Taking kid's out of school for cruise: advice?

[mitsguy2001]

Be very careful of your school's attendance policies. My high school (I graduated in 1997) had a totally ridiculous policy where 5 absences in a quarter, for any reason, caused you to get an incomplete in every class. There was no such thing as an "excused absence"; any absence counted toward that limit, even if it was for a serious illness, or a funeral. When I was in 9th grade, I missed 2 days for the wake and funeral of my uncle. Then, later during that same quarter, I got bronchitis, on the Wednesday of the last week of the quarter. Since I missed school Wednesday and Thursday of that week for the bronchitis, I had to go to school on that Friday, even though I was still extremely sick with bronchitis, or else I woud have been given an incomplete since it would have been my 5th absence. Luckily, that was the last day before spring break, so I had a week to recover after going to school that one day (spring break was the week of Easter and Passover). But by coming to school very sick and probably very contageous, I wonder how many other students' and teachers' spring breaks, Easters, and Passovers I ruined. But at least I avoided getting an incomplete and did not have to repeat the year.

 

So, at my school, going on a cruise during the school year was not an option, unless you were able to do a cruise that involved missing 4 or fewer school days, and you had no other absences (no funerals, no illnesses) that quarter.

 

By the way, I do not have any kids yet, and I am not married yet.

[momofmn00]

Be very careful of your school's attendance policies. My high school (I graduated in 1997) had a totally ridiculous policy where 5 absences in a quarter, for any reason, caused you to get an incomplete in every class. There was no such thing as an "excused absence"; any absence counted toward that limit, even if it was for a serious illness, or a funeral...

 

While all of this is true at many schools, I must say that the end was a little extreme; while it may be true, I am wodering if one at your school was able to petition the school board to excuse the absenses. At least they could at my school district...(and I graduated in 1997 too in MO):)

[mitsguy2001]

While all of this is true at many schools, I must say that the end was a little extreme; while it may be true, I am wodering if one at your school was able to petition the school board to excuse the absenses. At least they could at my school district...(and I graduated in 1997 too in MO):)

 

I never heard anyone petitioning the school board to excuse absenses. Some teachers might have cut the student some slack by manually overriding the grade, but unfortunately, most of the teachers that I had were real sticklers for the rules.

[Lollipop's Mom]

I take my daughter out of school for vacations every year. It is MY child, and MY decision, not the schools. Our school is fine with it, and thinks its actually great that kids can go see the world. But even if they hated the idea, its MY kid! I have every legal right to do with her what I want.

If there are consequences like missed work or failing grades because of it, it is MY problem.

My daughter is an A student and does not have difficulty with anything but math. She is going into grade 6 and seems to be doing just fine.

 

Most of our vacations have been disneyland/world and I will not pay all that money to go stand in long lines when school is out. I can get it cheaper with NO lines by going when school is in.

[mitsguy2001]

I take my daughter out of school for vacations every year. It is MY child' date=' and MY decision, not the schools. Our school is fine with it, and thinks its actually great that kids can go see the world.[/quote']

 

I'm glad that her school allows it.

 

But even if they hated the idea, its MY kid! I have every legal right to do with her what I want.

 

And, unfortunately, the school has every legal right to give her whatever grades they want, and the school has every legal right to allow her to graduate or not graduate.

 

If there are consequences like missed work or failing grades because of it, it is MY problem.

 

If you were in a school district like mine, how would you solve the problem of her having to go to summer school because she got an incomplete in all of her classes? Or, how would you solve the problem where she'd be unable to get into college because she did not get passing grades in her classes (even if she earned passing grades) since they were all turned into incompletes?

 

My daughter is an A student and does not have difficulty with anything but math. She is going into grade 6 and seems to be doing just fine.

 

I was also an A student, but I was still subjected to my school's ridiculous attendance policy.

 

Most of our vacations have been disneyland/world and I will not pay all that money to go stand in long lines when school is out. I can get it cheaper with NO lines by going when school is in.

 

Again, I'm glad that your district is more reasonable about absences than mine was. But you have to realize that there are situations where you might have to follow rules that are unfair, and there might be heavy consequences for not following the unfair rules.

[Lollipop's Mom]

I guess I am used to our school. My daughter missed 52 days of school last year due to illness, 2 vacations, and something else she is involved with that makes her miss school regularly, but she does have a tutor on those days. She missed about 18 days due to a cruise/disneyland vacation and also a quick trip we had to make into LA last March for about 6 days. The other days were due to illness and her activity, but she did have a tutor during that activity.

