Do you get a guilty feeling if you pull your kids out of school?

[Onessa]

I do agree with the statement "Each family's circumstances are unique". However, I have a hard time believing that EVERYONE on here who is for pulling their kids out of school does so because they can ONLY take a vacation during the school year.

 

If you believe family is so important, wouldn't you get a job where you can spend more time with your family in the summer? So by using that defense of only taking a vacation when your job allows, seems to suggest that your career is more important than your family.

 

I'm sorry, but I'm not buying any of this...

 

Agreed, I do believe that there are situations where pulling your kids out of school just can't be avoided, but I believe that is rare. I also believe that most of the time parents pulling their kids our of school is the most convenient for the parents, and all this other stuff is just rationalizing what they really believe is wrong.

 

Our Thanksgiving week cruise is not a cruise "on the cheap" in any way. Being a holiday week - the cruise, the hotel, and the airfare are more than they would be at other times of the year.

 

Even if both my DH and I had careers where taking summers off was a practical option, we'd still need to cover a lot of days off, early release, and other stuff. I've "given up" a lot in my career for my family - I switched positions so I didn't have to travel for work. I struggle with a schedule where I don't get in until 9:00 am so that I can be with her until the bus comes rather than putting her in a "before school" program. My husband struggles with a schedule where he is in by 6:00 am to be able to be off to pick her up by 4:00. There is nothing "convenient" about it, we work hard to make this work. Why because it is worth it.

 

I'm sorry for those in this world who are so unhappy with their lives that they just can't get it, and feel it necessary to rain down on everyone else's parade. If sblahars decides he (she?) does not want to take his kids out of school, then hedoes not have to - no one is making him!

[elaineof6]

I think everyone needs to change careers so that they can take vacations in the summer, that would be putting your family first, because if taking a family is so important, the parents would change their life around for it.

 

Okay.

 

I think you need to make your own choices based on the best interests of yor family, and let others make their own choices based on the best interests of their families.

 

Its funny, because most of the people that I know who do have real careers (engineers, doctors, psychologists, administrative, IT, etc)

 

I'm not sure why you feel compelled to be deliberately abrasive/hostile in your wording, but I AM one of those people who have "real" careers. I'm currently a computer analyst (that would be "IT"), and I spent over 20 years in clinical medicine (laboratory and administration).

 

I HATE vacationing in the summer, and I avoid it whenever possible. I also have four children, all of whom were born while my husband I were dual active-duty military. They don't particularly like to vacation in the summer, either. Neither does my husband, who is now a public school teacher.

 

My point is that if your family vacation is so important, maybe you should consider a career where you can take a family vacation during the summer.

 

Once again- you make your decisions based on the best interests of your family, and I'll make mine based on the best interests of my family. You are not entitled to, and I will not offer, any reasons for my choices. When you are willing to offset the costs of my family's vacation, I will give you input as to the dates, time and place. Until then, stick with making your own plans, not mine.

[sblahars]

The "real" careers statement meant just that...they are real, nothing else was meant by that, nothing negative or deragatory in any way.

 

I don't know how so many people can have jobs that they just can not get off of work except in the summer. When I was in high school I worked at McDonalds, and if I needed time off I just told them that I wouldn't be available for the week. When I was in college I worked in the Engineering Departments as an scrub-copy-coffee-mail guy where if I needed time off all I did was ask for it. Now I'm an engineer (yes, I'm educated with a Bachelors in Aerospace Engineering and a Masters in Mechanical Engineering) and when I take a vacation I simply put in my request and there has never been a problem.

 

So I've worked from one end of the specturm to the other, and in none of those jobs did I ever have a problem going on vacation.

 

My immediate friends and family work in fields such as Finance, Automotive (one blue collar and one white collar) , IT, Psychology, Accounting, Medical...and none of them have problems with vacation time.

 

So again, what I'm trying to say is that if everyone's lives are so busy with their careers that they can ONLY spend time with their kids during the school year, perhaps they should consider a different career. Because as the point has been made over and over again in this thread, family is the most important...so if people say that, they should be willing to restructure their lives so that they don't have to take their kids out of school.

 

And someone said that teachers are required to give assignments in advance and that is in their contract....I don't believe that is a universal rule for teachers, I'm not saying it isn't true anywhere, but I'm fairly certain that is not always the case.

