Do you take your kids out of school to cruise?

Mine are out of school For a week right now for a cruise!

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We have taken our kids on a number of vacations, and sometimes took them out of school for vacations, and have always worked with their teachers to make sure they kept up with their schoolwork. Many times it was the only family time we had due to my husband's work schedule and we wouldn't trade in the memories for anything. The kids are both good students so they never fell behind. Life is very short (we lost a friend this year who left behind 3 young kids, so you just never know).

My daughter competed at the national level of her sport for 5 years and that included a lot of travel (including a week long trip to Europe). She learned so much from these trips with her teammates (travelling without her parents, negotiating with teachers to get assignments done, time management, experiencing other cultures,etc). She missed 28 days of school during 8th grade and was still awarded the Top Academic Award at her graduation. She is now an Honour Roll student in 10th grade, taking AP classes and a grade 11 class (which she has the top mark in). I would say that travel has not affected her negatively.

Both of my kids love to travel and I am very grateful to be able to give them these experiences, as we know the days of travelling with them will come to end soon.

You need to do what is right for your family and your kids.

With the talk of taking kids out of school to go on vacation at the parents schedule. I would sure like to try that with my employer....telling him I am taking off such and such weeks for a vacation...even though I'm not entitled to the time off....see how long I would last there.

Actually, most places I’ve worked have allowed people to take extra time off without pay for exceptional travel opportunities.

To me, its setting the wrong example to take children out of school when its in session. Going forward, they may think its OK for them to just pick up and go whenever they want in the workforce.

In NZ an employee can generally take any amount of their leave entitlement at any time they want having had to typically give just two weeks' notice. The minimum entitlement in law is twenty days and getting more than this is not uncommon. Those taking a month off typically give plenty of notice despite they don't really have to. A child experiencing this happening with their schooling exactly mirrors what will happen later in life.

One of the reasons we choose to homeschool is because we like to travel when the opportunity arises. My husband's work schedule is unpredictable, and he's usually very busy during the Summer. We are able to pack our books and go.

I think that there is a big difference here between the US views on schooling and Canada/Australia/NZ views. We have taken our kids out of school while informing the teachers and they have always been very supportive and encouraging. They realize that there is more to education than just being at school. Parents should be the PRIMARY educators of their children and the school should support this. Our kids all have special needs, with both of our Boys being diagnosed with high functioning Autism, and the contained cruise environment with the excellent kid and pre-teen programing that Carnival offers gives them space to learn to be a little more independant and to develop social skills. The time in the dining room encourages them to try new food choices (although one went to Pizza every night) and the shows give them an appreciation for various forms of music and dance. Physical education is encouraged in the times swimming and snorkeling, where reef habitat is also observed at the ports of call.

In NZ an employee can generally take any amount of their leave entitlement at any time they want having had to typically give just two weeks' notice. The minimum entitlement in law is twenty days and getting more than this is not uncommon. Those taking a month off typically give plenty of notice despite they don't really have to. A child experiencing this happening with their schooling exactly mirrors what will happen later in life.

I wish the US had generous leave policies. Here it varies by company. In most places, it is really rare for a manager to allow someone to take a vacation for more than 2 weeks. You’d be hard pressed to find a company that gives you that much time off and allows you to take it in one big chunk. This excludes teachers, btw since they have 3 months in the summer.

My son has school breaks in December, February, March/April plus 2 months off in summer. We take cruises/ trips during that time. My son has had some wonderful experiences in Hawaii, Europe and Canada during those times. I don't see any reason to pull him out except that it's cheaper during the school year. It's not worth skipping school for the savings to me. Just my 2 cents about my son.

My daughter is in 3rd grade and my son is 3. We have taken her out of school for a couple of cruises in the past, and in April she will be out of school for a week when we take a transatlantic cruise from New York- London.

For my daughter, I build lesson plans around where we are going and what we are seeing. She has a "travel journal" that she is responsible for writing in every day, and she has geography lessons. On this upcoming cruise, we are adding weather as well- she will be responsible for a weather report each day. This may seem like a lot and "overkill" -but my thinking is, I want her soaking up everything she can about where we are (even in the middle of the ocean.) This way she can go back with school missed and still be wiser with experiences. We will continue to do this as our children get older, and I will not feel guilty about it. (We are in CT)

We have for travel and while I do try to time carefully because my son is in a special education preschool and needs that time more than average, I have no problem with continuing to do it. The teachers have been very supportive. It’s technically voluntary anyway but all three have been totally fine with him missing for family trips or his sisters field trips.

