Taking your child out of school for vacation....discuss

cate1119

To do or not to do - that is the question.....

Recently, A's mom booked him a flight to visit her in FL.  He's missing 4 days of school for this trip.  While I know EOG's are over and pretty much the rest of the school year is for review, field trips, etc I just don't agree that kids should be taken out of school for vacations.  I think around major holidays it's ok to miss 1 day for travel, but think a kids job is to go to school and yeah it sucks you can't take vacation whenever you want, but that's life.  Am I being overly crazy?  While my DH is annoyed A is missing 4 days of school he said if the right circumstances were to come up - he wouldn't have a problem taking the kids out of school for vacation. 

lah1177

It is hard for me to comment or fully understand the effects of this because I do not have any children in school yet (not counting preschool). That being said, we do plan to go to Disney World next October and if my DD starts school on time, we will be pulling her out for a week (she will be in kindergarten). This is the plan for now, I may feel differently when we get closer (and really start planning the trip). I guess I don't see a huge issue with it, especially in kindergarten. Plus, there is no way we would go to Disney in the summer or over spring break. Good luck with your decision!

BackthePack

At this time of the year, post-EOGs, I wouldn't think twice about it (this coming from a former teacher). However, I would have some issues at other times of the year b/c the kids really do fall behind.

nark

For me, I think it'll depend on how our kids are doing and if they'll fall behind. At this time of year I wouldn't hesitate. I'm clearly not there yet, but I kind of forsee wanting to take my kids out more than the schools will let me and getting annoyed by that in the future. I want my kids to learn. Definitely. I value education. But I'm not so crazy about all the rules & regs. I will require my kids to keep up in school and hold myself responsible for making sure they catch up if they miss something, but I won't hesitate to take them out for vacation just so they are fulfilling their obligation to be in school every day. But that's me.

XtraKristi

I know I will get flamed, but we will definitely pull our kids out of school for vacations. When it comes time to take them to Disney I will not go during school vacation weeks. I'm not going to spend our vacation in extreme long lines (granted I know there will lines all the time, but I've been during school vacation weeks and will not do it again).  Of course if our children were struggling in school or something important was occuring then we would not. We also would not do it out of routine but I honest don't see much harm in them missing a few days. I've missed school and always was a straight A student.

cate1119

It definitely depends on how your child is doing in school and time of year (ie:  test time), and age.  To me - it would be a lot harder to catch-up the older you get since the curriculm is more difficult.  For me growing up - it wasn't the norm so I assumed it just wasn't done a lot   I guess my parents just didn't want to travel much with us kids. 

ECUGirl2004

I don't think I'd take a kid out of school for vacation, unless it was something educational - like a trip to Europe or something big like that.  I would not take my child out of school to go to Disney or to visit family (unless there was an illness/death). 

I guess with little ones in K, it might not be as big of a deal, but I just feel like it sends the wrong message to the kid... like school isn't important, but vacations are. 

 Also, I feel like it's disrespectful to teachers who have to catch kids back up or compensate for a missing kid in their class (for someone like my DH who teaches band... not having a band member there can affect how they practice/perform).  Also, teachers in Wake Co are NOT supposed ot use the end of the school year for fluff.  I know my DH is still teaching.  So it just feels disrespectful to me to think that parents think it's not important for their kids to be there, while teachers are still working on lesson plans and trying to come up with creative ways to keep the students engaged and learning.

JennaNAaron

As a teacher this is something I can not stand.  I do not see any reason once your children are in school to take a vacation during school time.  Especially in year round school because you get so many breaks. 

I teach in a traditional school, and I have a student this year that has already missed 2 weeks for trips  next week  is missing our last week of school for an out of the country trip.  I have another student who missed over a week for a trip to visit grandparents (who are only a couple hours away).

I know that if a student misses too many days their parents do get in trouble.  Our principal is pretty lenient and allows pretty much anything (i.e. the beach) to count as an educational opportunity.

It really makes me aggravated when I send work with a student that will be out and it is not completed.  I think some people just don't realize HOW important school is.

 Disclaimer....I realize this sounds harsh, but I haven't spoke to any of the other teachers at my school that disagree.

cate1119

MrsLee04:

I agree with PPs who don't like the idea of taking kids out of school for vacation.  But in your example I feel more forgiving since you're talking about him visiting him mom.  I'm sure it's tough for him to be split between 2 parents and it's important for him to have time with her, too.

It is hard for him to split time, but if she hadn't moved there on a whim then...but in all seriousness, this has happened a lot with her to start the weekend early or have a long weekend and to me I thought it was odd since it's something we never did.  I thought DH felt the same until we talked last night about it and I realized he hadn't even given it a second thought. 

 

cate1119

ECUGirl2004:

 like it's disrespectful to teachers who have to catch kids back up or compensate for a missing kid in their class (for someone like my DH who teaches band... not having a band member there can affect how they practice/perform).  Also, teachers in Wake Co are NOT supposed ot use the end of the school year for fluff.  I know my DH is still teaching.  So it just feels disrespectful to me to think that parents think it's not important for their kids to be there, while teachers are still working on lesson plans and trying to come up with creative ways to keep the students engaged and learning.

This is a very interesting perspective - I never thought about the burden on the teachers to help the kid catch-up or the message that could be sent to kids about taking vacations which in school.  Now that you say that though - it makes sense. 

unc_pirate

As a teacher I disagree with taking students out of school for vacation.  It's not like they have vacation leave to burn as do parents who have jobs.  And going to school is a kid's "job."  I, like the other teacher above, believe that taking students out of school for vacation sends the wrong message to the student (that school isn't as important as going on vacation) and that it is disrespectful - not just to the teacher, but the student going on the vacation as well as the other students in their class.  When a student misses school for vacation they are missing out on instruction - whether it's during the year or the end of the year.  The teacher is going to have to get makeup work to the student's family and hope that it gets done, and that the student will grasp the objectives being taught while they are out of school, and often times do have to spend time to try to catch the student up.  There is a disservice to the student going on the vacation if they aren't a high-level achiever and aren't able to grasp the content they are missing.  Even if the teacher spends extra time with them when they return, often times it's not enough time to provide the amount of instruction the student needs (or would have received if they'd been there in the first place) to be at the appropriate level.  It's rude to the other students in the class because sends the same messages to them. 

While I understand that some people do not want to go on vacations when it's a break from school because there are crowds or traffic or higher rates, I don't understand placing the value of convenience for a vacation above your child's education.  There must be ways to make it work.