Anonymous wrote:I don't but my ex used to 'til we got a letter from DCPS. Thank god for the letter or he would still think it's only me who thinks it's a bad idea to let the kid stay at home.

How often did you let them stay home? I think most people on this thread are talking about taking very few days - and only days for something very special. I remember my mother letting me go to a presidential nominee rally - and I still remember the rally and am so glad I went.

I don't allow this, but . . .

I have allowed my child claiming sickness to stay home when she would have been fine at school (ie, no fever, just vaguely feeling bad/tired). I figure I can err on the side of indulging her since she is enthusiastic about going to school 99% of the time.

I don't but my ex used to 'til we got a letter from DCPS. Thank god for the letter or he would still think it's only me who thinks it's a bad idea to let the kid stay at home.

I'm in my 40's and I still remember when my mom told us one morning that we wouldn't be going to school and instead would be spending the day with her. It was wonderful. I was in second grade.

No "mental health" or "just because" days at our house. But school can definitely take a backseat to some exceptional situation or activity. This year we skipped school/ took PTO to leave early for a camping trip. We could have easily left right after school, still had time to get the tent set up, etc. But I wanted a chill, fun day, not a Go Go Go! day. Wanted the kids to have time to explore before nightfall, and so on. We also skipped school/ took PTO when a family member was in town for a conference and her only free day was a weekday. We did the museums with her.

And both times, I told the teachers what was up, and they said "Awesome! We look forward to hearing what Jack and Jill learned camping/ at the museum."

More workplaces are moving towards a "results oriented" model, where your schedule is less important, and you're judged on your accomplishments. As long as my kids are performing to my satisfaction, and as long as their teachers don't object (I won't be surprised if things are different post-elementary), I'll let them have this degree of freedom. School/ work is not all there is.

I took my kids out of school for a week's vacation! Yee haw!

Seriously, though, I don't let them stay home just because they dont feel like going to school, and I don't take them out of school frequently, but maybe once or twice a year i take them out for "fun" trips. We do not have the same vacations, so, for instance, this year my husband and I had a week off at a time when the kids did not, and we took them out so we could all do an annual trip together. We gave the teacher's a month's advance notice and the kids brought lots of work with them-- and got it done. The teachers were fine about it. I apologized profusely for the inconvenience and explained the problem-- no other time whole family could vacation together-- and their reaction, uniformly, was "Don't worry about it. In 30 years, your child will still cherish these memories, and a week of missed school won't matter."

I think there are three kinds of people in life.
Group 1 follows rules because they believe in rules as a concept.
Group 2 defies rules because they object to rules as a concept.
Group 3 evaluates all rules on a case by case basis and rollows each rule to the extent that they believe in that particular rule.

I see all three on this thread.

So thank god you are sending your kids to school on those days where the teachers are showing movies towards the end of a quarter; lots they are going to learn......

My child is not in school yet - but I can totally see taking a day together once in a while.

Yes. In K it happened a lot.

A million years ago I was in a very good public school district and was an honor roll student. I missed dozens of days in high school because there were better things to do and I had the teachers helping me. Admittedly, half of the days were something kind of academic at one of the nearby colleges but the bar for missing school was pretty low.

I treasure the memories of those days and we're starting to do the same with our kids, within the more strict limits of our school system. Oh, and homework, too. We blow that off a lot if it's just more work on an uninteresting subject.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting thread. For those of you who do this with your kids, how do you tell them it's an option while making sure they still appreciate that it's special?

You just say "tomorrow we are going to ----." And they love it. My mom took me Christmas shopping. Guess who still calls his mom every day at age 47 even though I live five hours away with my own family? Those are special memories.

Love this

Anonymous wrote:I would never - ever do this. The only thing remotely that we have done is my child misses 1/2 a day for take your child to work day. That's it. (Even then - I have him back by lunch, no exceptions).

To the poster who is seemingly proud she had the whole hill to herself for her to sled with her child...shame on you. That's like being proud you have a bar to yourself because you're the last one to leave. Nothing to brag about. Wish I knew who you were.

Wait, I have fond memories of closing down the bar! I guess that makes me a terrible mommy. Someone call cps!

Yes I have allowed it mostly when the kids were in HS.

One example, DS's team lost the conference championship on a Monday night. We allowed him to stay home Tuesday.

Prior to HS, we did allow the kids to miss school when my mother (a schoolteacher who lives out West) would bring her class to DC for a class trip. My kids hung out with the class and did all the "DC stuff" that they did.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the trick is to be strict 95% of the time so that once in a while you can bend the rules without it sending the wrong message. My kids know we are strict about school attendance, but once in a blue moon we just lighten up and let things ride. I think our kids appreciate it and don't take advantage because they see it as something unusual and special.

I think bending some rules are okay...extra sweets on occasion, staying up late on occasion, etc...but skipping school is a non-negotiable.

depends on the reason ... just "for fun" is not a good reason.

BTW, today we have yet another day off in the Fairfax Public Schools. It is beyond me why people want more days off than we already have. Been to the zoo, museums, play dates so many times. Actually, I think it would be good if they had fewer days off.