Taking kids out of school for vacation

[Ariel 2021]

Would you take a younger elementary aged kid (2nd grade) out of school for a cruise if you felt it was significantly better for your family financially? How many people do this?

 

[Ladyandthepuppies]

I would, assuming my child wasn’t struggling in school to begin with. I think family vacations are really important for bonding and making happy memories. Education is a priority, but life can be so darn fleeting. Let the kids take a few days off from school, play hooky from your normal day-to-day, and splurge on an upgrade.

My mother passed away unexpectedly at age 55. It kills me to think of the vacations she had delayed until “after retirement” and then she never retired. I’m not saying you should be irresponsible, but life is short. Live a little.

Our next WDW trip is still a ways away but I’m planning on letting my daughter miss a week of 2nd grade, and my son will miss kindergarten. If it was middle school / high school I would hesitate because I think it’s hard for kids to get caught up at that level. But 2nd grade? It will be ok!

 

[bcwife76]

Where we live, elementary school goes K-7 and high school 8-12. We have taken our kids out every year for at least a week; we are doing it this coming Friday in fact to cruise on the Magic out of NY. If my kids were struggling in school then no, I would not. But they are good students and their teachers have no issues with us taking them out (we are in Canada so I realize it's different than the US where some places it's darn near impossible). My kids are grade 6 & 4. Next year when my eldest is in grade 7 will be the last year we do it, however, as it would be much more difficult to catch up in high school.

 

[Junebug1029]

As a teacher, as long your child does not struggle and you as a family are responsible to get the work ahead of time and get it done, miss a few days. As a parent of a middle schooler, it is much harder when your kids are in middle or high school.

 

[Capitalangel]

My third grader will miss 4 days in February. I scheduled around any state testing requirements and the school just has me fill out a paper about what my child will learn ( alternate learning experience) on the trip. We as a family make him do a report of sorts when he gets home which he shows his teacher but it is not a school requirement.

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

As an elementary teacher and mom, I'll give two pieces of advice.

One, consider your child's academic peerformance before taking him or her out. If your child is doing well without much effort, then taking the child out for a trip in early elementary probably won't be a problem unless you're violating the school's attendance policy. But if your child is struggling to keep up at school, you're imposing a hardship on the child by taking him or her out of school for the trip. Be honest with yourself about how well and how easily your child performs before taking him or her out.

Two, please show consideration for your child's teacher by not requesting that he or she create an advance packet of work for your child to complete before or during the trip. This creates a lot of extra work for the teacher, especially when you consider that there might be multiple families taking kids out for trips every year. Let the teacher indicate how the child should best make up any important missed work, whether that's before or after the trip.

 

[lklgoodman]

We've taken my daughter out of school for the past 4 yrs. She's an A student and has never had trouble making up the work. I don't think we will take her out when she gets in high school, but while in the lower grades I think it's fine. She rarely gets sick(so far), so the 4 or 5 days she misses for trips is usually the only days she is absent from school.

 

[BobbyDukes]

100% yes we would. Especially when they are little the school calendar and lessons are a little more laxed and easier to work around.
A helpful hint too we worked with the school schedule for our next trip to find a shorter week where there was a Friday off

 

[KashasMom]

Our daughter missed 10 or so days every year from K-4 for vacations. She's a good student and had no problem catching up. This year she started 5th, which is middle school here, and we won't be taking her out any more. So I say...do it while you can!

 

[braysmommy]

My son now in 7th grade has missed between 2-3 weeks each May. We have done transatlantic, Panama and Med cruises. His school and teachers have always been great about it. I work in higher ed and academic year is done in May. As a single mom traveling in May is significantly cheaper!
This year I am pulling him for Hawaii cruise and depending on how that goes it might be the last time I do it so go for it while you can!!

 

[aggiedog]

Absolutely. Especially at this age, where, TBH, a few days of school is no big deal. That said, we took our high schoolers out of the last week of school (they had to take finals early or make them up when we got home) to do a Baltic cruise because the next available date after school got out cost 40% more. A second grader - that's a no brainer!

 

[rere101399]

Yep. Kids are top of the class, and miss whenever I want them to. A few skip days a year for one on ones with mom, some days for vacay (4 days will be missed this year to do a 7 day cruise during mlk week and 2 more will be missed to do another trip) and I keep them home at the slightest sign of a sniffle and don’t send them back til I’m positive they’re 100% well. I look at their 30 day absence rule as being similar to PTO and we slide in right under the max each year. If they weren’t good students maybe I would see it differently but one kid has a grade of 100 in every class right now.

 

[ahain]

We would...and did when DD was in elementary & middle school. She was an excellent student and we always spoke with the teacher(s) well in advance and asked that they provide her assignments so that she could work ahead and complete them before we left, whenever possible. It was significantly more difficult for her to make up the homework once she reached high school, but she literally had no issues at all in earlier grades. We also tried making the trips at least somewhat educational by having her research the regions, customs, POIs, etc..

 

[99Wendy]

I would and have. The elementary years make it easy to do this, just give the school a heads up. Mine are in Middle and high school and it’s no longer an option for us. They miss too much now

 

[cvjw]

We did every year when our boys were in elementary school. Both were in the advanced program and making up work was easy for them. We pulled older son out for a week in 6th grade - the first year of middle school. Never again did we do that. The amount of work that he missed was almost too much to make up.

Also, check the schools absentee policy. Ours changed and it is now harder to miss days without a doctors excuse.

I am very grateful that we got to take all those vacations when our boys were young. We could travel at less busy times and have great vacations.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

No, school is incredibly important. Taking them out teaches them that they can shirk their responsibilities. I choose to have kids therefore I know what I am getting into financially. If you can't afford to vacation when school is not in session then choose a less expensive vacation or save longer and wait.

 

[Trinity88]

We've been doing it for years. I've even done it in grade 10. My kids are good students and catch up easily. I did plan the trip for my grade 10 daughter in Dec so she could use the Christmas break to catch up if need be. Turns out she didn't really need it.

I never rely on teachers to get them caught up though. When we plan these trips, I talk to my kids and make sure they're on board with making up the work after we get back. If they didn't feel they could do it, we wouldn't go. My oldest is now in grade 11 and she has asked (and we agree) that we not travel during school anymore.

Grade 2, I'd have no second thoughts at all - do it while you can!

 

[JediBonas]

My kids are in 3rd grade and we've taken them out for a week every year for vacation. It's not a matter of money, it's a matter of timing and weather (we really like doing Halloween at Disney). We haven't had any issues with school but I'm prepared for some this year because their teacher is SUPER strict. Honestly, I don't care if she has a problem with it, we told her before the school year started that we were taking them out and at this age (they're 7) it shouldn't be a big deal. They go to a small private school so they are all aware we do this every year.

That being said, they came home yesterday with a project due the 30th, they are well aware that they will be working every day to get it done before we leave on vacation and that they will be doing homework every night after we get back from the parks. Even if their teacher doesn't give us things to take we still make them do writing/reading and math.

 

[quickcat]

We have every year. Our school district allows for vacations as an excused absence.
Only you can decide what is best for your family. Our son graduated two years ago now and he was always given the choice in HS if he wanted to come with or stay home and he always came along.
These discussions usually get very interesting!
I will say on a past thread somebody wrote that they never heard of a child when they are adults saying thank goodness my parents never took me out of school for a vacation.
Really it’s a very personal family decision.
Have a great cruise whenever you decide to go

 

[MomOTwins]

We compromise and do a week vacation on a week that has teacher training days or something similar where the school would be closed one or two days anyway. A few days off in elementary school isn't going to make any real difference to their overall learning.