Pulling kids out of school for cruise

[tlprice]

I am a teacher and I have pulled my daughter and myself out of school for at least a week every year since she was in Kindergarten. She is in 4th grade this year and we will be out for 8 days in October and November. I never take sick days and have so many saved up, that I decided for my mental health I should use some to take a vacation each year. I hate as a teacher that I can only travel during the most expensive and most crowded times. Yes, I have time off, but I don't make enough money to travel during those times. I agree with the person that said their child learns so much on these trips. I think my daughter learns more travelling than she would ever learn in that week of school. I always see and learn things as we are travelling that I wish I could take my students to. I at least bring my experiences back to them and share them with them.

 

[MSPeeler]

Just curious how many do this? We're pulling our son out of fist grade next year for our cruise...I feel like it's easier when they're younger and the workload isn't intense! Just hoping I don't get too much of a side eye from his teachers

Anyone else pull their kids out for vacay? What's been the schools reaction if you have?

We pulled our 2 kids out (we're 1st and 3rd grade) for a week, but it was the very last week of school. The school didn't care but I gave them plenty of notice and reminders about sending supplies home, turning in books, etc.

 

[5Texans]

I'm pulling my Kindergartner out in October. I did it last year in pre school for 2 weeks. I plan on doing it at least once a year for the foreseeable future.
My parents pulled us out every winter to ski growing up, we always did all of our missed work and took tests that we would miss before we left. I went to private school as do my children, so no one ever gives us a hard time. To me, family time is more important and travel is educational in many ways.

 

[Lauralaylin]

I always do. In fact, our last cruise also had our school's guidance counselor on it, so I think they were okay with it!

 

[TestingH2O]

We pulled DD out of preK last year for a cruise. At this age, she's a sponge and learns as much out of the classroom as in.

I am a high school teacher and administrator though. I see kids miss school for vacation and the stress associated with planning and making up is unpleasant. At that age they will have assessments almost every week, labs, in class orals, etc. There's also sports where they miss practice and game time which impacts their playing time later and maybe even if they keep their spot on the team.

For me, my administrative role makes vacations during school time not so vacation like.

 

[aggiedog]

I've never had any qualms about taking my kids out for short vacations, or even long, important ones (2 weeks to China to adopt ds.) But it is exponentially easier when they are young. Missing a week in elementary school is annoying on the catch up work, but not bad. A few days in Junior High is the same. Missing even a day or two in High School gets to be onerous at best. Dds have several AP classes each. We are in Texas, and our school district will not allow you to request the homework ahead of time unless you will be able to turn it in the day you get back. No way am I taking my kids on vacation only to have them sit and do homework. So they can't even start it until after they get back.

We did pull our kids (two high schoolers, one junior high, one elementary) out of the last 3 days of school, as that Baltic cruise was significantly cheaper than a few weeks later. The older ones left for a 3 week camp 18 hours after we got back in the country. They had to return to school to make up their finals after camp. I was glad the school district worked with us, but it was hard on the kids.

FWIW, travel is always good for kids, but I honestly don't buy into the "it's just as educational as school" argument, not as a one for one day replacement. Especially not a cruise thru the Caribbean. It's not AP calculus, or Eng Lit discussion. Most families are not having critical discussion of the biomes of tropical islands, they're, rightly, sitting in the sun and enjoying the beach.

Bottom line, take your kids out when they're young and it's easier.

 

[professorandmom]

In my experience, school admins don't like absences....here is the best example: when my twins were in fourth grade the mom of one of their classmates was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer in the fall. The school rallied around the family, offering meal deliveries, weekly prayer circles (Catholic school) and a host of other events...come March and the family decided to take both spring break and the following week for a trip to FL...admins and teachers went CRAZY sending home messages about missing school and threatening to expel the children for unexcused absences....WHAT? Are you kidding...a week of school work in fourth grade just isn't as important as time with the family...
ever since that experience I have learned that some schools just can't get past their importance

 

[Jennifer777]

