Poll: Do you take your kid's out of school...

[hubofhockey]

What if I was your childs teacher and I took a week off of school? I bet many of you would have a different opinion if it were turned around. I can see all the parents saying "Can you believe Mrs. ***** took the whole week off of school to go on a cruise?"

 

I also believe we have Spring Break, Winter Break, and Summer Break for a reason.

 

I wish all of you who knew how hard it is to catch up a child who has missed a week of school. Children who miss a day often miss 2 teaching days. This is because they are absent 1 day and the 2nd day they are trying to catch up and figure out what is going on.

 

Since I'm a teacher I guess a see a different side of this arguement. Everyone is going to do what they think is right and I agree it is up to the parents.

 

I can't figure out if your preaching annoys me more than seeing spelling and grammar errors made by a second grade teacher. :eek:

 

In any case, your argument comparing a teacher missing a week of school with a child missing a week of school is pretty specious. You need to be in school to teach the lesson plans. Some children, especially the ones who are ahead, can keep up. Some can't. You also need to be there for the ones who can't. Parents of the ones who can keep up can work with the teachers in order that their children keep up with their work.

 

Westmich's post above conveys my feelings and is right on the money.

[Wennfred]

Sure, why not? Kids have to have fun too you know :D

[njs]

What if I was your childs teacher and I took a week off of school? I bet many of you would have a different opinion if it were turned around. I can see all the parents saying "Can you believe Mrs. ***** took the whole week off of school to go on a cruise?"

 

I also believe we have Spring Break, Winter Break, and Summer Break for a reason.

 

I wish all of you who knew how hard it is to catch up a child who has missed a week of school. Children who miss a day often miss 2 teaching days. This is because they are absent 1 day and the 2nd day they are trying to catch up and figure out what is going on.

 

Since I'm a teacher I guess a see a different side of this arguement. Everyone is going to do what they think is right and I agree it is up to the parents.

 

Well if you were my child's teacher and took off a week for I cruise I think some disciplinary measure would be in order! There is a HUGE difference between a parent pulling a child out of school for a vacation and a teacher who has 20-30 kids depending on her to be there to teach:rolleyes:

If the time in class is so vital I cant figure out why they plan so many ski/snowboarding/skating/roller skating/ bowling/ kiwanas etc etc activities.

We made a mistake one yr and booked the wrong 2 wks off for Mar break when our kids were in primary grades and it didnt affect them adversely at all.

However, my husb and daughter and I went to Ireland one winter (she missed 10 days-gr 8) and she ended up winning the award for highest marks and was valedectorian so obviously it didnt hurt her to see my family history/heritage first hand. My sons in high school werent allowed to go because their marks needed extra work- I think most parents are responsible enough to know when their kids can handle an absence:)

[jw4jg1mg2eg1]

My daughter is home schooled. So we just consider this a field trip. She learns some marine biology,geography,foriegn languages("No problem,Mon!","Eirrie!""Ya, Mon!"),some history....all kinds of neat stuff!:D

[suzy1212]

Yes, I took my kids out of school for vacations, just like my parents took me out of school for vacations. I've never felt like public education was worth much anyway. Later on it was no longer an issue. I home schooled my daughter from the 8th grade.

[gigglebabe]

As a mom with two teenagers that are bout to go on their very first cruise....I have to say, my girls are both in high school, one a junior, one a freshman, both have perfect attendance from middle school up until now, not one day missed, not for anything. No reason, no excuses. We asked them, do you want to miss one extra day of school and go down to florida early...they both replied with a great big fat NO! We can't miss school mom! We are not messin up perfect attendance!! No way Mom!! So that was my answer to that. If ya teach them the importance of planning things, and doing what is most important first, there's no problem :D (course I really wanted to go tan an extra day..laffs)

 

