Vacation During School Year

[Anonymous]

It doesn’t seem to be a huge deal at our k-8.

My daughter had at least two classmates in middle school miss a full week. One took an extended trip to visit overseas family they hadn’t seen since the pandemic. Another took a week because the other two kids in the family are in public school and have a different spring break schedule.

It may not be ideal but it happens.

[Anonymous]

A full week off outside of normal school holidays is fairly unusual. Privates and Publics both generally do not like this. Teachers at any school will resent being burdened by handling one’s DC as a very special case.

If it happens every year, privates might “counsel out” the DC - and one can forget about getting favorable recommendations to another private in that case. Publics often allow a (tiny) maximum number of unexcused absences per year, but after that limit is reached, notes go in the permanent educational file for the child and there might be additional impacts (depending on locality, social services might be called in by the school).

Note this is VERY different from a student absent for a day due to a religious holiday (Yom kippur, Good Friday, et alia). In such cases, nearly any school will be accommodating and teachers will not resent the absence & burden.

It is very difficult to believe one’s family vacation could not be taken during one of the (too) many existing school holidays - or over the summer - just as 99.9999% of families do.

[Anonymous]

Is homeschooling an option ?

That would allow the flexibility that OP appears to desire, and homeschooling is much easier in the lower elementary grades than in HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What private is off all week Thanksgiving?

There are several local privates which take a full week off at Thanksgiving. Try google.

And for OP, converting 2 days off at Thanksgiving into 3-5 days off that week would be less burden on school and teachers, so would have smaller (or no) consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A full week off outside of normal school holidays is fairly unusual. Privates and Publics both generally do not like this. Teachers at any school will resent being burdened by handling one’s DC as a very special case.

If it happens every year, privates might “counsel out” the DC - and one can forget about getting favorable recommendations to another private in that case. Publics often allow a (tiny) maximum number of unexcused absences per year, but after that limit is reached, notes go in the permanent educational file for the child and there might be additional impacts (depending on locality, social services might be called in by the school).

Note this is VERY different from a student absent for a day due to a religious holiday (Yom kippur, Good Friday, et alia). In such cases, nearly any school will be accommodating and teachers will not resent the absence & burden.

It is very difficult to believe one’s family vacation could not be taken during one of the (too) many existing school holidays - or over the summer - just as 99.9999% of families do.

This is not the case at our DMV private whatsoever. One of the advantages of private is being able to somewhat shape your experience, versus one size fits all. Taking your child on a wonderful experience is not the same as neglect. It's sad that after all the 'lessons' of covid, people have reverted to feeling like they aren't allowed to find educational value in travel/new experiences, make time for family, etc. yeah, don't be flagrant but do enjoy your moments. We've all seen how things can come to a screeching halt, or was that just a dream?

[Anonymous]

We do it frequently. If they want to fail my kid for going on vacation and learning about the world outside of the DC bubble, have fun. They haven't yet and have never said anything negative.

Why parents avoid taking their kids on vacation because of what a school might thing has always been odd to me. Your kid, grades aren't everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What private is off all week Thanksgiving?

There are several local privates which take a full week off at Thanksgiving. Try google.

And for OP, converting 2 days off at Thanksgiving into 3-5 days off that week would be less burden on school and teachers, so would have smaller (or no) consequences.

I think this is the answer. Shift your trip by a couple weeks to thanksgiving week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We do it frequently. If they want to fail my kid for going on vacation and learning about the world outside of the DC bubble, have fun. They haven't yet and have never said anything negative.

Why parents avoid taking their kids on vacation because of what a school might thing has always been odd to me. Your kid, grades aren't everything.

False comparison. By all means take many family vacations to wonderful places. We do, but we do it during school breaks. It isn’t harder to do, and it doesn’t cost more. The thread is only about WHEN to take vacations, not if or where to…

[Anonymous]

We did it, when my 2nd grade son qualified for a national competition in his his hobby. It was out of state and 4 days of competing, so he missed the whole week.

He was also way ahead in skills, so missing a week didn't put him behind.

I wouldn't do it for less crowded disney or because airfare is cheaper. If you can afford private school, you can afford to adjust vacations to be affordable during summer. I think it sets the wrong precedent and creates unnecessary work for the teacher.