pulling kids out of school to cruise...

[Turbanator]

We used to but now our school have got very strict on attendance and even complain when our kids off when ill

 

[Lisavince3]

So if your trip can be scheduled during times outside of school, and, if not for financial work schedule or crowds , I'd really like to hear why you pull them (not being sarcastic, genuinely interested).

Another factor for me is the weather. I LOVE going to WDW, but have absolutely no desire to go during the summer. Standing in line for hours in 95 degree temps, sandwiched in between sweaty (sometimes smelly) people, having the kids constantly complain about being hot... No thank you. We try to go in the fall or in January, crowds are lighter, temps are comfortable, and our overall experience is less stressful. We also try to attach it to a week when our DDs have a day or two off from school. They are still in elementary school, so I know it will get harder to take them out as they get older.

 

[Dixieland Mom]

Just wondering what the consensus is in regards to removing a child from school for a cruise. As a working mother I feel as if this time is a necessity to keep my family intact since I cannot take vacations during "prime time" season. Does bonding time supersede schoolwork?

I have always pulled mine out, particularly for cruise vacations, with the complete blessing of the school district! The theory is, yes, it's a vacation, BUT, we always chose shore excursions where they could learn something specific. They then would write up a report about (dolphins habitats and lives, Mayan civilization, the ancient Greeks, etc), when we got home and as they got older, that could be a huge report. Travelling in and of itself is very educational. Not only did they learn about other cultures, history, science, geography, and how people in the other parts of the world live. For them, it was a mega field trip, and now, as older teens, they still maintain an honor roll average in school and already have plans for college, so I don't feel it makes them think vacations are more important than school.

 

[lady9]

I didn't read the entire thread so maybe a teacher has jumped in here already. I have no problem with a student going on vacation with their family during the school year. Our school allows for 5 days absence for family vacations. I don't mind gathering student work but do ask the parents to understand it may not all be given to them ahead of time. (I had 1 family wanting the work 2 weeks before the vacation and were quite nasty when I said it would be given 2 days before. Most teachers have an idea of what they will be teaching and when but specific plans are done about a week ahead of time.) I would advice those taking kids out for vacation to ask the teacher what would be best for the student. I try not to send much work because it is, after all a vacation. Skipping a week of spelling or reading isn't going to make or break a student. And it is really irritating to a teacher who has spent a lot of time gathering the work and writing out the directions for a student to return to school with none of it completed with a note stating "We didn't have time."

 

[Kim1964]

I didn't read the entire thread so maybe a teacher has jumped in here already. I have no problem with a student going on vacation with their family during the school year. Our school allows for 5 days absence for family vacations. I don't mind gathering student work but do ask the parents to understand it may not all be given to them ahead of time. (I had 1 family wanting the work 2 weeks before the vacation and were quite nasty when I said it would be given 2 days before. Most teachers have an idea of what they will be teaching and when but specific plans are done about a week ahead of time.) I would advice those taking kids out for vacation to ask the teacher what would be best for the student. I try not to send much work because it is, after all a vacation. Skipping a week of spelling or reading isn't going to make or break a student. And it is really irritating to a teacher who has spent a lot of time gathering the work and writing out the directions for a student to return to school with none of it completed with a note stating "We didn't have time."

I didn't read the whole thread, either, but I am also a teacher (and a mother of 2). I don't have a problem with families making the decision to pull their kids for vacation. I do have a problem with them thinking it's OK for that decision to create more work for me. I will not gather work to do over the vacation, nor will I catch your child up when he or she returns. I will collect work during the time you are away, and I will be happy to give it to you so you can catch your child up on the missed work.

We pulled our elder daughter out of school when she was in the third grade for a week at WDW (I wasn't working at the time). She was fine and life went on, but we haven't done it since. Now she's in high school and she's had so much school work to do since 7th grade that there is no way we would pull her for vacation. I think it's a really personal decision and I don't blame anyone for making the decision that is right for their family, even if it wouldn't be right for mine.

