Do you take your kids out of school?

[jaklgreen]

As a student teacher I'd say this is, for the most part, a bad idea. We teach many things in "units" and those usually last around one week. Units build on top of each other, so if you miss one it's kind of a big deal. Parents whose children are doing well in school think there's no harm in taking them out for a week, but they don't see them struggle inside the classroom to keep up with everyone else. It asks a lot of them.

That just means the education system is flawed. A child should be able to miss a few days and not have to struggle so much to catch up. They can be given some of the extra work weeks ahead of time so they can get a head start on it. My brother broke his leg really bad in 3rd grade and was in traction. He missed months of school from being in the hospital and then at home recovering. A teacher came a few hours a week to teach him and he was caught up by the time he went back. I know it was just 3rd grade but still. My husband was a sickly kid and missed a bunch of days and he always seemed to do well in school. If missing a few days or even a week puts a kid that far back there is something wrong with the teaching.

 

[PugsNotDrugs]

haha Oh, I know the education system is flawed. Don't even get me started... I may not stop! You'd be amazed at how many people pull their kids out of school for a week without telling the teacher. That means they are not getting any lessons while they're gone, and life in the school is still happening. Most public schools don't stop teaching the entire class to make up for a student that has missed a week.

So yeah, missing a week of school with 0 homework sent home with the child is a big deal to 5-8 yr olds learning new concepts, vocab/spelling words, etc. New books and lessons are being used that contain unknown information to them, so they get confused easily and the teacher spends extra time with them to catch them up. Obviously, that's our job and we squeeze that time in somewhere - but I can't pretend the class doesn't get a lil messed up by it. This is time that could be devoted to other students who are ready for upcoming lessons that stem from the old info they already know. Harsh reality, but it's true. If this is due to an illness, that would be different because work could be already prepped to send home and a tutor is available. Also, they have to makeup a lot of work to play catch-up, on top of their regular homework. It's just not an ideal situation. Children not knowing something brand new because they weren't there to learn it doesn't reflect a poor teacher; it reflects an absent child.

Long story short.... if you're gonna miss a week, get a prep packet and your elementary aged kid will be much better off for it!

 

[Disneydreamer23]

My mom used to take me out of class in 1-5th grade, I was constantly behind. I wouldn't but its up to you.

 

[deezdisneynuts]

Usually when we go I'll get pulled out of school, we just choose an earlier time like September when school has just started and the content is mostly review. I ask my teachers for my work that'll i'll miss, and get a brief summary of the lessons. I also make sure to get an email or something so if i have questions i can ask. In elementary, middle, and high school we were always given as many days as you missed to make up all of the work (if I missed 5 days, i'd get the first 5 days i was back to make up the work with no penalty). My teachers never really make a big deal about it because they usually understand it's hard to find the time for a vacation. In my experience, I have missed at least a week for vacation almost every year and I catch up just fine. I think it's just a matter of how your kids learn. You could always have them stay a little while after school to review missed subjects with teachers if they are really lost. There's also a lot of lessons on youtube that educators have posted that could substitute for the missed lecture in class. I think it'll be fine honestly.

 

[G00fyDad]

haha Oh, I know the education system is flawed. Don't even get me started... I may not stop! You'd be amazed at how many people pull their kids out of school for a week without telling the teacher. That means they are not getting any lessons while they're gone, and life in the school is still happening. Most public schools don't stop teaching the entire class to make up for a student that has missed a week.

So yeah, missing a week of school with 0 homework sent home with the child is a big deal to 5-8 yr olds learning new concepts, vocab/spelling words, etc. New books and lessons are being used that contain unknown information to them, so they get confused easily and the teacher spends extra time with them to catch them up. Obviously, that's our job and we squeeze that time in somewhere - but I can't pretend the class doesn't get a lil messed up by it. This is time that could be devoted to other students who are ready for upcoming lessons that stem from the old info they already know. Harsh reality, but it's true. If this is due to an illness, that would be different because work could be already prepped to send home and a tutor is available. Also, they have to makeup a lot of work to play catch-up, on top of their regular homework. It's just not an ideal situation. Children not knowing something brand new because they weren't there to learn it doesn't reflect a poor teacher; it reflects an absent child.

