Can I pull my kid out of Kindergarten to go on vacation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think maintaining a school routine with your child is important. I also think learning happens at all levels and in all places. One does not trump the other it simply helps to reinforce it. Traveling with my child has been a wonderful experience - he has learned and seen so much. Reading, writing, math and science etc are just as important. We try to strive for a balance in our son's life. Should we have the opportunity to travel to an amazing destination that is once in a life time and it happens to fall during the school year- we would do it. However, if it just happens to be a family gathering that can happen at any time of year I will not pull my child out. Personally I get annoyed when my in-laws respond to me by saying "but its only Kindergarten" when we tell them we can't visit in May. If its so important than come to visit us.

I'm the one who said I take my kid for month at a time to travel without batting an eye. I think "routine" and "curriculum" are the words I'm striving for my child to think outside of. I want her to know learning is fun and world is school. I don't want her to say no to wonderful learning experience because she has a routine. I know as an adult this will help her tremendously. I know it did for me. I've learned to be flexible and take learning from everywhere and whoever I can get.

School never trumps being with family, learning another culture, language, physically seeing sights and things she only reads and sees pictures of if she was in school. I maybe the minority here but this is how I want my DD and DS to think so I put it into practice. I don't only wait for holiday and vacation times. If great oppt arises(such as friends wedding in Korea, or a fantastic deal)you bet they are coming with me and we will be making the most of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a MCPS teacher I say it is not the greatest, but I understand- clearly life will go on!
As a parent I say- I would do what you want. I have done it. I am on the ball enough to make sure my kids "make up" the work. Besides sometimes you learn just as much traveling around!
Don't loose sleep over it- have fun!

"Don't loose sleep" are you really a teacher? LOL!

[Anonymous]

I think that narrowly defining "special trips" is really important. Is a trip "special" because r/t fare to China is a couple hundred dollars than it would be in the off season? Probably not. Is it special because of some huge family event going on? Yes.

My knee jerk reaction is that I was 100% okay with pulling kids out of school, until I realized that people will do it just for convenience. I went to India with my mom and brothers when I was in the first grade. My mom pulled us out of school one week before summer vacation officially started. (I can't remember why we needed to go that early.) My parents let us know that it was a HUGE deal that we were going, and we never again skipped school for vacation or anything.

PP who would take her kids anywhere for a good deal, or friend's wedding - my concern with that approach is that you may be sending your child the message that school is unimportant. There's a time for everything. My parents came from India and were dirt poor growing up. My dad had some extraordinary opportunities to get an education (pure luck, meeting a friend whose parents helped him pay for school. Public schools in India did charge tuition at that time - I don't know if that's universally true anymore.) My parents always had a lot of respect for our teachers and our education. Sometimes, it was a real hassle to get us to school (when we had to move few days after the start of the school year - a long story -they drove us an hour and half each way to get to our new school, on top of their commutes) but they never set it aside for inconvenience.

My grandparents were illiterate farmers, yet my siblings and I all have professional graduate degrees from some of the best universities in the US - an ENORMOUS jump in just two generations. I think that my parents' respect for formal education really helped us. Of course, we did learn in all times in all places - we had marathon road trips (old car, motels, relatives' houses) where we saw a huge chunk of the US in two weeks or less - but we did that over summer vacation. I don't think that going when there is less traffic constitutes an "extraordinary opportunity."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a MCPS teacher I say it is not the greatest, but I understand- clearly life will go on!
As a parent I say- I would do what you want. I have done it. I am on the ball enough to make sure my kids "make up" the work. Besides sometimes you learn just as much traveling around!
Don't loose sleep over it- have fun!

"Don't loose sleep" are you really a teacher? LOL!

OMG, teachers make typos, too???

[Anonymous]

"My grandparents were illiterate farmers, yet my siblings and I all have professional graduate degrees from some of the best universities in the US - an ENORMOUS jump in just two generations."

ENORMOUS - not really. It's fairly common in some circles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IMy grandparents were illiterate farmers, yet my siblings and I all have professional graduate degrees from some of the best universities in the US - an ENORMOUS jump in just two generations. ."

