Poll: Would you/do you take your kids out of school (yes, I know...) for vacation?

[PeacefulChaos]

Kids in brick and mortar schools, not homeschoolers.

Edited August 18, 2012 by PeacefulChaos

[tmulcahy]

I did when my son was in 2nd grade. No regrets. We went to Arizona. It was 2nd grade so it was no big deal. I am not sure how it would look if it were a middle school or high school aged child.

[Renee in NC]

I would not keep my dc out of school for a normal vacation, but they did miss 3 days one time so that they could go see their grandparents and their oldest brother. It was over Thanksgiving, and they missed M-W.

[aggieamy]

I did when my son was in 2nd grade. No regrets. We went to Arizona. It was 2nd grade so it was no big deal. I am not sure how it would look if it were a middle school or high school aged child.

 

:iagree:. We totally used to do that too. Otherwise you there's lots of vacations you can't take - visiting relatives at Easter or going skiing for instance.

[Ellie]

Of course I would.

 

What difference does it make whether we take our vacations in the summer (when everyone else is doing the same thing) so that we have an official school year that starts in September and ends in June, or we take our vacation at other random times of the year (when everyone els is not) and have official school time...any time?

 

As an adult, I take vacations whenever it works out. Why should it be different for children? One of the many reasons I homeschool is to prepare my children for adulthood, and that includes taking vacations at random, even unplanned-unscheduled, times of the year.

[Ali in OR]

Former public school high school math teacher here. For responsible students/families, I have no problem with infrequent occurrences of placing family time over school. This will date me a bit, but I remember one student who spent a week or two in Germany. His family was from West Germany, and this was 1990 or 1991, fairly soon after the wall came down. They were going to see family including some from East Germany that they had never had a chance to visit before. It was a national celebration. I would say that was far more important than another week in a math classroom! (And of course he had all work completed upon return--he was an outstanding student).

 

As home schoolers, we know that kids don't have to be in a classroom to learn. An awesome family vacation may be something that they remember for the rest of their life. I also support the parents' rights to determine the best use of their child's time (assuming a basic level of responsibility on the parents' part--missing school shouldn't be frequent or frivolous). The work can be made up. I'm also assuming the student and family will talk with the teachers ahead of time, get assignments, and get everything done in a timely manner.

[mom2one]

My parents used to let me skip school to go on trips with my grandma. I learned so much from traveling the world with her....it's probably one of the biggest reasons why I chose to homeschool my own daughter. There's a whole great big world out there that exists beyond the classroom.

[Dmmetler]

I'd do it if it's an educational experience that can't easily be duplicated-my father had a chance to present at University of Tennessee during the 1982 World's Fair, which gave us the opportunity to go to the World's fair on UT's dime for travel and housing (we actually stayed on the UT campus-wich was within walking distance of the fair). I think that was a reasonable reason to miss a few days of school.

[Jennifer in MI]

Young kids? Sure!

 

If they were in PS and older (maybe 8th grade and above?), maybe.

 

High school. I don't think so.

[PIE!]

It depends on the trip.

 

If we just wanted to go camping then we would need to wait until school was out.

 

If we had a chance to do something amazing (go to a foreign country for the winter olympics or something) then absolutely we would miss school.

 

All hypothetical though - as we homeschool. I'm mostly talking about my feelings when I was in school. DH's parents drove him crazy because they kept thinking it'd be no big deal for him to miss school so he could drive to a neighboring state for some family r&r when he was taking several AP classes in high school.

[LucyStoner]

I can't think of a vacation we have taken that was not superior educationally to anything in elementary school.

[Mandamom]

I've always known public and private school families who take vacations during the school year. They just follow the rules for their district/school and it usually isn't a big deal. The student makes up the work and that's that.

 

I guess I don't see it as a big deal for the occasional trip or event. My daughter has travel gymnastics meets and a couple times a year she misses a couple of days due to these meets. She just makes up her school work.

