Do you take your kids out of school to cruise?

We have taken our 3 kids out of school for 1-3+ weeks almost every year. We started when they were very young - taking them on transatlantic cruises to avoid jet lag. We got hooked on the T/A trips for many reasons. Once we get to Europe, we explore a country or two with the kids. Why do we do it? 1) It's amazing family time. 2) Our public school in CA gives us the work to take with us and every teacher and administrator we have had has been extremely supportive. 3) Exploring museums, castles, and churches in different countries in one heck of an education. 4) Because of the spring timing of T/A cruises and our spring break, we combine time with spring break so that kids miss 2-3 weeks but get a month of traveling.

This year will be our 6th, and possibly our last. Our oldest will be in middle school next year....

We did it one time when my son was in 6th grade...never again. He was gone for two days (a Friday and a Monday) and even though he didn't have any unexcused absences up to that point in the year (it was in January, about 2 weeks after we got back from Christmas break and no we COULD NOT have sailed during the break, before anyone asks. My husband works retail so Oct-Dec are the busiest months of the year for him), we got a very nasty letter from the state ed. dept. about it. :( So never again.

Yes. When DD was in elementary and middle school we did a week to 10-day cruise almost every, year pulling her from school each time. While we always cruised at a time when her absences from school would be minimized, she would generally miss anywhere from 3 to 5 days.

In our state and in our school district a parent can request and be granted excused absences for their child. We always gave plenty of notice and got all of her homework -- she always had it done before she went back to school -- long plane rides and additional time during the vacation was her work time.

We cruised the Mediterranean (multiple cruises), Hawaii, Panama Canal -- so it was easy to make the trips "educational"

We did Med cruises over US Thanksgiving week each of the three years she was in middle school.

She was in band in HS and they did a big trip every year for band - so that was our travel for those four years.

In middle school she was taking HS math and science courses. She managed to graduate second in her HS class (of 300+), entering a Big-10 school, will graduate with a degree in Engineering (math/risk analysis) with a 3.77 GPA in exactly one month from now. So it seemed to work for her.

It does take some discipline to make it happen. But travel can be a great experience for kids.

No, just no

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No. My daughter is only in 2nd grade but hasn't missed a day of school ever since she STARTED school in kindergarten. She's very proud of the perfect attendance awards she gets at the end of every year and the quarterly rewards the school gives out (free pizza coupons etc). The only time I would consider taking her out is if she's sick and thank goodness that hasn't happened yet. So far her sniffles and tummy aches have been programmed to coincide with the weekends lol:')

Can't say it never crossed my mind when researching and planning vacations, especially cruises. Everything is soooo much cheaper when the kids are in school but I couldn't in good conscience bring myself to seriously consider it. Plus its like a reward for working hard in school all year and something to look forward to when school's out. Also the type of vacations I like to take lend themselves to summer weather and its my favorite time of year to travel, despite the crowds.

I’m personally not comfortable with taking my kids out of school, but I’m thinking in elementary it’s probably ok

I have a kindergartener, a 4th grader, and a 7th grader. We've not taken them out of school to travel up to this point, but we just booked a family cruise for our 20th wedding anniversary in March 2020. My oldest will be in 9th grade at that point, so I'm sure we will have a few challenges making up the work, but my children attend the private school where my dh works and it's not uncommon for families there to take their kids out of school for travel - even at the high school level.

Someone upthread mentioned teachers getting 3 months off for the summer. That's laughable. My husband is a youth orchestra director and he works through a good chunk of the summer and when he's not working, I am working a month-long freelance gig that we all travel cross country for.

No. My daughter is only in 2nd grade but hasn't missed a day of school ever since she STARTED school in kindergarten. She's very proud of the perfect attendance awards she gets at the end of every year and the quarterly rewards the school gives out (free pizza coupons etc). The only time I would consider taking her out is if she's sick and thank goodness that hasn't happened yet. So far her sniffles and tummy aches have been programmed to coincide with the weekends lol:')

 

Can't say it never crossed my mind when researching and planning vacations, especially cruises. Everything is soooo much cheaper when the kids are in school but I couldn't in good conscience bring myself to seriously consider it. Plus its like a reward for working hard in school all year and something to look forward to when school's out. Also the type of vacations I like to take lend themselves to summer weather and its my favorite time of year to travel, despite the crowds.

Tell your daughter perfect attendance is very special.....Our youngest (adult son) now a teacher himself with a Master's degree had perfect attendance K-12 and that special recognition he got when he graduated high school is something we will always be proud of.

Even now we plan our extended family cruises to coincide with his school breaks.

Tell your daughter perfect attendance is very special.....Our youngest (adult son) now a teacher himself with a Master's degree had perfect attendance K-12 and that special recognition he got when he graduated high school is something we will always be proud of.

 

Even now we plan our extended family cruises to coincide with his school breaks.

K-12, now THATS's impressive!

K-12, now THATS's impressive!

Thanks yes it is....Only once during those years he missed a couple of hours for a funeral...the school district was going to count that against him....Mom & Dad stepped in....needless to say the school district opted not to. ;)

Tell your daughter perfect attendance is very special.....Our youngest (adult son) now a teacher himself with a Master's degree had perfect attendance K-12 and that special recognition he got when he graduated high school is something we will always be proud of.

 

Even now we plan our extended family cruises to coincide with his school breaks.

Maybe it’s different with an only child (my oldest was in first grade when #4 and #5 were born), but all of my kids missed several days of school every year when they were little due to illness, and I sent them to school with colds. I really resented parents who sent their kids to school with stomach bugs and fevers (actually outed a girl who vomited in the bushes on the kindergarten line). I dislike perfect attendance awards.

