Texas school attendance policy and cruise dates

[cruiser21]

I am commenting because I have experienced having to make the choice to take my daughter out of school for a vacation or waiting for school break. I have done both. My DD started school a week late when she was in 5th grade because our vacation to China and Japan extended into the school year. I also took her out of school for two days in 8th grade to go to Quebec for Carnival because we were flying on airline miles and Delta only had flights on specific days. I'm not against taking kids out of school for vacations and I don't think people are "bad parents" for doing it. I do think that once kids are in middle school and high school it becomes much harder for them to make up lost time even if the teachers send work with them. Because of that, I do not recommend that people take their older kids out of school for more than a day or two. In any case, I have certainly never spun a vacation as "educational" even though my DD has seen the real Eiffel Tower, real Japanese Temples, the real Chateau Laurier, real British pubs, real German towns, real Mexican marketplaces and the real Temple of Heaven. Seeing a real stave church is on my DH's "bucket list" and visiting northern Africa is on mine (although I would prefer Egypt over Morocco) .

FTR, My daughter is a freshman in college. Not only don't I consider her "grown" but I have also had to pay for summer vacations as recently as last August and winter break vacations as recently as December/January. I still have to consider her school schedule if I want to vacation with her and it's even more imperative that she not miss any school.

As a homeschooler you look at everthing as educational or as a opportunity to educate. It's kind of the mindset you have to have. When people say traveling isn't educational I have trouble wrapping my brain around that line of thinking. I would be "that parent" telling the school I was pulling them out for a British Isles cruise and that it's educational. I woulnd't be trying to spin it because I truly believe a week on a European cruise is more educational then sitting in a classroom studying for standarized testing. I think many teachers would agree. Most kids don't have the opportunity to travel outside of the US. They only get to read about it in History or Geography book. If traveling to Europe or Asia in the shoulder season is the only way we can afford it my priority would be take the trip.

My kids can do in a few hours what it takes kids all day to do in school. The concept of not being able to catch up is hard for me to grasp too. I've heard it from numerous posters on here so I'll assume it to be true.

I think my kids would benefit from the social part of high school. Although a lot of my friends kids haven't turned out so well. I'm not sure I can retrain my brain to think like a lot of you think when it comes to school. It's all food for thought. I have to August to decide...so I have a little time.

 

[tink1970]

As a homeschooler you look at everthing as educational or as a opportunity to educate. It's kind of the mindset you have to have. When people say traveling isn't educational I have trouble wrapping my brain around that line of thinking. I would be "that parent" telling the school I was pulling them out for a British Isles cruise and that it's educational. I woulnd't be trying to spin it because I truly believe a week on a European cruise is more educational then sitting in a classroom studying for standarized testing. I think many teachers would agree. Most kids don't have the opportunity to travel outside of the US. They only get to read about it in History or Geography book. If traveling to Europe or Asia in the shoulder season is the only way we can afford it my priority would be take the trip.

My kids can do in a few hours what it takes kids all day to do in school. The concept of not being able to catch up is hard for me to grasp too. I've heard it from numerous posters on here so I'll assume it to be true.

I think my kids would benefit from the social part of high school. Although a lot of my friends kids haven't turned out so well. I'm not sure I can retrain my brain to think like a lot of you think when it comes to school. It's all food for thought. I have to August to decide...so I have a little time.

I appreciate your sharing of your philosophy; I can see how you would view vacations as educational for you and your children in the examples cited.

I don't think my child (and I can truly speak only for my child) is sitting in a classroom studying for standardized testing. As part of their curriculum, yes, her IB and AP tests are standardized but the depth (especially of her IB classes) and breadth are much more involved than just one day of testing would reflect. Her Spanish and French classes build on vocabulary, syntax and grammar that they use daily so again, not just for their IB tests. For standardized tests such as the PSAT/NMQST/SAT my DD has a tutor after school but the school shouldn't (but will) take any credit if she is a National Merit Semi/Finalist...that is all on her and her hard work.

We add experiences to her life with summer activities such as summer school in St Andrews, Scotland where she experienced classes in film, debate, golf (of course) and study skills over 4 summers. She's also gone on school sponsored trips to Greece and Italy and will be in Spain living with a family and taking Spanish classes this summer.