We pull our kids every year for 1 to 1-1/2 weeks for vacation and they are now 8th and 3rd graders. I don't expect the teachers to give us make-up work if it creates extra work for them (the teachers). We prepare to take a lower grades. In my mind, parents are a child's first and most important educators and I take that role very seriously. I know my children will gain far more in a week traveling than they will sitting in a classroom, between learning about different cultures and customs to experiencing first hand things they'll see in text books in the future and they get to learn about travel itself - how a plane flies and what it takes to power a ship that carries thousands of people. Experiencing these things sparks their curiosity and they ask a million questions. It may not be the same education they would receive sitting in a classroom but it's an education nonetheless. Plus, even elementary has become so rigorous now with 6+ hours of classroom instruction, an hour of homework and 40 minutes of required reading each night. It's gotten to the point where they have less than an hour of free time each school night after dinner and showers. It's unhealthy and they need a break from it all for their mental health. I have not gotten a whole lot of negative feedback, with the exception of one year. We took the kids out for 7 days and my then 1st grader had already been sent home a number of time because the school mistook her asthma for a cough. I got a nasty-gram in the mail telling me that any future absences would need to be accompanied with a doctor's note. I kindly told them that would not be happening.

And I met a Dutch family. He said that *at the airport* (Schiphol) they check the permission paperwork from the school that you get, and if you don't have the paperwork they fine you right there.

That's insane! I will pull my kids and home school them so fast if it ever gets to that point in the U.S.

 

[Anna Chassereau]

We pull our kids every year for 1 to 1-1/2 weeks for vacation and they are now 8th and 3rd graders. I don't expect the teachers to give us make-up work if it creates extra work for them (the teachers). We prepare to take a lower grades. In my mind, parents are a child's first and most important educators and I take that role very seriously. I know my children will gain far more in a week traveling than they will sitting in a classroom, between learning about different cultures and customs to experiencing first hand things they'll see in text books in the future and they get to learn about travel itself - how a plane flies and what it takes to power a ship that carries thousands of people. Experiencing these things sparks their curiosity and they ask a million questions. It may not be the same education they would receive sitting in a classroom but it's an education nonetheless. Plus, even elementary has become so rigorous now with 6+ hours of classroom instruction, an hour of homework and 40 minutes of required reading each night. It's gotten to the point where they have less than an hour of free time each school night after dinner and showers. It's unhealthy and they need a break from it all for their mental health. I have not gotten a whole lot of negative feedback, with the exception of one year. We took the kids out for 7 days and my then 1st grader had already been sent home a number of time because the school mistook her asthma for a cough. I got a nasty-gram in the mail telling me that any future absences would need to be accompanied with a doctor's note. I kindly told them that would not be happening.



That's insane! I will pull my kids and home school them so fast if it ever gets to that point in the U.S.

I completely agree!! School has gotten so rigorous...even in Kindergarten! They have to be there super early now and it's a long day for these kiddos...they work hard and I agree the mental break of a vacation is important! I've been nervous about possibly getting some grief from his teachers/administrators and y'all have helped put my mind at ease. Thank you everyone!

 

[Floridatinaherb]

We took our kids out of school almost every September (my MILs favorite month to cruise) up until the DS was in the 3rd grade (DD was in 7th). It became too much of a trouble to take the time to finish his classwork than was worth it in my mind. DD was fine (she is a self starter), but DS not so much. Made my cruise less enjoyable because I was spending each morning struggling to get his school work completed. We might have continued pulling the kids out had he not been struggling, but now that DD is high school and very involved in the marching band, we are stuck with paying more and traveling during school breaks.

 

[hanscarlet]

So far we've been pulling our kids out of school but when she enters 3rd grade we have to work around the testing schedule so we're going to try and work with that, but so far since pulling her out of kindergarten and first grade, her teachers are very supportive citing that she'll learn more from a cruise than sitting in a classroom for a week

 

[Happyinwonerland]

DD is 4 and we are homeschoolers, but I would not hesitate to pull a kid out of school for a family vacation. Family time and real world experience is so much more important to me than formal education.