Her school is used to my voice... 'Meg won't be at school today....' LOL. They don't care and know what she is doing is more enriching than school.

 

Homeschooled kids can get what they need in 2-3 hours a day, whereas our kids go to school for 6 hours and still come home with homework! Its crazy!

Any tutoring time my daughter has had has been 2-3 hours a day and she accomplishes more than in 6 hours at school. When we go away, the teacher sends the work she will be missing, and I swear it takes her about 3 hours to complete 5 days work! So I don't sweat her missing time, and I think kids need time off from school other than just standard vacations. School is stressful for them, and the holidays are great, but also can be stressful - so vacations during school time are perfect :)

I feel badly for those with these school districts that can enforce that -I personally feel they don't have any right to tell people that their kid can fail because of absences. I would probably homeschool before I bought into that!

[howdyall]

Be very careful of your school's attendance policies. My high school (I graduated in 1997) had a totally ridiculous policy where 5 absences in a quarter, for any reason, caused you to get an incomplete in every class. There was no such thing as an "excused absence"; any absence counted toward that limit, even if it was for a serious illness, or a funeral. When I was in 9th grade, I missed 2 days for the wake and funeral of my uncle. Then, later during that same quarter, I got bronchitis, on the Wednesday of the last week of the quarter. Since I missed school Wednesday and Thursday of that week for the bronchitis, I had to go to school on that Friday, even though I was still extremely sick with bronchitis, or else I woud have been given an incomplete since it would have been my 5th absence. Luckily, that was the last day before spring break, so I had a week to recover after going to school that one day (spring break was the week of Easter and Passover). But by coming to school very sick and probably very contageous, I wonder how many other students' and teachers' spring breaks, Easters, and Passovers I ruined. But at least I avoided getting an incomplete and did not have to repeat the year.

 

So, at my school, going on a cruise during the school year was not an option, unless you were able to do a cruise that involved missing 4 or fewer school days, and you had no other absences (no funerals, no illnesses) that quarter.

 

By the way, I do not have any kids yet, and I am not married yet.

 

 

I am going to assume (based on your Passover reference), that you are a "member of the tribe". Because I am so worried about the 2 weeks vacation this year, I am not even going to take him out of school for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur this year. I feel awful about it, but I don't want him to get in anymore trouble. Plus, I feel like it might bring more negative attention to him. Katy is not exactly a cultural Mecca!

[linda_22003]

Given the number of misspellings and misuses of punctuation in the original post, I'd say the value of schooling should not be underestimated.

 

I know that's rude, but really, all of these "Iz skool mor portant than crooz?" posts have a lot in common. :(

[mitsguy2001]

I am going to assume (based on your Passover reference), that you are a "member of the tribe".

 

No, I'm not Jewish, if that is what you are asking (notice I also mentioned Easter in that same post; I'm actually Catholic). My Passover reference was because the vast majority of my school was either Catholic or Jewish, and our spring break was set to coincide with Passover and Easter, which in most years, were within a week of each other (occasionally, such as 2008, Passover and Easter are a month apart; in those years, they have 2 seperate spring breaks, one for Easter, and one for Passover). And, I wanted to point out that (because, as I said, nearly everyone in my district was Catholic or Jewish) nearly every student and teacher in my school had a major religious holiday during spring break, and that I'm sure that would have preferred not being sick for it, and by forcing me to come to school with bronchitis on that Friday, when I was probably still contageous, there was a very good chance that they got sick because of me. Basically, I'm trying to point out the negative impacts of forcing people to attend work or school when they are sick.

 

Because I am so worried about the 2 weeks vacation this year, I am not even going to take him out of school for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur this year. I feel awful about it, but I don't want him to get in anymore trouble. Plus, I feel like it might bring more negative attention to him. Katy is not exactly a cultural Mecca!

 

In my district, we were always closed for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and as I said, our spring break(s) always included the first 2 days of Passover, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and (in nearly every year) Easter Monday, so missing school for religious holidays was not an issue for the vast majority of students. If you had to miss school for a religious holiday where school was open (mostly an issue for Muslims, since as I said, school was closed for the major Christian and Jewish holidays), the policy is that you'd still be marked absent and it would still count toward your 5 absences, but you could not be penalized for the religious holiday itself (for example, they'd have to give a makeup for any exams that day). But you'd still get into trouble if you ended up getting sick or had a death in the family.