I list the above because I, too, value exposure to other countries and cultures; we just have to work within the framework of vacations because if DD missed more than a day or two of school she would be completely lost and behind. That's her learning style plus the rigors of her school. Every child is different and so are school systems. She was even up until 1 am every night on our Christmas river cruise working on her IA (individual assessment) which would be due a week upon her return. Next year she will have 3 due in January so I made the sad decision not to go away for Christmas next year...what's a holiday if you don't get to truly take a break?

If I had known in elementary school/middle school (private school until high school) how time consuming her high school program would be I probably would have taken her out of school during the academic year. But I didn't, we vacationed at more expensive times of the year and now we have 16 months until graduation from high school...you can be sure I'm planning a LARGE and LONG trip to celebrate


The social aspect of school is huge for my DD since she is an only child and enjoys not being with mom and dad. Additionally, attending iallows her to participate in extra curricular and leadership activities (which I know exist outside of school as well) which she enjoys.

It's a hard decision to make sometimes for high school. It's a critical time of learning and growing and every child responds differently. I wish you the best in making the decision; from what I can ascertain you'll do your due diligence and make an informed and correct decision for your child/chldren. Good luck!

 

[robinb]

I woulnd't be trying to spin it because I truly believe a week on a European cruise is more educational then sitting in a classroom studying for standarized testing. I think many teachers would agree.

I'm not a teacher, but don't think that most teachers would agree with your characterization that all they do is teach kids to take standardized tests. Is that really what the homeschool community thinks goes on in public schools?

My kids can do in a few hours what it takes kids all day to do in school. The concept of not being able to catch up is hard for me to grasp too. I've heard it from numerous posters on here so I'll assume it to be true.

I think my kids would benefit from the social part of high school. Although a lot of my friends kids haven't turned out so well. I'm not sure I can retrain my brain to think like a lot of you think when it comes to school. It's all food for thought. I have to August to decide...so I have a little time.

I would say that your kids probably have an advantage that they have one-on-one instruction and I suspect that you work more on a "block schedule" where you do one or two things in a day rather than every subject every day like my DD did. I will say that kids do other things in school than strict academics to fill out their day. When my DD was in high school she wasn't in core classes all the time. She took orchestra, theater and a number of art classes as electives.

As for catching up on missed time, if your kid misses a week of school, they miss 5 days of instruction (4-5 hours) in multiple subjects (5-7 classes, so lets say 25-30 hours of instruction total) plus 5 days of homework (10-15 hours worth -- 2-3 hours per night) and it's hard to recover from that. Plus, if your kid doesn't keep up while on vacation they run the risk of being lost because they missed what everyone else learned the week they were gone. Our family experienced it when my DD tore her ACL when she was a freshman and had surgery to repair it in May. Her teachers sent work home for her to try to do when she was all hopped up on pain killers and she got notes from friends. It did not go well but most of her teachers cut her some slack because she missed class due to medical reasons. I don't think they would have been as sympathetic if she missed those two weeks for a trip to Europe no matter how educational it may have been.

 

[MelSpees]

I believe your kids are grown. Why are you interested? I still have two school aged kids and I'm weighing my options. I like to get perspective from people that do send their kids to school and pull them out. I don't know if I'm lucky to be a homeschooler. Working and being solely responsible for your child's education is not easy. In fact it can be very stressful. Vacations are the one positive. It would be so much easier to go the school route. I do value vacation time, and I believe life experience is an educational as sitting in a classroom. It's very expensiive to vacation in the summer. Much more so then when your kids were in school. It's easy for you guys with grown kids to be judgemental, but i financially it's more difficult now.
There been some helpful post and some not so helpful. I would love to send my kids to high school and still vacation off-season; therefore I do have an interest. I have to make a decision soon. I'm not sure the headache of dealing with the school or the judgy parents is going to be worth making my life easier.
I do appreciate the discussion. It's given me a lot to consider.

Wow! So because my kids are grown, I should no longer be interested or have an opinion about what happens in the school-age community? That sounds like some people who think they shouldn't have to pay school property taxes because their kids are grown. I don't like to be argumentative, but this really hit me. Of course I'm interested in what is happening in the world. These debates are interesting. I learn from them, just as you want your kids to learn from the world around them.

Also, we didn't home-school, but we took every opportunity to help our kids learn. One of my favorite memories is of being in the car and having our 4 or 5 year-old say, "Daddy, give me a math problem." Home-schoolers don''t have a monopoly on out-of-school learning.

I'm glad you are happy with your decisions and they seem to work for you.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

As a homeschooler you look at everthing as educational or as a opportunity to educate. It's kind of the mindset you have to have.