Long story short.... if you're gonna miss a week, get a prep packet and your elementary aged kid will be much better off for it!

That's the real problem right there isn't it? What teacher actually refuses to give the child their missed homework? Each time we have taken our kids out of school for Disney or any other trip we take the teachers give the homework that will be missed as well as any classwork. Our kids get this stuff done during the two to three hour plane trip to Florida, during the 1.5 hour trip in the car to Clearwater, in the car during that trip back to the resort, one the two to three hour plane trip back home, and during the entire day we are back before they have to go back to school on Monday.

 

[PugsNotDrugs]

That's the real problem right there isn't it? What teacher actually refuses to give the child their missed homework? Each time we have taken our kids out of school for Disney or any other trip we take the teachers give the homework that will be missed as well as any classwork. Our kids get this stuff done during the two to three hour plane trip to Florida, during the 1.5 hour trip in the car to Clearwater, in the car during that trip back to the resort, one the two to three hour plane trip back home, and during the entire day we are back before they have to go back to school on Monday.

I don't think any teacher refuses to give a student missed homework. I think you misunderstood my post.

 

[HRHPrincessAriel]

That's the real problem right there isn't it? What teacher actually refuses to give the child their missed homework? Each time we have taken our kids out of school for Disney or any other trip we take the teachers give the homework that will be missed as well as any classwork. Our kids get this stuff done during the two to three hour plane trip to Florida, during the 1.5 hour trip in the car to Clearwater, in the car during that trip back to the resort, one the two to three hour plane trip back home, and during the entire day we are back before they have to go back to school on Monday.

Where did they say the teacher refused to give homework?

 

[PhilharMagician]

We used to take our daughter out for 2 weeks. This was always planned with her teachers from the beginning of the school year. She would have lots of homework to take with us to do as well as Phys-Ed tasks to report on when she would return to school. Another nice thing with our district is that ability to get her work on-line through her class-link. Once she hit 9th grade then the trips stopped to focus on college prep and also since the work load got more demanding by the time she hit high school.

I think it all depends on the child. Some do struggle in school and missing time could ruin the entire year for them once they are behind. She knew she had to work extra hard before and more so after we got back to catch up with her classmates and was more than willing to do that.

 

[Tom P.]

A lot of the things being discussed in this thread remind me of some of the reasons we home school our children...

 

[G00fyDad]

Where did they say the teacher refused to give homework?

I don't think any teacher refuses to give a student missed homework. I think you misunderstood my post.

Maybe I did, but you said "with 0 homework sent home". To me that means that the teacher sent no homework home.

 

[LdyApxr]

We are lucky enough to homeschool even though it is through a virtual academy, we still have to mark attendance and show work and he has actual teachers that he has to turn in assignments to(drop box or fax). He is going to be a Junior and we are planning a May 2016 trip and he will just work ahead and turn in the items either before we go or after we get back. I know that is not an option for everyone but I am glad we have it.

 

[LdyApxr]

How about this answer...I can't.

While most of the US states still have more liberal attendance laws, a handful have strict laws that make it illegal for parents to take their kids out for vacations (or really anything unexcused). In our state, more than 2 days of unexcused absences in a 60-day period is considered a violation of the law. If your school admins choose to pursue this, you could wind up in court facing fines and misdemeanor charges. There are a couple of states that actually have jail time written in as possible punishments for parents on their first offense. And to just show you how strict they are, school trips to educational places like DC now have to happen over holiday weeks as they violate attendance laws. My friend even spent over a week proving to a court constable that her son was legitimately out for a death in the family.

The reality though is that more states may be seeing this in their state attendance laws. One of the morning shows was talking about this the other week and I guess more states are considering enacting such laws. While I'd like to think it's for the kids, it's done for funding. More kids in attendance = more funding for each respective school/district.