 

[luv2sleep]

I didn't read the whole thread, either, but I am also a teacher (and a mother of 2). I don't have a problem with families making the decision to pull their kids for vacation. I do have a problem with them thinking it's OK for that decision to create more work for me. I will not gather work to do over the vacation, nor will I catch your child up when he or she returns. I will collect work during the time you are away, and I will be happy to give it to you so you can catch your child up on the missed work.

We pulled our elder daughter out of school when she was in the third grade for a week at WDW (I wasn't working at the time). She was fine and life went on, but we haven't done it since. Now she's in high school and she's had so much school work to do since 7th grade that there is no way we would pull her for vacation. I think it's a really personal decision and I don't blame anyone for making the decision that is right for their family, even if it wouldn't be right for mine.

In our state, if a parent requests independent study (which is how the school gets paid for the absence), the teacher is obligated to put the packet together prior to the leave of absence. What would you think of that if you were required to do it?

 

[twinstars]

I have continued to follow this thread with interest and am enjoying the wonderful, passionate comments. I agree with the benefits of learning first hand and family bonding. These can both be accomplished equally as well during time outside of the school calendar.
With a few rare exceptions such as a parent who has an inflexible work schedule, or an itinerary that is unique (a TA or canal trip), I still say the majority of parents pull their kids during school for two reasons; it's cheaper, and less crowded. We've done it with our own children, and continue with our grandchildren. I really doubt they learn a heck of a lot zooming down the ski slopes in the Rockies (they ski a lot from home) or trekking through Disney (again), but we sure do love beating the crowds and getting better airfare. It sounds better to say we primarily do it for the kids, but in truth, we pull them out of school rather than vacation times for grown-up reasons, and I'm ok saying that.

So if your trip can be scheduled during times outside of school, and, if not for financial work schedule or crowds , I'd really like to hear why you pull them (not being sarcastic, genuinely interested).

Well said.

 

[Kim1964]

In our state, if a parent requests independent study (which is how the school gets paid for the absence), the teacher is obligated to put the packet together prior to the leave of absence. What would you think of that if you were required to do it?

If there was a law that required that I provide work to people who choose to vacation during the school year, I would follow the law. I would also work to change the law. Independent study due to medical issues is one thing and I have no problem with the extra work in that case. "Independent study" so someone can visit Mickey at a more convenient time of the year is totally different. Someone's desire for shorter lines or lower prices shouldn't create extra work for teachers.

 

[luv2sleep]

If there was a law that required that I provide work to people who choose to vacation during the school year, I would follow the law. I would also work to change the law. Independent study due to medical issues is one thing and I have no problem with the extra work in that case. "Independent study" so someone can visit Mickey at a more convenient time of the year is totally different. Someone's desire for shorter lines or lower prices shouldn't create extra work for teachers.

That's what I was concerned about. Thank you for answering.

 

[Yellowstonetim]

If there was a law that required that I provide work to people who choose to vacation during the school year, I would follow the law. I would also work to change the law. Independent study due to medical issues is one thing and I have no problem with the extra work in that case. "Independent study" so someone can visit Mickey at a more convenient time of the year is totally different. Someone's desire for shorter lines or lower prices shouldn't create extra work for teachers.

It is good for children to travel with parents, see the world, and experience things. Even Disney is an awesome experience that is good for children. I think it should just be considered part of the teachers job to accomodate children being out of school for sickness, travel, or other things. Kids who take no time off are an extra bonus rather than children traveling for a week or two being a burden. Most teachers I've talked to about this subject feel this way. They have no problem whatsoever providing some work and many plan for it.

The one real consideration here is what is best for the children, not what is best for the school or teacher.