I agree, if you look around it's more usual than you think. My parents didn't pass 4th grade, though I have a PhD. And no this didn't come from focusing on formal education and putting school first. It came from putting learning first. I, like the previous poster, would take my child out of school without a thought because I know time spent with me is quite an education. I went to an Ivy League and I can tell you there were so many of my classmates who were so focused on getting straight A's and never missing a class that they missed out on true idea of education.
Since you mentioned you are indian. You should watch a movie called "Three Idiots". It gets to the heart of the issue that learning takes place outside of school not in making sacrifices just to get the right grades.

[Anonymous]

"Since you mentioned you are indian. You should watch a movie called "Three Idiots". It gets to the heart of the issue that learning takes place outside of school not in making sacrifices just to get the right grades. "


Think about people who get Perfect Attendance Awards...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"My grandparents were illiterate farmers, yet my siblings and I all have professional graduate degrees from some of the best universities in the US - an ENORMOUS jump in just two generations."

ENORMOUS - not really. It's fairly common in some circles.

Just because it happens frequently under the right circumstances doesn't mean that it's not enormous. Jesus, people get nasty about everything here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IMy grandparents were illiterate farmers, yet my siblings and I all have professional graduate degrees from some of the best universities in the US - an ENORMOUS jump in just two generations. ."

I agree, if you look around it's more usual than you think. My parents didn't pass 4th grade, though I have a PhD. And no this didn't come from focusing on formal education and putting school first. It came from putting learning first. I, like the previous poster, would take my child out of school without a thought because I know time spent with me is quite an education. I went to an Ivy League and I can tell you there were so many of my classmates who were so focused on getting straight A's and never missing a class that they missed out on true idea of education.
Since you mentioned you are indian. You should watch a movie called "Three Idiots". It gets to the heart of the issue that learning takes place outside of school not in making sacrifices just to get the right grades.

I never said that school always comes first. I agree that learning, and not school, comes first - my point is simply that school is important. I always did lots of non-classwork things that interested me while in school, and they probably didn't help my grades - jobs, sports, clubs, etc - those were valuable experiences for me and an important part of my education, for sure.

I just think it's important to foster a respect and appreciation for formal education, and you don't do that if you don't take the time to drop your kid off at school because you have to wait for the plumber. I didn't have perfect attendance, and I wasn't one of those stereotypical Indian kids who won spelling bees and had no social skills. I understand that school isn't the only place to learn - but I would really hate for my kid to not value/take an interest in formal education.

A lot of my peers just didn't care about school, and their parents let them skip school if they didn't feel like going - not so they could go on an around the world trip, but just so they could sit at home and play video games. My point is simply that you should really think about what your kid is going to get from you pulling them out of school. I wouldn't hesitate to pull my kid out of school to do a Habitat for Humanity build, or accompany me on a really interesting, unusual travel opportunity - but for a sale at Bloomingdale's, or just because your kid doesn't feel like going, and would rather sit at home and do nothing? Letting your kid skip school for those reasons suggests that their formal education is unimportant, and I think that you can help your kids get the most out of anything if they see value and purpose in what they are doing.

[Anonymous]

"I understand that school isn't the only place to learn - but I would really hate for my kid to not value/take an interest in formal education. "

What is your point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"I understand that school isn't the only place to learn - but I would really hate for my kid to not value/take an interest in formal education. "

What is your point?

That if you let your kid skip school for bullshit reasons, like waiting for the cable guy, or to sit on his butt and watch video games, your are telling your kid that school is worthless. And I'm not the only one who thinks that school is important, right? Don't we buy houses to get into specific school districts, and spend $$ on private schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"I understand that school isn't the only place to learn - but I would really hate for my kid to not value/take an interest in formal education. "

What is your point?

Her entire last paragraph explains her point.

[Anonymous]

"That if you let your kid skip school for bullshit reasons, like waiting for the cable guy, or to sit on his butt and watch video games, your are telling your kid that school is worthless. "

Where's the evidence?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"That if you let your kid skip school for bullshit reasons, like waiting for the cable guy, or to sit on his butt and watch video games, your are telling your kid that school is worthless. "

Where's the evidence?

Troll.

[Anonymous]

Good schools are important. That doesnt mean kids can never take a couple days off. My siblings are I were never forced to go to school if there was something else going on or we didnt feel like going. We didnt abuse this and we all appreciate the important of school/education.