Actually you don't have to be a homeschooler to get that. Frankly interacting with people be that your family member, your children, your friends all can be an educational opportunity. In fact I would argue that part of being a parent (even though I'm not quite one yet) is interacting with your child in day to day life.

You mentioned earlier about standing in line--well shouldn't you (general you) be doing that anyways? Standing in line occurs all the time in real life--grocery store is probably one of the most common ones.

You mentioned earlier about learning how to act in restaurants--well shouldn't you (general you) be doing that anyways? I'm assuming that the average family probably takes their child to a restaurant at some point in their growing up years.

You mentioned earlier about learning about flying and how to act on a plane--well isn't that something that can occur outside of when school is in session. I mean you (general you) have the opportunity to take a vacation at some point in your (edit:corrected word) life not just exclusively when school is in session.

You mentioned earlier learning how to be quite in a hotel room--well shouldn't you (general you) show how one has an inside voice we in X place around people in order to be conscientious of other people.

You mentioned earlier how they learned the value of money and how to spend their allowances--well it's probably advisable for you (general you) to help kids understand this for the future (age appropriate that is). It doesn't mean vacation isn't also an opportunity just that it's not the only opportunity. I was 9 years old when I opened my first savings account for example.

You mentioned earlier about learning the value of family time--well shouldn't you (general you) be doing that anyways? Pretty sure I was learning about family time going to the bowling alley with my mom or mini golf with my mom or the 1 time a year I went on vacation with my mom to visit my grandparents at the Lake. My dad was the one that was able to take me on more vacations but even then we did day trips to places on a weekend often enough. Family time was learned then too. So was playing games and watching movies, etc.

But it's not a reason to view every vacation opportunity as a reason to take your child out of school. I don't care one way or another why someone takes their kid out of school but realistically parents do make decisions to take their children out of school without regards to making the 'educational' route try to fit and conversely some parents do stretch what rationale they can give for why something is educational on said vacation. You can make a case that everything you do with your child can be an educational opportunity but not every time it should be nor does it make that case a strong one vs a weak one in order to rationalize it to others.

With all due respect I think you need to try and step back and understand that in your mind so much of your thinking is viewed as 'homeschooling' vs 'public education' when in fact not everything is related to you homeschooling your kids and others not. Some at least in regards to flexibility to take your child to vacation without regards to the number of days allowed is but many other things are just simply more basic things not related to you homeschooling your kids and others not.

 

[Pens Fan]

FTR, My daughter is a freshman in college. Not only don't I consider her "grown" but I have also had to pay for summer vacations as recently as last August and winter break vacations as recently as December/January. I still have to consider her school schedule if I want to vacation with her and it's even more imperative that she not miss any school.

Boy, is this the truth! We managed to squeeze in two trips last summer with our son (thank goodness), but it wasn't easy due to his schedule. Several of the clubs he is involved with in college had competitions going on well into the summer. However, this coming summer he told us to count him out for future summer trips. In addition to team competitions, he plans on getting a job or an internship, or even summer school. So now we are down to the three weeks he gets off at Christmas and spring break. That's it. We have booked a ridiculously expensive trip to WDW for the week before Christmas, but I'm sure it will be worth it, as we can go as a family.

On the plus side, now DH and I can travel alone whenever we want without regard to school schedules. We have a cruise to Canada and one to Europe planned for the next two Falls. We will miss our son terribly, but what are you going to do? They do grow up and find their own path. Which is as it should be.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Wow! So because my kids are grown, I should no longer be interested or have an opinion about what happens in the school-age community? That sounds like some people who think they shouldn't have to pay school property taxes because their kids are grown. I don't like to be argumentative, but this really hit me. Of course I'm interested in what is happening in the world. These debates are interesting. I learn from them, just as you want your kids to learn from the world around them.

Also, we didn't home-school, but we took every opportunity to help our kids learn. One of my favorite memories is of being in the car and having our 4 or 5 year-old say, "Daddy, give me a math problem." Home-schoolers don''t have a monopoly on out-of-school learning.

I'm glad you are happy with your decisions and they seem to work for you.

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:


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.

 

[cruiser21]

I'm not a teacher, but don't think that most teachers would agree with your characterization that all they do is teach kids to take standardized tests. Is that really what the homeschool community thinks goes on in public schools?