 

[Hundredacre]

From what I've read about TX, you are really very lucky that there is no problem. TX doesn't mess around with absences.


I was just in FL and met many people from England. They get *fined* for taking their kids out. One woman said that the fine amounted to 100 British Pounds. She said they did take the kids out because the amount they save by going during school time is WAY more than the fine was.

And I met a Dutch family. He said that *at the airport* (Schiphol) they check the permission paperwork from the school that you get, and if you don't have the paperwork they fine you right there.

USA: land of the free home of the brave.
The government doesn't own your kids, but in Europe they think they do. Try home schooling in Europe.

 

[BigredNole]

I have no issue pulling my DD out of school for a family trip. The problem is my wife is a teacher which makes it 100x harder to do. Now that DD is in competitive soccer, it is highly frowned upon for missing practices and Heaven forbid a game.

 

[Pens Fan]

It is much easier when they are younger, as a lot of other responders have noted. Once they get into Jr High and definitely Sr High things get much more complicated. It isn't just the school work, which obviously is much more rigorous and time consuming, but their activities. From about 8th grade on, our vacations (even in the summer) were scheduled around marching band, robotics and stage crew responsibilities. Our son averaged missing 6 or 7 days a year of school due to traveling with the band or the robotics team alone. Adding in family vacations would have just compounded the missed school work. Yes, we added a day or two here and there to a holiday break and one year when snow days caused our school year to go into mid June we continued on with a previously scheduled vacation. But other than that, it really wasn't worth the hassle for us to travel during the school year. YMMV. Now he is in college and gets out the first week in May - woo hoo! Still the shoulder season!

 

[Sytrace]

When we were in public school I took my kids out when they were in grades 5 and 6 for their first Disney cruise in November 2013.
The school was not thrilled (administration) but the teachers were perfectly fine with it...( okay my daughter's, who was the 6th grader, math teacher gave her homework to take with her) but all the other teachers were fine with it.
I homeschool them now (actually pulled them out at the end of those grade levels) and we get to travel whenever we want. Which works out well for us.

Just my personal experience.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We pulled ours for a week every year until they were in middle school. It was getting way harder on them to catch up and we were planning to stop traveling during the traditional school year. Then , for many reasons that had nothing to do with travel, we pulled ours permanently to homeschool. Travel & school whenever we wanted was zero issue then. Now that we're working with college.....nope. Zero absences now. It's literally impossible for them to miss. So, travel is far more limited for the kids now. Notsomuch for Mom & Dad.

 

[TrySomethingNew]

We've pulled kids out at various times. Being in a state that is more easy going than some helps (we are in OH). But, we work with the teachers and avoid important weeks (dependant on grade level - yearly testing/ semester exams, Science fair are examples of times we aim to not to be absent). Now that oldest is a senior, there is no way to be absent. Actually any HS time frame is very difficult to be absent. Youngest is 4th grade and can still be taken out wo too much trouble on work or assignments.

 

[Ofinn]

I am a teacher and I have pulled my daughter and myself out of school for at least a week every year since she was in Kindergarten. She is in 4th grade this year and we will be out for 8 days in October and November. I never take sick days and have so many saved up, that I decided for my mental health I should use some to take a vacation each year. I hate as a teacher that I can only travel during the most expensive and most crowded times. Yes, I have time off, but I don't make enough money to travel during those times. I agree with the person that said their child learns so much on these trips. I think my daughter learns more travelling than she would ever learn in that week of school. I always see and learn things as we are travelling that I wish I could take my students to. I at least bring my experiences back to them and share them with them.

I appreciated reading this. It's funny because my friends and family members that are teachers have been the most supportive of my decision to homeschool and travel.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Let's be honest as adults who recalls 1 or 2 weeks of school versus a family vacation? I recall every one of those with the fondest memories. Meeting people from different countries, seeing different places. I say the schools should encourage it as part of a healthy education not put up barriers. They fine you here in the UK ridiculous. One guy took it to court and won!