Pulling a Kid out of School for a Trp

[Colleen27]

Of course the flip side of that is there's always that one person that has to state their defiant stance of deliberately removing kids from school because they value family time - as if those who schedule vacation during school breaks don't.

I've never read those posts that way, and honestly, I don't get those who do. It strikes me as being oversensitive and looking for offense to think of it that way, because though those of us who pull the kids out of school aren't generally saying we get *more* time or *better* time by doing so. We're all taking family vacations because we all value family time, regardless of when it happens, and no one is suggesting otherwise. The people saying it is always wrong to pull the kids out of school, full stop, on the other hand, are saying that they value education MORE and live that value BETTER than those of us who make the opposite choice.

 

[missbrooke06]

We just pulled the 1st grader for four days. I let his teacher know well in advance and she guessed on the assignments they'd cover. He got through them the weekend before we left so he never fell behind.

His teacher said some parents worry about being judged (the school has no attendance restrictions) and they spring it on her last minute and those kids tend to fall behind because a day isn't always enough time for her to get the assignments together.

So unless you have a punitive school district, work with your teachers and make life easier for them!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I've never read those posts that way, and honestly, I don't get those who do. It strikes me as being oversensitive and looking for offense to think of it that way, because though those of us who pull the kids out of school aren't generally saying we get *more* time or *better* time by doing so. We're all taking family vacations because we all value family time, regardless of when it happens, and no one is suggesting otherwise. The people saying it is always wrong to pull the kids out of school, full stop, on the other hand, are saying that they value education MORE and live that value BETTER than those of us who make the opposite choice.

I didn't say I read "those" posts that way, Said there's always "that one" who comes off that way - as in, not the majority.

 

[jevs]

Pretty common to pull kids out of school for holidays in my country.

 

[DopeyDame]

The OP really needs to know her district's policy. I don't think kindergarten is a big deal and the OP should take the opportunity to travel when she still can. But in subsequent grades, the district policies vary widely, even with neighboring districts. Some districts like our school district, makeup homework would not be accepted. No makeup tests are given. Anything missed during an unexcused absence is an automatic 0.

Just because one person's district is accommodating, that does not mean the district next door would be. A few people here have stated they have been in or are still in very strict districts. Since this topic comes up regularly, policies across districts seem to vary from very lenient to very strict.

Oh no! A 0 on a grade in elementary school - the horror!
DS's school is pretty accommodating, but in one class in second grade, his vacation and the make up work caused him to get a B on his quarterly report card instead of an A in one of his classes. (He was clearly very borderline to begin with) I really couldn't have cared less. His future will not be determined by his 7 year old GPA.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I pulled DS when he was in 2nd and 3rd grade. In 2nd grade his teacher was nice about it. In 3rd grade his teacher made it a point over and over again that she didn't have to give us the work ahead of time and really dragged her feet. I think had I not asked a bunch of times she wouldn't have ever given me the work. I get it. I was giving her extra work on top of her teaching her kids.

After that we didn't go back to WDW until DS was in 5th or 6th grade and we decided we wouldn't pull him out anymore. It really is a lot of work to make up once in middle school. My son is now in high school and he is very against missing any school time for vacation because the work load is too much. He missed a two separate weeks last year. Once for the flu and once for pneumonia. He hated it and said he would never do it willingly.

Also my district is pretty strict with attendance. Vacations are considered unexcused. Only excused absences are religious days off or days off with a doctors note. At 10 days unexcused you are sent to truancy court and at 16 days they repeat the year. Sure I could fight it but it's not worth the trouble.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I pulled my daughter out for 5 days in kindergarten simply because I didn't consider her being in school when I booked our trip HA!

She just missed 4 days in 2nd grade. She did all of her makeup packets and didn't fall behind. It was right before Thanksgiving, so I have a feeling the work was a bit lighter.

We'll be taking her out for 2.5 days in September (3rd grade). I'm not concerned.

 

[because]

Oh no! A 0 on a grade in elementary school - the horror!
DS's school is pretty accommodating, but in one class in second grade, his vacation and the make up work caused him to get a B on his quarterly report card instead of an A in one of his classes. (He was clearly very borderline to begin with) I really couldn't have cared less. His future will not be determined by his 7 year old GPA.

No make up work allowed in our district for unexcused absences. Anything missed is an automatic 0.

No need for the snottiness. In our district, depending on the child, it can have far reaching consequences. Starting in 3rd grade, the children start moving to ability based classes for math, science and language arts. There is no "one curriculum for all students" sitting in the same classroom, all learning the same thing all day. If your child is on the cusp in one of his classes, a few 0's will drop their grade enough that they will be moved to the next lower curriculum classes the following semester. Once you drop, since the classes cover the material at different rates and again depending on the child and parent on how much extra they do at home, it can be difficult for some students to move back into a higher track. Parents have to be very motivated to teach the class at home that the student is missing. By 5th grade, it can affect some children's ability to get into the advanced classes in middle school, which can affect their ability to get into the advanced classes in high school.

That isn't to say that the teachers are punitive and they are going to hold a child back when they are clearly bored. But it is up to the parents to make sure all the material being covered by the faster classes is learned so that the child can move back the next semester into the classes they are meant to be in.

