Taking kids out of school for vacation

[Numtini]

No, our school is already full of messages that sports and other things are more important than education. We are already swimming upstream and don't need to give her yet another message that education isn't a priority.

 

[MomOTwins]

No, our school is already full of messages that sports and other things are more important than education. We are already swimming upstream and don't need to give her yet another message that education isn't a priority.

I don't think the message is that school is not a priority. The message is that family time is important too. Maybe it is a different if school vacation time = family time but for us when the kids are off school they are in some sort of camp so it's not like i get to spend any time with them when they are on a break from school--I am working! When I can get away from work is when we vacation.

 

[LeiaOfAlderaan]

At that age I would absolutely do it, they won’t miss much. Our district only allows 3 unexcused absences a year (which includes vacation) so that is the most our DD missed in elementary. If you take a child out for a full week that qualifies for “independent study” so the school still gets paid, but we never took advantage of that. Now that DD is in middle school I’m trying not to have her miss more than one or two days a school year for vacation.

 

[pearljammer]

Absolutely. Been there done that! I’ll also add this. Our child was in a year round school which made it easier but now he’s older and on a traditional calendar. Until this year, we would have him miss up to 2 weeks in the school year to better afford a better quality vacation. BUT, we also found it was harder for him to adjust and catch up when we got back. So this year and moving forward, the goal is to limit how much he’s missing as it does affect them more in many ways as they get older. My 2 cents.....

 

[otten]

We do it every year. We do try to schedule around breaks and school closure days to reduce the number of school days missed but kids are only kids for so long and I want them to have opportunities for travel that I didn't have. Our school doesn't bat an eye at a week or two missed. Some students go on much longer trips because their family is overseas.

 

[verleniahall]

Check to see what YOUR district guidelines are.

Ours are super strict - no vacations during the school year - otherwise it is considered a non-excused absense and 5 consicutive days will be reported to the truency office and a court date is set. Parents have to initial a paper stating that they have read and understood that information.

One of my friends in a DIFFERENT state has the same requirements - she decided to homeschool for the first part of the school year and send the kids to school after Christmas Break so that it didn't conflict with their vacation.

 

[DisMommyTX]

I pulled the kids out for about a week each year in elementary. I occasionally caught flack for it, but they always learned far more in a week of travelling than they would have those same days at school. Experiential learning provides a stronger foundation for their future studies as well.

In middle school, DD was a national champion competitive cheerleader, so they travelled a lot and missed quite a few school days. Admin were sometimes jerks about it, but kids in school related activities missed just as many school days and theirs were all excused. We got nasty-grams saying she could be retained for missing more than 10 days, but since she was one of only 4 kids in the whole school to earn all A's every year of Middle School, it would have been an entertaining fight. Instead, she was recognized as student of the year for her determination, compassion, and positive outlook. She even missed statewide standardized testing days. She took them on the make-up days, big deal.

Now she is a high school cheerleader and they pull them out of class for the most ridiculous reasons. For example, they have a Thursday night football game scheduled in a town 2 hours away. (Absolutely no reason the game is not Fri or Sat as both stadiums are available.) Buses leave at 1pm, so kids will miss 4 classes...for a 7pm game... 2 hours away. Then get home at 1 am, on a Thursday night. Why??? This could be easily avoided if anyone in admin really cared whether or not the kids were at school.

My son has special needs and is on a transfer to a neighboring district, so we have to dance a fine line with his absences. Still, the experiences he has travelling are absolutely priceless. From D.C. monuments to Aztec ruins, the Hall of Presidents to the Behind the Seeds tour, the things he has seen on our vacations have made him a much stronger student.

Take the vacations. Build the memories and life experiences that will help you kids flourish throughout school and beyond.

 

[Rob1872]

No issue to pull them out in elementary school. However, the last time we pulled the kids was 7th and 6th grade. (When I got back from a 1 year deployment.) My oldest had a lot of work to catch up on, and indicated that he no longer wanted to be out during the school year.

 

[Mango7100]

We had her miss 5 days for a last minute cruise (in which we saved a ton of $$$)last year when in K and 2 days in 1st grade. We also have a 5 day non excused absence policy—I don’t know how much it is enforced however. I would feel comfortable missing 2-3 days while in elementary school but not in middle or high school.

 

[DisMommyTX]

Check to see what YOUR district guidelines are.

Ours are super strict - no vacations during the school year - otherwise it is considered a non-excused absense and 5 consicutive days will be reported to the truency office and a court date is set. Parents have to initial a paper stating that they have read and understood that information. ...

Don't plan you life around fear of letters and a court appearance. Most districts send out threatening form letters but never follow through. Worst case, you have to go before a 'judge' and explain why your child's experience travelling was worthwhile. I am willing to take a slap on the wrist in order to provide the best life possible for my children and family.

