Traveling with kids?

[UATLB]

we travel as often as we can and we just take the kids out of school we find out when the important stuff is and book around that.

we also try leaving in the few days early or middle of a vacation weeks so they only miss a few days instead of a week

[atate75]

We are taking our first cruise on the Dream in May. I looked at summer rates and decided to take our daughter out of school for the week. If you have a good kid that makes good grades I see nothing wrong with it. Plus they're your kids. It's your decision regardless of anyone else's opinion.

 

 

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[rebeccalouiseagain]

Public schools are not going to let you take a family vacation with their blessing. That is really doubtful- given that kids are off school about 100 days per year. In my area, the teachers make NO effort to provide kids with missed work in advance (and frankly they aren't too on the ball about providing work after an illness either).

 

Find a cruise when the kids have off school- they are out there and I've booked them. Easter for example is not much more than off season cruises- when booked in advance.

 

When you have five kids- one of them is bound to miss some school due to illness. So while missing 2 or 3 days doesn't seem like a big deal... it might be if they've already missed some time due to illness or family emergencies.

Edited March 10, 2014 by rebeccalouiseagain

[HappyAboard]

Our kids have a week off every February, so that is when we cruise. However, they still end up usually 2 or 3 days because with flying we are usually away 11 days. It is way easier to have them miss school in elementary school, it is more difficult when they miss high school.

[botbienvn]

My husband and I do not pull our kids out of school for family vacations. However, I have seen my friends' families do it.

 

For us, it's not that we don't want to save money, it's because it's too much for our kids to catch up after the vacation. Also, it's not fair for the teachers for the extra work they have to do to accommodate the family.

 

Whatever other families decide to do, it's their choice; we just don't do it.

[Copper_beeches]

We're taking my step kids out for two weeks in April, 10th and 7th grade. We have prior approval from both principals. We'll get the work possible prior to April vacation ( cruise is directly after) and what we have will be done before leave. They will also be journaling while we're gone. I apologized to the teachers for making extra work for them to give the kids work in advance, but other than that I have no qualms over it.

[tinkerbell1984]

We have gone on two cruises in September...Which is like the cheapest time to go. They missed 3-4 days each time, the week of Labor Day. However, my kids are young. This year my son was in 2nd grade and I talked to his teacher before hand and got any assignments for the week. I notified my daughters Pre-K teacher so she wouldn't lose her spot in class. Just notify the school, ask if there is anything they could do while you are gone to make their absence easier on everyone because you know 'school is more important'. :) That usually helps.

 

Our district has strict attendence policies too. 10 max absences without being considered truant, excused or not...But no more than 5 unexcused. It did put stress on me later in the year when my daughter was sick for a long time though! But I don't like crowds, nor do I agree in paying that much just for the time or year...The heat is worse...And kids can learn so much traveling.

[mjkacmom]

We have 5 kids, and stopped taking them out for a week after our oldest was in middle school - just too much work to make up. Here in NJ, our kids get off 3 days the first week in November, so we cruise then, and they only miss 2 days of school (oldest 2 are now in high school, so they really can't miss a week of school for a vacation - and would refuse to). Do you have any partial weeks?

[rarasnake]

Call your children's schools and ask to speak to the principal, please!

 

We are taking our children out right at the end of school and before EOG's. Our girls are straight A honor roll students and only miss when they are sick...

 

One principal excused my younger daughter's absences (as long as she does a project on her trip) and even with the fact that she has missed 8 days due to tonsil surgery. My oldest daughter, which hasn't missed any days, her principal will excuse 1 of the 5 days she will miss (but same thing, to get that 1 day, she has to do a report on the whole trip)...

 

It varies on states, county and local administration.

 

Personally, I would not feel bad for taking my children out of school. Any opportunity to bond with close family and learn about different cultures (even while just on the boat) is more valuable than if they are sitting in a school building and reading about it.

 

I will also state though, be careful about removing them those first couple of days. Lots of schools have orientation, class signups, club sign ups, etc. and your children may miss out on getting to do certain activities that following year. Again though, contact the administration ASAP and let them tell you, how they can help..

[akcruz]

I will agree with most here, check with your schools to see what their policy is before doing anything.

 

We took our kids out until they were in about middle school, then realized they were missing just too much being out of school. Our school districts don't have a policy against taking vacations during school time, but will NOT give you work ahead of time. It is your responsibility when returning to get and make up the missed work.

