Would you take your kid out of school for a vacation?

[drloretta]

In early January? I'm not even sure DD would be back in school.

[Deleted]

Not for Orlando.

I would take her out to see her grandparents on the Jewish holidays. I would mayyybe extend a once-in-a-lifetime trip overseas. But that's about it.

And I agree it depends on what kind of student she is, what grade she's in and what she'd be missing.

[cinco]

We are going in early December with my 1st and 3rd grader. I don't plan on doing it again any time soon (or probably ever), but due to scheduling this is what worked for us. Their teachers have been extremely supportive. Heck, DD1's will be out on maternity leave. I am concerned they will miss more than their max allowed days for the year, but DS did last year and they didn't boot him out or call CPS on us. We got a form letter from the county, but the school said it was fine.

[frlcb]

My parents took me out of 4th grade for 3 weeks to go to Asia. Our teachers were completely on board, and we had work to do and it was a great experience.

So for something like that? Yes. For Orlando? No.

[mlt]

I maybe would for something somewhat educational like the Grand Canyon or Washington D.C. For Disneyworld or the beach or Vegas or something, no.

[spankswife]

I would, but DH would need a lot of convincing.

[mellymel]

Yes. We actually just did this, but DS is only in preschool so NBD.

My parents did it with us a couple times when we were growing up and it didn't have a negative impact.

I probably wouldn't do it every year but I think it's fine to do occasionally.

[Deleted]

Yes.
I work in a school and people do it all the time. They try to schedule it obviously over a long weekend so they're only missing 3 days or so. My schools policy is "5 days without prior administrative consent."

This is one of those "only on the internet do people stress about this" issues.

[ssmjlm]

I would, but I would probably try and pick a slow-ish time of year and definitely make sure my child could handle being out.

Friends had their kid miss the first week of 1st grade for a cruise. I totally side eye that shit.

[countthestars]

Yes, I would

[badgergrl]

I think pulling an elementary school kids out are different than high school.

[kangaroo11]

Sept 17, 2014 13:14:12 GMT -5 badgergrl said:

I think pulling an elementary school kids out are different than high school.

I agree with this. I'd do a week in elementary school, but wouldn't for middle or high school. Our trips are mostly educational though, so that has some bearing on my opinion. 

[badgergrl]

For those who say no, or that you have very strict school districts, when do you take a family vacation? Like, when would you go to disney?

Summer isn't an option for us due to work schedues and all our other school off weeks fall over holidays that would make it impractical to be on vacation.

[CrazyLucky]

I voted no. Even for an educational trip, which can be done anytime, even during the summer. I might give it some consideration if the kid was young enough, but I still lean heavily towards no.
Also, this is one of the reason parents I know love year round school. It's so easy to plan an off-season vacation.

[ECB]

This is an "it depends" thing. As said, the kind of vacation it is plays a role. And also what kind of student DS is. if he does well and keeps up well, sure, I'd consider it. But if he turns out to struggle and not do well - probably wouldn't.

[Brie]

I wouldn't make a habit of it and do it every year, but if it's a one-time vacation of a lifetime sort of thing I might.

[leonard131]

As a kid my parents did all the time unitl we got to high school. We would get our homework assigments and would have to spend so much time a day doing our work. The rule was until we showed them it couldn't be done i.e. falling grades or missed assignements we would do it. It got harder in High School to do so we didn't really do it much.

[ilikedonuts]

We will pull our kids out of school every year for vacation until high school.

ETA: Where my girls will go to school (Catholic school), as long as you tell them ahead of time, its fine. So as long as that policy stays the same...

[hocus2]

Sept 17, 2014 13:17:42 GMT -5 badgergrl said:

For those who say no, or that you have very strict school districts, when do you take a family vacation? Like, when would you go to disney?

Summer isn't an option for us due to work schedules and all our other school off weeks fall over holidays that would make it impractical to be on vacation.

We take vacations when school is not in session. Disney is not a critical thing to do a as child. There is very little educational value in going. I could see missing one day for travel but overall I think kids should be in school when it is open unless they are sick.

[speckledfrog]

I agree with checking with your district policies. I know ours has a very strict truancy policy and vacations are not considered excuses absences.

[dragonfly08]

Up through kindergarten, yes, I did.

After that? Probably not, especially not for Disney and especially not with my 6th grader b/c making up the work would be (and this has been the case since at least third grade) way too stressful. I might consider it for a once in a lifetime trip, maybe.

As for when we travel, mostly in the summer. Not that we travel all that much...we vacation (meaning a week or more) every other year or so. Other than that it's short trips such as over a long weekend when the kids have days off.

[Deleted]

Probably for a day or two at most unless it was a big international trip/once in a lifetime thing.

[Velar Fricative]

Nope.

[badgergrl]

Sept 17, 2014 13:28:47 GMT -5 atlas said:

Sept 17, 2014 13:17:42 GMT -5 badgergrl said:

For those who say no, or that you have very strict school districts, when do you take a family vacation? Like, when would you go to disney?

Summer isn't an option for us due to work schedues and all our other school off weeks fall over holidays that would make it impractical to be on vacation.

Well, I wouldn't do a Disney trip.

We would always take family vacations in the summer. DC, swimming camp in Alabama with some extra days over to Atlanta, visiting family in CA, Chicago, Boston/NYC, etc.  My mom was also not adverse to doing vacation things over holidays, but we were always skiing.

I think if I really wanted to do a play vacation the only time I would do it would be spring break. Sucks becasue of the money due to high season, but at least there usually isn't a holiday to contend with.

Spring break is always over Easter so that's not an option either.

[cjeanette]

Nope, short of some sort of wedding or other event that couldn't be controlled I would not. School is #1. I don't want to confuse that message.

[rootbeerfloat]

We took DS out of K for a week, but I don't think I'd do it again going forward. Maybe a day or two, but not a whole week.

[badgergrl]

Sept 17, 2014 13:27:02 GMT -5 hocus2 said:

Sept 17, 2014 13:17:42 GMT -5 badgergrl said:

For those who say no, or that you have very strict school districts, when do you take a family vacation? Like, when would you go to disney?

Summer isn't an option for us due to work schedules and all our other school off weeks fall over holidays that would make it impractical to be on vacation.

We take vacations when school is not in session. Disney is not a critical thing to do a as child. There is very little educational value in going. I could see missing one day for travel but overall I think kids should be in school when it is open unless they are sick.

So you would just tell you kid sorry, you can never go to disney because it's not "critical" so it's not an option.  My dd would be so crushed.

[speckledfrog]

Sept 17, 2014 13:32:57 GMT -5 badgergrl said:

Sept 17, 2014 13:27:02 GMT -5 hocus2 said:

We take vacations when school is not in session. Disney is not a critical thing to do a as child. There is very little educational value in going. I could see missing one day for travel but overall I think kids should be in school when it is open unless they are sick.

So you would just tell you kid sorry, you can never go to disney because it's not "critical" so it's not an option.  My dd would be so crushed.

Disappointments are a fact of life.  If you can't take a vacation over the summer and don't want to take one over holiday breaks, that's what happens.

[ilikedonuts]

Guys, are 6th graders REALLY going to get that much out of seeing the white house? I get that its technically educational, but come on now. I'm not seeing this crazy difference between that vacation and Disney. ETA: from what a kid will truly take away from the vacation I mean

But then again chilerellanos and I are just those crazy Disney people

[anna7602]

I basically viewed school as optional when DD was in preschool and took her out often for different trips. but starting with Kindergarten, we've tried to stick to traveling during school breaks. It would have to be something really exceptional, like a family member's wedding abroad or something we really couldn't do at another time. For Disney? No.