 

In any case, I beleive it is illegal for a teacher to penalize your son for missing school for Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. Unfortunately, they could say that he is being penalized for the vacation, and you might not have any recourse then. So, you are in a difficult position; unfortunately, tenured teachers are usually allowed to break the rules without consequence. I do hope that everything works out for you.

[momofmn00]

They don't care and know what she is doing is more enriching than school....

Homeschooled kids can get what they need in 2-3 hours a day' date=' whereas our kids go to school for 6 hours and still come home with homework! Its crazy!...

When we go away, the teacher sends the work she will be missing, and I swear it takes her about 3 hours to complete 5 days work! So I don't sweat her missing time, and I think kids need time off from school other than just standard vacations...

I feel badly for those with these school districts that can enforce that -I personally feel they don't have any right to tell people that their kid can fail because of absences. I would probably homeschool before I bought into that![/quote']

 

Sorry, I cut down some of your quote...:rolleyes: ;) Anyway, I agree with everything you are saying. I have a few home schooled friends/relatives and they can get their 'schoolwork' done in the morning...and work in the afternoon (or whatever~these kids are older...;)) Anyway, I know that schools really NEED to regulate how many days kids are gone, so they don't have any kids staying home to watch the "Sponge Bob Marathon or WHATEVER (SORRY! BAD EXAMPLE~BUT YOU GET MY DRIFT!!!):p LOL! Anyway, I feel the schools that do allow attendance to be different; excused or non excused is a good way to allow children to see the world, like in vacation time, etc. Excused absences are ones like illness, fineral, travel, etc, while non excuse is...well, 'we just decided to keep Tommy home from school today..."

Unfortunately, our school district is NOT one of these. I think the problem with the attenance policy at our school is it bothers me that, one is counted off for going to the orthodontist, but can miss 3+ afternoons a week for sporting games (or other 'school' funtions). I KNOW, I am surely going to get flamed for this,:eek: but just becasue they are 'with school' does not mean they are in class learning! COME ON!!!! THEY are not 'learning' , yes maybe learning sportmanship etc, but if we can say you aren't learning while traveling and seeing different cultures, then.....:confused:

[Lollipop's Mom]

Oh yah...forgot about the orthodontist appointments. Ours is 45 mins away from us (we moved part way through treatment.....but easier to still drive back and forth than switch orthos). It is so hard to get a 4pm appt so that she doesn't miss. Its usually a 330 appt, so I can grab her a 1/2 hr early at 230. At least I know the last half hour of the day they don't do anything anyway (well not at my dd's school - they read or do quiet art).

[KC_fn]

Regardless of school district policies and rationalizations about "learning" (how much genuine native culture do you think a child really absorbs on a cruise excursion?), there's the question of what message you are sending to your child.

 

One poster mentioned lying to the school, so there's the first lesson learned from the cruise: "Lie to get what you want." Absences create extra work for the teacher, so there's lesson #2: "Do what you want, regardless of how it affects others." And of course, lesson #3 is: "If you have something more fun to do, you don't need to show up."

 

If you ever get irritated with an employee or co-worker who calls in sick to attend a baseball game, notice that they use precisely the same logic. Don't think that your kids will make the distinction between skipping school now and skipping work later.

 

Obviously travel is a wonderful educational opportunity, although cruising is probably the least valuable form of foreign travel, because it's so sanitized and insulated. But travel is available year-round; when you take your kids out of school to cruise, it's pretty clear that the real motivation is off-season fares, not education.

[RogerandChris]

I'm not going to second guess anyone on the way they treat school.

 

I was taught by my parents and told my kids that going to school was their job and going to work was mine. I'm subject to vacation rules at work and so are my kids. That's just life.

 

I wonder how many of us cruise on unpaid vacation time? If I have an "un-excused absence" I'm on my nickel.

 

Not to judge but when we hit 2 pages of comments I can throw in mine!

[momofmn00]

Oh yah...forgot about the orthodontist appointments. Ours is 45 mins away from us (we moved part way through treatment.....but easier to still drive back and forth than switch orthos). It is so hard to get a 4pm appt so that she doesn't miss. Its usually a 330 appt' date=' so I can grab her a 1/2 hr early at 230. At least I know the last half hour of the day they don't do anything anyway (well not at my dd's school - they read or do quiet art).[/quote']

LOL! Yeah thats funny! Cause at our school, if you take the child out early, EVEN 30 minutes, it is considered a "tardy" and if you get three tardies, you get an absence!!!!! LOL!!! I know!