 

[AZMermaid]

As I have stated here before, my district policy is we are not allowed to pull work ahead of time for absences. I have had parents get very riled up over this, because when they get it upon return, the child has to do the make-up work in addition to their normal work plus after school activities. So, no matter how valuable I think it may be for them to go on a trip (and yes, I have gotten the letter about how educational WDW is ) I can not give work ahead of time. I create a folder and put any worksheets or anything in there and usually instead of language arts for the week, which is largely in class, I have the child write 3 "paragraphs." One for a favorite thing they did- now, this part I do tell ahead of time.... which could get me in big trouble, but since I teach first grade, they are likely to forget details. By paragraphs- I mean, "I liked the parade. We saw Mickey on a big float. He was wearing red and black." (main idea and 2-3 details is the requirement). But... no matter how much a parent insists for work ahead of time- I can not and will not give it. It's not worth a letter in my file- which is what will happen. Sorry. But, only like 33% of the kids bring anything back in the 5 days required.... or ever.

 

[Yellowstonetim]

my district policy is we are not allowed to pull work ahead of time for absences.

this part I do tell ahead of time.... which could get me in big trouble, but since I teach first grade, they are likely to forget details. By paragraphs- I mean, "I liked the parade. We saw Mickey on a big float. He was wearing red and black." (main idea and 2-3 details is the requirement). But... no matter how much a parent insists for work ahead of time- I can not and will not give it. It's not worth a letter in my file- which is what will happen. Sorry. But, only like 33% of the kids bring anything back in the 5 days required.... or ever.

First of all, thank you for doing what you can to help the children, that is thoughtful! It is sad that more don't do the work.

But the district policy!?!? All I can say is that is sure, "Putting the children first!"

Gee, my kid will be in the hospital for three weeks for treatments can we have some assignments ahead so he doesn't get behind? Sorry, district policy!

(I don't blame you for following district policy, it is those that made it. Probably the same ones that would expel an elementary school child for 10 days for eating his poptart into the shape of a gun!)

 

[AZMermaid]

I should add though- if the law/ policy stated differently, I would be happy to pull/ create work within reason ( a few days ahead of time... not weeks). We can not factor homework into more than the effort grade, not the academic grade- so unfortunately, there would be no penalty when no-one bothers to look at the work I have pulled. I think as other teachers have stated- that is the most frustrating part and it leaves a sour taste when this comes up.

Much like 2 years ago I had a parent begging me for challenge work. I spent hours creating a challenge packet for school and home, set them up with AR (starts in second grade in my school), finding websites etc. Not one AR test was ever taken, not one sheet was ever returned (this was a kid who forgot his homework (that was way too easy according to his parents) at least once a week and he never did any of the in class challenge work. It was really frustrating and the next time a parent asks for challenge materials, yes, I will give them- but with a little less fervor.

 

[AZMermaid]

Gee, my kid will be in the hospital for three weeks for treatments can we have some assignments ahead so he doesn't get behind? Sorry, district policy!

We are allowed (and encouraged) to do so for medical absences, but not allowed to for vacations- which are considered unexcused- which has no real penalty except after 10 straight days (2 weeks) the child is dropped. I mean, you get a letter- but nothing is ever done! My colleague had a child miss 28 days for vacations last year, but never more than 9 in a row- so there was no penalty other than the form letter in the mail!

 

[OurDogCisco]

We missed a day of school last November to catch the Thanksgiving Cruise in Florida and my dds high school just happened to have club picture that day for yearbook. So, when the yearbook came out she wasn't in any of the club pictures. I thought that was a major bummer and I can't imagine pulling out for a week in the upper grades. One of my dds friend who is in a family of 4 kids went to Hawaii in January and missed 4 days of school as a result she wasn't allowed to swim the first 2 swim meets because she had a ton of incompletes.