I would say that your kids probably have an advantage that they have one-on-one instruction and I suspect that you work more on a "block schedule" where you do one or two things in a day rather than every subject every day like my DD did. I will say that kids do other things in school than strict academics to fill out their day. When my DD was in high school she wasn't in core classes all the time. She took orchestra, theater and a number of art classes as electives.

As for catching up on missed time, if your kid misses a week of school, they miss 5 days of instruction (4-5 hours) in multiple subjects (5-7 classes, so lets say 25-30 hours of instruction total) plus 5 days of homework (10-15 hours worth -- 2-3 hours per night) and it's hard to recover from that. Plus, if your kid doesn't keep up while on vacation they run the risk of being lost because they missed what everyone else learned the week they were gone. Our family experienced it when my DD tore her ACL when she was a freshman and had surgery to repair it in May. Her teachers sent work home for her to try to do when she was all hopped up on pain killers and she got notes from friends. It did not go well but most of her teachers cut her some slack because she missed class due to medical reasons. I don't think they would have been as sympathetic if she missed those two weeks for a trip to Europe no matter how educational it may have been.

No but standardized testing is no doubt a big part of public school teaching. I'm only reporting what I've heard from parents of kids that go to public school, and what I've read online. It's one of the reasons people choose homeschooling. A lot of people assume you do it for religious reasons. I think that may have been the case years ago, but more and more people are choosing homeschooling because they are unhappy with the school system. Of course schools vary from district to district and state to state. There is plenty of information online and various homeschool chat rooms. There are a lot of parents in those chat rooms that didn't start out homeschooling. Many of them started in middle school or high school because they weren't happy with the education their child was getting. Trust me I've heard all sides and researched all sides.

My freshman is an independent studier. Needs very little guidance. He finished k-3 curriculum in 8 months. He's smart self motivated. I spend very little time teaching him. He's the one I think would benefit from the social aspect of high school.

My youngest the 7th grader needs lots of guidance and discipline. He's they type you take on a rollercoaster and explain to him the laws of physics. He's the one you take to Washington DC so he can understand the three branches of government. He's not going to get it from a book. He's an artist. He's a builder. He's not a scholar. He's smart though. He taught himself to read by age 3. He will most likely always be homeschooled.

Wow! So because my kids are grown, I should no longer be interested or have an opinion about what happens in the school-age community? That sounds like some people who think they shouldn't have to pay school property taxes because their kids are grown. I don't like to be argumentative, but this really hit me. Of course I'm interested in what is happening in the world. These debates are interesting. I learn from them, just as you want your kids to learn from the world around them.

Also, we didn't home-school, but we took every opportunity to help our kids learn. One of my favorite memories is of being in the car and having our 4 or 5 year-old say, "Daddy, give me a math problem." Home-schoolers don''t have a monopoly on out-of-school learning.

I'm glad you are happy with your decisions and they seem to work for you.

Geez I asked Robinb why he was interested because he asked me first why I was interested. I never said anything to you.

 

[cruiser21]

Actually you don't have to be a homeschooler to get that. Frankly interacting with people be that your family member, your children, your friends all can be an educational opportunity. In fact I would argue that part of being a parent (even though I'm not quite one yet) is interacting with your child in day to day life.

You mentioned earlier about standing in line--well shouldn't you (general you) be doing that anyways? Standing in line occurs all the time in real life--grocery store is probably one of the most common ones.

You mentioned earlier about learning how to act in restaurants--well shouldn't you (general you) be doing that anyways? I'm assuming that the average family probably takes their child to a restaurant at some point in their growing up years.

You mentioned earlier about learning about flying and how to act on a plane--well isn't that something that can occur outside of when school is in session. I mean you (general you) have the opportunity to take a vacation at some point in you life not just exclusively when school is in session.

You mentioned earlier learning how to be quite in a hotel room--well shouldn't you (general you) show how one has an inside voice we in X place around people in order to be conscientious of other people.

You mentioned earlier how they learned the value of money and how to spend their allowances--well it's probably advisable for you (general you) to help kids understand this for the future (age appropriate that is). It doesn't mean vacation isn't also an opportunity just that it's not the only opportunity. I was 9 years old when I opened my first savings account for example.

You mentioned earlier about learning the value of family time--well shouldn't you (general you) be doing that anyways? Pretty sure I was learning about family time going to the bowling alley with my mom or mini golf with my mom or the 1 time a year I went on vacation with my mom to visit my grandparents at the Lake. My dad was the one that was able to take me on more vacations but even then we did day trips to places on a weekend often enough. Family time was learned then too. So was playing games and watching movies, etc.