 

Also, my daughter asked us NOT to take her out even for 1 day when she hit high school. We took off a Friday before a long weekend and she felt so lost when she got back she didn't want to do it again. Of course, at that point she was in AP classes so the work never stopped.

 

Each and every school and family is different. Even kids within a family can be different. If it works for you great, but make sure you weigh all the options and make an informed decision.

[AandBmom]

We went to Disney in September one year, before the kids (kid then) were old enough for school. It was so much cheaper and a lot less busy, so a great trip. I understand traveling in the off season has its benefits !

 

However, we do not take our kids out of school. But not because I don't think you're suppose to, but because of specific rules.

 

In our district.....you are only allowed to miss 5 days per semester. Period. It doesn't matter if you're sick, having surgery, death in the family, or traveling. 5 days. When you reach the 5th day, you are turned over to the Division of Family Services for truancy. Most of the time, it doesn't evolve into anything, but they can come and investigate and make things ridiculous. The last time I sent my daughter at noon the secretary made some comment about sick kids coming to school and I reminded her that as long as they had the 5 day rule that's exactly what was going to happen. It doesn't even matter if the school nurse sends them home - it counts against them. This is the entire school - elementary & high school.

 

Once in high school, if you have a certain % attendance, you don't have to take finals in certain classes. If you're under attendance then you do.

 

Also, we have an A+ high school. I think it is a state program maybe?! If you register as a freshman with the program and complete the list of criteria, (specific gpa, community service hours, attendance, etc) then you can attend 2 years at a community college free. Yes free. If you choose a 4 year (like my son did) then you get a nominal scholarship instead. One of the requirements is an overall attendance %. Miss a few days throughout each year and it puts that whole program into jeopardy. Quite a few kids here rely on that for further schooling.

 

Even with prior arrangements made, our absences count against the kids. One example, my daughter has an appointment in the city with a pediatric cardiologist on Thursday at 1:00. It's over 2 hours each way. I've notified the office, she'll pick up assignments and turn them in on time on Friday when she returns and it is still counted on her record as one of her 5.

 

So, no, we don't take our kids out of school for vacations.

 

I can recommend however, that you take a cruise immediately when school is out. Each week into the summer, the cruise increases in price. We have taken 2 now the last week of May into June. We are fortunate though that our school is out by May 20. I know some go longer.

 

We rarely get a spring break. They schedule it for the Wed before Easter through the Tuesday after but they are part of our snow make up days. We missed 6 days this year and lost all of that except Good Friday , used some other days, and added one on at the end. No fall break, but we do get 2 full weeks off at Christmas. We're ok with that schedule since they do get out 'early' compared to others. All the schools in the surrounding towns have about the same schedule we do.

 

This is all fascinating to me!

[AandBmom]

My school aged children are 4,8 and 9. They are in JK, gr. 3 and gr. 4. We have pulled them for a week each year but I'm not sure how long we will keep doing this. I struggle with the idea that we will tell them not to skip class when they're in high school but then we set the example of letting them miss class for vacation. It's a tough one. Right now we approach the Teacher ahead of time and ask for extra work. On our last vacation my gr. 3 son did the homework the day before we left, my gr. 4 brought a bunch and did it on the plane and on the pool deck and my nephew in gr. 11 did a bunch of homework in the library on sea days (his choice).

 

It sounds to me like the schools in the United States have policies that are more strict about missing school, especially at the elementary level. Around here (Ontario Canada) the child's academic progress (tests, assignments, etc) count the most, number of absences doesn't affect passing at all. Of course being present in class contributes to passing but it's not a requirement. As for the comment about child services being called in due to absences, around here that doesn't justify a child protection response usually (unless there are other issues contributing to the child missing such as parental substance abuse, parental mental health, lack of supervision, etc.).

[Freckle53]

I wish we got out at the end of May! This year the last day isn't until June 26th. And since Labor Day is on the 1st, they will be back in school on the 3rd or 4th of September. Our cruise leaves the 28th. I thought 3.5-4 weeks in was a "good" time to miss. He will have settled into the new year and its routines enough by then.

[Onessa]

Our state allows the policy pretty much up to each school district. And our school district has pretty rational policies. If you make arragements with the school two weeks in advance, it is pretty much ok. They might discourage it if your kid is having problems in a class and they tell you well in advance when testing periods are scheduled. But beyond that they are pretty cool -- no automatic failures, no threats of arrest, etc.

