How often do you take your kids out of school for a family vacation?

[Anonymous]

When they were in ES, we did take them out a few times to go away for religious holidays or when we couldn't get a flight back and had to miss one day after a spring break.

Now that we are in MS and HS, we do not do it at all. It is way too hard to make up the work and the teachers do not take kindly to missing tests for a vacation.

They also play sports at school and the coaches would nt be veyr happy about a vacation excuse.

[Anonymous]

Another ES teacher on spring break...Our administration makes it pretty clear that they do not want parents taking kids out of school for vacation purposes. The teachers are told not to provide work for a student who has missed school for vacation (as in we do not provide work ahead of time for the student to complete while s/he is away on a trip). Students must complete all graded assignements upon returning to school and any incomplete work is recorded as a 0%. I'm a parent too and I've never pulled my kids out of school for vacation. I have picked them up early for unavoidable doctor/orthodontist appointments, but even then always schedule these appointments for the first or last available time slot. Kids have summers off, as well as both a winter and spring break. That's plenty of time to schedule a vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For little ones - i.e. elementary - who are more than keeping up with classwork, I don't see how it's "obnoxious" or why there is "no excuse" - for goodness sakes. I don't see anything wrong with taking kids out of school - sparingly - to travel - for whatever reason, as long as it doesn't put them behind in schoolwork. At that age, I can make sure they keep up with whatever is being taught in the classroom. Don't see how my DC's absence will make a bit of difference to the classroom as long as it's done sparingly and DC doesn't need extra attention when she returns.

It is obnoxious b/c it sends a wrong message. There's this sense of entitlement that clouds over the real issue: School is important and we make sacrifices to be there, even if that means leaving for Disney World a day later.

Your line - " . . . Don't see how my DC's absence will make a bit of difference to the classroom" - is obnoxious, as it does make a difference to the teacher. But considering it's all about your vacation, I doubt you even thought about that.

YOU may think you can handle the lessons yourself. However, any consciencious teacher will still have to reteach, thanks to your extra vacation day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
For little ones - i.e. elementary - who are more than keeping up with classwork, I don't see how it's "obnoxious" or why there is "no excuse" - for goodness sakes. I don't see anything wrong with taking kids out of school - sparingly - to travel - for whatever reason, as long as it doesn't put them behind in schoolwork. At that age, I can make sure they keep up with whatever is being taught in the classroom. Don't see how my DC's absence will make a bit of difference to the classroom as long as it's done sparingly and DC doesn't need extra attention when she returns.

It is obnoxious b/c it sends a wrong message. There's this sense of entitlement that clouds over the real issue: School is important and we make sacrifices to be there, even if that means leaving for Disney World a day later.

Your line - " . . . Don't see how my DC's absence will make a bit of difference to the classroom" - is obnoxious, as it does make a difference to the teacher. But considering it's all about your vacation, I doubt you even thought about that.

YOU may think you can handle the lessons yourself. However, any consciencious teacher will still have to reteach, thanks to your extra vacation day.

I think this really depends on the grade, how many days, the teaching style of the school and where the child is in the lessons. My oldest is in Montessori K where they work at their own pace, the work is independent, and she is already far ahead. We have taken the kids out for about 3 weeks this year. If she was in a more traditional classroom where something was being taught on X day then we would not take them out or I would get the work and teach it to her at home if that made sense.

[Anonymous]

I pull my high school aged son out for a week in November each year. He is an honors student, great GPA, teachers are very nice about it, as is the administration. Not the shortened Thanksgiving week- we pull him for a whole week. I think if his grades suffered we would get more flack, but they don't, so it seems to be a non-issue.

[Anonymous]

Haven't done it yet (except in preschool, which I don't think counts), but will do it in the future. We have family in another country, and it makes sense to travel at Christmas rather than over the summer, but it does NOT make sense to limit the trip to 1 week.

[Anonymous]

Until first or second grade, I think that opportunities to spend time with family experiencing new things is a great excuse to miss a couple of days of school each year. But I wouldn't burden the teahcer with having to help junior make up assignments. I'd work with him myself either over the vacation or on a weekend.