Texas school attendance policy and cruise dates

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'll be puting you on ignore too. When you have kids get back to me. Parenting is hard. Education choices are obviously a contentious subject on this board. So go spin my posts anyway you want I won't see it.

To quote the other poster: Ooooooo. Kaaaayyy--even moreso as I had responded to another poster not you.

 

[YawningDodo]

One of my fondest memories is playing Brain Quest with my parents and my sister. We'd go to restaurants and they'd bring it along and we'd play while waiting for the table to be ready. We would have nights before bed that we would play.

I actually still have all the grade levels of Brain Quest I used to though their condition leaves something to be desired given how old they are and how often they got used.

Here's what I'm talking about:
View attachment 304273

I actually saw Brain Quest workbooks at Costco (which I feel are the newer way of Brain Quest) but I didn't want to purchase them when I don't have any children now but I would love to have them when I do.

We only ever had Brain Quest at school, but I remember those! They were one of those downtime activities for if a lesson plan finished early. I'm sure my mom had some of them in her classroom as well. I think it was a little too quiz-like for my mom to want to play outside of work; most of our outside-of-school education opportunities were more things like visits to the museum and the zoo, reading novels together as a family, that kind of thing. I want to say even into middle school my mom, my brother and I would take turns reading out loud to each other. Eventually fell by the wayside, since I suppose it eventually starts feeling a bit childish.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We only ever had Brain Quest at school, but I remember those! They were one of those downtime activities for if a lesson plan finished early. I'm sure my mom had some of them in her classroom as well. I think it was a little too quiz-like for my mom to want to play outside of work; most of our outside-of-school education opportunities were more things like visits to the museum and the zoo, reading novels together as a family, that kind of thing. I want to say even into middle school my mom, my brother and I would take turns reading out loud to each other. Eventually fell by the wayside, since I suppose it eventually starts feeling a bit childish.

I can totally understand your mom's viewpoint-it's like taking work home with you lol. I have no idea how my parents got into Brain Quest TBH. I can't remember how many years we had them something like up to 7th grade maybe??

My dad used to take my sister and I every now and then to the space museum we have roughly 3hrs away (that was one of the day trips we took)--that place is awesome and has the largest combined collection of US and Russian spaceflight artifacts in the world. The zoo in our area was really fun too. Actually when they had the IMAX there we saw Fantasia 2000 in it (to bring it back to Disney haha).

 

[YawningDodo]

I can totally understand your mom's viewpoint-it's like taking work home with you lol. I have no idea how my parents got into Brain Quest TBH. I can't remember how many years we had them something like up to 7th grade maybe??

My dad used to take my sister and I every now and then to the space museum we have roughly 3hrs away (that was one of the day trips we took)--that place is awesome and has the largest combined collection of US and Russian spaceflight artifacts in the world. The zoo in our area was really fun too. Actually when they had the IMAX there we saw Fantasia 2000 in it (to bring it back to Disney haha).

Now I'm curious about where you were! No need to share if you don't want to. We had a really good natural history museum and zoo maybe an hour or two from home and would alternate having a membership to one or the other year by year. That's one thing...if I had kids I think it'd be harder to find educational outings to take them on where I currently live. For the most part I love living in a small city, but I know my friends with kids sometimes struggle with feeling like there aren't as many opportunities for kids here. Then again we live near some really spectacular hiking opportunities and it's relatively easy to do a weekend trip to a national park from here, and there's educational value in that, too.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Now I'm curious about where you were! No need to share if you don't want to. We had a really good natural history museum and zoo maybe an hour or two from home and would alternate having a membership to one or the other year by year. That's one thing...if I had kids I think it'd be harder to find educational outings to take them on where I currently live. For the most part I love living in a small city, but I know my friends with kids sometimes struggle with feeling like there aren't as many opportunities for kids here. Then again we live near some really spectacular hiking opportunities and it's relatively easy to do a weekend trip to a national park from here, and there's educational value in that, too.

I'll PM you the information.

My dad growing up for years had a Friends of the Zoo membership so we got in free (I feel like they've changed the program though) but I must admit it's been years since I've been to ours.

I can see where it would be hard to come up with new things to do when there isn't too much around you. And traveling outside of your area it's making sure it's not too too far away if you were trying to only make it a day thing or even a weekend thing.

 

[YawningDodo]

I'll PM you the information.

