, they place a high priority on being in class when scheduled. Even missing for a doctor's appointment bugs them. We try to avoid even that whenever possible.

My kids are 14.

 

[mnrose]

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.

That is very different. My DD also missed two months of school because of a serious illness. And, obviously, her health is the highest priority and will always be so. We have a good friend whose son is battling yet another recurrence of his cancer, and they are beginning to run out of treatment options. Heck yes, they do whatever they want, whenever they want with their son, Their healthy children, however, still attend school regularly, and they took their WISH trip during a school break.

It's a balancing act. For my family, we find it easier not to miss school. We still vacation and make family memories, just around their school breaks. While they were still in middle school (6th graders), we took a month long blow out Asia trip....we did this deliberately at that age because we knew it would be nearly impossible once they were in high school classes.

 

[MSLRAC]

We've taken our kids out for vacation before because DH is not allowed to take vacation from March-August and he won't take off in Nov-Dec. So we're pretty much limited to vacation during the school year. It's never been an issue with the school and I always plan around at least 1 teacher workday or holiday so they only miss 3-4 days.

But with DD10 heading to middle school soon, I look for our vacations to move to the first weeks of August just because DD will not want to miss school.

 

[deedeetoo]

My kids are teens now (13 and 15) but we have never taken them out of school for vacations. We take our vacations primarily during the summer though we did go once at Christmas and once at spring break.

We did have them miss a day of school once when we had to travel cross country for a wedding.

Our school system has a policy where teachers will not do anything extra to accommodate children who take vacations. They will not give the kids work ahead of time, and the kids will be given zeros for class participation while they are on an unexcused absence (and no we don't have the system here of writing a letter so your vacation gets classified as an excused absence). When the children return they are given all the work they missed and are allowed to make up tests or quizzes. They have to turn in the missed work in a time period equal for how long they were out. For example, if they missed three days, all the work is due three days after they return. This really makes you think twice about taking the kids out.

 

[indimom]

Only once. We scheduled to leave two or three days after the school year was over, but snow days interfered and my kids ended up missing the last two days of school (2010). The kids were in middle and intermediate school. The schools were understanding, and we had no problems.

It definitely gets harder as the kids get older.

I used to try to schedule everything around school (like TVGuy), but it has become impossible now. One year, my two kids had 92 medical appointments (braces for both, allergy shots twice a week for one, monthly appointments with a specialist that required a two hour commute). It was insane, and impossible to always work around school. Thank goodness that year is over.

I still try my best, but honestly, I just don't stress it. If they have to miss school, they miss school.

We've really only had one problem with the school, when an instructor insisted that a paper be turned in despite a school policy that they would allow one day for each day missed. Well, and I've gotten some "eye-rolling" from the woman who handles attendance issues, but I just ignore her.

And Teller80, I hope your son is doing well.

 

[Poohforyou]

My dd missed school a few times in elementary school for vacation. The longest was 4 days when we took an extended spring break trip to China. Dd was in 5th grade. She in high school now and I would be very reluctant to have her miss any days for vacation.

She's missed 7 days this year because of illness and the school has already notified us that 12 or more days and she could have to repeat 9th grade. Pretty funny for an honor student with an A average but I'm not pressing the issue. She will miss the very last day because we had vacation plans before the winter snow caused the year to be extended

 

[kinntj]

Our kids only missed school once for a Disney vacation in 2008 for a week. Our oldest was in Kindergarten. We haven't had a real vacation in years due to my mom being ill and after she passed our senior dog got ill and took a lot of care.

Next year in 7th grade DD will be in advanced math and Honors English, so no days missed unless she's ill. She hates missing school. This year she has missed some time at the end of the day due to orthodontist appts. I make sure these don't interfere with vital lessons.

This year we're going in June and just barely missed the make-up days for snow days. We still have two buffer days, so we hope there's no more snow at least above 3".

 

[Colleen27]

Absolutely. Until DS started high school we pulled them out a couple times a year to travel. DH is in a seasonal industry and can't take off during the summer, and we weren't willing to give up traveling as a family to avoid the kids missing school. It isn't ideal - believe me, I WISH we could travel during the summer when we could do the mid-Atlantic beaches or go hiking in the mountains or take road trips without fear of blizzards! - but travel is important to us so we found ways to make it happen.

The high school years are going to be really tough - we can only travel over Christmas break, which is stupid expensive and miserably crowded anywhere worth going, and on the short mid-winter break. DS attends a public high school with strict attendance rules so we don't have any other choice. But it is only four years. The private school my girls attend is much more flexible, with a case-by-case approach based on academic achievement/ability rather than arbitrary, fixed limits and that's one of the pros of keeping them there through graduation.

 

[aprilchem]

We took our kids (grades 1 and 2) out for a week this January for a Disney Cruise. We cleared it ahead of time with both their teachers and chose a weird week in January where there was one day off and two half days, so they'd only end up missing two full days of school.