But it's not a reason to view every vacation opportunity as a reason to take your child out of school. I don't care one way or another why someone takes their kid out of school but realistically parents do make decisions to take their children out of school without regards to making the 'educational' route try to fit and conversely some parents do stretch what rationale they can give for why something is educational on said vacation. You can make a case that everything you do with your child can be an educational opportunity but not every time it should be nor does it make that case a strong one vs a weak one in order to rationalize it to others.

With all due respect I think you need to try and step back and understand that in your mind so much of your thinking is viewed as 'homeschooling' vs 'public education' when in fact not everything is related to you homeschooling your kids and others not. Some at least in regards to flexibility to take your child to vacation without regards to the number of days allowed is but many other things are just simply more basic things not related to you homeschooling your kids and others not.

As someone who likes to correct other peoples grammar as you do I couldn't understand a word you were trying to say in the last couple of lines.

I was giving examples of things kids learn from traveling. It wasn't meant to imply that people that don't travel don't learn those things or that you need to travel to learn them. I also don't think you need to go on a vacation to have family time. Obviously people on this board are fortunate in those regards. Most families can't afford to do what a lot of us do. The point was traveling can be educational not that you need to travel to be educated.

I understand you disagree with me, and that's perfectly fine. I don't understand your snarky tone.

You also don't have kids. I'm not sure how you can really relate to being a parent. I will take your advice though and take a step back and try to look at things from your point of view.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

As someone who likes to correct other peoples grammar as you do I couldn't understand a word you were trying to say in the last couple of lines.

I was giving examples of things kids do learn out traveling. It wasn't meant to imply that people that don't travel don't learn those things or that you need to travel to learn them. I also don't think you need to go on a vacation to have family time. Obviously people on this board are fortunate in those regards. Most families can't afford to do what a lot of us do. The point was traveling can be educational not that you need to travel to be educated.

I understand you disagree with me, and that's perfectly fine. I don't understand your snarky tone.

You also don't have kids. I'm not sure how you can really relate to being a parent. I will take your advice though and take a step back and try to look at things from your point of view.

Oh it's the "you don't have kids so be quiet" line. Hmm..ok. I do have experiences being a child growing up which is what I gave examples of but ok. You read into it what you want to suit your verbal whip on me if you want to.

Don't talk about public schooling because you don't have kids in public schooling is appearantly what I should be telling you.

And I totally get what the poster meant when they said because their kids are grown they "should no longer be interested or have an opinion about what happens in the school-age community?". Your comment that I'm assuming they felt applied to their comment was "I believe your kids are grown. Why are you interested? I still have two school aged kids and I'm weighing my options. I like to get perspective from people that do send their kids to school and pull them out."

And I don't like to correct grammar just so happen it fit in with what vibe your earlier comments had.

I don't have a snarky attitude with you. I'm speaking from a practical viewpoint. You listed reasons why a WDW vacation would be educational and followed up with comments in the tone of "well I homeschool so only I get to have educational mindset when it comes to my kids". Plenty of parents out there have educational mindsets with their children who do not homeschool and plenty of parents engage in educational opportunities that do not involve taking their children out of school session (be that homeschooling or traditional schooling).

 

[cruiser21]

Oh it's the "you don't have kids so be quiet" line. Hmm..ok. I do have experiences being a child growing up which is what I gave examples of but ok. You read into it what you want to suit your verbal whip on me if you want to.

Don't talk about public schooling because you don't have kids in public schooling is appearantly what I should be telling you.

And I totally get what the poster meant when they said because their kids are grown they "should no longer be interested or have an opinion about what happens in the school-age community?". Your comment that I'm assuming they felt applied to their comment was "I believe your kids are grown. Why are you interested? I still have two school aged kids and I'm weighing my options. I like to get perspective from people that do send their kids to school and pull them out."

And I don't like to correct grammar just so happen it fit in with what vibe your earlier comments had.

I don't have a snarky attitude with you. I'm speaking from a practical viewpoint. You listed reasons why a WDW vacation would be educational and followed up with comments in the tone of "well I homeschool so only I get to have educational mindset when it comes to my kids". Plenty of parents out there have educational mindsets with their children who do not homeschool and plenty of parents engage in educational opportunities that do not involve taking their children out of school session (be that homeschooling or traditional schooling).

