Taking kids out of School-AGAIN

[mjkacmom]

While there is no way I'd take out a child in middle or high school, I wouldn't hesitate to take out children that young! Up until 3rd grade, most kids know what they need to know without school.

 

[bellebud]

While there is no way I'd take out a child in middle or high school, I wouldn't hesitate to take out children that young! Up until 3rd grade, most kids know what they need to know without school.

I totally agree and just want to add...

we now homeschool, but until last year the kids went to private school (dd10 and ds8)... anyway, I was stressing when we started homeschooling because ds was having trouble in 2nd grade w/ subtraction. A very wise mom said to me "leave him alone and it will come. think about it like this... if you never, ever formally taught a child 1 + 1 = 2, but just asked them what 1 + 1 is when they're 4 (or 5, or 3 or whatever), they will just 'know' it, just from living life." This is so true for so many things.

So yes, while they're young and for the elementary grades, most everything will just come to them at the right time with little formal teaching. All this "busy work" that kids get put on them is nonsense and can actually hinder a child's learning.

 

[Tbasko]

Hi...My first time posting.
I am the Mom of two freshman, one in high school and one in college. We have pulled both our children out of school for vacations since they've been in preschool. My husband is in the military, so our vacation time always hinges on when he is able to go, which for us seems to be fall or late winter, early spring. Our children know that when we are at the Parks, that there will be school time worked into the vacation, whether it is in the room or by the pool, and they have never minded doing it. Both of my children do well in school. When my son was in high school, he was taking AP classes, and my daughter currently takes pre-AP classes. I just wanted to say that even if you have middle school and high school children, it can be done. You just have to be willing to work with your children while they are away from school. The time we spend together as a family is very important, even when we are doing homework in the "Happiest place on Earth".

 

[arielmomma]

For goodness sake! Lifelong harm by missing a few days of Kindergarten - you've got to be kidding!

Now, I believe that it is up to a parent to decide what is best for a child. Every parent is different and every child is different. That should be a personal decision.

But I have a decent example of missing Kindergarten: I homeschool my 6 year old. This year my father had a stroke and my mother developed Alzheimer's disease. They moved in with us for a few months and their 24 hour care prevented me from teaching. My DS probably missed 3 months of school work - straight! I was a little worried about getting caught up, but it was no big deal! If anything, he simply matured during the time off and was able to get through the material even faster. Even with missing 3 straight months and only schooling 3-4 days a week (plus enrichement classes), he will be finished in June and was still able to win a science fair and get a full grade ahead in math. I am extremely confident that he was not scarred for life!

 

[Kudrah]

I've never taken my kids out of school for a vacation, because we've never been able to take one!! But my DS who is 6th grade this year did miss a week of school due to him having eye surgery. He missed the entire first week back from Christmas break, and it was tough getting teachers to give us work ahead of time, because most of them didn't have things planned that far ahead.

He will be in Middle School next year, and I am taking him out for 5 days for us to go to WDW in December. I will plan ahead with the teachers, and stay on him to do his work and we will make a portion of each day school time.

For us, it's a matter of financials. We had to either go during free dining or use the PIN we got, and we also have certain windows we must fly during in order to get 3 free plane tickets using my Mom's FF miles (thanks Mom!). I feel no guilt at all, it's the first family vacation we've taken in 5 years, and we will work hard to stay caught up and that's just how it's going to be.

Next year, I will try to book the bounceback for a time when I know they are generally off. Unfortunately, the times they are generally off are also the most expensive/most crowded/hottest times of the year.

 

[abcboys]

Wow. Well my first instinct is HUH?! It's elementary, it's NOT a big deal at all. BUT I then think of my son who's now in 5th grade and how he's struggling.

We are pulling ours out for 6 days here coming up soon for our first trip to Disney. Our school allows 5 days for a preexcused vacation, the last day is unexcused, but they are okay with that and gave us approval for all five of ours.

I have to see how this goes. I'm not worried about my daughter in 1st grade or my son in 3rd grade - both do really well and they don't have much during that time of the year anyways (school lets out two weeks after that). My son in 5th always struggles - so I am worried about him, but as I said, there's only two weeks left of school anyways, so hopefully it's not "too much" for him to miss out on. My daughter in 6th, who is in advanced classes - I'm not worried about at all. She is a 4.0 student and already is getting her work for that week from her teachers to TAKE WITH US (yes, I believe she is nuts lol) and I know she'll do it while we are there. My oldest daughter does worry me. She's in 9th grade. NOT the time period where I think one should pull out kids. BUT they are just studying for their finals the following week when we return. So she is already being given all her study materials before hand. So hopefully it won't be a burden.

HOnestly though, I shoulda thought it through more. LOL With my 5th grader, I should hav enever done this. With my 9th grader, I should have thought it through more. But with my others, it's not a big deal at all, imo.

SO not only does it depend on the grade level, but also how they do in school. For us, chances are high (if we survive this trip), if we go back, we may end up pulling them over vacation either Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter or even just waiting til the brutal summer. But if all goes okay and works out well with this, I may say who cares and pull them out again during it. I don't know. It just depends on how they do, specifically my son in 5th grade (which is middle school here).

I am kind of in the same boat as my oldest has always struggled in school. We took them out for a week when he was in 3rd grade and his teacher was so awesome about it. I'm also planning (hopefully) to take them out for a week in november 2011 when he will be in 7th grade. I am worried about it but this will be the last time we will ever be able to do that. Why should smart kids have all the fun? It's not like their missing a week of school every month of the year.

