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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is this every year summer-long academic program for middle schoolers?

SHe's full of BS. Its way cheaper to fly internationally in early december compared to December or Summer. If they can afford academic enrichment all summer long and international flights, they can afford to fly over breaks and summer. They would just rather save money and burden teachers.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand this, OP. Most of us with family in Asia and kids in HS manage to visit our families just fine. Summer/winter breaks are long enough for that.

My family is in Malaysia, and my husband's family is in India and Australia. Two weeks isn't enough time. It's also very expensive if we wait until after December 19th. Unaffordable for our family of four. We also cannot travel in the summer because of airline costs and because my son is in an academic program all summer. I was thinking of doing what one of the posters suggested--discuss with Longfellow counselor and see if this can be accommodated, with the understanding that it falls on my son to complete all homework, quizzes and tests. I was wondering if anyone has had experience with Longfellow administration on this. He's a good student, all As, including last year's Algebra I H final (received an A on the final) that had to be reweighted due to the overall poor performance of those who took Alg I H. I'm surprised to see so many parents saying not to do it. Is 8th grade that much harder than 7th grade? It honestly didn't seem like he had much work the last couple of weeks of school, other than some quizzes/tests.

I have a few points and concerns:

1. The summer academic program is more important than the classes he takes during the school year? Are you for real?

2. The inconvenience you are willing to put your child's teachers through, as well as the message you are willing to send to you child about the lack of importance of attending school, is infuriating.

3. You have two weeks for winter break. Use those two weeks to visit the sick grandmother. Then next year, visit family in another country.

4. Counselors have no idea how hard it is on teachers when students miss huge amounts of class, so they'll likely tell you it's no problem and that teachers will bend over backward to accommodate your child's vacation. They, as well as administrators, throw teachers under the bus repeatedly because they are completely out-of-touch with what happens in the classroom. Just be prepared for a very different reaction from your son's teachers than you get from the counselor or administrator, for neither the counselor nor the administrator have any responsibilities in getting your child caught up. That will unfairly fall on his teachers.

[Anonymous]

Missing 8 school days is totally ridiculous. That is essentially a week and a half. I would scale it down so your child only misses 5 days max.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is this every year summer-long academic program for middle schoolers?

She sends him to math cram school all summer so he learns the material ahead of all his classmates, then brags about how he somehow mysteriously got better grades compared to the kids learning it for the first time.

[Anonymous]

This is not an excused absence.

How is it the teachers burden to catch the kid up? He should get zeroes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not an excused absence.

How is it the teachers burden to catch the kid up? He should get zeroes.

Correct, but the school system would never allow that. Teachers are expected to work miracles and compromise themselves to accommodate every single child's vacations, illnesses, tournaments, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The international vacations have been going on for years and pose a tremendous burden on teachers. Choices for family have to be made but bear in mind that attendance is important for both school and work. Do employers grant such long vacations? Know colleges don’t.

OP here. Funny you should mention that. Both my husband and I work so yes employers do grant this request. Colleges offer much more than 2 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is this every year summer-long academic program for middle schoolers?

IMO Training Camp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The international vacations have been going on for years and pose a tremendous burden on teachers. Choices for family have to be made but bear in mind that attendance is important for both school and work. Do employers grant such long vacations? Know colleges don’t.

OP here. Funny you should mention that. Both my husband and I work so yes employers do grant this request. Colleges offer much more than 2 weeks.

Goodness, your level of "real-world awareness" is extremely low.

Your employers grant this request, but most do not. The odds of your children having employers that allow them to take off for 3-4 weeks is extremely low, so you are not helping your kids learn about how the real world works.

Colleges do not offer vacations at random times. No college would say, "Sure, take off 8 random days prior to Thanksgiving or spring break. We will accommodate that!"

[Anonymous]

I don’t know the staff there but you are going to have to lie and say it’s a family emergency to get this excused. Even still, you run the risk of being pulled into annoying attendance meetings if anything else comes up and your kid has to be out for a while, like gets the flu. Our school made me go and it was excused medical reasons. And threatened other families I know.

The teachers will not and should not provide work ahead of time. It would be very hard for my kids to catch up on geometry and Spanish after missing that much time. I would not do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know the staff there but you are going to have to lie and say it’s a family emergency to get this excused. Even still, you run the risk of being pulled into annoying attendance meetings if anything else comes up and your kid has to be out for a while, like gets the flu. Our school made me go and it was excused medical reasons. And threatened other families I know.

