Pulling 8th Grader (Longfellow) out for week and half before winter recess

[Anonymous]

Not a true emergency, so no

[Anonymous]

My middle schooler missed entire week before spring break due to flu & pneumonia complication, even emailed teachers still didn’t get homework/assignments ( just minimum from the teacher responded), had to get from friends ( again, not everyone shares, but a good friend offered help), so it was a lot less pressure. The homework amount was meant to fill the entire spring break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's fine just make sure the teachers give the makeup work and stay on top of them, they have a lot of students (too many) and forget things over break

Is this trolling? The teachers are not required to "give makeup work" or give any work ahead of time. Its not an excused absense.[/quote]

+1000. This is not excused. They don't have to do anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reach out to the school and his counselor. We’re doing something similar with our 10th grader, and I’ve already gotten approval and a plan for working with his teachers to complete assignments and tests. The burden is on my kid to get his work done, but this is a trip he really wants to take with me and the only time we can do it is the last week of the quarter. Obviously a different school, but the admin was very understanding and eager to work with us. I think it really depends on (1) the reason you’re pulling your kid and (2) how good of a student your kid is. If you have a good reason and a good student, they don’t really care. Just make sure your son is on board and can get his work done. I had a couple of very serious talks with my son before I even agreed to approach the school.

What nonsense. Is this an FCPS public school? No admin is "very understanding and eager to work with" a kid missing school for fun.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't do it at Longfellow. Maybe 2 (3 at the most) days. But 8 is really pushing it - that is a full week and a half of missed class. They will likely miss tests/assessments, and a lot of instruction. Not only is that a lot to put on your kid, you're openly expecting a lot from his teachers to catch him up AFTER the break when they will have moved on.

I could understand if this was a last minute/family emergency type thing, but it's clearly not if you're planning this far in advance.

You'll also likely be flagged for chronic absenteeism, and that's putting pressure on the entire rest of the school year should your kid get sick or need to miss school for any reason.

[Anonymous]

What are you trying to do that requires nearly a month vacation? Just curious.

[Anonymous]

No, no, and no. Do not do this, Op. The teachers will not look kindly upon this and will not ‘work to catch your kid up after break’ at all. The teachers barely work to make sure the kids understand the material to begin with. They are ‘presenters’ and your kid must interpret, work through problems, re-read, and memorize on their own. Your child will miss material being presented in all academic classes. They will have to do papers, tests, projects, and reading on their own. Things will be taught anew in December as that is the best stretch of complete 5 day weeks leading up to Christmas. The teams of teachers like to clear the material with capstone tests, projects, and essays all due the last few days before break. They will plan on starting new units in January. This is a terrible time to yank your kid out of school. Slim down on your vacation dates or take that vacation next June. Do this for your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know how hard this is to do? Our son would miss the last 8 days of school before winter recess and he's taking Geo H and Spanish 2, along with the other core classes. Will Longfellow administration give us issues with this?

You’ll probably get a letter regarding more than normal absences, but there’s not much they can do. Your student could have quite a bit to make up on their return, you shouldn’t expect teachers to prepare work in advance.

Can they provide the work being missed/due though? I don't want him to lose grades for missed work, so he'll need to submit anything due while he's away. I'm hoping the teachers allow that to be completed.

Anyone know who the geometry teachers are at Longfellow?

No. He can do it when he comes back but I as a teacher am never going to take the time to pull together a bunch of work for you ahead of time bc of your choice to miss 2 weeks of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also please don’t expect teachers to stay after school to reteach everything your student misses in those 8 days off.

Correct. He will get all the missing work when he gets back that he can work on during his resource block or at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know how hard this is to do? Our son would miss the last 8 days of school before winter recess and he's taking Geo H and Spanish 2, along with the other core classes. Will Longfellow administration give us issues with this?

Why missing? Surgery or you just want longer break? Has OP answered?

[Anonymous]

He will miss all of his academic core classes. Very bad to take your kid out during the planned year.

[Anonymous]

That’s a particularly bad time to pull out. And, when have you seen your teachers working 1-1 with your child to catch your child up when they have missed class before.

[Anonymous]

Have you checked with your child? Mine would be a firm NO on this one. It’s a terrible time to miss school. When they return from break, they’ll have to learn the material they missed and do all the makeups for the tests/quizzes/assignments they missed while also learning new material taught and dealing with new homework/assignments. It’s a lot.

[Anonymous]

Really curious about what the trip would be?

[Anonymous]

International plane trip where the seats are thousands of dollars cheaper to fly earlier in December?

Disney?