Missing School.... How did your school react?

[reyberal]

We have booked a cruise departing the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 2007. I was telling my mother-in-law about it last night (she is a school teacher) and she seemed very concerned that my daughter will be missing a week of school. At thie time of the cruise she will be in the 6th grade.

Since she started school she has missed a week each year due to our Disney trips, with the exception of last year and never had a problem. My daughter so far has been an A/B student and gotten her work done prior to us leaving.

My concern is now that she is getting into higher grades, will it really hurt her? How do you handle the school and the missed work?

I've tried using the search, but it doesn't seem to be working tonight.

Thank you! I have gained so much info from you all and appreciate all of the knowledge I have gained.

Amber

 

[princess22]

As a teacher, I can see where your mother in law is coming from. As you do progress into higher grades, you get more work! But if your daughter can keep up with it, I don't think it's too big of a problem in middle school. In High school you might want to start travelling at other times of the year, because what she does in high school will make/break her in college.

Do what YOU feel comfortable doing, you know your daughter better than we do! Good luck with your decision!

 

[buster478]

We are in the same boat.( No pun intended!) Our son is also going into 6th and our daughter 4th. We have never had any issues taking our two kids out of school. However, now they are getting into middle school and homework starts piling on and we are concerned. However, we have always kept open communication with the teachers and they seem to understand. The way I look at it is this is somewhat educational. They get to see different islands, learn a little about other traditions and cultures, and see places they may never see again. Yes, the homework will be hard to make up, but I think the things they learn will exceed the homework they may miss.

 

[reyberal]

Thank you for the quick responses, it puts me at ease.

My husbands job is what causes us to vacation during the non-summer months. And I always make sure the teacher knows when school starts and remind him/her plenty ahead of time that we will be gone.

Hope you've all had a good 4th!

 

[allears]

There have been many,many long threads about this, and ultimately it comes down to your own decision and knowing your child. We have pulled out kids out of school three times for cruises and twice more for other trips. We have three and they've ranged from high school, middle school and elementary school.

Fortuneately our schools have been fine with this and my children know that we'll only due this if they are maintaining at least a B average in their major/core subjects. In fact one year we went to WDW for the first week in December, but left our DD home with family because she hadn't lived up to her part of the bargin.

We feel like the amount of actual educational learning time they are missing from 5 days is really not that big a deal when you consider how much time is really devoted to instruction each day in a class of 20 or so students. The teachers aren't teaching just to your childs pace, but a whole class. We have always asked for assignments ahead of time and in every case when they returned to shcool, they were actually ahead of where the class was.

Also we think the educational benefits of travel far out way the missed class time. We always try to make a point of them really learning something. The first time we were on the Western cruise, my kids got to visit Mayan ruines in Cozumel, not just read about them but walk through them. We have also asked teachers to give them a special assignment to complete. My one son's social studies teacher gave him a world map and asked him to meet someone on the ship from 5 different countries and learn a word or two in a couple of native languages. He had like 30 countries represented, learned some Italian and made a lot of friends on the ship.

Finally, our children's edcuation is very important, that doesn't alway mean they are getting it from the school. And the time we spend with them, the memories we've built are priceless. We can't afford to cruise at peak season, plus we really don't like the heat to that extreme. We choose when to go, not the rest of the world, because when it all comes down to it, none of us are promised tomorrow, or next summer or anything else. We want to enjoy, responsibly when we can.

All that being said, once again it is a very personal, individual decision and you will get lots of strong opinions from posters here. Only you can make the choice that works best for you and your family. But make that choice and don't feel or let anyone make you feel guilty about it.

 

[tvguy]

ALLEARS summed it up well. Personal choice, and a felony here in California if your child is in public school.
DW and I take great pride in that fact we got our now 19 year old through Kindergarten thru 12th grade with him only missing a few days of those 13 years when he was ill. We scheduled all his Doctor, Dentist and Orthodondists appoints outside school hours.....so with a mindset like that, taking our children out of school for a vacation isn't something we would do.

 

[jjatwdw]

We wouldn't take our kids out of school to cruise. Our DD15 is at the top of her class and we wouldn't risk that. In addition, she is just too busy with activities- play practices, speech competitions, show choir - to miss that much school. With my DS6, maybe, but his sister makes it a moot point. However, everyone has to make the decision that is right for their family.

 

[aprilgail2]

Ours schools here are really good about it as long as you don't take them out the week of state testing! My daughter ended up missing 30+ days of school in the 2004-2005 school year with most of them being sick days. We also took my god daughter out of school that year for a cruise with her being in 10th grade and there was no poblem, she brought some work with her to do and did some when she got back, it wasn't a lot so there was really no trouble. This year my daughter asked for work when we were goign away and her teacher said not to worry about it just go and have a good time, but that is only first grade.

 

[webray]

Our kids missed almost two weeks every year until they got in high school. The teachers were great with it all except for one year (had to get the principal involved, lol). The kids made up the work either before they left or when they got back depending on the teacher. Never had a problem, we don't feel the kids missed a thing by not being in school. Most of the teachers said please, take me with, lol.

 

[crisi]

Our school had a "have fun" reaction, but the kids were in kindergarten and first grade. Once they are in middle school, no more pulling them out. Just my take, but in addition to homework, activities get more serious, too. Just becomes harder to justify.

 

[Colorado Mom]

Our cruise in jan will be the longest we have taken the boys out of school, 7 day western. it was a tough decision when to take this trip but we looked at a few dates and compared the school cal with the cruise sched. We felt jan was a safer time to take off, prob no band concerts or testing right after holiday break and we are using 2 days off for conferences.