Maybe it’s different with an only child (my oldest was in first grade when #4 and #5 were born), but all of my kids missed several days of school every year when they were little due to illness, and I sent them to school with colds. I really resented parents who sent their kids to school with stomach bugs and fevers (actually outed a girl who vomited in the bushes on the kindergarten line). I dislike perfect attendance awards.

Couldn't agree more. It's not an accomplishment and don't think any "award" should be given for attendance.

Maybe it’s different with an only child (my oldest was in first grade when #4 and #5 were born), but all of my kids missed several days of school every year when they were little due to illness, and I sent them to school with colds. I really resented parents who sent their kids to school with stomach bugs and fevers (actually outed a girl who vomited in the bushes on the kindergarten line). I dislike perfect attendance awards.

Even when only one of my twins was in school, viruses abounded. He’s been out a little under 2 weeks a year for two years now. Regular attendance matters but there’s only so much that can be helped. I really hope next year is better.

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Couldn't agree more. It's not an accomplishment and don't think any "award" should be given for attendance.

My boys' school stopped perfect attendance awards when they realized that parents who were obsessed with this were sending their kids to school with fevers (I'm not talking the common cold here) and making everyone else sick. While I am all for going to class (my kids have missed very few days, and luckily because they are healthy they have each had a year or two where they did have perfect attendance), I would not do it at the expense of exposing other kids.

I don't understand why you would send children to school with a cold? If you know they have a cold, it's best for everyone to stay home to minimise the spread. Obviously they've probably already been contagious, but let them have a rest. I love the idea of perfect attendance, but the fact is that there are times when it is appropriate for children to stay away from school. However, wherever possible, it should not be for inappropriate reasons.

Maybe it’s different with an only child (my oldest was in first grade when #4 and #5 were born), but all of my kids missed several days of school every year when they were little due to illness, and I sent them to school with colds. I really resented parents who sent their kids to school with stomach bugs and fevers (actually outed a girl who vomited in the bushes on the kindergarten line). I dislike perfect attendance awards.

Mine is the youngest of 5 ... certainly not an "only child".... I guess he just had a great immune system after being exposed to his brother and sisters many "germs". We certainly never expected him to have perfect attendance it just sorta happened.

My boys' school stopped perfect attendance awards when they realized that parents who were obsessed with this were sending their kids to school with fevers (I'm not talking the common cold here) and making everyone else sick. While I am all for going to class (my kids have missed very few days, and luckily because they are healthy they have each had a year or two where they did have perfect attendance), I would not do it at the expense of exposing other kids.

Yup - I had perfect attendance back in the 60s and 70s -- thank GOODNESS they did not consider it an awardable accomplishment. I would have been embarrassed to have gotten an award for something like that :D!

If you are sick, stay home! Get well.

I don't understand why you would send children to school with a cold? If you know they have a cold, it's best for everyone to stay home to minimise the spread. Obviously they've probably already been contagious, but let them have a rest. I love the idea of perfect attendance, but the fact is that there are times when it is appropriate for children to stay away from school. However, wherever possible, it should not be for inappropriate reasons.

A cold lasts for 7 - 10 days, when they were young I’d estimate about 5 colds a year. Add to that a few stomach bugs, croup, and the usual childhood illnesses (coxsackie, fifths disease, roseola, pink eye), plus random virus’ (2 day fever no other symptoms), so we just followed the schools rules of 24 hours free from fever/vomiting.

I don't understand why you would send children to school with a cold? If you know they have a cold, it's best for everyone to stay home to minimise the spread. Obviously they've probably already been contagious, but let them have a rest. I love the idea of perfect attendance, but the fact is that there are times when it is appropriate for children to stay away from school. However, wherever possible, it should not be for inappropriate reasons.

Kids get colds, it’s going to happen. A mild cold isn’t really the big problem in sending sick kids. It’s parents who ignore fevers or vomiting since those are signs of much worse.

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While they are sniffling and snotty, I don’t believe they should be at school. When your head is all stuffed up, it’s hard to concentrate, and you usually feel pretty miserable. At that time, I definitely think staying home is more important than perfect attendance.

My kid has hay fever. As do I. He’d miss half the school year if he stayed home when sniffling and snotty.

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 found one; a French Multi-national company with offices in Central Florida (Aerospace). He loves it. He had five weeks his first year.

Ramona

A lot of people are confusing school work and homework with education. They are not always the same.

Ramona

my daughter is grade 6 - She did miss a few days last Christmas time when we went to Panama - they dont even learn about the canal in school. There are alot of things that she learns during cruises as well as learning how to plan one when she gets older - This summer we are going to Japan. There are so many memories that are made ! I try and schedule around school vacations but you cant ask a cruise line to go on the schools schedule - she will also miss some time next Christmas when we go to Hawaii. I refuse to bring any school work with us - its our time

We have 3 kids.. Next year our 2 school aged kids will be in 3rd and Kinder.. We will be taking them out of school in February for their first cruise. I've already spoken with their teachers (its a really small district, one teacher per grade, pre-k through 12th in the same school) and we are going to get their important work and have "school time" each day we are gone. That being said-we also picked February because there is not a whole lot going on. We wouldn't cruise at the very beginning or the very end of the school year or just before/just after Christmas/Spring break. The week we are going also has a school holiday, so they'll be missing 4 days instead of 5. I don't mind this one bit and if the kids enjoy the cruise, we'll probably make it a yearly thing.