[Paige]

I have taken my kids out and would again. School is a part of life but not the point of life. I wouldn't take them out if they were struggling but I think most kids can skip a week here or there and be fine and it can enrich their lives. IMO, it is selfish and presumptuous of schools to think that school is the most important thing in everyone's lives all the time.

[Unicorn.]

It depends on the trip.

 

If we just wanted to go camping then we would need to wait until school was out.

 

If we had a chance to do something amazing (go to a foreign country for the winter olympics or something) then absolutely we would miss school.

 

All hypothetical though - as we homeschool. I'm mostly talking about my feelings when I was in school. DH's parents drove him crazy because they kept thinking it'd be no big deal for him to miss school so he could drive to a neighboring state for some family r&r when he was taking several AP classes in high school.

 

:iagree: Depends on the trip. Since dh is a school teacher, it's not likely it would be an issue, but if a once in a lifetime type trip came up we would.

[Lovin Learnin]

I would and have. I wouldn't hesitate at all with my homeschooled dd, and I would only be cautious about public/private schooled high schoolers, (not elementary kids) because they theoretically have a heavier load with bigger consequences for missed tests. We took a week long vacation when my middle ds was a senior and his grades didn't suffer one bit.

[kalanamak]

I said "other". For a week at the beach, no, for trip to Europe, yes.

[razorbackmama]

I agree with the OP - vacations are for vacations time...school is for school.

 

The only time I would pull mine out of school if we didn't homeschool was if it was something HUGE (and I do mean HUGE), where it was impossible to do at another time or it was some sort of amazing opportunity that was a not often in a lifetime thing.

[nono]

I think that joining a group means one must conform to the group's rules. Since we're not forced to send our kids to school ;), I do think that if one chooses to do so, one should generally conform to that group's (aka school's) calendar.

 

Now being in charge of our homeschool, I know exactly when I want to take vacation, and schedule the year around it. So, there's no "ditching" of school for a trip. It's all baked in. Including studies in the car to and from WDW. :auto:

[Mama Geek]

Family time is higher priority to me than what a kid would be doing in a brick & mortar school, but then our plan is to home school.

[Joker]

I have. The schools have guidelines, and we've had them approved in advance. All of their work gets done. The majority of it is done before the vacation, but some gets done afterwards. We've never had a problem.

[Wheres Toto]

I have taken my oldest out of school to go on vacations before. As long as she was doing well in school I had no problem with it. I did not do this once she was in high school since there was too much to miss at that point.

[creekland]

We took ours out for 1, 2, and 1 month vacations (different years). I certainly have no regrets on this end. My kids always kept up with their work and were usually ahead of their peers when they returned. Youngest got to be an "on the spot reporter" for his 4th grade class when they were studying volcanoes and we were at Volcanoes NP in Hawaii. He had a blast, but his peers also enjoyed learning from him.

 

If we just "left school" and didn't keep them academically up with their peers I'd have issues, but we don't do that. They work ahead or catch up if they don't have time while on vacation.

 

Most ps stuff is pretty easy to keep up with.

[elegantlion]

Yes, I would take a child out. When dh was self employed he often could not get away in the summer. One reason we do homeschool is to have more flexib ility.

[Starr]

Going on vacation doesn't mean the work never gets done. We just adjust our schedule. That usually means some school work in the summer. It all works out.

[TeenagerMom]

I have done it and I am sure I will do it again. We value education but we value our family time more. Often workplaces give vacation dates on seniority and families may have no other choice than to go during the school year. We do school year vacations because of cost (cheaper during off season). I also take my PS DD out for a day if we are doing a homeschool field trip that she will benefit from. It has never hurt her. She still maintains good grades.

[bolt.]

I chose 'other' -- by which I mean "Yes, but with careful consideration, not exactly 'in a heartbeat.' "

 

I'd think about grade level, ease of learning, length of vacation, relative value of the experience, etc. before I reached a conclusion.