Although everyone at the school seemed fine with it (and the kids actually ended up not missing any days of school that week, since the entire week was cancelled for snow), one thing that I noticed was that they were given a TON of work to do while we were gone. I'd guess (given the amount of work they bring home in a normal week) at least twice the amount of work they would have done in a full school week, maybe more. I wondered if they do that as a deterrent to keep parents from pulling their kids out too much. I didn't have my older son finish all the work he was given (I just decided enough was enough) and he was still at least 2 weeks ahead when we got back to school.

 

[bigbabyblues]

Our kids have missed school for vacation a couple of times, always to Disney. The last time we did it, oldest DS asked us not to anymore, as he had too much work to make up. He was in 5th grade at that time. We can't do it anymore, anyway. I work at the school now (non teaching staff), and we aren't allowed to take time off during the school year for vacation.

 

[Laura66]

Took them out for a few days here and there for vacations to Disney. They wet excellent students otherwise I would not have considered it.

Once they got into middle and high school we tried a few days and the kids said they never wanted to do it again! Could they make up the work! Yeah. But it was very difficult to make up the work with all the extra curricular activitied. And there were consequences if you missed games or practices. (Which I had no problem with)

 

[pumpkinmomma]

No, but I am not opposed to it generally speaking. Depends on your kid and how well they can handle making up missed assignments.

I'm a teacher so we pretty much have to schedule vacations around school breaks. I can't really take time off for vacations during the school year.

 

[lisaviolet]

Although school is important, it's no more important than many other aspects of living life. Life is too short as it is.

Totally agree.

 

[jodifla]

My son is in 6th grade now. We do pull him out of school for trips. Only once did we do a whole week; that was third grade.

Mostly we add days on to existing days. For example, our district often has a week in January when they have the Monday and Friday off, but are there Tuesday through THursday. So we've pulled him for 3 days for a DCL cruise that was fabulous. He only ended up missing two days because one ended up being a snow day!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Like tvguy, I have just 3 weeks of vacation. I also am required to take 1 of those weeks at Christmas. So, scheduling around school is not difficult for the most part since the kids (and DW who works for the district) are off WAY more than me

I always pad our vacation start date in anticipation of snow days being tacked onto the school year. DW was supposed to work until May 27th (kids out on 20th), but now will be there until June 11th assuming no more snow days

We also have swim team in June, so that pushes vacation back to July anyway.

 

[Anastasi]

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

What ages are your children?

No, especially since they are now in high school. Our junior is taking several AP classes and a college math and chem class. No way can he miss any time in those, epecially with our district's policy. Add in sports and forget it.

Our district has a very, very firm policy that the teachers will NOT prepare work ahead of time to take on a vacation (unexcused absence.) All work/tests/quizzes during the unexcused absence cannot be made up and are automatic 0's. So, even if the teachers wanted to be supportive, their hands are tied due to district rules. Those that are not supportive anyway, always schedule big tests for the day before breaks to discourage parents from leaving early.

In elementary school, when grades didn't go on transcripts, it was easier although we still never did it.

It is impossible for a high schooler to miss and still keep their grades up.

We have 3 full months off during summer, so we get a ton of travelling in then. I actually agree with the policy. I find it very unfair for parents to ask teachers to do extra work during their time off to pull together work to take on a choice, not a need. We had one 4th grader last year who was going back to his parent's home country over winter break. They were going for 6 weeks and the mother demanded the other 4 weeks worth of work. The teacher refused. And I don't blame her. It was their choice to pull their kid out for 4 weeks.

 

[Aristocath]

I always wish people would post what state they live in on threads like these. I find it so interesting that some people have such flexibility. In Texas they have very strict rules for absences and in Fort Worth in particular.

My kids are 16, 14 and 11 and we have never pulled them out for vacation. I will admit even if it was allowed we wouldn't do it- we manage fine just using regular school breaks. I guess part of it is with three kids, three different schools right now and lots of activities it's easier to travel in the summer when we don't have as many conflicts. And my oldest will be taking 5 AP classes next year- he would refuse to go on vacation if we tried to pull him out for a day!

 

[MichelleVW]

I always wish people would post what state they live in on threads like these. I find it so interesting that some people have such flexibility. In Texas they have very strict rules for absences and in Fort Worth in particular.

My kids are 16, 14 and 11 and we have never pulled them out for vacation. I will admit even if it was allowed we wouldn't do it- we manage fine just using regular school breaks. I guess part of it is with three kids, three different schools right now and lots of activities it's easier to travel in the summer when we don't have as many conflicts. And my oldest will be taking 5 AP classes next year- he would refuse to go on vacation if we tried to pull him out for a day!

I'm about 30 miles north west of Fort Worth and we would occasionally take the kids out for a few days here and there. We added a few days on spring break one year because plane tickets were cheaper. We sent the girls to Ohio for a long weekend where they would miss a day of school so they could go to an Ohio State football game. They also missed a few days for college visits that didn't count against them.

We have just as many conflicts during the summer it seemed so we managed to take vacations when we could.