This isn't a home school vs school debate. I'm considering public school so I was looking for some advice from other parents regarding school and traveling. I've gotten some good constructive advice. Someone said that didn't think a trip to WDW was educational I gave examples of what things a young child could learn at WDW. It was as simple and innocent as that. Never implied that you have to be a homeschooler to educate you kids.
I'm a big believer that a parent is a child's best advocate for their child. If a parent feels pulling their kid out school for a trip is beneficial I'm all for that. If they don't I'm all for that too. IMHo there no right or wrong answer just a different way of looking at things. If you want to debate homeschooling vs school I'm sure you could start a thread over on the community board. It's a friendly place...not. Have a good night.
I think I've gotten the info I've needed. No need to beat dead horse....or however that saying goes.

 

[YawningDodo]

This isn't a home school vs school debate. I'm considering public school so I was looking for some advice from other parents regarding school and traveling. I've gotten some good constructive advice. Someone said that didn't think a trip to WDW was educational I gave examples of what things a young child could learn at WDW. It was as simple and innocent as that. Never implied that you have to be a homeschooler to educate you kids.
I'm a big believer that a parent is a child's best advocate for their child. If a parent feels pulling their kid out school for a trip is beneficial I'm all for that. If they don't I'm all for that too. IMHo there no right or wrong answer just a different way of looking at things. If you want to debate homeschooling vs school I'm sure you could start a thread over on the community board. It's a friendly place...not. Have a good night.
I think I've gotten the info I've needed. No need to beat dead horse....or however that saying goes.

I believe the point they were making with all those examples is that because your child can learn all those things on an ordinary evening or weekend, they aren't good justification for missing classroom instruction. Anyway, if anyone's created a home school vs. public school debate, I would argue it's the person who chose to comment several pages back about how "shocked" they were that parents rely on public schools rather than "taking responsibility" for their children's education, and who has repeatedly made disparaging comments about public education along the lines that children are only "sitting in a classroom studying for standarized testing." If you don't want to argue, maybe don't start arguments.

 

[robinb]

No but standardized testing is no doubt a big part of public school teaching. I'm only reporting what I've heard from parents of kids that go to public school, and what I've read online. It's one of the reasons people choose homeschooling. A lot of people assume you do it for religious reasons. I think that may have been the case years ago, but more and more people are choosing homeschooling because they are unhappy with the school system. Of course schools vary from district to district and state to state. There is plenty of information online and various homeschool chat rooms. There are a lot of parents in those chat rooms that didn't start out homeschooling. Many of them started in middle school or high school because they weren't happy with the education their child was getting. Trust me I've heard all sides and researched all sides.

My DD was in public schools for 12 years and I never felt that standardized testing was part of her education. Did she take standardized tests? Yes she did because that is how schools are assessed and kept accountable. They were also a good resource for me because I could compare my DD to other students across the state. However, I never thought once that she was being taught to pass some standardized test. In fact, I complained when I found out that her AP Language Comp class was NOT being taught to pass the AP test. Um ... isn't part of the class to prepare them to pass the AP test? I found out they were not preparing them to pass the test when my DD received straight A's in the class but got a "2" on the AP exam.

My freshman is an independent studier. Needs very little guidance. He finished k-3 curriculum in 8 months. He's smart self motivated. I spend very little time teaching him. He's the one I think would benefit from the social aspect of high school.

Does your school district allow a kind of partial attendance? My DD swam in HS with a girl that is homeschooled and she was allowed to participate on the high school swim team even though she was not a student at the school. In our district, homeschooled kids are allowed to join sports and take classes part time. This allows them to do things like take languages or electives at their local high school and still study their core classes at home. Maybe part-time attendance would be a good alternative for you if it's offered. It might also fit OK with your vacation schedule because catching up on only a couple of classes is easier than a full schedule. Good luck with your decision!

 

[cruiser21]

My DD was in public schools for 12 years and I never felt that standardized testing was part of her education. Did she take standardized tests? Yes she did because that is how schools are assessed and kept accountable. They were also a good resource for me because I could compare my DD to other students across the state. However, I never thought once that she was being taught to pass some standardized test. In fact, I complained when I found out that her AP Language Comp class was NOT being taught to pass the AP test. Um ... isn't part of the class to prepare them to pass the AP test? I found out they were not preparing them to pass the test when my DD received straight A's in the class but got a "2" on the AP exam.



