Yes, definitely. I missed a week of school several times to visit family in Europe and it was no big deal. As an adult, I am so glad we took those trips.
how old will she be? We just got back from 2 weeks in Scotland. Oliver is 4.5 years old. TBH, he really struggled being there. The change in routine, time schedule, and just him being fucking four, was tough. My older son did fantastic (he's 6.5 years old). We've been back for a week and I don't think Oliver is completely over his jet lag.
So, if your DD is around 4/5, I'd lean toward leaving her behind, but not solely b/c of the school thing. I think travelling with that age child is just really tough
I think the jet lag coming home from Europe is easier than going, so hopefully that next week when she's back in school won't be as bad as you're fearing.
Post by awkwardpenguin on Aug 3, 2016 10:02:12 GMT -5
Assuming I wouldn't run afoul of truancy laws, I would do it. That said, pulling a kid out for vacation is technically truancy in my city, but the school/city doesn't address the problem unless it is chronic.
We're taking our kids out of school for a week in September to go to Disney and they are in 5th and 8th grades. I would have even less hesitation to take them out to go on a free international trip.
I doubt that it will take a week for your kid to recover from jet lag. We went to Germany over Thanksgiving break when I was in 6th grade and had no problems going back to school a day after arriving home.
No I wouldn't. I've soften my views on leaving on a trip and we're considering missing 3 days of school when my kids are in 1st and 3rd for a trip that would be hard to during a school break.
Would it be the end of the world? No. Is K much more challenging that it was just a few years back and a lot of important work happens early on in the year. It would be better for example to go away in May or June based on the cadence of instruction at our school
I would in a heartbeat; I mean, a) it's kindergarten and b) I think international travel can be such a great learning experience. We took time off during the primary school years for less enriching trips than that. And by less enriching, I'm talking Disney World.
Would your school consider those unexcused absences? My kid's school has a very strict limit on those each semester. I probably wouldn't, simply for that reason.
I would. It's kindergarten. I hate my child missing a random day of school for something at home, but I view travel very differently and I'm okay with missing days for a trip that's educational.
Then again, I sent my kids to school the next day after arriving home from Alaska--jet lagged and all. I figured they'd survive a day being tired in class.
Would your school consider those unexcused absences? My kid's school has a very strict limit on those each semester. I probably wouldn't, simply for that reason.
What exactly is the school going to do to Little Starry if she is unexcused for a week to go on a trip to Germany? I'm going to strongly guess absolutely nothing.
I find it interesting that some people say they wouldn't take her because she may not remember it...babies and kids don't remember much of anything we do for them, but we still do things like reading them books, taking them to music classes, etc. It expands their horizons and shapes their world view. I see this as the same sort of thing.
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My kid's school - and most of the public schools in my city - holds students back a grade or fails them if they have 10 or more unexcused absences per semester. Even at the K level.
I'm LOLing that people are saying no because they don't remember things from when they're 5. Let's just not send them to Kinder then!
Eh, this is not the reasoning I gave, but I did mention not remembering stuff. For me it's more like my kid, at 5, will not really get anything from this trip that he wouldn't get from another (shorter/less expensive/not during the school year) trip.
Also, I mean, I do not look back on my time in Greece at age 7 and think, "wow, that was really educational." Trips to Europe when I was older, sure.
Fair enough. I do think that kids get a lot out of a big family trip (esp because it sounds like this one is rare!) even if it's not specific to the history or sights at the place they're traveling to.
Fyi finding a lot of airfare to Munich out of O'Hare next spring for $600. Turkish Airways with a layover in Istanbul though.
I dont know what the tickets would be like flying to Europe but yesterday I saw tickets for as long as $350 flying from Europe to the States during the last week of Ocotber and the first week of November.
For Kinder we took DD out for 5 days. It was not a issue. If this public school there may be a school policy of how many days are allowed. You can let them know in advance if you plan to take a extended period. To me in Kinder it is no big deal.
For 1st grade we are going to Aruba in December. So she will again have about 5 days longer on her Christmas vacation. Plan to let them know asap.