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Yes, I have in the past, and the longest absence from school is coming up quickly -- we'll be traveling Asia for 3 weeks. My youngest daughter is in grade 7 (middle school in my area of Canada), and we have arranged for assignments (even the wood-working class) to be done before she leaves (or after if required). If she was doing poorly in school, or if it actually stressed her out to take the time off, we wouldn't do it. I feel that all the vacations (or at least the ones that were different culturally) have been very important learning experiences. My eldest daughter (now 20) is doing well in University so I don't think we've damaged her, maybe just spoiled her .... ;) From a practical perspective, the ideal (and safe) travel seasons for other areas of the world don't line up with our spring or summer vacation schedules.

I took the family on their first cruise this school holidays just gone. We’re hooked, so I’ve booked another one next year, far more ambitious. We’re travelling from Melbourne, Australia, to London to do a British Isles cruise that will travel to a number of places that are significant to our family heritage (both mine and my husband’s). Unfortunately, to make it work, I’ve selected the cruise that will take them away from school for the last two weeks of term two. The other option was to take the one that would take the whole of the term two holidays. The problem with this is that they would still need to take quite a few days prior to the end of term to get to London, and then a few at the start of term three when we travelled back. My decision has been made to minimise the disruption by taking the end of term two. I am a teacher myself, and I hate the thought of this. However, as a family, if we don’t do this now, we’ll never do it. I’m a casual relief teacher, and can set my days and availability. If we don’t pursue this amazing opportunity to build memories, it just won’t happen, and will be one of those regrets that stays with you. There is no way I would make this a regular occurrence, and my eldest daughter will be in grade six next year. Once she starts high school, I believe it is well and truly too disruptive. I will accept that I am taking my children out on a non-approved break, and wear that. But as a one-off, I think it will be amazing for us.

I took the family on their first cruise this school holidays just gone. We’re hooked, so I’ve booked another one next year, far more ambitious. We’re travelling from Melbourne, Australia, to London to do a British Isles cruise that will travel to a number of places that are significant to our family heritage (both mine and my husband’s). Unfortunately, to make it work, I’ve selected the cruise that will take them away from school for the last two weeks of term two. The other option was to take the one that would take the whole of the term two holidays. The problem with this is that they would still need to take quite a few days prior to the end of term to get to London, and then a few at the start of term three when we travelled back. My decision has been made to minimise the disruption by taking the end of term two. I am a teacher myself, and I hate the thought of this. However, as a family, if we don’t do this now, we’ll never do it. I’m a casual relief teacher, and can set my days and availability. If we don’t pursue this amazing opportunity to build memories, it just won’t happen, and will be one of those regrets that stays with you. There is no way I would make this a regular occurrence, and my eldest daughter will be in grade six next year. Once she starts high school, I believe it is well and truly too disruptive. I will accept that I am taking my children out on a non-approved break, and wear that. But as a one-off, I think it will be amazing for us.

Sounds like a wonderful experience for them. Enjoy it!

Thank you, it’s something we’re all looking forward to. And it’s nice to have a long time to both pay it off, and anticipate it. The last one we had a full year to plan and pay for it, and that worked very well for us. This one is more like 18 months away.

Thank you, it’s something we’re all looking forward to. And it’s nice to have a long time to both pay it off, and anticipate it. The last one we had a full year to plan and pay for it, and that worked very well for us. This one is more like 18 months away.

I love your screen name!!! :)

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For our two elementary aged kids, we've done it three times now, once for Jamaica, once for Disney, and once for a Western Caribbean cruise. Each time, we've requested the work in advance. And each time, they've been able to complete the work before we even left for the vacation, sometimes in a day. Makes me wonder what they are doing at school if they can complete a week's worth of work in a day...

So yeah, Disney was probably frivolous, but we've made it a point to discuss culture, history, and language on our other trips, and I think the kids got a lot more out of seeing actual Mayan ruins then they would have had reading about them in a book.

Of course, YMMV, but I'm glad that our school allows us to take educational trips during the school year.

I have not taken mine out for a couple of reasons. They are 6 years apart in age, and when we first started cruising, it never occurred to me. They were in private school which has a shortened school year any way and those kinds of things are heavily frowned upon. Their spring break is early March and they are off a full week before Christmas so we have tended to use those times. Now they are older, with one being in college, so taking a week is impossible out of school.

That said, if the school will accommodate, I would consider it. But, I also think it would heavily depend on the child. My oldest would have been a battle to make sure he got all his assignments and did them without losing them before they got back to school. My youngest is much more organized and academically it would be MUCH easier and I believe he could handle it. However, he is the athlete and he would be missing practices and games and we try very hard not to do that.