And I know every time I bring this up, I get people saying they'd never follow this and the govt has no right. Technically, if you've signed your kid up for public school, you've agreed to the laws governing their enrollment in said school/district. I know people like to talk a good game, but do you move to a new state? Do you home school? Or do you leave them in public school and deal with all of the legal charges and fines as they roll in each year, hoping that a judge won't escalate things and take it beyond the basic penalties? Because you're never going to win in court if you try and argue you have a legal right to take your kid on vacay vs. sending them to school.

I'm mixed on the matter as I see both sides. On one side...I want the freedom to vacation when prices and crowds are low + while I don't feel WDW is nearly as educational as other trips, kids do learn lots from vacays. On the other side...my parents pulled me out for trips and I missed some crucial lessons that I really shouldn't have missed. No make up work could compensate for what I lost by being out of the classroom.

Just food for thought

You are very correct on it being enforced. We live in CA and several of the districts we have been in are very strict on truancy to the point that when we started homeschooling our 17yr old in 5th grade, we had three separate visits from three separate truancy officers because a neighbor complained that my son was not in school and he was out playing during school hours. We homeschool through a virtual academy that is a CA Public School and I showed the officers each time and each time they thanked me and said they were sorry for the intrusion so one day I knocked on the neighbor's door to ask if there was a problem with Ri being outside(perhaps she was a night worker and did not like noise? far fetched but I tried to give her the benefit of a doubt) and she said that she believed I was a neglecful parent and a danger to my son because she has seen us taking gun cases and compound bow cases to and from the car and Ri is never in school. I explained that he was in 4-H and took skeet and archery(the reason for the guns) and that he was homeschooled so we were not neglectful but that did not appease her and she continued to report us until finally she was told by the police that if she continued filing false complaints, she would be charged. The next complaint was that we were raising wolves and terrorizing the neighborhood. Animal Control showed up and took one look at our huskies and shook his head. LOL We started referring to her as Mrs. Kravitz and it stuck until we moved. LOL

 

[LdyApxr]

As a student teacher I'd say this is, for the most part, a bad idea. We teach many things in "units" and those usually last around one week. Units build on top of each other, so if you miss one it's kind of a big deal. Parents whose children are doing well in school think there's no harm in taking them out for a week, but they don't see them struggle inside the classroom to keep up with everyone else. It asks a lot of them.

I am not a teacher(well not a credentialed one but I am fluent in sarcasm and shenanigans) but I see both sides of this from personal experience. My dearest cousin is a teacher(she is like a sister to me) and she sees the parents who really just don't care and their children do not either and she sees the ones whose parents care, the kids care and the work is always done. She's had more than one child be in school and NOT do the work as opposed to those whose parents take them out for a trip, family funeral, medical reasons and still do the work.

As for me, when my oldest was 15(he's 26 now), he was attacked at school and in Peds ICU for three weeks with skull fractures, hearing loss(to this day), spinal compression and a few other lovely things that still affect him today and when he was released, he still did not go back to school due to neurology appts(1 hr each way), occupational therapy and physical therapy and we got letters from the school at least three times a week telling us we were in violation of the truancy act even though they knew he was attacked at school, transported to the hospital by air-medics and we were suing the school district(long story, teachers and VP had been alerted a week before the attack happened and did nothing in spite of the Zero Tolerance Bully BS they spouted) but they harassed us weekly until I walked in like the Mother at the Harper Valley PTA and socked it to them but good and that was the last time we ever got a letter, call or reminder that WE were in violation.

Some students can handle missing a unit and catching up(I was one of those, my sons are, my husband was not) and some students struggle even if they are in class every single day. It's a roll of the dice most of the time.

 

[totaldisneygirl]

growing up, all my trips to Disney involved missing school! So worth it! You'll always remember that trip to disney but you will probably immediately forget what you did/learned in the classroom those days...

 

[aw14]

I posted a page or so back, but I would suggest contacting your school in advance. Make sure to know their board approved attendance policies so,you are aware how it will possibly affect your child.