My dad growing up for years had a Friends of the Zoo membership so we got in free (I feel like they've changed the program though) but I must admit it's been years since I've been to ours.

I can see where it would be hard to come up with new things to do when there isn't too much around you. And traveling outside of your area it's making sure it's not too too far away if you were trying to only make it a day thing or even a weekend thing.

Yeah, where I live now it's an hour and a half drive to the next city, and very little in between. ._. We've at least got some decent recreational stuff around here; good pools, a surprising number of (small) museums for a city our size. It can still feel a little cramped, though, and I don't quite know how my friends with kids keep them busy. I suppose if you grew up here, though, you wouldn't know any different.

 

[mousefan73]

You are not the only one. Theme parks and cruises are wonderful family time and it is so valuable to have that focused relationship time and memory building. But don't try to turn it into education if it's not. Value it for what it is, family time, and move on.

Find it sad if one needs a vacation as a reason to make family time. Family time for us means sitting down for dinner together regardless how late the day gets. AND turning of our phones and actually speaking to each other. We spend weekends together. I work at times 50/60 hrs a week and travel. I still find time for family.

Though even I could I would only take my kids a week out for exceptional things ( wedding, funeral). I pray the entire winter season for them not to get sick and miss school. They are in middle school son already doing pre algebra. Both have french. Missing a few hrs of each subject means they miss so much new stuff. “Handouts „. or worksheets are worthless for learning new material. I am college educated and deal with analysis for work. I can no longer help my kids with 7th grade math!! I have bo idea how homeschoolers get this stuff. Can‘t imagine all home school moms have the ability to teach advance math.

 

[mousefan73]

Where the heck do you live that property taxes are $15,000??? Ours are more like $1,000-$3,000...

Chicago area!! My 1000sqft condo in Oak Park was almost 5000 a year

 

[mousefan73]

If WDW is not educational then why are so many schools taking field trips to Epcot and Animal Kingdom. Why do schools take any field trips at all if learning can only be done in the classroom.

In HS I took a class called principals of Technology. Was interesting as it was mostly practical experiments with , electricity and physics. We took a „field trip“ to 6 flags as they closed the park for this program ( guess many schools in our metro area has this program). Anyways the focus was physics. We got a worksheet with physics problems concerning roller coasters. Speed, angles velocity etc. we were in groups of 3/4.

What did we do? We got off the bus And met in a restaurant as a class to assign each group one problem and said everyone meet back in one hour and we basically copied the results from the other groups. Gave us then the day to just to ride and fun. Never found out if our teacher figured it out.

 

[YawningDodo]

Find it sad if one needs a vacation as a reason to make family time. Family time for us means sitting down for dinner together regardless how late the day gets. AND turning of our phones and actually speaking to each other. We spend weekends together. I work at times 50/60 hrs a week and travel. I still find time for family.

I don't see where in the comment you quoted they were saying that vacation is the only time spent together as a family. Just that vacation is a good opportunity for extended, focused time together.

In HS I took a class called principals of Technology. Was interesting as it was mostly practical experiments with , electricity and physics. We took a „field trip“ to 6 flags as they closed the park for this program ( guess many schools in our metro area has this program). Anyways the focus was physics. We got a worksheet with physics problems concerning roller coasters. Speed, angles velocity etc. we were in groups of 3/4.

What did we do? We got off the bus And met in a restaurant as a class to assign each group one problem and said everyone meet back in one hour and we basically copied the results from the other groups. Gave us then the day to just to ride and fun. Never found out if our teacher figured it out.

My AP physics class took a field trip to the our city's Six Flags in the last week of school. They gave us some worksheets to do on the physics of the roller coasters, drop tower, etc., but everyone knew that the sheet wouldn't take the whole day (we did actually cover roller coasters in class ahead of time, which was a really fun practical application of the principles we were learning). There were few enough questions that we'd have time to just goof around and have fun as well. That field trip was a bit of an excuse to just go to the amusement park, but it was also a reward reserved for students who'd passed the highest level physics class the school offered, so

 

[cadien]

Find it sad if one needs a vacation as a reason to make family time. Family time for us means sitting down for dinner together regardless how late the day gets. AND turning of our phones and actually speaking to each other. We spend weekends together. I work at times 50/60 hrs a week and travel. I still find time for family.

