Taking child out of school for a week

[Anonymous]

When my child was in first grade, my MIL wanted to take her to Disney during the school year. When my daughter's teacher told me that the teachers are not allowed to give us the classroom work for voluntary absences, I cancelled my daughter's participation in the trip (other grandkids skipped school and went).

Now my MIL's mom is turing 90, in a foreign country, in October. My ex and his family want my 8 YO daughter to attend. This will mean missing up to a week of school - which will now be AP classes, which I find kind of intimidating.

Anyone have experience with the schools giving you work for a voluntary absence (as opposed to an illness). Would you allow your child to miss this much school for, admittedly, a once-in-a-lifetime family event? My inclination is not to send my daughter, or to only send her for a long weekend (missing only a Friday and a Monday). My ex wants her for much longer.

Any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Are you saying that your 8 YO will be taking AP classes in the fall? I'm confused.

When we had the opportunity to take our kids out of the country for 2 weeks, our 2nd grader's FCPS teacher insisted that we take the kids with us because it would be the experience of a lifetime. So, yes, I think a 2nd grader could miss a week of school. Gets much harder at 5th grade and beyond, I've found (and depending on the kid).

[Anonymous]

I've heard of some Indian people taking their kid out of school for a month over Christmas. They don't care what the school says.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you saying that your 8 YO will be taking AP classes in the fall? I'm confused.

When we had the opportunity to take our kids out of the country for 2 weeks, our 2nd grader's FCPS teacher insisted that we take the kids with us because it would be the experience of a lifetime. So, yes, I think a 2nd grader could miss a week of school. Gets much harder at 5th grade and beyond, I've found (and depending on the kid).

Yeah, she's starting AP this fall.

That was my thought too - maybe we could work with the AP teachers to have my daughter do an in-depth report on the country she'll be visting or something.

[Anonymous]

We've done it (for once-in-a-lifetime event) and the kids turned out just fine. If the teacher will give you some work to keep up, great. If not, do it anyway. As the poster above intimated, up until about 5th grade, this is really not a big deal. I know lots of people who have done this for Disney.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've heard of some Indian people taking their kid out of school for a month over Christmas. They don't care what the school says.

Yeah, I know some people do this.... I have always been very serious about my daughter's school attendance record. I feel.... remiss in my duties if I allow her to miss school. Just wondered if other parents see it that way. My SIL apparently has no problem taking her kids out for a week or more (my MIL loves her!) but I do hesitate.

[Anonymous]

I too think it would be a travesty for your child to miss this event. Check in the school's handbook. In Fairfax there is a rule about having to re-register children who miss a certain number of "unexcused" consecutive days (I think the magic number may be 15) but it sounds like this will not apply to your family. Enjoy!

[Anonymous]

Imagine if we all just decided to pull our kid out for a week or 10 days for discretionary reasons whenever we felt like it.

[Anonymous]

I would allow it. Although the compromise does not sound bad either.

I missed 3 weeks of school (illness) in 7th grade. I was in honors classes. The only subject I had a hard time making up missed work was English. So a week does not sound bad to me.

[Anonymous]

14:03, I can imagine it. I just got back from volunteering in my DD's chaotic, overcrowded classroom, and if I could handpick 5 students to take a long, unexcused absence, I would gladly do so.

[Anonymous]

I'd say go b/c it is a foreign country and will give your child a little insight into another culture. A week is not that big of a deal to me. If this is not Canada or Mexico, it would probably be hard for your child just to go for the weekend, as you suggested.

Tell her to have a good time, send her with a camera to bring photos back to school and have her buy some interesting items to show back at school!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:14:03, I can imagine it. I just got back from volunteering in my DD's chaotic, overcrowded classroom, and if I could handpick 5 students to take a long, unexcused absence, I would gladly do so.

lol. ITA!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Imagine if we all just decided to pull our kid out for a week or 10 days for discretionary reasons whenever we felt like it.

Imagine if we actually could make decisions about how we raise our children instead of handing them over as wards of the state.

[Anonymous]

Since it is "up to a week" and it is in October, at the beginning of the school year, I'd be fine with it. Let the AAP teacher know in advance and your DD can likely get a jump ahead with work, further minimizing academic issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:14:03, I can imagine it. I just got back from volunteering in my DD's chaotic, overcrowded classroom, and if I could handpick 5 students to take a long, unexcused absence, I would gladly do so.

maybe like a slow boat to China?
Funny how just 5 kids can make all the difference in a classroom.