The teachers will not and should not provide work ahead of time. It would be very hard for my kids to catch up on geometry and Spanish after missing that much time. I would not do this.

I'm sure OP has too much integrity to lie like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know the staff there but you are going to have to lie and say it’s a family emergency to get this excused. Even still, you run the risk of being pulled into annoying attendance meetings if anything else comes up and your kid has to be out for a while, like gets the flu. Our school made me go and it was excused medical reasons. And threatened other families I know.

The teachers will not and should not provide work ahead of time. It would be very hard for my kids to catch up on geometry and Spanish after missing that much time. I would not do this.

I'm sure OP has too much integrity to lie like that.

OP here. I am not contemplating lying because I think that teaches my child the wrong thing to do. There are instances in life that come up where you not only have to get your professional work done but also tend to personal matter (which may require an extended absence from work). Employers allow it. Colleges allow it. The accountability falls on the individual making the request. I'm trying to teach that to my kid. I understand that this board feels very strongly about the duration. I also understand that the teachers don't have to provide my kid with any additional resources or help to get him caught up. And, yes, while I expected that the teachers would share the work that would be covered during the week that was missed, I didn't realize that they're not required to do that. It's something my kid will need to deal with either via a friend in class or on his own, if we are gone for those days.

[Anonymous]

Look. You can do whatever you want. Your original question is "how hard is this to do" and "will they give us a hard time?"

It's easy to do and you may get a smack on the hand from admin or teachers about missing that much school and they may mark those days as "unexcused" but they're not going to stop you.

The wisdom in the situation is what the majority of the posters have been saying. Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean that its a good idea.

By the time my kids started taking HS courses, the amount of time it took for them to make up work in one missed class while the continuing work piled up increased exponentially.

Even the smartest most diligent kids would find themselves in a hole that may be very difficult to dig out of. Geometry is one of those courses that is particularly hard to dig out of.

So yes you can but know that you'll probably cause your kid a significant level of academic distress for the rest of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know the staff there but you are going to have to lie and say it’s a family emergency to get this excused. Even still, you run the risk of being pulled into annoying attendance meetings if anything else comes up and your kid has to be out for a while, like gets the flu. Our school made me go and it was excused medical reasons. And threatened other families I know.

The teachers will not and should not provide work ahead of time. It would be very hard for my kids to catch up on geometry and Spanish after missing that much time. I would not do this.

I'm sure OP has too much integrity to lie like that.

OP here. I am not contemplating lying because I think that teaches my child the wrong thing to do. There are instances in life that come up where you not only have to get your professional work done but also tend to personal matter (which may require an extended absence from work). Employers allow it. Colleges allow it. The accountability falls on the individual making the request. I'm trying to teach that to my kid. I understand that this board feels very strongly about the duration. I also understand that the teachers don't have to provide my kid with any additional resources or help to get him caught up. And, yes, while I expected that the teachers would share the work that would be covered during the week that was missed, I didn't realize that they're not required to do that. It's something my kid will need to deal with either via a friend in class or on his own, if we are gone for those days.

No one is saying you're not ALLOWED to do it. Clearly, you are. Most of us are saying that it's not a good idea, especially the timing of it. You are better off missing the first week of school, the week after winter break, the last week or two before school lets out officially, etc. You are making a decision that will adversely affect your child, quite possibly with no input from him. I would ask how he feels, lay it all out for him in terms of what he will be responsible for, and then make the call. I know that my child would want no part of it. It's hard enough to get her to stay home when she's actually sick, because making up work while keeping on top of new material is not easy.

My daughter's Geometry teacher very specifically told the parents (and the kids) that it's in their best interest to not do make-up/catch-up/retakes, because then they'll be perennially behind. The other thing to keep in mind is that Geometry is nothing at all like Algebra I, and success in one is not a predictor of success in the other. My daughter, who cruised through Algebra I and II had to put a lot of work into Geometry.

[Anonymous]

OP has already decided to take her kid out. All the advice in the world is not going to change her mind. It's up to her and her child to talk to the teachers.

I would not do what she plans to do, but it is not my job to change her mind.