i'de have to make the decision based on the ramifications of the school my kids attend. the district we used to live in did an automatic failing grade if the child exceeded the number of allowable excused absences (and they were tight on what they would excuse). one private school they attended had zero tolerance for unexcused absences so if you hit a certain very low number it was 'bye-bye'. their last school would permit a very small number of excused days for travel but would not permit getting assignments ahead of time-the kids would be given everything the day they got back and were expected to complete it at home in the identical number of days they missed (so 5 days out of school meant getting 5 full days of in class and homework assignments done in the next 5 days in addition to your regular homework

) they contended it was'nt 'punitive' but a 'deterant' to those who 'chose' to travel outside the established school breaks (and to their credit they did give one week off during the least peak travel time for family vacations to provide non traditional vacation/travel time for families).