The district isn't being punitive. This was a response to parents wanting to take 3-6 week vacations (large international population that wants extended vacations home and a wealthy section of the district that likes long vacations) and putting unreasonable demands on the teachers. The teachers were giving up their family time to put together 6 weeks of homework packages for voluntary vacations and then the parents were demanding the teachers give up even more of their family time coming in early or staying way late to tutor their children to catch them up. The Union finally stepped in and said enough is enough, that the hours being demanded by families were not in the contract and the district agreed. Thus came the no homework packets, no tutoring to catch up allowed, no makeups allowed. The absence policy (7 unexcused absences in one semester) is set by the state and after 7 unexcused absences, parents start getting letters from the truancy court, 10 unexcused absences gets a trip to court and a parenting plan monitored by child services to make sure your child is in school, around 16 or 17 unexcused gets the child moved to the locked down school.

Many parents have decided that taking a vacation is not worth the hassle of both the truancy court and the work at home having to teach a class for a semester.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

No make up work allowed in our district.

In our district, depending on the child, it can have far reaching consequences. Starting in 3rd grade, the children start moving to ability based classes for math, science and language arts. There is no "one curriculum for all students" sitting in the same classroom, all learning the same thing all day. If your child is on the cusp in one of his classes, a few 0's will drop their grade enough that they will be moved to the next lower curriculum classes. Once you drop, since the classes cover the material at different rates, again depending on the child and parent on how much extra they do at home, it can be difficult to some students to move back into a higher track. Parents have to be very motivated to teach the class at home that the student is missing. By 5th grade, it can affect some children's ability to get into the advanced classes in middle school, which can affect their ability to get into the advanced classes in high school.

Good point. DD is in the gifted and talented class in her school. Attendance is one of the criteria for making the program. This program can help her chances of advanced classes in middle school and high school.

 

[mom2rtk]

This is just a hard question to ask on a message board like this. Too much variance between districts, too much variance between students.

I took my daughter out for a week every year through 9th grade. 10th and 11th I took her out for 3 days. I will probably do the same Senior year. It would be a shame to break our streak now. She has a very heavy AP schedule and is in the top 5 in her class.

OP, I hope you find the balance that works best for you.

 

[PollyannaMom]

That is actually the BEST time to go away here- they don't get much other work done during state testing weeks and over 60% of the kids here refuse the state tests so they basically just sit in the auditorium and hang out while the other kids take the tests. One of the years there were 25 kids in my daughters class and only THREE of them took the state tests, the rest of the kids went to the gym and hung out until they were over.

Wow! It's so different here!

That said, I still answered earlier to take her out! We used to pull DS for a couple of days either before or after a longer break (but not during state tests). Most teachers were great about it.

 

[mom2rtk]

Wow! It's so different here!

Very different here as well.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Hey we do get Jersey Week! That's when we are going next year. School closes that Tuesday for election day and the Thursday and Friday for the convention. Monday and Wednesday are half days so I am taking DD out those two days but they don't do anything those days except watch movies.

 

[Deb & Bill]

We had a vacation planned in early Dec when our son started Kindergarten. We had the meeting with his teachers right before school started and told them of our plans. This was a Catholic school, not public school. They told us if they had known prior to our scheduling the trip, they would have suggested not missing school because they learn so much in Kindergarten these days (this was about 18 years ago). He was okay after the trip, but he did have to go to Resource classes for a while because of a difficulty in reading. We wound up taking a trip in Jan for the next few years for the Marathon with him missing maybe a day or two. About fifth grade my son asked if we wouldn't schedule trips during school days because he missed too much and felt it was hard catching up. He usually had all As and Bs on his report card. So the next marathon trips were planned for Dad and his running friend and our son and I stayed home. After that all trips were scheduled for right after school was out for the year (late May into early June).

 

[mi*vida*loca]

This is just a hard question to ask on a message board like this. Too much variance between districts, too much variance between students.

I took my daughter out for a week every year through 9th grade. 10th and 11th I took her out for 3 days. I will probably do the same Senior year. It would be a shame to break our streak now. She has a very heavy AP schedule and is in the top 5 in her class.

OP, I hope you find the balance that works best for you.

I honestly think my DD could handle missing a few days to a week and catch up perfectly fine. She's a great student. My son struggles a bit more and it becomes too much for him.

 

[tvguy]

I honestly think my DD could handle missing a few days to a week and catch up perfectly fine. She's a great student. My son struggles a bit more and it becomes too much for him.

Best response yet. What works best for YOUR child.

 

[Colleen27]

No make up work allowed in our district for unexcused absences. Anything missed is an automatic 0.

The district isn't being punitive. This was a response to parents wanting to take 3-6 week vacations (large international population that wants extended vacations home and a wealthy section of the district that likes long vacations) and putting unreasonable demands on the teachers.

The district is being punitive. They could impose reasonable restrictions without going zero tolerance on family travels. Perhaps it doesn't matter in the community your school serves, but we heard very similar reasoning from the first public district we lived in and it basically amounted to "Because the wealthy folks were taking 5 vacations a year or spending half the semester in Europe, families with a seasonal blue-collar worker can no longer travel around work." That was in a pretty sharply split community - million dollar waterfront homes and about half of students getting free/reduced lunch - and a lot of families like mine, with a breadwinner in construction or marine services or agriculture, were basically being told we couldn't travel at the only time of year Dad could get away because a relative handful of affluent families had abused the previously permissive attendance policy. And frankly, it felt like the administration didn't want to offend those families by drawing a more moderate line that would have reined in excessive absences while allowing families of moderate means the balance they'd always had (like the district we live in now, which will only 'approve' (excuse) one vacation 'of reasonable length' - generally defined as a week but with wiggle room for exceptional circumstance - per year).