Had the much dreaded meeting.....

[cara loves the poly]

I was soo nervous going into the meeting today to ask approval to take DD out of school for 7 days. Sister was sooo nice she said is that all you want... you scared me i thought something was wrong when you asked for a meeting! Sister said NO PROBLEM..... your daughter is a great student and strong reader (she is in second grade).. I will have her work for her when she comes back and she gave me a big hug and told us to have a great time. I was so nervous because I've read horror stories on this board about schools threatening court and having to "re-enroll" after returning! All I have to say is WHAT A RELIEF! P.S. We are at a private school,, I don't know if that makes a difference.

 

[clori]

I understand the relief you are feeling. My dd5 is in full day public kindergarten. I honestly wasn't sure how the school responds to taking kids out for family vacations. Since we went in January when I was at the school in December bringing in some holiday stuff I mentioned to the teacher that dd would be missing a week soon for a family vacation. She laughed and said many of the kids had already missed time for disney or a cruise. Then I laughed and said we were going to Disney World. She said she would just save the worksheets for us. DD ended up getting a stomach bug when we returned (we came back Saturday and she was fine until middle of the night Monday) so she missed two additional days so 7 days total. I called the teacher and asked if we should get a drs note for the two additional days since dd, dh and I were all sick but she said that wouldn't be necessary. She didn't give us a timeframe for the homework but dd went back to school Thursday and was completely caught up by Monday.

 

[cara loves the poly]

Clori,,, glad to hear it!! I was so worked up after reading stories from others on this board!

 

[vicceja]

Hi!

I'm taking the boys out again in April and I've never had a problem with the Teachers or School. They have the boys keep a journal and when they return they have a little more work to do. Have a great time!

 

[laceemouse]

I think private school would make a HUGE difference, they certainly don't want to lose a good student and a paying customer. The age of the child also makes a difference. In elementary school, particularly the lower grades, any kid who is reading well will do fine, even if they miss some days here and there. As they get older it gets a lot more difficult. My older 2 were always in gifted classes and by jr. high the workload was intense and there were also lots of group projects, ect. Even if a student understands the material front and back they are STILL expected to complete all of the busy work or grades will suffer! We are now homeschooling, not so we can go on trips but for a gazillion other reasons. However, my oldest dd (14) wants to start college early so it won't be long until we are a slave to the calendar again (until she gets old enough to just leave home, assuming she lets us!) People always say it depends on the child (ie...my child is soooo bright it doesn't hurt them to miss school) but I think the school/district you are in AND the teacher(s) you have almost matter more.

 

[wvjovifan]

We always had great support from my DD's elementary school. The principal had them keep a journal and write a report on their trip when they got back. We always got their work ahead of time and that had to be done before we left (our rule). Jr High was the same thing...as long as the work was done we never had any problems.

 

[Honeybehr1]

I was dreading the meeting as well. So much so that I brought Dh with me My son goes to a public school and the trip was a suprise. Ended up being no big deal. She wanted him to work on directions(reading and geography), keep a money log (addition and subtraction) and sounds(were going to be doing lessons on different sounds while he was away) I had him do a log to keep info in and then she had him talk to the whole class about his trip. He didnt have any make up work to do at all. She was wonderful about it.

 

[cara loves the poly]

Glad to hear the horror stories seem to be few and far between!