[amydavis]

When dd16 was in public school (elementary), we did occasionally have a vacation that fell on a school week. My dh can only take vacation time when it is approved, and that is the way it worked that year. Plus, seeing the leaves turn in the mountains wasn't a summer vacation type of thing. I followed the rules of our school, making sure that she hadn't missed prior to this. Our county actually allowed the days to be excused absences if you could document that the trip was educational. Since we were visiting caverns, learning a lot about geography, earth science, etc., this was an easy task. I made sure to give the teacher enough advance warning, so she could start sending that week's work home ahead of time, so we could get started on it. She didn't miss any of her work or homework, took the spelling test when she returned, and it was certainly not the end of the world!

 

As long as you're not making the time a burden to the teacher (by not allowing time to get the work done, etc), I just don't see the problem, especially in elementary school. In fact, it was the teacher who made me aware of the opportunity to turn it into an excused absence. So, she certainly wasn't upset about it, nor did she view it as a problem.

Edited August 17, 2012 by amydavis
More info...

[Catwoman]

We travel whenever we feel like it.

[In The Great White North]

I would and have.

 

Dd took French and German at the local high school. One year, we took her out for three weeks to go to Switzerland (German speaking section.) The French teacher thought it was wonderful. The German teacher pitched a fit. He seemed to think 45 minutes a day in his class would teach her more German than 24/7 in a German speaking country! :glare:

[besroma]

Of course I would.

 

What difference does it make whether we take our vacations in the summer (when everyone else is doing the same thing) so that we have an official school year that starts in September and ends in June, or we take our vacation at other random times of the year (when everyone els is not) and have official school time...any time?

 

As an adult, I take vacations whenever it works out. Why should it be different for children? One of the many reasons I homeschool is to prepare my children for adulthood, and that includes taking vacations at random, even unplanned-unscheduled, times of the year.

 

:iagree:

[BamaTanya]

Of course I would.

 

What difference does it make whether we take our vacations in the summer (when everyone else is doing the same thing) so that we have an official school year that starts in September and ends in June, or we take our vacation at other random times of the year (when everyone els is not) and have official school time...any time?

 

As an adult, I take vacations whenever it works out. Why should it be different for children? One of the many reasons I homeschool is to prepare my children for adulthood, and that includes taking vacations at random, even unplanned-unscheduled, times of the year.

 

But see, I'm an adult and my vacations have had to be planned around my work. I used to teach dayschool. Now I teach college. I was allowed 2 personal days during the school year . . . not enough time for a big vacation. And I am under contract to teach certain days during the college term. I don't plan vacations during this time of my responsibility. Dh is a ps counselor, so this is the way it works for us.

 

I'm not anti-vacation. This is just my personal experience as a professional. It's my priority.

 

I haven't taken my dc out of school (now our dc are split into the homeschooled and the ps'ed groups) for vacations. We plan our time together when dh and the ps dc aren't in session.

 

I'm sure there are many professions for which vacation schedules are non-negotiable.

 

That said, we haven't had any big-once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, either. We're basically homebodies. That factors in, too, I'm sure.

[creekland]

 

I'm sure there are many professions for which vacation schedules are non-negotiable.

 

 

 

For my Civil Engineer hubby, summer vacations are tough to come by due to the work load. Hence, winter works much better for us - esp Feb.

 

I agree that many people have to work around jobs when scheduling vacations.

[Serenade]

I think if a student is not behind in schoolwork and makes up any missed work, it is fine. Although schools have gotten weird about this. Back when I was a kid in the dark ages, a parent could easily take a student out of school for a vacation, no questions asked. Not so anymore.

[DawnM]

Depends on the age of the child, the difficulty the child has learning, the trip, and a whole host of things.

[mom2scouts]

When my children were all in school I would have said no. I didn't understand how people could take their child out of school (important!) for something like a vacation (just for fun!). Now that I have a few more years of experience with PS and a few years of homeschooling, I don't really think kids miss all that much. They will probably learn more on vacation than during that one week in the classroom.

