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Do you take your kids out of school to cruise?


ToothDoc78
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I'm just curious what other people's thoughts are on this topic. My DS is 10 and DD is 9 (3rd and 5th grade). We've cruised over holiday breaks as a family and have also taken them out of school for a week (usually October or November). Overall, we all enjoy the "off season" cruises better. They're less busy and the kids clubs are not overflowing, not to mention the price is always much less!

With my son starting middle school next year, I'm more hesitant to take him out for a week, knowing it'll be harder for him to catch up. DH doesn't think it's a big deal, but I'm having second thoughts on if we should move our November cruise to Thanksgiving week.

For those of you that take kids out of school, how did it go for your middle/high schoolers? Thanks!

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Yes we do and it's pretty common in NZ; strictly not legal but nobody is ever held to task on this. For us it's a considered decision based upon their academic performance; both of our kids are top in their respective years in the subjects they care about (maths as one example). To share some information for context. Our kids have as hobbies following the programmes that John Hopkins offers through the Centre of Talented Youth and where say other kids get up at 5am to go to swim training ours get up to engage is their equivalent hobbies of what some would term academic study. Missing a week or two of school just doesn't make much difference to them.

 

Doing this sort of creates work for their teachers in some senses but then again not anything material. We never ask for material to take away and in tests that follow later there's never any difference in outcomes.

 

I guess you need to decide on the likely impact on the achievements you and your family care about. Only you can answer how much time they need at school to succeed to the level that your family cares for.

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We are in Australia and also take our kids out of school to travel. Whilst we let the school know it's ultimately our decision. We traveled to the USA in June/July for a month. Two weeks of these were considered school holidays. The rest of the time was taken from school. My kids are now 13 and 15. I'm not 100% sure what year level this would put them in there but here they are both high school at year 7 and 9. All our trips have been for the same duration. My kids do well at school and it's had no impact at all. To us, family time is just as important and travel is a form of education.

 

 

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I grew up with my parents taking my brother and me out of school to travel, and if I had children, I wouldn't hesitate to do the same. Both my brother and I were good students, and had no problem catching up. That being said, a good portion of our flight times, and time waiting in airports was spent doing homework.

 

For me, traveling at a young age fostered a love of meeting new people, learning new languages, and experiencing new cultures. I firmly believe that I learned more traveling than I ever would have learned in the classroom.

 

 

 

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We take our grandchildren (8 and 13) every year. The only problem we had as their grandparents was trying to figure out the new math that is being taught. 2+2 is not 4 anymore. LOL

It is some of the best time we spend together and we try and make it educational too.

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Yes, we have taken our kids out of school to cruise. Also for week long Disney vacations. They all are/were very good students and as long as we turned in the school vacation form (which we did) the school doesn't have a problem with it. Now if I had a child who was struggling with school and missed days would have caused added stress to the situation, I'm sure we would have planned around school breaks.

 

I agree that family time is as important as school time!! And let's be honest....cruises and Disney parks tend to be less crowded when school is in than during school breaks and summer vacation.

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Our last Allure cruise in April 2016 was the last time we took them out of school. Our older one was grade 5 so your older one's age. The ship was perfect and things that they participate in were not busy (zipline, rock wall, flowrider, etc). But that was the last time we decided to do that. We just went to Disney park and selected end of the summer. Next we have Symphony booked for March break 2019. For a cruise, the ships will be full anyways, but I do worry of the crowds in terms of line ups...the slides, laser tag (yah!), zipline, rock wall, flowrider, etc), but its when we will cruise based on school breaks and weather. The worst part isn't the crowds but the cost of the fight as they raise prices qutie a bit when they know it's school break time. But we have 16 months to save so it's worth the extra money and not having to worry about older one missing school.

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We have in the past while they were younger. The last time, about 2 years ago they just couldn't get a grip on the missed work and I vowed never again. My sons are not well organized students and are in an academically rigorous program so it compounds the problem. For now, we just travel during school breaks.

 

Our next cruise in early December is for my cousin's wedding and we are not bringing them. The cruise is right before midterms and at 10th and 6th grades, I can't risk them falling behind. We are brining our 2 year old though.

 

It really comes down to the individual child and how well they handle make up work and missing class. Our school provides a system for obtaining the work ahead of time, but the teachers are not good at doing so, which doesn't help.

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We did and didn't regret it b/c it was family time and memories. My kids got scholarships, finished college and some in high school w/ good gpa's, etc. BUT, I will say I'd never take them out of high school b/c that's when grades really count towards a good gpa. And, if their in the AP College classes, you can't afford to miss a day. If they're not in high school, to me, it doesn't really matter, they won't that far behind. just my opinion. I know you're kids are younger, but just some high school advice :)

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We took our kids out of school for vacations when it had minimum impact. For example, Memorial Day weekend, school had a Friday teacher day and then Monday holiday. We added 2 days. It became much harder as they got older as they were involved in many things. This past February, we went during school break as my youngest ds was a senior in HS. It has the least impact on his schedule. :o This January, DH and I are cruising on our own. We worked it so ds is home from college and can watch the dog. :evilsmile:

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Our son is in 7th grade; we're taking him out the week before Xmas break. I checked with parents of older kids who said not much happens that week (ie holiday concerts, events etc) so I think he'll be ok.