 

Our state's school funding process is not based upon daily enrollment figures and does not punish a district if a child is out of school for a day or two for any reason.

 

But even then, throughout the years my DD was in elementary school and middle school (through grade 8) we generally vacationed the week of American Thanksgiving. Friday prior to that week is traditionally a half-day (end of trimester) and the week of Thanksgiving is only a two-day week. So we can go from Thursday night to the following Sunday and miss only 2.5 days. We typically cruised HI or the Mediterranean or some other non-Caribbean place so it was not really a "busy" week.

 

Since DD hit high school her schedule makes travel at pretty much any time impossible -- she is in band and several sports. We managed a Baltic cruise one summer and a Norwegian fjords another -- but even then she had to miss cross country practice for a week (running on the ship was "boring" but she managed it).

 

. . . It sounds to me like the schools in the United States have policies that are more strict about missing school, especially at the elementary level. Around here (Ontario Canada) . . . .

our state nearly borders Ontario so maybe that's why we are less "strict" -- maybe that Canadian-ness rubs off a bit :D

[Weber Prof]

Our 4 kids are grown now but we always took vacations during the school year as that was the only time my husband could vacation. Fortunately our children also went to a year round elementary school where they were in school for 9 weeks and then off for three weeks. Instead of one summer break they had 4 breaks throughout the year. When they went to secondary school I applied for educational leave (up to 10 days a year) and got work from their teachers and supplemented with curriculum I found on the places we traveled. By the time the children graduated from high school they had been in multiple states, countries, and oceans, spoke a little French, Spanish, and Creole, and had witnessed sights and cultures not duplicated in the classroom. Their college entrance applications were made stronger due to their travels and experiences. The downside was as parents we had to be very diligent about continuing their lessons while in exotic locales. Our children were excellent students and never got behind, in fact they were often ahead of their peers. Good luck as you make the educational and vacation choices for your family.

[schmance]

I bite the bullet, financially, and travel with my son during school breaks. He's a freshman in high school. We both prefer that he not miss classroom instruction and catch up on missed work/tests/quizzes. My feeling is that school is his "job" right now, and we work around it, just as we work around critical times at my job.

 

Obviously I'm not getting rock-bottom prices on our travel during school breaks, but I shop carefully and generally feel I still get my money's worth.

 

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[pafam4]

I bite the bullet, financially, and travel with my son during school breaks. He's a freshman in high school. We both prefer that he not miss classroom instruction and catch up on missed work/tests/quizzes. My feeling is that school is his "job" right now, and we work around it, just as we work around critical times at my job.

 

Obviously I'm not getting rock-bottom prices on our travel during school breaks, but I shop carefully and generally feel I still get my money's worth.

 

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I agree with you schmance. When my husband and I travel, we love the break from the work/stress/deadlines. We feel its good for our kids to have that same experience on vacation, not worrying about schoolwork that needs to be done, plus all the classroom time missed. So we plan our travels in the summer months, when they can relax as well. Both kids work extremely hard during the school year and would not want to miss that much time from the classroom.

 

I totally understand this doesn't work for some families due to financial constraints or work schedules, but we budget accordingly and have a great time cruising while we can all leave our everyday lives behind for a week.

[sjb.illinois]

We pulled our kids from school last year when they were then grades 2 and 5. That was simply the only way we could afford the vacation. We went the week after Thanksgiving vacation, and told the teachers immediately at the beginning of the year as well as closer to the trip. My daughter, who was then grade 5, is a much stronger student, and had no trouble making her work up afterwards. My son, who was grade 2, had a tougher time, but it was a challenging year for him anyway. The value of the trip for our family, however, was phenomenal. We made memories for a lifetime.

I was concerned that I might not be able to pull them from school again as they got older, but have made the decision that we will do so for our cruise next December, when they will be grades 4 and 7. My son is a much stronger student now, and my daughter continues to have excellent grades. I've verified that there is no standardized testing the week we will be gone, and I recognize it will be OUR responsibility to get the kids caught up afterwards- not the teachers.

The bottom line, I think, is that while we value school tremendously, we also put a premium on relaxing, rewarding family vacations. And the only way we can pull off a weeklong cruise is to take the kids out of school. We may not be able to do it as the kids get older, with the increasing demands of school and extracurriculars, but for now this is the choice WE make. The kids will only be kids once :)

Whatever you decide, have a wonderful vacation!!!

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Edited April 8, 2014 by sjb.illinois