So, I guess my short answer is it can be done, but I would chose wisely after evaluating your child and make it a special circumstance and not simply to avoid crowds.

We have once before and will do it again in November.

When we went to Disney, I planned our trip around a long weekend when school was closed on Friday and there was an early dismissal on Monday (we left Wednesday after school and came home Monday so they missed 2 days of school). Both kids teacher were fantastic. They were required to make up the work when they got home.

November 2018, we are surprising them and going on a 7 night RCCL cruise. They will, again, miss 2 days of school. This time, we are going Thanksgiving week when school is closed Wed-Fri. My oldest will be a Freshman in HS & my youngest will be in 7th grade. Luckily for them, most assignments are done on Google Classroom and we are purchasing the internet package so both will be able to see what they are missing and keep up with their schoolwork.

The county we live in gives each student 5 vacation days to use during the school year so it really isn’t a huge deal.

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We have taken our daughter out of school for a few cruises. We always ensure to get all of her work in advance and we work with her to get it done while away. We also have her write a report about her trip and all the ports that we visited.

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I wish the US had generous leave policies. Here it varies by company. In most places, it is really rare for a manager to allow someone to take a vacation for more than 2 weeks. You’d be hard pressed to find a company that gives you that much time off and allows you to take it in one big chunk. This excludes teachers, btw since they have 3 months in the summer.

I think you'd be hard pressed to find a student or teacher who gets 3 months any more. Most teachers work for at least 1 week after classes end and at least 1 week before they begin. Many have to do professional development in the summer as well. Average is probably 6-7 weeks of summer break. That is certainly still more than most corporate jobs, but not the idyllic picture folks not in education think exists.

As an educator at the high school level, I worry when kids miss long blocks of school for vacation. I teach lab classes and AP's. Missing that much time in the lab just cannot be made up with worksheets. Our school is also moving to minimize homework like many others nationwide. This means that all graded work is being done in class. Hard to make up those in person experiences.

We did until my DD entered middle school this year. Now there is just too much work to make-up with 7 classes missed each day. Neither of my kids had a problem in elementary school and could easily make up the work but both are excellent students.

We take our 10 year old son out of school every year for a cruise and have done so since he was 5. He usually has perfect attendance up until this point, so not an issue of excessive absences. We must travel during the off-season in order to make vacations affordable for us, which means missing school. It is just not in our budget to travel during the school holidays. We feel that vacationing is an important bonding opportunity for our family and gives us time to unwind and relax together. Our son is also exposed to other cultures and countries that he otherwise would not be. I’m not saying vacations replace school by any means, but for our family it is important to us. Our son has good grades in school and we try to schedule the cruises so they don’t interfere with any testing or anything. We used to have the teacher send a packet of schoolwork with him, but his teacher this year doesn’t really do that. So we’ll see how it goes! Overall, this is a personal choice up to each family. You know your child best, so will know if this is a reasonable decision or not. Obviously, if your child is struggling in school and has several absences already, maybe taking a cruise during the school year is not the best choice.

We do. But it's contingent on what grade they are in and whether or not they are already doing well. My oldest is 10 and in the 6th grade. She has straight A+ marks and still will even if she misses aweek of school. No problem for her to miss aweek of school... Ever probably. My almost 8 year old is in second. I have no issues with taking her out up to 5th grade. Honestly there is a lot of repitition in elementary. She's not a super evil genius like the older kid, but a week of school isn't going to make her flunk either. The game changes a lot in sixth grade so I'm not sure we would still do it then. It remains to be seen. That said I know families that take their kids out for what seems to be multiple weeks per year for vacation. One family just went for what seemed like two weeks. And I know they also did a week in the fall. 3 weeks seems like a lot to me personally. We do one week at a time max plus a day here or there. We are very lucky also that my kids spring break doesn't seem to line up with east coast spring breaks and when we go the kids clubs arent glutted with kids. Although we started going with Grandma and Grandpa because our kids don't like the kids clubs anyway.

We did it many times in the pass, sometimes we took them out for 2 weeks straight.

Both kids will be in high school IB programs nextyear so no more family vacation during school year.

Yes, we have done this twice, and will likely continue in the future. My kids are lower elementary ages at a private school. We live in FL, so we have easy access to numerous ports without high travel fees. For us, it's a budget issue. Travel is important to us, but we also live on a pretty strict budget. We can cruise in February or September for half the price of going during summer or school breaks, so that's a no-brainer for us. I contact the teachers before and make sure my kids do all their work. I also add something extra to make the trip educational as well as fun, such as having them fill out a travel journal or researching ports.