Now about the teacher taking off. They do have so many days they are allowed, sick days, whatever days, and they do have subs to come in and still teach your kids, so I don't have a problem with that. Because my very best friend is a school teacher, and she has to take off to go on band trips with her two teens. She teaches 3rd grade. Her two kids are in high school. Band is very important to her kids, therefore she takes off to go on five day band trips with them in the spring. That isn't around spring break or summer break. So sometimes there has to be exceptions to the rulez :D

[AnyTime Cruiser]

Okay, I wasn't going to say anything but I just can't help myself!:D Nine years ago my DH and I had a job where we couln't take a vacation anytime from June through September and if the "weather" was really good we couldn't take off in March or April either sooooo needless to say we took the kids out of school for our cruises usually in May or November and never had a problem with the teachers, the school or the homework.

 

DH & I now live in a very small town and have only one left at home & she's a junior. We are lucky enough that the school also uses an "independent study" program so vacations are okay with them. In September last year my daughter even had assignments for auto shop while we were gone! Our school does this because we're out in the middle of nowhere and even for the athletic games the kids are driven 6-8 hrs just for an "away" game! They have to be gone for 3-4 days for tournaments and teachers actually go with them so I'd say our school is pretty special.:)

 

Just my two cents but I'd take them out of school.

[PACURN]

We took our kids out...permanently. We were tired of 4+ hours of pointless homework a night. In 4th and 6th grades! Stuff like coloring pictures. Yeah, that teaches them some important things! :rolleyes: Tired of watching them fall farther and farther behind, despite endless parent/teacher and parent/principal conferences about it, and the schools not being equipped to handle learning-disabled kids. Tired of the school counselor urging Ritalin on a kid who isn't AD/HD, just severely-dyslexic-but-intelligent and completely frustrated with "dummy classes." He's 11 but was reading at a second-grade level at the end of school last year and his math was suffering from the fact that he always transposed numbers when copying problems.. So, out both kids went. We homeschool now. Severely dyslexic kid now reads at 5th-grade level, after just 6 months of intense work with him, two of them with a private dyslexia specialist, and is learning pre-algebra when the schools were having trouble teaching him two-digit by two-digit addition. Enough said.

 

The bonus is that we can cruise/vacation whenever we want. And the bonus of that is that we can tailor school to the places that we're traveling to, so that the kids know some stuff about the places they're going before they get there. For instance, they knew much about the history, culture, geography, wildlife, etc. of the Turks & Caicos Islands before they visited Grand Turk earlier this month. Homeschooling is hard, but the rewards are vastly worth it! Nothing compares to one-on-one attention, especially for learning-disabled kids. And...I'll get off my soapbox now. :) I just have little love for the public school system, I'm afraid, especially now with the emphasis on standardized testing.

 

Suffice it to say that there is far more to education that what a kid can learn in a week in school, and if the kids were still in school, I'd have no hesitation about taking them out for a week. Or more. It should be the parents' decision, anyway, not the school's.

 

Nightwind - Your life is my life. I have a child with Down Syndrome and the younger one is severly dyslexic/dysgraphic and is ADHD. Cameron is 10 and reading at a 2nd grade level. Math is not so bad but I forsee it becoming a problem. Memorzing is hard and the times tables frustrate him. I commend you for all you are doing. It's so frustrating dealing with a school system that does not recognize dyslexia exists. I have a tutor 3 days a week (at my expense) and the reading is improving, of course the school takes credit for that. I was hoping Co. was better, since we are considering moving there, Guess not.

Sorry to hijack the thread - just had to share. :)

[1gramma]

As a condutor for BNSF Railroad, my vacation is based on seniority. That being said, I decide when, where, how, my family spends vacation time, not the school. When "Teacher Worshops" and "Staff Developement" days are done on the weekend or in the summer, then maybe I will rethink this. Our first cruise in May will be my kids' (11th, 9th, and 5th grade) Workshop and D evelopement days!:rolleyes:

[samickgirl]

How much work is going on in a classroom that one week of missed school is going to affect the rest of their lives? The memory of that vacation by far will be what the student remembers, not what they missed in one week. Teachers up here have no problem with families spending time with each other . We've never had a complaint. Not everyone has time in the summer for a vacation(except the teachers themselves) So I say go when you must and enjoy time with your loved ones whenever you can.

