Disney and homeschooling

[4everDory]

What's ridiculous about this is that the government-funded schools that we all pay for are allowed to tell you what you can do with your child and when. My kids will never be government-educated as long as I can afford other options. I say go regardless; what are they gonna do? Arrest you?

Actually, yes, they could We got a letter in the mail from the county attendance office, saying we needed to contact the attendance officer at our school to discuss our daughter's truancy. If we did not contact them, we were subject to a fine of $100/day and/or time in jail. If they find that you actually ARE just not bringing your kid to school (sleeping in, etc), they still may fine you or put you in jail (I know someone whose sister got put in jail for this). I've just gotten really frustrated over the principal's rude attitude about all of this, as well as the inconsistencies among the schools in the county. If it's against the rules at one school, it should be at all the schools. Likewise, if it's ok to take your kid to Disney and then just write a report about it to excuse it at one school, it should be that way at all the schools.

 

[Disneykidder]

I love disney just as much as the next person but to use it as a reason to homeschool a child? C'mon, really??

 

[jakeman]

/walks into thread

/looks around

/backs out slowly

 

[unkadug]

/walks into thread

/looks around

/backs out slowly

Wise man....*slams the door on this thread*

 

[Yoop33]

So, is wanting to be able to continue going to Disney World in the off-season for vacation a good enough reason to homeschool my DD9? (I already homeschool her DS13). School won't excuse absence for Disney trip at all

Is this a serious question/ thread? Im sorry but I feel "stupider" :hammer: for reading it. Someone please remove it from this site.

 

[Yoop33]

I'm hoping so! The "normal social interaction with peers" that my DD13 had before we pulled her out of school was kids calling her "weird," along with other names, making fun of her, and setting her up to get in trouble (strangely enough, no one but my DD ever got in trouble, though). At 8 years old, my DD was wishing that she would "fall out of a window and land on a sword and die." She was suicidal until a few months after we pulled her out of school when she was 10 1/2. No one even told her good-bye on her last day of school. Great social interaction...just what every good parent wants for their child.

Now that she's homeschooling, she's a much happier girl. She takes a sewing class with other homeschoolers, as well as a writing class, both of which meet weekly. She was taking a PE class for homeschoolers, but we quit last year when she broke her wrist and couldn't participate. She is also in dance class/rehearsal 4-5 days a week. She loves to go to the mall with her friends she's made at dance class, and to have sleepovers or lunch dates with them, too. I don't think social interaction is a problem.

I think this post alone explains everything....
Not to be rude, But consider the source. I credit my school and social experiences to how I was raised, and I am VERY thankful for the married couple of 32 years I call parents.

 

[erstwo]

I agree. We saw so many kids out of school when we where there in
September. We have three kids, all in their 20's now and they all attened private/parochial schools. We would have faced serious consequences for taking them out of school for a vacation, more to the point, they would have faced serious consequences with their grades. School work is not handed out and the tests are not able to made up for a vacation break. Those were the rules in our school and we followed them. I do not feel for one second we missed quality family time by not going on vacation during the school year, nor do they. Our choice, I admit. It would not have worked for us.

I find this very interesting. My children attend a private, parochial school and we are allowed to have 20 absences, no questions asked.

Now these absences have include sick days, etc. and if we miss MORE than 20 days, we face the possibility of having to discuss summer school, repeating a grade, etc. But until 20 absences is reached, we are free to do whatever we wish with OUR children. I find it one of the best reasons it's worth shelling out the big bucks for my children to attend a private school. After all, it's my child. If I find there is great value in a family vacation, great learning opportunities, great memories, emotional health, etc. then I feel that I should be allowed to act on that. My children's teachers are more than willing to work with us on our 10 day trip in December.:xmas:

My husband attended (what was at the time - it is now co-ed) the largest all boys Catholic High School in the nation and it was the same thing. The parents were allowed to take their children out of school a certain number of days, no questions asked.

My husband traveled to Europe every year (my mother in law was born and raised in Germany), went on an Alaskan cruise, traveled most of the Caribbean on a sailboat, visited Brazil and several other wonderful trips, all "during the school year." If his parents had been limited to summer or Christmas break trips only, he would have been left behind on many of those trips. And I think that would have been a terrible shame. You can hear about the wonders of Greece, see the pictures, but when you see them yourself, it's a whole new thing.

Anyway, just my 2 cents!

ETA: Sorry, that should be Bolivia, not Brazil. DH has been to Brazil, but it was after high school. His brother lived in Bolivia with the Peace Corps for a time, so he visited there a few times during his high school years.

Also, to the OP - I agree it shouldn't be the entire reason you home school, but I understand your frustration with not being able to decide what is best for your child. :-(

 

[NedFlanders]

Wow, what a horrible system. Let's pass them along and really make them look stupid.



It's so true that it is disgusting. The worst thing that ever happened was tying funding to success rates.



Who can blame you if the state allows it. But the fact that you sacrifice your child's education for a vacation that could certainly be taken at other times during the year says more about you as a parent than it does about the system.

Now, do I think it's a bad idea to pull a kid out of school? Not really. But the expectation that the school should accomodate the decision is utterly ridiculous.

I think you forgot a very critical point in the school systems. The schools are paid for by the parents through taxes... There fore the school is providing me a tax paying customer with a service and that service needs to be delivered in a way I as the customer want.... your stance seems more like that of someone that ignores the fact that public schools are supposed to cater to the public but instead dictate how the public will act.

I had the same attitude when I went to college. I was paying so I was the customer... when I had classes that I knew I could pass without going to class I didn't waste my time going... My kids have never had a grade lower than A and that isn't because they attended school religiously, it is because we teach them at home and just let them go to school for the socializing... I wouldn't depend on our public schools to teach a dog.

You also seem to be blindly accepting that funding is somehow tied to success rate. What you will find happens is that schools game the system. In Houston some schools had students that were stupid and expected to fail mandated exams skip school so they wouldn't bring down the school's numbers. Games like that happen everywhere which makes it silly to think that funding is actually tied to success it is tied to ability of schools to game the system.

I suspect if someone is relying on ANY public school to actually provide their kids with an education, well those people are sacrificing their kids education. Schools are really nothing more than day care centers, learning happens at home.

Upon reading some of your posts I now understand why you are defending a system that is broken beyond repair... Because you are a teacher? Given that fact I probably shouldn't have wasted anytime with a reply you will defend your employer because they pay your salary... just don't forget that your salary is coming from my tax dollars so you work for me and every other parent... Imagine your next trip to the grocery store, would you want the grocer putting food in your shopping cart and taking out food you had put in because he thought it was in your best interest?