Planning to let teachers know a month ahead of time.

Price was more than double for Xmas week so that made our decision easier!

 

 

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We have taken all 3 of our kids out of school for various vacations. This is mostly due to the fact that our big vacations tend to be with extended family (grandparents, my sister and her kids, cousins, etc.). We try to pick a time that works for everyone's schedule and my kids have always been good students. There have been nights on Disney vacations where they went back to the room to finish a hw assignment. :)

 

For cruises, I personally don't care what season it is as the ships always seem to sail full anyway. My mother, however, hates cruising in the summer as she feels it is too hot, so this year we are leaving at the beginning of November for our cruise vacation. My 2 8th graders will miss a week of school and my college student is staying home to watch the pets. ;) I do try to pick weeks where there is either not much going on (the very beginning of a marking period) or they have a day or 2 off due to teacher workdays or such. Sadly, after booking this year's trip, the state mandated that schools start date be later which totally mucked up the entire school schedule so my twins will be missing the week of quarterly assessments. I have already informed their team leads and they will likely take some before they leave and the others when they get back. Certainly not ideal, but I had no idea the state was considering these kinds of changes to the calendar when I booked the trip. Oh well. :D

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Two years ago my kids missed the first 2 days of school for a cruise. We almost always go on vacation the week before Labor Day. In my 50+ years in this are school had never started before Labor Day. When the school calendar first came out it said they were starting the day after Labor Day. A couple of months later it was changed to starting the Thursday before. I looked into moving the cruise to a week or two earlier but it would have cost an additional $2000.

 

I'm taking them out for 4 days next November. We were supposed to cruise while they were on February break but I had to move that cruise and the only time that works for all of us is November.

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We have taken our kids out of school. When they were in elementary school, the teachers had no problem. They knew the kids would be experiencing things that they would never learn about in school. Once our kids were in middle school and high school, we always contacted their teachers and let them know what our plans were. We asked if there was any homework the kids could do (we're mean parents, aren't we? :D) so that they could keep up with what was being taught while they were away.

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I definitely don't regret taking my kids out of school for family vacations. Now that my oldest is in grad school (year round program) and works in the pharmacy of the local hospital it is very difficult to plan around his schedule. Same with my older daughter in her second year of college. Her school breaks are pretty short and she works on campus part time.

 

I just saw my son and older daughter last night for the first time in weeks. We were finally all able to get together for Chinese food. We are a very close family, but once they leave the nest they get their own lives and responsibilities.

 

My youngest will miss a few days of school for our upcoming cruise the week before Christmas. That's the only time I could work it out for all 5 of us to go.

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We never have. It’s hard enough to fill 12 weeks of summer break without adding extra vacations in during the school year too!

 

Plus, my oldest is in 8th grade, and attendance counts towards her grade. The last thing I need is for her to get sick and I’ve already used up the few days that she could have gotten away with.

 

If I was to do it, it would only be during the times that others mentioned, when they are just passing the time until school gets out etc. Those tend to be wasted days anyway.

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Having 4 kids (16, 15, 12 and 8) this subject is near and dear to my heart. Short answer is YES I would depending on the child. Long answer is that it gets VERY difficult for most kinds once they hit HS to be able to do this and keep up. I would encourage you to do it now before you get to that point because you very well may have a child (like I do) that absolutely does not want to fall behind.

 

As an aside, I live in an area in PA that is loaded with prestigious private schools with tuition around 30-40K per year. My girls skate with many of these girls so we get a window into their educations, policies etc. They ENCOURAGE you to take your child out of school for family vacations/experiences. They value the teaching moments that almost always present themselves. They do not have the 10 day absence rule that requires you to provide a doctors note if you go above that number of days.

 

Last year my 8 year old had pneumonia and was out for 5 days--for just ONE illness. Of course he got the stomach bug 3 times...you see where we are going here. So I got the lovely letter from the state and I called the school. The principal was very nice and said to disregard the letter. The only reason they enforce the policy is because of MONEY. Apparently the schools get money based on number of kids in school and number of days? I don't know...my head exploded at that point. Ridiculous.

 

So I went off on a tangent :) Enjoy your vacation...while you still can lol

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Our son has only missed 4 days of school due to cruises. Our Jewel Mediterranean cruise was the week of Labor Day and he missed the first 3 days of school. For our Jewel Caribbean cruise, he missed a Friday so we could fly to San Juan early. Other than that, we cruise during school breaks or summer recess. We would rather pay the additional costs than have him miss a long stretch of school.

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As an elementary school teacher let me first say that elementary is just as important as middle and high school. Taking your kids out of school makes more work for the teacher. In some districts, not mine, the teacher will have give give all of the missing work (extra work), the teacher will then have to grade all of the work (extra work) and then the teacher might have to remediate the kids on what they are struggle with (extra work that might not have needed to be done if they didn't miss the week). Already over worked teachers having to do more work. Your decision to pull your kids out does not just impact you and your child.

 

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