[samickgirl]

How about teaching the kids the importance of family. There are so many families out there that aren't even able to enjoy each other. One week out of school should not be an issue. How much work is going on in a classroom in one week that a kid can't even take time off? Up here the teachers don't question a family vacation. Go, have fun with your family is the attitude. They see enough kids from broken homes that when a family wants to enjoy themselves together on a vacation, it doesn't matter when it is(not during exam week of course) If it's a choice between taking my kids out of school when I can afford it, or never going on vacation at all, I'll definitely take them out of school.

[golf43]

We did when our son was in elementary school. We took an hawaiin cruise. Alot of the excursions we did were really good for him. He learned alot about the Hawaiin Islands. We were able to get his homework in advance. His teachers were wonderful.

[HockeyMom44]

As a teacher, and a parent, I HAVE taken my kids out of school. :eek: Will continue to. Sometimes life's lessons are the better one's. :rolleyes:

[silentbob007]

Perhaps the parents who post on this board are different, but here is what I've experienced as a teacher --

 

Students get pulled out of school for a week or more. I spend hours of my time on one student to pull together activities, make-up, etc. Nothing gets done. The student comes back a week behind and then expects me to catch him up by spending inordinate amounts of my (and other students') time with him. In the end, I've wasted a ton of extra time on this one student who done all of this "experiential learning" (or however it is justified). But hey, it's not like I have 100 other students to worry about ....

 

Sorry, this topic gets me sometimes. I know that sometimes schedules work like this and it happens ... but ... it also happens when families pull this type of thing four times a year. At some point, school has to be given a priority, especially when the reasons for pulling kids out come down to "it's cheaper" or "I don't want to run into a lot of kids."

[pmoniz]

What if I was your childs teacher and I took a week off of school? I bet many of you would have a different opinion if it were turned around. I can see all the parents saying "Can you believe Mrs. ***** took the whole week off of school to go on a cruise?"

 

I also believe we have Spring Break, Winter Break, and Summer Break for a reason.

 

I wish all of you who knew how hard it is to catch up a child who has missed a week of school. Children who miss a day often miss 2 teaching days. This is because they are absent 1 day and the 2nd day they are trying to catch up and figure out what is going on.

 

Since I'm a teacher I guess a see a different side of this arguement. Everyone is going to do what they think is right and I agree it is up to the parents.

BeachTeach, I know plenty of teachers who have taken time off during the school year!! People have to do what they have to do. There is always someone - obviously from these postings - that are going to disagree with you, but there are plenty of people who would say "Good for Mrs. ****, she needed an extra break or whatever!!" Don't take it so personally! If your child is a good student he or she will be fine.

[kgk]

Are you also teaching your children to tell people to shut up when they meet someone that has a differing opinion???? WOW!!! What grade are you in?? :p The poster you FLAMED just stated an opinion... I saw nothing wrong with that post. Everyone has a right to their opinion, without the fear of being told to SHUT UP because YOU don't like it :rolleyes: And many of us grew up taking vacations during the 3 months of "vacation" we were given by the school system, and we turned out just fine. Our schools systems here take education very seriously and if you miss x number of days, you fail... period. The no child left behind act has caused MANY school districts to crack down. But to tell someone to shut up because they take it seriously??? Is this what we are to teach the children???? What makes you think he'll change his mind?? PLENTY of parents don't pull their kids out of school for vacation... plenty grin and bear it, and go on vacation during the kids vacation time (which there is PLENTY of)... it's an individual decision and just because everyone doesn't do what you do, doesn't make them wrong.