 

[barbmouse]

Ours schools are usually ok with missing due to travel. We did this until about fourth grade. We would not do it now that our oldest is in middle school. One point I wanted to make that I haven't read yet is that our dd doesn't want to miss that much school!! She wants to go even when not feeling well! Now if I said it was for a DCl she would probabaly change her mind....

 

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

You guys are lucky. In our system-esp. after 3rd grade or so--it is severely looked down on if we take our kids out (good grades or not). In the high school, they go so far as to say if your child misses a test or graded assignment, they automatically get a zero. Any vacation is counted as an unexcused absence. (I also work in the system, so I can't take any vacation unless it is vacation time. )
That being said, we don't take our kids out unless it's a vacation week. They are getting older anyways, and the school workload is getting heavier. Just thinking about the amount of work they had last year, it would cause a lot of stress on them.
I think it depends on different factors for different families, and everyone has to make their own decision.

 

[seashells]

My kids will be in grade 2 and 5 this Sept when we cruise. This is the fourth straight year of taking a week vacation during the school year (3xSept 1XMar). I have no problems with this until they reach grade 9 where they will have different classes with different teachers. They are A/B students and a week of missed class is not going to bring down their grades. I do advise their teachers with as much notice as possible and ask for any work to be sent home early, so they may keep up with their class. So far the school has not had an issue.

 

[cristit14]

We took our kids 2nd and 4th grade out this past December for 8 days. We added a few days on to our cruise at WDW. They had an insane amount of homework to catch up on. The teachers gave us some of it before we left, but DD (4th grade) still had quite a bit to do when we returned. She said to please not take them out anymore. Her teacher wasn't really happy with us taking her. She said she understood why we were doing it, but please don't make it a habit. DD still ended up being one of two kids in 4th grade that had straight A's the whole year. We decided after the hassle of having to make up all of that homework that we wouldn't take them out for a vacation again. That being said we have another cruise booked Dec 15,2007. The kids won't be out for Christmas break yet. At the most they will miss 5 days (the week before break, how much do they really get done anyway). If the school works breaks the same way they have been. They will have the Thursday and Friday off too so they would only miss 3 days. DD will be in 6th grade then and we won't take them out for a cruise once she hits middle school unless it is only for 1-2 days.

 

[OurMsBrooks]

I think whatever families decide is their own business, but I do not think it's fair to ask a teacher to do extra work when his/her students are going on vacation. I think the child should have to wait until returning from the trip to get assignments and homework, because it's a lot of work for a teacher to get all that ready ahead of time. My leisure time shouldn't equal extra work for my kids' teachers.

 

[Aurora's Mommy]

Our school district has a policy (passed last year) that students can only be out for 5 days on unexcused absences (i.e., vacation). We took my 1st grader out in May for three days and had to fill out a form that actually said that the trip had to be "educational."

 

[Hanover]

Our son's school requires parents to fill out an excuse form a minimum of 2 weeks prior to vacation. We have always taken a WDW and/or cruise each year that ds9 has been in school. We tried to go over spring break when he was in kindergarten and they had 2 snow make up days that week so he missed school anyways. After that we decided we'd go when it was less crowded and when DH could get off work. DH is a police officer and doesn't always get off when he wants to, so we have to go when we can. Our son's teachers have always been supportive. I asked before going on our wdw/dcl trip this past May what the maximum number of excused days the school system allows per year and was told there was no limit as long as the child isn't truant and gets good grades.

 

[crisi]

I think whatever families decide is their own business, but I do not think it's fair to ask a teacher to do extra work when his/her students are going on vacation. I think the child should have to wait until returning from the trip to get assignments and homework, because it's a lot of work for a teacher to get all that ready ahead of time. My leisure time shouldn't equal extra work for my kids' teachers.

Its always fair to ask, what is not fair is to expect that the teacher will be able to provide homework ahead of time. Teachers work in different ways, and one that is teaching the same lesson plan year after year may prefer to hand it out ahead. It is also best that if you ask for work ahead of time, you make the effort to make sure your child actually DOES some of the work before returning to school - I've heard several rants from teachers who have gone through the work to give it out in advance - and would be happy to do so - IF the student ever bothered to do the work. Nor is it fair to expect that all work will be able to be made up without penalty - not all coursework can be made up by doing worksheets at home. Nor is it fair to expect 20 children who were in the room when fractions were being taught to back up so that your kid can learn the material he missed.

Respect your teachers and the fellow students in the classroom.

 

[mjantz]

At the kids old school, they offered a week of 'family vacation time'. You had to write a letter to the principal detailing what you were doing & when you'd be gone. It was 1 week but you could only use it once. If you took 3 days of 'family vacation time' in November, you couldn't take the remaining 2 days in April.
We ended up, the year DS was in kindergarten, having 2 family graduations 2 weeks apart in another state (same state but different than our current home state). I went in & talked to his teacher & explained the situation & she said 'Go, its no problem. That's very important that he's there for those family events.'
Current school does a week of fall break in October. We like this but I'm not sure how it will work with my job situation being up in the air right now. They also really discourage taking your kids out for vacation time. They'd probably work with you but they would not be happy about it. One thing to keep in mind is that public schools are paid based on how many kids are in school on random days. If your kids are crusing on one of those random days, your school loses the money they would get for them.
My personal belief is that, except in rare situations, its not a good idea to pull the kids out of school for a vacation. Most schools offer 2 weeks at Christmas, a week of Spring Break & a summer vacation. There's more than enough time to schedule a Disney Cruise. No, its not off-season & it may be more expensive but I think that, at times, school is devalued in favor of that trip to the ski slopes in January or a WDW trip in December. I know its nice to avoid the crowds. We did Disneyland in November 1 year & it was really, really nice to not have to fight 5 million other people for the rides. But now that they're in public school, we're trying to stay on the school calendar as much as possible.