To take or not to take kids out of school,that is the question

[sha_lyn]

bumping this up. It came to mind when thinking about the poll post about taking kids out of school. I like what stuartc said.

 

[Lisa P.]

Just wondering about the original post here... since your children are in a year-round schedule of schooling and one child is in 7th grade (can be to tough to miss)... why not choose another slow time of year for your trip, when most schools are in session but yours are out?

 

[pottsdj]

I thought for a long time and decided against it. My daughter struggles to get good grades. I want her to enjoy our vacation. I also know that a week doesn't go by without some in her class being gone. Try looking at it from a teacher's point. Every week someone is gone and early assignments have to be made up for the missing student. That is why Our school is changing it's attendance policy

 

[imgoingtodisney]

My 3rd grader will be getting a Perfect Attendance Award for this school year. Next year we will be taking him out of school for 4 days. This is over Columbus Day weekend. The Fri before the holiday there is no school. For a 10 night trip my 9yr old will be missing 4 days of school. Both my husband and I work full time so we dont keep our son home for colds, etc. There was only once this past year that the school called me at lunchtime because he was not feeling well.
I feel our FL trip will be Disney very educational . EpCot countries (we got him the passport), Animal Kingdom, Sea World, Kennedy Space Ctr. (Think of it as home schooling.)

 

[dmslush]

I'm pulling my daughter (4th grade) out the week before Thanksgiving. Since she doesn't know about the trip and won't know until a couple of weeks before (on her birthday), I'm not going to mention it to anyone at the school until the parent/teacher conference a few days after her birthday. I don't expect to see any conflict from them, after all she is my daughter and I will see to it that any work is made up.

I homeschooled her this past year and the school was very supportive of it, so if they didn't give me any grief about that, I don't expect any over her missing 5 days of school.

 

[StilesMom]

We made the decision to pull our DD out of school for 6 days for our trip in May and it worked out just fine. She was in 2nd grade and doing great, so we felt that she wouldn't have any trouble making up the missed work. I informed her teacher of the trip and asked if we could take any work with us - but I made sure to let her know that it was a request and not a demand. After all, this was our decision and she should not have to do a ton of extra work because of my daughter's absence. The day before our trip, DD came home with a packet of work - most of which she got done on the plane and during some afternoon breaks. We also received study guides on the new information that the class would be covering that week. (She missed 6 days of a 9-day science unit.)

I agree with the others who said that it depends on the individual child. I would not have taken her out of school if she were struggling in any way. I also believe that it is important for the parents to explain the child that the missed schoolwork is very important and then to follow up and make sure that the work is done.

 

[beattyfamily]

cgcw,

I can't believe the teacher gave you a hard time about taking a 5 year old out of Kindergarten!

I'm taking my 5 year old out of Kindergarten in December and I feel it shouldn't be a problem whatsoever.

I'll make sure she knows ASAP and I'll cooperate in any way I can to be sure my DD makes up any missed work etc...

I can completely understand as they get older, especially high school, but Kindergarten?

Also, someone posted that it should be easy enough to go when school is out for holidays or school vacation time but it's not all that easy to go then for some people. The crowds and the weather alone are good enough reason and then there's the higher price you pay for the hotel and the airfare. With 2 little DD's it's not that easy to go during those times. I'd rather stay home. So if my DD whose 5 starts having a hard time in school, then we will just have to postpone our vacations till she's out of school, that's how much I would hate to go in the summer or holidays or school vacation time.