As for travel during school and it altering your work ethics later in life; I would also have to disagree. I was taken on occassion to business trips (& Disney :rolleyes: ) or other things with my parents during school...and I have 99.9% perfect work attendance. I am NOT one of those employees that miss work for a ball game...although I do take vacation for needed days off etc. Although, I do not wait until the last minute and just call-in...I PLAN IN ADVANCE!!!!

[momofmn00]

:rolleyes: As to the OP, DO what you feel is appropriate. If you are fine with taking your child out of school, then talk to your school and go from there. If you decide not to, then be glad you were able to make that desision too.

What other say/do on this board is just their oppinion. :rolleyes:

[momofmn00]

I'm not going to second guess anyone on the way they treat school.

 

I was taught by my parents and told my kids that going to school was their job and going to work was mine. I'm subject to vacation rules at work and so are my kids. That's just life.

 

I wonder how many of us cruise on unpaid vacation time? If I have an "un-excused absence" I'm on my nickel.

 

Not to judge but when we hit 2 pages of comments I can throw in mine!

 

You can surely throw in your opinion any time you want...that is the fun about this board....:cool:

 

Actually, as for me and my job, right now, I'll be crusing on my own nickel as I work part time and get on "paid day off" a year...

[Kerry's Girls]

I grew up taking cruises during the school year. Besides "fact-type" learning, travel gives a perspective that I wouldn't have learned had I not been given the opportunity to travel - meeting different kinds of people living different kinds of lives - both off the ship and ON the ship (passengers and crew). Now I give up buying new clothes and eating out, and my girls get used toys so that we can afford to cruise (and cruises from our home port to Mexico are during the school year - it's unbearably hot otherwise). Cruising is the best way for us to combine the fun and relaxation of a family vacation, while also visiting different places and meeting lots of people. I want my girls to know that people face many, many challenges and still find peace and happiness in different kinds of lives. We do charity work at home, but just stepping off the ship in Cabo and sharing their toys with the children they meet there - the lessons are priceless and I hope will help my girls remember how lucky we are, even though they lost their father and we don't have as much money as their friends' families.

 

I also want them to learn what I have from a lifetime of travel, not to judge people who don't do things the way I do, because I don't know anything about their lives.

 

Best,

Mia

[momofmn00]

I grew up taking cruises during the school year. Besides "fact-type" learning' date=' travel gives a perspective that I wouldn't have learned had I not been given the opportunity to travel - meeting different kinds of people living different kinds of lives - both off the ship and ON the ship (passengers and crew). Now I give up buying new clothes and eating out, and my girls get used toys so that we can afford to cruise (and cruises from our home port to Mexico are during the school year - it's unbearably hot otherwise). Cruising is the best way for us to combine the fun and relaxation of a family vacation, while also visiting different places and meeting lots of people. I want my girls to know that people face many, many challenges and still find peace and happiness in different kinds of lives. We do charity work at home, but just stepping off the ship in Cabo and sharing their toys with the children they meet there - the lessons are priceless and I hope will help my girls remember how lucky we are, even though they lost their father and we don't have as much money as their friends' families.

 

[b']I also want them to learn what I have from a lifetime of travel, not to judge people who don't do things the way I do, because I don't know anything about their lives.[/b]

 

Best,

Mia

 

VERY WELL SAID, Mia!!!!:)

[Floflegs]

As a retired teacher I would say that you should never take your child out of school in termtime. Where I live children were marked as "unauthorised absence" ie "truant" if they went on holiday. We were forbidden to give any work to take with them and had to try to get them to catch up as best we could when they returned. Some children never caught up in some subjects.

As my husband and myself were both teachers our children never missed school for holidays and if we couldn't afford to go on an expensive holiday at peak prices we didn't!

[Onessa]

Regardless of school district policies and rationalizations about "learning" (how much genuine native culture do you think a child really absorbs on a cruise excursion?), there's the question of what message you are sending to your child . . . . Obviously travel is a wonderful educational opportunity, although cruising is probably the least valuable form of foreign travel, because it's so sanitized and insulated. But travel is available year-round; when you take your kids out of school to cruise, it's pretty clear that the real motivation is off-season fares, not education.

 

Travel (of any type) is what you make it. Education (of any type) is what you make it. There are kids in school being "warehoused", there are kids taking trips purely for the convenience of their parents. Don't go painting everyone with the same broad brush!