 

 

Yes Lucy you are of course correct. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I just like to listen to (or read) about informed and educated opinions. Otherwise, they are just words that waste time. Man can certainly have an opinion about the pain of childbirth, but I would take a women's opinion much more seriously. That poster seems to have no basis for his opinion about school vacations other than being the father of a two year old. I saw nothing in his post to think he is taking no child left behind seriously or not -- Just a holier than thou opinion. As for your post, I think, but could never verify, that ALL school systems take education seriously (not just yours) and I bet that every system will have penalties for children who miss x number of days. This number "x" is for some systems state mandated and for other system less lenient than the state number. I'd be willing to bet, that if this number was not acceptable, the school systems would lower it. If the system thinks that it is OK for a child to miss x days -- that's it. If other parents don't like it, or if teachers don't like it, or if principals don't like it, they can go to the board of education and petition to change it. Otherwise, the school board thinks that this is an acceptable number of days to miss. Original poster wanted to know if people took their kids out of school. “I was just wondering how many people actually take their kid's out of school to get the cheaper rates. If you do, how do their teachers react?” This poster just doesn't have a basis to respond. If he’s never been to China, he shouldn’t tell me about the fun I’m going to have on my trip and where the best restaurants are in Bejing….

 

Thanks for your return flame. Especially the eyes rolling smiley face and the one sticking out his tongue. Cute.

[nealstuber]

What if I was your childs teacher and I took a week off of school?

I also believe we have Spring Break, Winter Break, and Summer Break for a reason.

I'd say "Have a great trip! Check out Cruise Critic to make the most of your vacation"

The seven teachers we've worked with to cruise with our kids (in 4 states) made catch-up look easy and I would not begrudge them a break.

There aren't many jobs where some's vacation does not cause more work for someone else. Sorry we put you out-but don't expect much sympathy from us folks who work more than 180 days a year and often work 12hrs one those days to cover for scheduled or unscheduled absences.

[kgk]

dupe post

[maddea20]

What I don't understand is why you all have to defend your actions. I keep reading people say they take there kids out of school for a week because there kids are A students or they go on the cruise learning stuff or my kids are good kids. No need to say all of that. Just say yeah I take my kids out for a week's vacation, problem? You shouldn't have to say all that other stuff, because you know your kids and know the decision your making to take them out of school is good for you and your family and really that is all that should matter. You are not a bad parent for doing this, so don't feel you must put in the sugar coating to satisfy others on here who think it is so wrong to do this.

[getoutthere]

This is a reply to the OP, and the OP only.

 

Yes, I do. None of their teachers have ever had a problem with it. Hope that answers your question.:)

[nagster]

A lot of the people that say that they take the kids out of school talk about family time, well there is plenty of time in the school calendar that they are NOT in school, prob about 14/15 weeks all told. So I think it is selfish and not responsible to take the kids out of school for a week or more just for cheap prices. Close to 1/3 of the year a child will not be in school, what employment do you have that is time sensitive that your employer tells YOU when to take your two weeks vacation. Not sure, maybe CPA's during tax season??????

[getoutthere]

This is a reply to the OP, and the OP only.

 

Yes, I do. None of their teachers have ever had a problem with it. Hope that answers your question.;)

[nagster]

A lot of the people that say that they take the kids out of school talk about family time, well there is plenty of time in the school calendar that they are NOT in school, prob about 14/15 weeks all told. So I think it is selfish and not responsible to take the kids out of school for a week or more just for cheap prices. Close to 1/3 of the year a child will not be in school, what employment do you have that is time sensitive that your employer tells YOU when to take your two weeks vacation. Not sure, maybe CPA's during tax season??????

[getoutthere]

This is a reply to the OP, and the OP only.

 

Yes, I do. None of their teachers have ever had a problem with it. Hope that answers your question.;)

[PACURN]

This is a reply to the OP, and the OP only.

 

Yes, I do. None of their teachers have ever had a problem with it. Hope that answers your question.;)

 

This is a reply to the OP, and the OP only.

 

Yes, I do. None of their teachers have ever had a problem with it. Hope that answers your question.:)

 

Ok I got I promise not to talk any more.

well a least for 5 seconds ;)