[Shellers]

Yes I would take my kids out of school to go on a trip. I've done it before and would do it again. The schools were fine with it as long as the trip was at least a week long. The kids would go on "Independent Study" and get a weeks worth of school work.

 

My kids learn more going on a week long trip then they would stuck in a classroom for a week.

 

I've taken my kids out of school many times and have no regrets. :D

[Dory]

When my ds was in 1st grade and in the school and my dd was in K we took a month off over easter break (which means they missed two weeks of school here). I let the teacher know ahead of time and asked her to put together some work for him to do so he wouldn't be too far behind. I had him do some work while we were driving and early in the mornings before we would head out. He wasn't behind at all when we got back and they learned SOOOOO much from the trip. We took off for 2 weeks last year too. I have no problem with it, but I do feel that it's irresponsible not to do some work while you are gone to try and make sure they aren't behind when they get back.

 

 

The best time for vacations for us is during spring break up or sometimes in the fall. My dh is barely home through the winter and is pretty sporadic throughout the summer. The only time we know he won't be called out, is during spring break up.

Edited August 17, 2012 by Dory

[bettyandbob]

For a special opportunity, yes.

 

A day here or there tacked on to school break time probably.

 

A whole week or more because we just feel like it no.

 

When you are a student, your job is to go to school. If you choose to attend a public or private school, the school has prescribed vacation times, you have to follow the prescribed schedule it is one of the things you have to accept when you enroll in school.

 

When you homeschool you get to choose when you go to school and when you vacation, that is one of the advantages. If you enroll in ps you give that up.

 

Many jobs have prescribed vacation times or days when no vacation is permitted. Obviously school employees have prescribed vacation times. I know a women who is a dental hygenist--her office gives her an option of 8 days of vacation that she can pick or if she goes with assigned days she gets 15 days. So, she takes the assigned days, which work out to 3 weeks. Accountants cannot take vacation from January through mid April.

 

Even in jobs where you get to plan your vacation days you have to clear them with your supervisors before scheduling. If something's up at work during the period you want off you can't take it. In many, many jobs your planned vacation can be cancelled because some project or deadline came up.

[annandatje]

I voted no. In our school district, taking the kids out of school for a weeklong vacation would be considered unexcused absences with increasingly stiffer penalties as number of unexcused absences grow.

[Joker]

 

When you are a student, your job is to go to school. If you choose to attend a public or private school, the school has prescribed vacation times, you have to follow the prescribed schedule it is one of the things you have to accept when you enroll in school.

 

Apparently not all schools feel this way, though. My older dd is in ps and they have guidelines in place for families taking vacation (and other time off) during the school year. We've had our plans approved, and she has been excused. There has never been a problem, and we haven't had to just accept the ps calendar. It is more flexible than that, at least in some places.

[Spy Car]

No way.

 

Bill

[Mom2OandE]

Well in our case we have to pull the kids out (when they were in public school) for vacation or our family would NEVER go on a vacation. My dh has to bid for his vacation weeks and it's based on senority. He couldn't hold school holidays or summer. If my kids had attended a year around school it would have been a different story.

 

So glad we are homeschooling now and we don't have to worry about it.

[Hwin]

As long as the work gets done, who cares? :)

Edited August 17, 2012 by Hwin
Added a smilie to indicate I was being happy and carefree, not snarky.

[*lifeoftheparty*]

.

Edited February 18, 2015 by *lifeoftheparty*

[PeacefulChaos]

Of course I would.

 

What difference does it make whether we take our vacations in the summer (when everyone else is doing the same thing) so that we have an official school year that starts in September and ends in June, or we take our vacation at other random times of the year (when everyone els is not) and have official school time...any time?

 

As an adult, I take vacations whenever it works out. Why should it be different for children? One of the many reasons I homeschool is to prepare my children for adulthood, and that includes taking vacations at random, even unplanned-unscheduled, times of the year.