[KauaiKris]

The "real" careers statement meant just that...they are real, nothing else was meant by that, nothing negative or deragatory in any way.

 

"Real" careers, as opposed to imaginary? :)

 

 

So I've worked from one end of the specturm to the other, and in none of those jobs did I ever have a problem going on vacation.

 

One of the realities of life is that we all base our opinions and viewpoint on our own, limited personal experience. Even the most well travelled and well educated among us still have a "limited" view of things. There's just too much to see, do, be and experience in this world to know it all. Sometimes it is very helpful for me to keep this in mind. It helps me be more tolerant and understanding of others.

 

I realize that in your personal experience, you have apparently not seen or recognized situations where in people might actually be devoted parents while not being able to schedule their vacation in the summer. But can you not allow for the possibility that such situations actually do exist?

 

None of us has all the answers. And we can disagree with out finding so much fault with each other, eh? My 2 cents.

[Cruisin' Chick]

"I think that is also selfish of the parents to take their kids out of school just so they can wait in the buffet line for less time."

 

Gee, mister (or missus), you seem a bit obsessed about the subject. As many have said, many people do not have the luxury of vacationing when they want to or can afford to during the peak times.

 

My own hubby is a bit higher up in a municipal job so usually he can pick his vacation days. But he has also worked Christmas, New Years' Eve, other holidays (it's a 24/7 operation) so his guys can have some holiday time with his family. I used to work in the private sector where your company can limit when you take your vacations. Sometimes it is not always feasible to plan your career or your job based on this one factor.

 

Our last vacation we scheduled before school started even though we could have saved money by going a few weeks later. This next vacation managed to fall into the winter break schedule nicely. But as many people have noted, there are weddings and other events that do not fall when school are off from school.

 

BTW, we also get inside cabins to save money. That is our choice. Many other people take fewer cruises but get more expensive cabins. That is their choice.

 

So get over it. You're starting to sound like those people who insist that second hand smoke is a myth. The smokers vs nonsmokers thread really was flaming (pardon the pun).

[Soxfan05]

Someone before asked: "So, I ask you again, why do you have such a problem with something that has no effect on your personally?"

 

The answer is that this can affect someone personally. It can affect the teacher who has to take time away from her students who go to class to make an assignment for her students who's parents take them on vacation. As much as people want to believe that teachers live only for their students 24 hours a day, that isn't necessarily true, teachers have lives as well. I don't think it is fair to ask the teacher to make alternate plans or even advanced plans for a student who is on vacation. People have this belief that a teacher lives only for their students, while it would be nice, people have to realize that teachers have families and children of their own, and it is unfair to their family if they have to do more work just for one child. I'm sure someone will say, "We talk to the teacher and he/she has no problem...", even if they did have a problem, they probably wouldn't say they did.

 

Actually, I want to know how it effects YOU personally- why you would attack other people's values and earning capacity over an issue like this?

 

While it's nice of you to defend teachers, I can guarentee you that we are less concerned about the type of people who are on this thread that pull their kids for one week a year and do so with alot of thought and concern for their children's education than we are about other issues that effect the learning process.

[sblahars]

It effects me personally because my wife and mother in law are both teachers. And when this happens, it creates so much more stress in her life which effects me. She has been a teacher for 4 years. Only once has she had the same grade/school two years in a row, so as I said, as much as you want to believe that teachers have the entire year planned out and know EVERYTHING that is going to happen each day of the year, the truth is that they don't. It may be that someone who has been teaching for several years may have things a bit more concrete, but I think that is the exception. I think cirriculum changes so much that it is difficult to know what is going on from week to week. My wife has told me that in the past when requested for work, she has given it, then things ended up changing so much while the student was gone that he was behind when he came back.

 

Also, I did ask her about the policy, and she does NOT have to send assignments in advance. She teaches in a very affulent district with very well regarded schools, and the policy is that you do not have to send assignments in advance. Someone previous said, "You have to, it is the contract, end of story...", well that is not the end of the story, because that is not the case.

 

As much as everyone on this thread things i'm purely evil for my opinions, or that I just HATE kids, or whatever else has been said, all along I've been looking out for my wife and her profession, which I feel is taken advantage of more than people realize. And one of the ways is that thinking that it doesn't effect anyone else to take your kids out of school, well it DOES effect others.