Definitely, do what works for your family but the last time we did a full week pull out was in 2nd grade and it was horrible. Unfortunately, my dd had a pretty nasty teacher as she didn't allow us to skip any assignments (and rightfully she did teach us a little lesson as I learned it hard work to put together a packet of work like that). We filled out a form to get work ahead of time so, we wouldn't get a trauncy for it. Well, I didn't realize the work that she gave us was not just "homework" it was class work in class. It was about 4 hours plus the 1 hour of homework every night which was 1/2 hour reading, 15 minutes of math and 15 minutes of spelling packet. So, it was about 5 hours we missed a day. We had to make up all the work missed during the school day. We were at WDW and my plan was to go to the parks in the morning and come back in the afternoon to work on school work and then, go back to the parks in the evening. That was literally impossible for my kid. She was too tired and excited to do homework at the room. She wanted to swim and play and who can blame her. Plus, when she returned she missed a few recesses to make up some class stuff she had to do that couldn't be done at home. Finally, she also missed a field trip. She missed a lot and for what more family time. We definitely are not tied to off-peak seasons for any reason. The only reason we picked to travel off season was because of crowds. So, I can see if a family is in a summer business or something like that it would be more of a challenge. But to me it was not fun trying to get my 2nd grader to do 25 hours of homework on the plane ride home. In the grand scheme of things it did not matter but at the time I was pulling my hair out. I think it really depends on your family. Since, then, I've only pulled my kids out max 2 days and now I will not pull out again. Just not worth it for us.

 

[OurDogCisco]

First of all, thank you for doing what you can to help the children, that is thoughtful! It is sad that more don't do the work.

But the district policy!?!? All I can say is that is sure, "Putting the children first!"

Gee, my kid will be in the hospital for three weeks for treatments can we have some assignments ahead so he doesn't get behind? Sorry, district policy!

(I don't blame you for following district policy, it is those that made it. Probably the same ones that would expel an elementary school child for 10 days for eating his poptart into the shape of a gun!)

In our district if you are absent for that long for medical treatments you will get an at home teacher that will come and see in the hospital. My friend actually does this for our school district.

 

[luv2sleep]

We missed a day of school last November to catch the Thanksgiving Cruise in Orlando, FL and my dds high school just happened to have club picture that day for yearbook. So, when the yearbook came out she wasn't in any of the club pictures. I thought that was a major bummer and I can't imagine pulling out for a week in the upper grades. One of my dds friend who is in a family of 4 kids went to Hawaii in January and missed 4 days of school as a result she wasn't allowed to swim the first 2 swim meets because she had a ton of incompletes.

Definitely, do what works for your family but the last time we did a full week pull out was in 2nd grade and it was horrible. Unfortunately, my dd had a pretty nasty teacher. We filled out a form to get work ahead of time so, we wouldn't get a trauncy for it. Well, I didn't realize the work that she gave us was not just "homework" it was class work in class. It was about 4 hours plus the 1 hour of homework every night which was 1/2 hour reading, 15 minutes of math and 15 minutes of spelling packet. So, it was about 5 hours we missed a day. We had to make up all the work missed during the school day. We were at WDW and my plan was to go to the parks in the morning and come back in the afternoon to work on school work and then, go back to the parks in the evening. That was literally impossible for my kid. She was too tired and excited to do homework at the room. She wanted to swim and play and who can blame her. Plus, when she returned she missed a few recesses to make up some class stuff she had to do that couldn't be done at home. Finally, she also missed a field trip. She missed a lot and for what more family time. We definitely are not tied to off-peak seasons for any reason. The only reason we picked to travel off season was because of crowds. So, I can see if a family is in a summer business or something like that it would be more of a challenge. But to me it was not fun trying to get my 2nd grader to do 25 hours of homework on the plane ride home. In the grand scheme of things it did not matter but at the time I was pulling my hair out. I think it really depends on your family. Since, then, I've only pulled my kids out max 2 days and now I will not pull out again. Just not worth it for us.

Are you in California? This is what happened to us. I basically homeschooled my son while we were gone. I had to teach him EVERYTHING he was supposed to do all day that the other kids were learning while he was gone AND do the daily homework. He's in kindergarten and he had to do the art projects too. It took 2 hours a day for a total of 10 hrs of work on vacation. We were gone 2 weeks and didn't do work on port days. It was painful. Seeing as he will be in a higher grade there will likely be more work. Ugh. Definitely have to take this into consideration.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Are you in California? This is what happened to us. I basically homeschooled my son while we were gone. I had to teach him EVERYTHING he was supposed to do all day that the other kids were learning while he was gone AND do the daily homework. He's in kindergarten and he had to do the art projects too. It took 2 hours a day for a total of 10 hrs of work on vacation. We were gone 2 weeks and didn't do work on port days. It was painful. Seeing as he will be in a higher grade there will likely be more work. Ugh. Definitely have to take this into consideration.