Though even I could I would only take my kids a week out for exceptional things ( wedding, funeral). I pray the entire winter season for them not to get sick and miss school. They are in middle school son already doing pre algebra. Both have french. Missing a few hrs of each subject means they miss so much new stuff. “Handouts „. or worksheets are worthless for learning new material. I am college educated and deal with analysis for work. I can no longer help my kids with 7th grade math!! I have bo idea how homeschoolers get this stuff. Can‘t imagine all home school moms have the ability to teach advance math.

Maybe sad as in unfortunate. But that word has become loaded with judgment. There are many families whose schedules do not allow adequate time together through no fault of anyone. It’s not an issue of having different priorities.

 

[cruiser21]

Maybe sad as in unfortunate. But that word has become loaded with judgment. There are many families whose schedules do not allow adequate time together through no fault of anyone. It’s not an issue of having different priorities.

There nothing like getting on a plane and leaving all the stress behind. Vacations are wonderful for bonding and one thing kids will remember from their childhood

Find it sad if one needs a vacation as a reason to make family time. Family time for us means sitting down for dinner together regardless how late the day gets. AND turning of our phones and actually speaking to each other. We spend weekends together. I work at times 50/60 hrs a week and travel. I still find time for family.

Though even I could I would only take my kids a week out for exceptional things ( wedding, funeral). I pray the entire winter season for them not to get sick and miss school. They are in middle school son already doing pre algebra. Both have french. Missing a few hrs of each subject means they miss so much new stuff. “Handouts „. or worksheets are worthless for learning new material. I am college educated and deal with analysis for work. I can no longer help my kids with 7th grade math!! I have bo idea how homeschoolers get this stuff. Can‘t imagine all home school moms have the ability to teach advance math.

Theres lots of online tools and tutors. Local college kids will tutor. Kids that go to school use tutors too. I had one for advanced Algebra and Trig. There's help out there if you need it.

 

[Summer2018]

Because I rationally made some suggestions and previously talked about my own classroom? Ooooooo. Kaaaayyy.

Look, you tried. You explained your points with clarity. That’s all you can do.

As a fellow educator, I agree with everything you’ve posted.

Now I will probably be put on “ignore” too lol. Oh no!

 

[cruiser21]

Look, you tried. You explained your points with clarity. That’s all you can do.

As a fellow educator, I agree with everything you’ve posted.

Now I will probably be put on “ignore” too lol. Oh no!

I don't ignore people I disagree with. I didn't like the tone and rather then type something I regret. It's better to just walk away from an argument. Especially when it's obvious we're never going to agree. I don't see the point in going back and forth, back and forth when there will never be a resolution. It's what the ignore button is for.

 

[robinb]

I don't know about partial enrollment in high school, but the community colleges offer dual enrollment to high school juniors and seniors including homeschoolers. My husband thinks this is the best option. I started researching it today and I'm starting to agree. He wouldn't get the social part of high school, but of course some kids have good high school experiences and some don't.

It's probably the best option for us. He can take classes in the Summer and take the Fall or Spring off if he wants. I think it would offer the flexibilty that we are used to. The credits he earned at the community college would transfer to one of our Universitys. I don't plan on sending him out of state for College. I cant afford that. We have 3 University's here ASU, NAU and Uof A. Our colleges are actually pretty good.

That sounds like a good plan for your son. You said he's a freshman, will they accept him into the program? How do they assess grades for homeschooled kids?

You may want to reconsider enrolling him in the summer for his first foray into traditional education. Summer school at community colleges can be very intense as they cram a whole semester into 8 weeks. Although he sounds like a bright kid, I would make his first time on someone else’s schedule a little easier. Maybe Spring and Summer leaving fall open?

One other thing to consider is that the colleges you mention are very large. A homeschooled kid with limited social experiences may have a problem fitting in. My DD wanted a huge school but she’s a social butterfly. My friends daughter is quite shy and they are looking at smaller private colleges. I know it’s early for you to be thinking about College but the smaller private colleges will often give merit scholarships which bring down the price close to public universities. I’m sure your homeschooling groups will point you in the right direction for tips on getting scholarships without high school grades.

 

[JHops]

Whoah this blew up. OP here.

I understand the point of view of people who don’t ever miss school to travel and the value you place on school. It’s good to consider different viewpoints. Teachers are under pressure everywhere to push content.