Well, yes, with homeschooling. I homeschool because of scheduling, myself. But I'm talking about if they GO somewhere to school.

For a special opportunity, yes.

 

A day here or there tacked on to school break time probably.

 

A whole week or more because we just feel like it no.

 

When you are a student, your job is to go to school. If you choose to attend a public or private school, the school has prescribed vacation times, you have to follow the prescribed schedule it is one of the things you have to accept when you enroll in school.

 

When you homeschool you get to choose when you go to school and when you vacation, that is one of the advantages. If you enroll in ps you give that up.

Many jobs have prescribed vacation times or days when no vacation is permitted. Obviously school employees have prescribed vacation times. I know a women who is a dental hygenist--her office gives her an option of 8 days of vacation that she can pick or if she goes with assigned days she gets 15 days. So, she takes the assigned days, which work out to 3 weeks. Accountants cannot take vacation from January through mid April.

 

Even in jobs where you get to plan your vacation days you have to clear them with your supervisors before scheduling. If something's up at work during the period you want off you can't take it. In many, many jobs your planned vacation can be cancelled because some project or deadline came up.

 

I guess the bolded pretty much sums it up for me. :)

[Spy Car]

As long as the work gets done, who cares?

 

The school cares. In addition to the obvious gaps in learning that happen when children miss school, in most districts schools are funded on a daily attendance basis. A week "off" costs a school around $300 (depending).

 

At a school with 400 children, if everyone misses a week for unscheduled "vacations" then the school is out $120,000. And that does not include the funding lost to legitimate absences. These sorts of things blow a hole in a school's budget. I know. I worked on a committe at our school and saw how much absences impact the finances of a school. It hurts. Big time!

 

Bill

[QuirkyKapers]

The school cares. In addition to the obvious gaps in learning that happen when children miss school, in most districts schools are funded on a daily attendance basis. A week "off" costs a school around $300 (depending).

 

At a school with 400 children, if everyone misses a week for unscheduled "vacations" then the school is out $120,000. And that does not include the funding lost to legitimate absences. These sorts of things blow a hole in a school's budget. I know. I worked on a committee at our school and saw how much absences impact the finances of a school. It hurts. Big time!

 

Bill

 

I didn't know that. Interesting. I know that it has become a big deal to pull kids out. Now I know why. Thanks! Was this always the case? I know that my parents pulled my out and it wasn't a big deal. We just had to take all our work along.

[SKL]

I think this is a hard question. My kids are just starting 1st grade and I have friends begging me to bring them to India for someone's 50th birthday party (early October). They have not been to India before. Another trip we want to take soon is to my kids' birth country. Needless to say, these would be very educational trips. But I am afraid to start out on the wrong foot with their teacher. They would have to take off a full week, and I'm already sort of on the school's bad side for insisting on accelerating my kids.

 

I still haven't decided for sure, but I probably won't do it. Maybe after we get a more solid footing in the school, I'll feel a little more brave about it.

 

Between my work schedule (biggest deadlines in summer) and planned travel destinations (uncomfortably hot in summer), it would be a lot better for us to take these kinds of vacations during the school year. My kids would not fall behind, because I would not let them. But I think teachers might feel insulted that I put our personal wants ahead of school.

 

So I won't say a definite "no," but it's not an easy "yes" either.

[*lifeoftheparty*]

.

[SKL]

The school cares. In addition to the obvious gaps in learning that happen when children miss school, in most districts schools are funded on a daily attendance basis. A week "off" costs a school around $300 (depending).

 

At a school with 400 children, if everyone misses a week for unscheduled "vacations" then the school is out $120,000. And that does not include the funding lost to legitimate absences. These sorts of things blow a hole in a school's budget. I know. I worked on a committe at our school and saw how much absences impact the finances of a school. It hurts. Big time!

 

Bill

 

Hmm. My kids go to Lutheran school, so I pay their tuition. I don't know if they get any funding from the government nowadays. I'm thinking not. So maybe they'd be a little more open?