 

[Mom2apirate&princess]

I think it's different for every family and you have to do what is best for your kids.

I have no problem taking my kids out of school. In 3rd grade ds missed the first two weeks of school because my husband had a month off (he was serving in Korea and we had met up in Hawaii) and dh couldn't change when he was allowed to take leave. That same year I pulled ds out of school again for another 2 weeks because I had the opportunity to take both of my kids to Korea to visit their dad. We toured the country, visited local orphanages and so much more.

More recently we were living in Italy and a family vacation was considered an excused absence. We did tons of traveling and both my kids were pulled out quite frequently. They got to travel all over Europe and see tons of places that they've learned about or will learn about in text books. Our last vacation was a trip to Turkey and Greece. When we moved back to the states ds was thrilled that they were learning about Greek Mythology. My kids are now in 2nd and 6th.


With all that being said, there is no way I would have pulled either one of them out if they were struggling with school. Fortunately both do very well DS is a straight A student. DD doesn't get letter grades yet, but had no problems due to absences.

 

[mrodgers]

The problem we have with taking the kids out of school is the attendance policy. They have 10 unexcused absences and after that, I don't know what happens. I can't see my wife taking out our kids for 5-7 days unexcused for vacation. Our problem with that is, they are always sick. When they are sick, unlike the majority we see, my wife keeps them home. I can't count the number of letters sent home by the teacher reminding parents that if the child is running a fever, they need to stay home.

Oh, I see comments such as "so they will miss out on the letter R" about kindergarten. Er, we are still at half day kindergarten and my 5 year old daughter is reading chapter books. She just finished her 3rd chapter book. I didn't even know she was reading them. She is allowed to play for a bit in her room when she "can't sleep" and we went in and saw her reading one of her 3rd grade sister's books.

 

[leebee]

We always took DD out of school for a week at Disney, every year, until she said "Stop, it's too much work to make up/keep up." That happened in 8th grade, when she missed three days to go to WDW (W, Th, F of week 1, then there was no school on Monday). It might have been ok but she went to school on Tuesday and was sent home with suspected meningitis. She was a VERY sick girl and, with vacation and illness, missed almost 2 weeks of school. Now we travel only during school vacation time, which is a bummer as it's hot and crowded at WDW in August, but that's the way it is. The only consolation to her going away to college in a year and a half is that she will have spring break and we can go to WDW in March

The other side of the coin is that I work as an ed tech in 7th/8th grade math. It seems like the kids who miss the most time for a family vacation are the ones who are struggling to begin with. It breaks my heart to hear them say "I don't get it" after missing 5 days of school, as I know it's Mom and Dad who decide when the family goes on vacation. I think in the older grades, it depends on the kid and how well they do in school. It's not only the smart kids who get to go on vacation, but the missing school time has a huge impact on kids who are already struggling.

 

[AJRitz]

The problem we have with taking the kids out of school is the attendance policy. They have 10 unexcused absences and after that, I don't know what happens. I can't see my wife taking out our kids for 5-7 days unexcused for vacation. Our problem with that is, they are always sick. When they are sick, unlike the majority we see, my wife keeps them home. I can't count the number of letters sent home by the teacher reminding parents that if the child is running a fever, they need to stay home.

Oh, I see comments such as "so they will miss out on the letter R" about kindergarten. Er, we are still at half day kindergarten and my 5 year old daughter is reading chapter books. She just finished her 3rd chapter book. I didn't even know she was reading them. She is allowed to play for a bit in her room when she "can't sleep" and we went in and saw her reading one of her 3rd grade sister's books.

I recommend that you check your district's attendance policy carefully. You'd be surprised how many teachers do not know what qualifies as an "excused absence." According to our (nationally recognized for excellence) school district's official attendance policy, "family vacations arranged in advance with the school administration" are excused absences. "Arranged in advance" merely means that you have to let them know you are going ahead of time.

 

[gris gris]

We are taking our 3rd grader out in October and while we are there she's not getting any extra work assigned from us! We are on vacation! I'm not bringing my work with me. If her teacher gives her homework of course she will get that done. We took her out the first week of 1st grade too. Not sure how this is any different than if she were out sick for a week.

I actually took her out of school last week for a day and brought her to work with me on an overnight trip. She worked all day with me and then we played at night (pool!). She told her teacher she went on a business trip and her teacher thought that was fantastic. I truly believe coming to work with me will inspire a sense of work ethic that sitting in a classroom can't. This is how I developed my work ethic - working with my dad on the weekends I work for a volunteer organization so she's also learning about volunteering!

 

[hroyale]

I had out my college algebra book two weeks ago to help my fourth grader with her homework. The same one who does great on standardized testing but has a hard time missing two days of school. Yeah, they are moving through math concepts so quickly (they do a "spiral" math program) at at such complexity starting so young that two days is a big deal - because in two days they've covered that topic and have moved onto something else (they'll cover it again maybe later that year or next year, but with each step, it gets more complex - hence the spiraling.....)

Sorry to hi-jack and for singling this out, but what about illnesses? This seems like such a stressful enviornment for young children who catch viruses more than older children and are more likely to miss a week with a bad one. If two days can throw you into chaos what's going to happen to a poor kid who gets a bad flu and is down and out for a week? And then they get an ear infection two weeks later? Yikes.

My kids are in K this year and I'm worried about what lies ahead.

That being said, we took them out for a week this year and are planning to do it again in 1st grade, but after that it will probably be crowded school vacation weeks.

All the best,
Heather