My viewpoint and incredulousness about vacation = truancy simply comes from another kind of experience. In the last place we lived the public school had no problem with school year travel. There was a standard form for family travel with 10 days excused. That’s reasonable. On our first cruise, he journaled, took photos, made a map, measured distance traveled, interviewed someone from that country (you can do that in Epcot as well), did a poster about dolphins, and graphed the daily high and low temperature. All the teachers had a packet like that ready, some even gave out a specific Disney journal with Disney font for WDW or DL trips! They didn’t sweat it. Even the principal enjoyed cruising and took the time to talk with my child about the cruise because we went the principal’s favorite island!

The teachers could save personal days for travel if they chose to. Some did and some didn’t. In the state where I was raised I had a public high school teacher who had so many banked days that he took every Friday off to go fishing his entire last year.
The teacher worked all those years and never took a personal day, so good for him! We learned Mon-Thurs and tested on Fridays. We all got 4 or 5 on the AP exams, so we must have been prepared. Then 98% of the graduating class went to university and of the top 10, six went Ivy. All had school year travels and many went on to study abroad. Point being, they worked hard and valued a good education without all the punitive restrictions.

School year travel was not a big secret or even a big deal. It is hard to buy into all the reasons it’s not fine because I’ve seen otherwise, when it’s accepted and valued in the school and community culture. It’s definitely a privilege but not entitlement. It is a very different thing from being a neglectful parent who doesn’t care about your child’s whereabouts.

My 2 cents is anxiety inducing teacher accountability and testing has us all stressed out here and the system is more about punishments than value. Kids don’t thrive like that. Nobody thrives like that.

We will book it and not worry. It sounds like that isn’t unusual. If they want us to unenroll and reenroll that would be ok. It’s a personal decision. I was looking for advice or personal experiences of other Texans with taking school year vacations because I could not quite believe the absurdity of “truancy” horror stories. Never heard anything like it in all my life. I feel so badly for the poster who was sent to truancy court because of mono! That’s rotten.

Thank you for all the points of view.

It’s just first world problems. How lucky are we, right? Disney Cruises!

Everyone have a fun time on your next vacation!

 

[cruiser21]

That sounds like a good plan for your son. You said he's a freshman, will they accept him into the program? How do they assess grades for homeschooled kids?

You may want to reconsider enrolling him in the summer for his first foray into traditional education. Summer school at community colleges can be very intense as they cram a whole semester into 8 weeks. Although he sounds like a bright kid, I would make his first time on someone else’s schedule a little easier. Maybe Spring and Summer leaving fall open?

One other thing to consider is that the colleges you mention are very large. A homeschooled kid with limited social experiences may have a problem fitting in. My DD wanted a huge school but she’s a social butterfly. My friends daughter is quite shy and they are looking at smaller private colleges. I know it’s early for you to be thinking about College but the smaller private colleges will often give merit scholarships which bring down the price close to public universities. I’m sure your homeschooling groups will point you in the right direction for tips on getting scholarships without high school grades.

Parents are the educators so they give the grades. SAT scores are important. Most university's have special admissions for homeschooled kids. Even Ivy League schools are accepting homeschoolers. Home school groups have fought hard for this and the kids are proving to be successful.
I talked to one mom at the Beach club a few years ago. Her daughter got a full scholarship to ASU based on SATs and the grades her mom gave here.
Homeschooled kids adapt to college pretty easily. College is more flexible, less time in class, more independent study. More like what their used to. I believe it's harder for them to adjust to a normal 8 to 3 regimated routine. I know it would be for him.
He would need to wait until he's a junior. 18 months. He pretty restless and bored. We're getting him into golf. He's not athletic. His swing is right up there with Charles Barkley. In AZ golf is what kids do.

 

[robinb]

Parents are the educators so they give the grades. SAT scores are important. Most university's have special admissions for homeschooled kids. Even Ivy League schools are accepting homeschoolers. Home school groups have fought hard for this and the kids are proving to be successful.
I talked to one mom at the Beach club a few years ago. Her daughter got a full scholarship to ASU based on SATs and the grades her mom gave here.

I knew that homeschooled kids went to college, even the Ivies. I just wasn't exactly sure how it worked. I suspect that SATs/ACTs will be even more important so he'll have to bone up for at least one standardized test .

Homeschooled kids adapt to college pretty easily. College is more flexible, less time in class, more independent study. More like what their used to. I believe it's harder for them to adjust to a normal 8 to 3 regimated routine. I know it would be for him.
He would need to wait until he's a junior. 18 months.