Yes, I'm in Sacramento. It wasn't fun. My kid is a really good student. I think another issue with our plan was that when we go to WDW we go for as many days as possible. So, we left on Friday night and did a red-eye to Orlando then, stayed until the following Sunday. So, we didn't have any down time on the weekend. It might be easier if you did Sunday to Saturday visit. This way you'd have the Friday/Saturday before the trip to crank out some homework and then, the Sunday after you return as well. My kids are always exhausted when we visit WDW so I know this plan would not work for us. Or maybe try and go over a 4 day week. We can't get work for less than 5 days so, it would be trauncy. Now, when we go in the summer we go for 12 days at least. We do other things besides WDW but we get a lot of enjoyment spreading out our vacation time in Orlando. So, I'd rather go in the summer.

 

[flateacher]

I think it should just be considered part of the teachers job to accomodate children being out of school for sickness, travel, or other things. Kids who take no time off are an extra bonus rather than children traveling for a week or two being a burden.

The one real consideration here is what is best for the children, not what is best for the school or teacher.

I swore I was not going to comment until I read this. Make-up work for children who are ill IS part of my job. I do it ALOT. It is extra work and time consuming in an already time crunched position. However, no one can help when they get sick and it is no fault of the child's. So teachers are willing to get sick students work and make time for them when they come back. (However, I have also had students and parents abuse this as well...)

BUT, vacationing during the school year is a choice that puts an extra burden on the teacher. Trying to gather work prior to a vacation should not "just be considered part of my job". I have plenty of other duties that are spelled out and take up my time thank you very much. I am not sitting around wondering how to fill my time.

I have 120 students - many of them miss class for various reasons - volleyball tournaments, tennis matches, vacations at the beach - you name it - I have heard it. And it is way more than you think. On any given Friday or Monday our absent attendance roster is very long. I had one student leave early this year before finals to vacation overseas...(because it was cheaper)

That being said - I teach older students who know to ask ahead of time. I can give them a few days worth of work - but science labs can't be made up and it is hard to recover from. I am happy to work with them and they are often thankful.

As other teachers have pointed out - many students DO NOT complete this work! Nothing is more aggravating than spending your time gathering work and have students not complete it. (Many of you on here have said you completed the work and that is awesome - I thank you for that - it is the best way to show you respect the teachers time and your child's education!)

I guess I take offense at the idea that teachers should be expected to do this extra work without thought and should consider those who attend school a bonus?!? Funny I thought part of going to school was the actual "going"...

Don't even get me started on "what is best for the child not the teacher" quote... how rude! I feel you do not respect how hard teachers work or the effort we put in everyday....

 

[cmwade77]

As I have stated here before, my district policy is we are not allowed to pull work ahead of time for absences. I have had parents get very riled up over this, because when they get it upon return, the child has to do the make-up work in addition to their normal work plus after school activities. So, no matter how valuable I think it may be for them to go on a trip (and yes, I have gotten the letter about how educational WDW is ) I can not give work ahead of time. I create a folder and put any worksheets or anything in there and usually instead of language arts for the week, which is largely in class, I have the child write 3 "paragraphs." One for a favorite thing they did- now, this part I do tell ahead of time.... which could get me in big trouble, but since I teach first grade, they are likely to forget details. By paragraphs- I mean, "I liked the parade. We saw Mickey on a big float. He was wearing red and black." (main idea and 2-3 details is the requirement). But... no matter how much a parent insists for work ahead of time- I can not and will not give it. It's not worth a letter in my file- which is what will happen. Sorry. But, only like 33% of the kids bring anything back in the 5 days required.... or ever.

I think it is wrong for the school district to put you in this position. It makes it difficult for both you and the parents. If it were my kids, I would be upset with the district and fight them on it. We do need to know who causes the problems and not be upset at those that are doing what they are told.