 

DH is in a job in an industry where projects are scheduled years in advance - this year's project meant he could not take off more than one or two days total between April 1 and September 1. Thus our family vacation this year is going to be a Greek cruise over Thanksgiving (since DDs school is off 1/2 day Friday the 16th and is off Wed, Thurs and Friday day of the week of Thanksgiving, she will miss 2.5 days of school (we leave the evening of the 15th). Timing of the trip will take in the needs of both adults' schedules and my DD's schedule - minimizing impact when possible.

 

Per her Social Studies teacher, she will miss 2.5 days of the Ancient Greece unit (let's see read about the Parthanon, vs seeing it?). Her lit. teacher's already assigned her the task of taking some pictures in Venice, because they will be reading the "Thief Lord" beginning the day after Thanksgiving vacation - the story takes place in Venice (the embarkation port of the cruise).

 

The Powerpoint presentation of Volcanos that my DD put together for 4th grade science will be used again this year (third year running) by her fourth grade teacher as part of the volcano unit. It uses pictures she took of Mt. Etna, Mt. St. Helens, Kiloaha (fortunately she spells better than I!), Yellowstone, and Iceland. It also uses information that she learned when earning Junior Ranger badges in CA, HI, WA, and WY. Oddly enough - she missed a day or two of school for about 1/2 of those trips. She still manages to read at a college Jr. Level, is in eighth grade math (although she is in sixth), saved money for college by working as a referee for pee-wee soccer, and recently earned her Girl Scout Bronze award.

 

She has not learned any lesson that it is "ok" to skip school - she has learned the lesson that if she works hard and keeps her grades up, she can earn the right to do some special things. She has learned the lesson that it is her responsiblity to make up the work she misses when she is gone. She has learned about sea life, geology, ancient civilizations, US history, archiology, palentology, spelunking, art history, etc. She has gotten to know (and still writes to some) friends from far away places.

 

I know kids who go with their parents to a tropical island for a week and learn nothing more than how many drinks with little umbrellas Mom can drink. To the OP "Travel is what you make it!" Don't go lying to the school admin -- if they give you a hard time find out what the "root cause" is -- if it is school aid funding, see if there is a creative solution (can your children qualify for some independent study program?). If it is too much work for the teachers -- find out some things you or your spouse can do for the teachers. Do not go expecting a fight - but be prepared to calmly and rationally explain what you want to do and see what you need to do to make it happen. Good luck!

[KC_fn]

Given the number of misspellings and misuses of punctuation in the original post, I'd say the value of schooling should not be underestimated.

 

I know that's rude, but really, all of these "Iz skool mor portant than crooz?" posts have a lot in common. :(

 

Indeed!

[howdyall]

Given the number of misspellings and misuses of punctuation in the original post, I'd say the value of schooling should not be underestimated.

 

I know that's rude, but really, all of these "Iz skool mor portant than crooz?" posts have a lot in common. :(

 

 

 

If checking the misspellings and gramatical errors on these posts are how you spend your time, maybe you should get a life, or a better hobby!

[CountryFox]

Given the number of misspellings and misuses of punctuation in the original post, I'd say the value of schooling should not be underestimated.

 

I know that's rude, but really, all of these "Iz skool mor portant than crooz?" posts have a lot in common. :([/quot\

 

Yes it is RUDE of you to comment....people come here to read and give there comments to enrich other cruise travels.....not to be subjected to your Rude comments about spelling.....give it a freakin rest I am so tired of the spelling police....

Now you have a rel nic daye

[KC_fn]

Onessa, point taken. It sounds like you make a point of being completely truthful with the school/teachers, and working with them so that neither they nor your student will be adversely impacted. I applaud you for that; your DD truly is being enriched by travel, as is her school.

 

Many of the posts in this thread are of a far different tenor: "How can we trick the school into approving this?" "My child won't miss anything of value." "Saving money is more important than school." "I plan to tell this lie to the district." After reading your thoughtful post, I can't imagine you saying any of those things.

[howdyall]

 

Yes it is RUDE of you to comment....people come here to read and give there comments to enrich other cruise travels.....not to be subjected to your Rude comments about spelling.....give it a freakin rest I am so tired of the spelling police....

Now you have a rel nic daye

 

 

Thank you

 

I came here looking for constructive advice, not rude comments. I guess I have had my first "flaming".