Do you take your kids out of school? About This Page:

[sneezy]

Before I start this, I want to say that everyone has to make the best choice for their family. I don't feel there is a right or wrong answer, but I am curious what other families do. Here is what we've done.

In 1995, we went in November and I did pull my son out of first grade for a week. My daughter was not yet in school.

In Jan 2001, the kids missed three days of school. I choose a time when combined with Martin Luther King holiday and end of semester days off, they would not have to miss a whole week. They had to have their end of semester work in before we left anyway and they were not covering significant new material that week anyway. They were in the 4th and 6th grades.

Our next trip is scheduled for Dec 31 - Jan 8. My daughter, 5th grade, will miss two days of school and my son, 7th grade, will miss one day. For my son, it is the first day of the new semester, so I don't know if that is good or bad. I tried to minimize the number of days missed and avoid the times when they do the state and local testing and when they do the student count for funding. I also tried to avoid any time when I thought they might be doing the end of quarter testing. And this time I wanted to go before our AP expired. On the other hand, I'm not willing to go when it is hot, humid and crowded.

As the kids get older, I'm less willing to pull them out for a whole week, although I can understand how this is very dependant on the child. I remember missing a week when I was in 10th grade to go to Mexico on a church youth group mission. (And we did stop at Disneyland on the way from Oregon - my only visit there.) I was a good student, so didn't have any problems making up the work and I feel the experience was benefical. Although I'm sure my teachers were wondering as that year I also got the chicken pox and was out a while for that too.

If you have school age children, what do you do?

[GoofyKids123]

This is the first year we've pulled our children out of school for a vacation. I seriously doubt that I will again. This is a touchy subject for me. I had a guidance counselor tell me just two days ago that when I take my children out of school for a family vacation, it sends the message that school isn't really important. Of course I disagree. To me, that's like saying if the President goes on vacation for a week, he's sending the message that the job of running the country isn't really important. She really got on my last nerve with that statement. I wasn't quite expecting it, so I didn't give her the piece of my mind that I had reserved for such comments. It is very important that we spend time together as a family. Any success a child has in school, or in any other endeavor relates back to a healthy family relationship. As Fortissimo stated in another thread, school work can be made up, but family time is something you can never regain once it's lost (or something to that effect). Please see subject "A Question for Teachers". In 7 years of school, my 6th grade daughter has missed a total of 3 days. Both of my sons (2nd & 3rd grades) have perfect attendance. So, you can see that missing school is a rarety in this household.

That's my .83 cents worth. [img]images/icons/blush.gif[/img]

[spanky]

Take a look at the posting by Teresa, "A Question for Teachers" There is a lot of good information there.

Hope it helps!

When my DS was in first grade we pulled him out of school for the last three days to attend a family reunion in Seattle...they did not even add those three days to his permanant attendance record. Other than that he has never missed a single day, he is the only child I know who never gets sick during school days (only on days off!).
This year, the third week of school actually, he will be missing three days to accomodate our trip to WDW. It falls during the week of Rosh Hashana-pardon my bad spelling. School will be open Monday, which he will miss, closed Tues and Weds, and open Thurs and Fri, which he will miss. I don't feel bad about this at all, he is a good student, and has even been doing math and handwriting practice books all summer while the other neighborhood kids were out playing.
I think pulling your kids out of school is a personal decision, and should be based on the individual child.

[disneyknut]

Just my .02 here... we have always taken the kids out of school for trips & our school actually encorages it ... Our principal told me that 'outside activites' means a lot in a childs learning ..when they do the scholastic aptitude tests the social part of the test is outside activities & my sons always score in the 99.9%tile in that <G>
A few years ago when my middle son was in Kindergarten ( I can't beleive he's going into 2nd grade but that's another post <G> ) we had our Disney trip planned for months & then our school district changed the Scholastic aptitude tests for THAT week.. I was beside myself with worry wondering how that would affect my son but his teacher was the greatest.. she told me not to worry that she would give him the test privately before we left & did so..
Our school asks that the child do one 'educational' thing on the trip.. some of the things my sons have done...
Each one made an ABC scrapbook of things they saw in Disney ( A=animal kingdom etc) & wrote a little bit about it ..the scrapbooks were such a hit that the teachers kept them for a few weeks & displayed them around the school... I will probably be doing something similar this trip..
they have also kept journals of their trip & read it to the class when they came home.
One key is to tell the teacher as early as possible so that they can give homework etc.. My DH already told our school that we were going away in October & school doesn't even start for 5 days <G>
sorry for the long post but just wanted to add my opinion & how our school is..
..Ann

[Janet 46]

My son is going into 2nd grade and I'll find out in 12 days how his teacher/school feels about it. He'll be missing 1 full day (Friday) and 3 half days when the teachers normally meet with the parents each afternoon for conferences. Then, Thurs and Friday are teachers convention days, so there is no school.

I don't know, I'm having mixed feelings about it. My son is a very good student and he rarely misses school, but at the same time, the schools do have a point.

I'll keep you posted on his school's response when I tell his teacher.