Does your school district allow a kind of partial attendance? My DD swam in HS with a girl that is homeschooled and she was allowed to participate on the high school swim team even though she was not a student at the school. In our district, homeschooled kids are allowed to join sports and take classes part time. This allows them to do things like take languages or electives at their local high school and still study their core classes at home. Maybe part-time attendance would be a good alternative for you if it's offered. It might also fit OK with your vacation schedule because catching up on only a couple of classes is easier than a full schedule. Good luck with your decision!

We're in AZ which I don't think is ranked very high in Education. I know we have huge teacher shortage because the pay is extremely low.
Like I said I think education varies a lot from state to state and district to district.

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.

As far as the standardized testing goes I don't know much about it, but I know it's how schools in AZ get ranked. I don't know if they get funding based on better scores. I have talked to parents that feel their childs education is geared toward those tests and they're not getting a well rounded education. I'm just reporting what I hear from some parents, and of course there are others who are happy with it. Homeschooling, private schools and charter schools are pretty popular here...if that means anything.

As far as truancy laws in this state. I've never heard of anybody being threatened jail time over it. I have a friend who pulls her kids out school all the time. They are straight A students. I'm guessing it depends on the kid.

 

[TestingH2O]

As far as the standardized testing goes I don't know much about it, but I know it's how schools in AZ get ranked. I don't know if they get funding based on better scores. I have talked to parents that feel their childs education is geared toward those tests and they're not getting a well rounded education. I'm just reporting what I hear from some parents

So here's the thing, you've had multiple teachers and even more parents on this thread tell you that classrooms are not just doing standardized tests. I told you that my own classroom is an active, lab based science room that is focused on students DOING science to gain mastery. And yet you keep asserting that it is all about test prep. Finally you admit that this is all just what you are hearing from some parents or maybe the news.

Speaking for myself, it's pretty frustrating to try and talk to someone about my own experience and my own observations only to be told I am wrong due to the second or third hand information that person has learned. When you say you want to hear about other families and other experiences, you have to be willing to accept that the reality experienced by others might actually be different than your own assumptions.

I don't teach in Arizona. I've taught in multiple other states though. While state testing is certainly a thing and there is an awareness of the importance of these tests for benchmarking and ranking, never have I seen a classroom that only teaches to the test. I guess anything is possible, but it just is not probable.

It sounds like you are very happy with your decision to homeschool. It also sounds like you are finding some fun and different options for your older child. I do want to encourage you to spend some time looking at traditional schools and talking to actual teachers. Maybe even see about arranging a visit. Perhaps you could gain some first hand knowledge of traditional education so that you aren't operating off rumor and idle chatter. You might even get some interesting tips for ways to engage out of the box thinkers like your younger son.

 

[cruiser21]

So here's the thing, you've had multiple teachers and even more parents on this thread tell you that classrooms are not just doing standardized tests. I told you that my own classroom is an active, lab based science room that is focused on students DOING science to gain mastery. And yet you keep asserting that it is all about test prep. Finally you admit that this is all just what you are hearing from some parents or maybe the news.

Speaking for myself, it's pretty frustrating to try and talk to someone about my own experience and my own observations only to be told I am wrong due to the second or third hand information that person has learned. When you say you want to hear about other families and other experiences, you have to be willing to accept that the reality experienced by others might actually be different than your own assumptions.

I don't teach in Arizona. I've taught in multiple other states though. While state testing is certainly a thing and there is an awareness of the importance of these tests for benchmarking and ranking, never have I seen a classroom that only teaches to the test. I guess anything is possible, but it just is not probable.

It sounds like you are very happy with your decision to homeschool. It also sounds like you are finding some fun and different options for your older child. I do want to encourage you to spend some time looking at traditional schools and talking to actual teachers. Maybe even see about arranging a visit. Perhaps you could gain some first hand knowledge of traditional education so that you aren't operating off rumor and idle chatter. You might even get some interesting tips for ways to engage out of the box thinkers like your younger son.[/
Enough.

 

[cruiser21]

Testing H2O Im going to put you on Ignore I've had enough.

 

[TestingH2O]

Testing H2O Im going to put you on Ignore I've had enough.

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

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I believe the point they were making with all those examples is that because your child can learn all those things on an ordinary evening or weekend, they aren't good justification for missing classroom instruction.

Correct that was the point I was making (or trying to make that is).

 

[cruiser21]

Correct that was the point I was making (or trying to make that is).

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.