School holidays vs taking child out of school?

[tinkerpea]

My parents took me out of school every yr for a 3 wk trip to Disney,
Also as my family was American ( I'm adopted but have always had contact with my bio family and farther due to being adopted by my birth mums adopted parents )" confusing I know lol"

Anyways before I was in secondary school we did 3 months each year in the US but I was only taken out of school for 3 wks the rest was in holiday time, they did this so I could spend time in Nashville and St Pete's beach where some of my family live, then spend a month in Orlando where my dad was from and other family,

Sooooo
Naturally I've done the same with my boys as i learnt so much from my trips, i even wrote reports on what i did, like cotton picking etc,so i i i take them out for 3 wks every other year normally and sometimes 2 if we have a break from Disney & do Tenerife etc,
However we only went last yr for 3wks and we are now booked for 2wks in October pretty last minute trip for us,
but they will have an extra day off due to us spending 15 nights in Disney then they may need another day off so 16 in total,some of that may be covered by October half term I can't think of the dates.

We then are also taking them out again in May for a Disney cruise and stay for a total of 22nights! I would go another month in school time BUT its my twins birthday, and my mums 81st, their older brother has had lots of birthdays in Disney due to us always going for sep/oct trips! So they have begged for a birthday trip,........

I also have my reasons though for the boys having that much time off and I'm hoping the school will give it to us on compassionate reasons like last years 3wk trip due to me spending all of the summer holiday in hospital having my 3rd major head surgery, so we couldn't go in holiday time, & dh is military and couldn't get leave any other time,
if not though I'll be going either way & will deal with the fall out!

Time with my family right now is incredibly important to us.

 

[Scrap_Vamp]

Just another teacher perspective, as I teach Performing Arts.

I don't have any problem with students missing time during key stage 3 but if your child studies Drama, Dance or Music for GCSE/BTEC/A-level I would advise against taking them out of school. This is not only for the work they would miss as individuals (it is near on impossible to set alternative work that replicates practical sessions) but also the impact it can have on groups.

I have seen real frustrations from students doing devised work when a member of their group disappears for any length of time (even genuine illness) as it can have a negative impact on the final standard of work created. Just something else to consider

On a different note we haven't had a holiday for the last two years due to other expenses (moving house!) but finally going back in August 2014 - woohoo! One year and two weeks to wait . Hopefully the next trip after this one we will be bringing our own little prince or princess with us . At least we are used to the holiday prices, lol!