Jump to content

Who pulls the kids out of school to cruise?


4olivers
 Share

Recommended Posts

Are we alone? We don’t typically pull our kids out of school for trips but this year it’s just timing out that it’s best for us to go the first week in May [emoji85] starting to second guess but wondering....surely we are not alone! We have 13 and 16 year olds....

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are many threads discussing this in the family forum here, including a long current one. You could read some for many viewpoints. Try not to gag on the ones from posters who extol the many virtues of their wonder children.

 

 

 

I’ll see if I can find it, just called family forum?

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a teacher and parent, I say go for it! People get on their high horse and say it’s wrong, but life is way too short and your kids will only be young for a short time. Time with family is absolutely priceless!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When our daughter was 11 we realised that she had little idea about the world and history, so we took her out of primary (elementary?) school for 9 weeks for a round the world trip to see as many icons and historical sites as we could including a mediterranean cruise. We are in Australia. We saw things like the Golden Gate bridge, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, the Smithsonian, the White House, NYC, Disneyworld, Barcelona and La Sagrada Familia, the Vatican, Pisa, Florence, the Colosseum, Ephesus, the greek islands, the sights of London, Stonehenge, Bath, Edinburgh, Warsaw, Krakow, Auschwitz. We thought it might help her studies in subjects like history and geography (it didn't really but at least she learnt a bit more about the world and had been to many places covered in her classes later on).

 

One of her classmates also travelled for that school term to Europe and we even met up in Barcelona. Their other classmates and teacher tracked them both on their travels - learning about the places they were.

 

In high school however, in Australia, you often have to get the approval of the school to take students out during school terms so long trips are harder to organise. We did one trip (for a week) and our daughter had to promise to keep up with her school work on the trip.

 

I do think that for many trips the learning is very beneficial.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We used to pull our daughter out to go on vacation until she was in second grade. The classwork that she missed was just too hard for us to do and also enjoy our trip. Also now that she's older and NC has EOG (end of grade testing) in May we only will pull her out the last 1 or 2 days of school to do Alaska this year. We did a Med. Cruise and Rome that way too. EOGs will be completed before then.

I just schedule any other cruises during scheduled breaks just to avoid the hassle.

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Forums mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We pulled our kids out of school the last week in January from grade one until they graduated high school for our annual family cruise. Both graduated University and are now established in their careers, so I guess it worked out ok.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We used to pull our daughter out to go on vacation until she was in second grade. The classwork that she missed was just too hard for us to do and also enjoy our trip. Also now that she's older and NC has EOG (end of grade testing) in May we only will pull her out the last 1 or 2 days of school to do Alaska this year. We did a Med. Cruise and Rome that way too. EOGs will be completed before then.

I just schedule any other cruises during scheduled breaks just to avoid the hassle.

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Forums mobile app

 

 

 

We are in NC too and in hindsight now realize we stressed way too much about EOGs in elementary school. All the pressure!

 

We did Alaska in 2016! AMAZING CRUISE!

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We pulled our kids out of school the last week in January from grade one until they graduated high school for our annual family cruise. Both graduated University and are now established in their careers, so I guess it worked out ok.

 

 

 

Love it [emoji4]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our daughter is now in 6th but her school uses EOG scores to determine math and STEM placement so we don't stress, just have to make sure that she's there for prep and tests. She's in a charter school. We used to pull her out the week of labor day but charter school funding is based on the 1st two weeks of school attendance. If you are out more than 2 days, they will give your spot to Some one on the waitlist. Eek! They have 1000s on the waitlist as we used to be on it. She got in for 2nd grade so there went vacay that week. I had really already determined I was done with helping her with schoolwork while we were on vacation. It was not a vacation for me! I felt like I was being punished!

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Forums mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pulling our 9 and 17 year old junior out in a couple weeks for a cruise in April. We've done it before and this will most likely be one of the last family vacays with the older one. Don't like to do it but it's just too expensive in summer and over holidays. When he starts college with the long Christmas break college students get we can probably go 2 to 3 weeks into January.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to do it with my kids, because well my mom did it will me in the 80's early 90's!

 

Boy how times have changed though.... if I was to pull my kids out of school for a vacation? I would be going to Truancy Court... again... I learned my lesson once thanks!