I don't know about it being less segmented because it still is. You have to show up at a certain time and you need to have your work done by a certain time. The pace is faster than in my DD's high school but the classes are longer too. One of the HS in our district had block scheduling which is more like college. I really wished that my DD had that experience because it would have prepared her more for the rigors of college. In any case, I'm sure your son will do fine. My comment wasn't about academics, it was about the size of the school and how kids can often get lost at bigger schools.

He pretty restless and bored. We're getting him into golf. He's not athletic. His swing is right up there with Charles Barkley. In AZ golf is what kids do.

That will be fun for him! He'll meet some other kids along the way .

 

[YawningDodo]

I don't know about it being less segmented because it still is. You have to show up at a certain time and you need to have your work done by a certain time. The pace is faster than in my DD's high school but the classes are longer too. One of the HS in our district had block scheduling which is more like college. I really wished that my DD had that experience because it would have prepared her more for the rigors of college. In any case, I'm sure your son will do fine. My comment wasn't about academics, it was about the size of the school and how kids can often get lost at bigger schools.

I went to a high school with block scheduling -- assuming it's the same as you mean (we alternated days so we'd have four periods one day, the other four periods the next -- 1.5 hr classes instead of 45 minutes). I think it does help for getting you used to the idea of longer classes, as college courses tend to meet for an hour or more. And I agree about college still being relatively scheduled and classroom-heavy; a bunch of factors came together badly for me once and there was one semester where every Tuesday and Thursday I'd go to class for a couple hours in the morning, break for lunch, and then have an 8-hour long string of classes that went into the evening. Then, if he wants to go to grad school...grad school was very hard for me because the standard was for each class to meet for three solid hours. Even as someone who grew up in public school and was accustomed to following someone else's schedule for classes, it was hard to stay focused for that long each and every time.

Edited to add: I think another benefit of adapting to an 8-to-3 schedule sooner rather than later is building up a tolerance for getting through a normal work day as an adult.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Whoah this blew up. OP here.

I understand the point of view of people who don’t ever miss school to travel and the value you place on school. It’s good to consider different viewpoints. Teachers are under pressure everywhere to push content.

My viewpoint and incredulousness about vacation = truancy simply comes from another kind of experience. In the last place we lived the public school had no problem with school year travel. There was a standard form for family travel with 10 days excused. That’s reasonable. On our first cruise, he journaled, took photos, made a map, measured distance traveled, interviewed someone from that country (you can do that in Epcot as well), did a poster about dolphins, and graphed the daily high and low temperature. All the teachers had a packet like that ready, some even gave out a specific Disney journal with Disney font for WDW or DL trips! They didn’t sweat it. Even the principal enjoyed cruising and took the time to talk with my child about the cruise because we went the principal’s favorite island!

The teachers could save personal days for travel if they chose to. Some did and some didn’t. In the state where I was raised I had a public high school teacher who had so many banked days that he took every Friday off to go fishing his entire last year.
The teacher worked all those years and never took a personal day, so good for him! We learned Mon-Thurs and tested on Fridays. We all got 4 or 5 on the AP exams, so we must have been prepared. Then 98% of the graduating class went to university and of the top 10, six went Ivy. All had school year travels and many went on to study abroad. Point being, they worked hard and valued a good education without all the punitive restrictions.

School year travel was not a big secret or even a big deal. It is hard to buy into all the reasons it’s not fine because I’ve seen otherwise, when it’s accepted and valued in the school and community culture. It’s definitely a privilege but not entitlement. It is a very different thing from being a neglectful parent who doesn’t care about your child’s whereabouts.

My 2 cents is anxiety inducing teacher accountability and testing has us all stressed out here and the system is more about punishments than value. Kids don’t thrive like that. Nobody thrives like that.

We will book it and not worry. It sounds like that isn’t unusual. If they want us to unenroll and reenroll that would be ok. It’s a personal decision. I was looking for advice or personal experiences of other Texans with taking school year vacations because I could not quite believe the absurdity of “truancy” horror stories. Never heard anything like it in all my life. I feel so badly for the poster who was sent to truancy court because of mono! That’s rotten.

Thank you for all the points of view.

It’s just first world problems. How lucky are we, right? Disney Cruises!

Everyone have a fun time on your next vacation!

What a great post. This is exactly our thinking and has been our experience.