 

[verleniahall]

Don't plan you life around fear of letters and a court appearance. Most districts send out threatening form letters but never follow through. Worst case, you have to go before a 'judge' and explain why your child's experience travelling was worthwhile. I am willing to take a slap on the wrist in order to provide the best life possible for my children and family.

Our county judge is NOT a slap on the wirst type - trust me

 

[Jenrausch84]

If we want to take any vacations as a family it almost has to be during school. My husband has outages scheduled during all the "break" periods and is not able to take vacations. That extremely limits our time to get away together as a family. We try to limit the amount of time missed, but we also feel it's important to do things together as a family.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I will note that this also depends on state and district policies, and even then you need to be careful. I had a friend pull her kids, then her daughter ended up with pneumonia later in the year. The combo of extended illness + unexcused absence led to a truancy hearing even though her daughter's academics were fine, due to policy.

So in many respects, it doesn't matter what I'd do.

 

[ntbubbles]

Agree with PPs to check your school’s policy, but as long as it won’t cause issues with truancy or something I find no issues letting kids miss a couple of days. We’re cruising next week, which coincides with my daughter’s three day fall break so she will miss three days of school. She’s in first grade. She’s doing well in school so I don’t think it’s a big deal. As she gets older, we will reassess.

 

[FigmentSpark]

We've taken our kids out every year. They're in grade 10 and 12 this year and we'll still take them our for a few travel days (3 probably) in the spring. These days aren't going to make or break their marks, whether they're great students or not. Either they're doing well and can afford the break or they're struggling and will struggle anyway, in which case, they'll need a tutor. But this will probably be our last time as a family as the older child goes off to university and will have different breaks than the younger one.

I wouldn't do more than a week for older kids, but I've done 6 days for primary school kids.

 

[anjuan]

In elementary school I did for a week and it was considered an unexcused absence but didn't really mean anything in the grand scheme of things. Now that she's in high school I wouldn't do it. She's going to miss the Friday before Spring break for our upcoming 8 day cruise but that's it.

 

[o&smom]

We would, have, and are in regards to taking kids out of school. We took our DS out for a week when he was in fourth grade, and he and his sister out for two weeks for the WBPC cruise when he was in eighth grade and she was in first grade. We are doing it again in March with our son in eleventh and our daughter in fourth for two weeks again for another WBPC! We have been lucky to have a school that was accommodating and appreciates travel and time as a family. We were able to get all of their work for the two weeks and had them complete it on the cruise. The only way we are able to do this again is because our son decided to switch to an online school, so we have lots of flexibility with his school work. We went when he was in eighth grade because we felt that it was our last shot since he would be entering high school, and the burden of work would just be too much to take care of during cruising. So thankful for the options his web academy has opened up! I also do have to admit, that I maybe took the school work too seriously on our first cruise, and I have told the kids that they will get their work done at the airports and on the plane so that they can fully enjoy the WBPC. If they have a couple of things to finish up when we get back, so be it.

 

[3monkeys4me]

We used to take our kids out of school for a week to travel all the time. Our kids are good students and none of the schools our kids have attended have had a strict policy against it. Our new schools do have a policy against taking kids out of school for vacations, but it doesn't seem to be very strict since I know of several families that have already taken their kids out for a few days to a week and we are only through the first quarter. I also feel that both family time and travel are important.

That being said, we will not be taking our kids out in the future. Perhaps for a half day to catch an earlier flight, or even a day if it works better for us but that would be the most I would be willing to at this point for 2 reasons. One, my kids are older now. My oldest is a Sophomore, though she is on track to graduate next year and with her schedule it just puts too much stress on her to make up work and it isn't worth it. My 8th grader also has a rather intense schedule and again I don't want to make his already busy schedule more difficult. My 5th grader would probably be fine missing a bit of school, but it is unlikely we will do so. The other reason is we now live in a district that has a modified year round schedule and so the kids have a 2+ week break at the end of each quarter in addition to the 7 week summer break so we just don't really need to anymore.

 

[diznymom]

I would. Life is short. Childhood is shorter. Plus, I would try to get as much make-up school work done before the cruise so no one would have to worry about it. However, I would have a reading time every day, plus some math problems every day. IMHO there is so much more to learn about than what is taught in the classroom.

 

[ChicosWife]

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?

Yes, we have taken both of our kids out for a week, but only every 2 years when we go. Our recent cruise (last week), our oldest was a freshman, so it was a different experience. He completed all of his missed work and although he had more to do, there seems to be no detrimental affect on his grades. I know others have said that as their kids get older, they won't take them out. Since, we don't go as often, and my teenager is soon to leave the nest, I find it harder to not take him out because I know that we don't have much time with him, before he is off to college and he REALLY won't be able/want to go. The prices are generally too high for us to take them during school breaks, so we either don't go and lose those memories or take a week every couple of years. Once they are adults, there is no going back to childhood, so for us, we take them out.