 

I do find it very sad that parents who want their kids to experience the world and other cultures just really can't do this anymore. My youngest DS is the perfect example of why! When he was in 3th grade, he had already been on 4 cruises and to 9 countries. They had not 1 but 2 international students transfer that year, one from Germany and one from Asia. Because of his experience with other cultures and how they differ, he was the one who befriended them and got others to accept them. Sure, it could have happened without his experiences, but yeah... probably not.

 

Alas my DS's are (almost) 20 and 16 now. They are done vacationing with mom and dad, or we are done with them... either way! Well if they wanted to go we would let them but they actually don't want to.

 

But I digress, in general if the SCHOOL is okay with it, then go for it! If not, just be prepared to end up in truancy court with fines that well.. negate your savings like I did!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our kids may have missed a day to fly out early for a cruise, but we've done it mainly to get cheaper airfare and hotel rates in Hawaii, not to mention avoiding the crowds. Pretty significant difference.

 

We make up a weak excuse for the teachers and try to get as many assignments in advance as possible for them to do during our downtime while we're away.

 

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We've done it for 2 cruises and a trip to Key West! His teachers have always said as long as he's a good student (which he is), and makes up anything he may need to make up (which he does), then they don't care. We didn't do it this year, because he's in 8th grade, and there's just so much going on. And I wouldn't do it his freshman year in HS next year, just because he'll be getting used to being in HS. We've done it in November each time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My kids do not pull their kids, (my grandkids), and they do travel and cruise. They either vacation in summer or pick times when the kids have a break. Perhaps it depends on the school and district/state rules as far as being allowed or counting as an excused absence. Makes a difference too if kids are involved in sports or other extracurricular activities.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow!! How lucky you all are. When our children were in school anything more than a day and you had to have a dr.'s note. 5 missed days in a semester without a dr's note and your child failed the semester. One year our son had strep throat 4 times between Dec. and Feb. Even with a dr's note each time we still received a letter from the school informing us that he was missing too much time and in danger of failing for the year.

 

Maybe with more people "home schooling" the schools are more "relaxed" about children missing classes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We just took our 13 and 16 year old kids on a 7-day cruise. We chose a week when they had both Monday and Friday off school due to a Stat holiday and a Professional Development day. They only missed out on 3 days of school.

I let the teachers know in advance by emailing them, and they were fine with giving the kids some assignments to make up the missed classes. We also had to sign a form and return it to the office. Not a big deal.

I can hardly believe the rules and regulations some of you have to deal with regarding absences. Failing a semester for missing 5 days of school? Truancy court? Yikes!

We are in Canada, and have not encountered these types of rules.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow!! How lucky you all are. When our children were in school anything more than a day and you had to have a dr.'s note. 5 missed days in a semester without a dr's note and your child failed the semester. One year our son had strep throat 4 times between Dec. and Feb. Even with a dr's note each time we still received a letter from the school informing us that he was missing too much time and in danger of failing for the year.

 

Maybe with more people "home schooling" the schools are more "relaxed" about children missing classes.

 

I wonder if it's more a case that now, do you really "need" to take your kid to the doctor and the burden that places on some families. With the copay each time, I'm not going to rush my kid there if he's had a fever or cold for 2-3 days. But I'm also not going to send him to school. Yes, if something seems wrong or out of the ordinary, or has lasted for more than a few days without responding to meds, I take him in. But he's missed a day or two for a bad cough/fever. That's so crazy that they would try to fail your kid for missing that much with a real reason though! How about working with parents!?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think having children experience the world on a cruise is a good idea as long as they maintain their school work.

 

From another perspective...when I was doing my student teaching, a parent pulled their student from the class for a week to go to Disney World. I provided the parent the area of teaching that would be done during that week so the student could study while away. When the student got home, I got a call from the parent wanting to know why I was not staying after school to tutor the student on the work that she missed while on vacation. My lead teacher said to forget that. The parent then called the school and threaten a law suit against me and the school for not tutoring her student. :( I just wanted to present a different view from many above.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When our daughter was in elementary school, we often took her on business trips if the location would provide an educational experience (e.g., Washington DC). We also worked out homework assignments and a trip-specific schoolwork project with the teacher beforehand.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...