Save money or days off from school

[Gretel]

I am looking at cruise dates from Oct-Jan. Obviously the prices vary, the highest being during school breaks. Normally the school thing doesnt bother me, but with my oldest going to high school next year, missing one day of school is like missing two here. Should I pay the extra so they miss as little school as possible? Last time I did take them out for five days my oldest daughters grades did suffer.
HELP!!!!!!!!

 

[kendall]

Gretel,

This is a tough decision and there are various factors involved. This answer is coming from me as a parent and high school teacher:

-your school's attendance policy (does it affect grades or credit)

-the willingness of the teachers to prepare work in advance

-the willingness of the teachers to work with your child upon his or her return to "make-up" the work or additional instructional time after school. (I don't want to open a can of worms here, many teachers are very willing to work with a child after school however please don't expect the teachers to spend hours with your child providing individualized instruction due to a vacation.)

-the availability of tutors to help your child catch up (National Honor Society members often tutor for free as part of service credit, other tutors are available for a fee)

-your child's ability to self motivate and self study - given the material, can you child work through the material on his or her own and produce the required products? Even if there are not formal assignments to produce and the assignment is simply "read pages 10-25", obviously classroom discussion and other activities are related to and involved with that reading. As a parent, you may have to be involved in your child's assignment, talk about the reading, etc. to help your child understand.

-time and dedication necessary to play catch-up post cruise and stay on top of current school material

-parent willingness to support the child to catch-up - the parent shouldn't do the work for the child, but should certainly be supportive in helping the catch-up process. Please don't abandon the child to work on this on his or her own - catching up can be an overwhelming process for some students.

If I were to generalize and simplify, it is "easier" to miss elementary school because often the teacher can send along the worksheets, the tasks tend not to take as much time to complete, and parents are familiar with the material, enabling them to help their children stay on top of things. However in middle school and high school, the complexity of assignments and level of skills involved become deeper, and the result is it is more difficult to miss class and play catch-up. Not all parents have advanced math skills, deep knowledge of biology, or are fluent in French. Miss those classes for an extended period and the result can be cademic struggle.

Personally, I won't take my kids out of school for the 7 day cruise now that we are hitting middle school in our house. The stress of catch-up is not a stress I want to add to our life. So we choose to travel during spring breaks or holiday breaks - that way it truly is a family vacation.

Perhaps you can time your cruise to hit Thanksgiving week or other holidays that could minimize the number of consecutive days your children will miss school.

Again, this is a complex decision, and it depends on your child, you as a parent, your child's teachers and your school! As a teacher, I've seen some students go on vacation and be fine. I've seen others go and subsequently stuggle the rest of the year. You and your family are in the best position to make your decision!

 

[Gretel]

Thank you for your reply! It helps to have a teachers perspective. I just remember something also, my DD is taking two Honors courses next school year. I think it will be best for her to miss as little school as possible.

 

[aprilgail2]

We always travel at "off" times....I would never even go to Disney during school breaks, to crowded and to expensive..we have been taking them out since preschool...the boy I take is now in high school and we are going for 2 weeks the end of April....his teachers have plenty of time to get work together for him to take and if they can't well he will just have to play catch up when he is back. Normally though most all give him the work we never have much touble with him catching up...

 

[liza]

You asked for help, so here are my (probably unpopular) two cents: I would never take a child out of school for a week just for a vacation, if there were other times I could choose for that vacation. If it's a once-in-a-lifetime family reunion and it's then or never, maybe...but not just for a Disney cruise -- or any other vacation -- I could just as well take during a time when there is no school. What message do we want to send to our children?

There is a time for school and work and there is a time for vacation and play. If someone wants to take his/her child out of school for a cruise because otherwise the Disney cruise would not be affordable, I think that sends the wrong message. A shorter cruise, or a different, more affordable vacation can be planned. We all establish priorities and the way in which we do this teaches life lessons to our children.

Additionally, I don't think it's fair to expect teachers to plan lessons and homework in advance to suit one's vacation schedule, unless there's a compelling reason, or to invest the extra time in helping a child catch up for something like that. For illness, certainly. But not for a regular vacation.

The most significant thing you mentioned in your post is that the last time you took them out for five days your daughter's grades did suffer. You already really know the answer to your question.

Good luck!

 

[winnyis]

for vacation. LY we were on the Magic during the first week of school. DD only missed 3 days and was caught up totally within 2-3 days after our return. I simply wrote a letter to the teacher in advance explaining that my husbands vacation was picked based on seniority and that was one of the only times we could go on vacation. She saved me all the paperwork and classwork that my daughter missed and sent them home on her first day of school. It worked out fine.

We are going on the Magic again this year the same week only western caribbean and hopefully it will work out just as well.

Cant beat the prices off season!!!

Ginny

 

[IrishCowboy]

Gretel,
I think it all depends on the child. Each situation is unique.

"What message do we want to send to our children?"
I'm trying to teach my children to enjoy life. I want them to work hard, but I also want them to have fun. My children are in elementary school now so its not such a big deal to miss a few days or a week. I don't think they learn to split the atom until later! LOL! 20 years from now when my children have their own families, I'll cherish the memories, videos, and pictures of our family vacations, not some perfect attendance award.

Granted, high school is a different story and may be more difficult to catch up on any missed work.

We've been fortunate that our January cruise had a holiday (MLK day) and that classes end before our May 25 cruise. Even our 3 day cruise in December is during our Christmas break.

Hope you change your mind and join us in December!

 

[jennifersmith23]

I too tortured myself over that decision. Slightly different scenario for me as my daughter is only in Kindergarten. Although I don't want to make a habit of it, I figured it wouldn't be that big a deal for her to miss a week of Kindergarten at the end of the school year.

It is all a matter of personal preference. You also have to consider that if school is out there will be 10x as many kids on the ship (as if there isn't enough already). For me though the money I was saving (over 2000) was too much to pass up.

Hope the input helps,
Jennifer Perez

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by IrishCowboy
Gretel,
I think it all depends on the child. Each situation is unique.

"What message do we want to send to our children?"
I'm trying to teach my children to enjoy life. I want them to work hard, but I also want them to have fun.

I think that is true too....in our case we are faced with a child that has cancer and when you are faced with the chance that maybe he won't be here to enjoy it if we waited for every school break then you sort of think differently. We want him to enjoy every day to the fullest and if that means missing school then so be it....But even with my young daughter I already know that she will be given what I call three personal days....days she can take off from school for a break when she needs it and is not sick....PROVIDING there are no tests that day and if I find out that there was a test she looses the days for the following year...in the early grades we will make them mommy and me days and I will take the day off to do somethng special with her!

 

[4nana]

We have had our family reunion cruise in the works for over 2 years now. With so many things to consider it took us quite a while to pick a date we could all get together, but we finally chose Dec 14. Luckily the week before Xmas is even less expensive than Fall Fantasy promo was.

Our school age grands ages 6 thru 15 are all excellent students and will miss a week of school. They missed a week this year with the virus and it did not seem to put a damper on their education. Our 15 yr old grand has alot more responsibility as he takes honor classes. Luckily his teachers are more than glad to help and he will have 10 days over Xmas break to make up all missed work.

I believe our quality family time is sometimes cut short and the memories/bonding that will be made during vacation outweigh the school work that may be missed. This may sound may lenient to some, but it worked for us. We have raised 4 wonderful children who worked very hard and am proud to say all graduated with honors and more awards than I have walls for from HS and college.

Yes, we all know education is very important, but I believe,
"Life is short, enjoy, you never know what tomorrow may bring"