[justmarie]

Wow you think that a teacher get all upset to do this small favor, I think there is a fine line here. Many kids get sick for long periods of time and teachers send home homework, so are they going to say it's ok here and not there, (the parents chose the dates not the kids) an understand teacher will not have an issue. We all have jobs where we do things we may not like but we do them to please ourselves, the boss or the company itself. I can say that most teachers (I talked to my sons teacher yesterday on this, and she said it does NOT stess her out, truency and bad behavior does) have their lesson plans set for weeks ahead of time and that they Do know that their students and their family's time together is special, whenever it may be. Like the other poster said we go cheep, inside cabin, cheep excursions and no souvenir's, just pictures.

[angelsx4]

"I" was the one that said it is their contract. It is not "specifically" in it, there. But if you call the teacher's union(aka mafia) you will find that they are required to adhere to what the administrators instruct them to do within certain parameter. They are hired to teach, if they do not provide materials for the students they will be written up. What about students that have health issues and miss a week or two(like I was growing up chronically ill). I don't know if your wife teaches in a private school or public school. But, in our area, if a teacher isn't put in her own classroom within that amount of time, there's something either wrong with the district funds or the teacher. And I haven't mentioned before, but I have worked for the schools(public), and taught computers, I happen to know that while the teachers do not know always EXACTLY what materials they are going to use, they do know the curriculum and resources are purchased in advance. They do know what they need to teach by the end of the year in "x" amount of days. Perhaps she should find a mentor/more seasoned teacher to help her accomplish her goals. You said she's in an "affluent" area, so I'm assuming she has all the resources she needs available.

[Soxfan05]

It effects me personally because my wife and mother in law are both teachers. And when this happens, it creates so much more stress in her life which effects me. She has been a teacher for 4 years. Only once has she had the same grade/school two years in a row, so as I said, as much as you want to believe that teachers have the entire year planned out and know EVERYTHING that is going to happen each day of the year, the truth is that they don't. It may be that someone who has been teaching for several years may have things a bit more concrete, but I think that is the exception. I think cirriculum changes so much that it is difficult to know what is going on from week to week. My wife has told me that in the past when requested for work, she has given it, then things ended up changing so much while the student was gone that he was behind when he came back.

 

Also, I did ask her about the policy, and she does NOT have to send assignments in advance. She teaches in a very affulent district with very well regarded schools, and the policy is that you do not have to send assignments in advance. Someone previous said, "You have to, it is the contract, end of story...", well that is not the end of the story, because that is not the case.

 

As much as everyone on this thread things i'm purely evil for my opinions, or that I just HATE kids, or whatever else has been said, all along I've been looking out for my wife and her profession, which I feel is taken advantage of more than people realize. And one of the ways is that thinking that it doesn't effect anyone else to take your kids out of school, well it DOES effect others.

 

No offense, but if a child going away for a week stresses your wife out so much that it affects you so strongly,maybe she needs to take your advice and fine a new career that is more "family friendly". Stress is not good for any relationship especially the monumental kind that such a small request obviously causes for her. Furthermore, although the entire year may not be planned from day to day, if a teacher gives a student work on Friday, for the following week and she ends up teaching something TOTALLY different, that is a problem with her classroom management skills NOT curriculum changes. Those changes in the frameworks are laid out well in advance, the Department of Education doesn't just show up at a teacher's classroom and demand changes.

 

Read back what you wrote.... is it any wonder that parents decide to take their kids out for a week and see the benefits of educating their children in ways other than in a classroom with a teacher who has no job security or continuity based on the scenario your described and is totally stressed out by the demands of NCLB and the everchanging curriculum frameworks?

 

As far as the student being "behind" when he came back, that's the responsibility of the parent to make sure the child gets what he or she needs to get up to speed when they come back from vacation. I don't think any of the posters on this thread would do any less. I also don't think it's fair if a parent has an issue with that.

 

We as parents are our child's best advocate. I know there are moms on this board who have kids with special needs. I applaud them for giving their kids opporunities such as those that are available on a cruise ship. These kids are allowed terrific social interaction with other kids, opportunities to dine in an atmosphere not always available to them and the ability to see other cultures, landmarks and natural phenomena up close, in a concrete way, rather than reading about it in a book. Every kid can benefit from that but some really NEED it.

[cruisinqt]

Sblahars, you are correct in your statement that we pull our kids out of school because it saves us money. No one has made flimsy excuses trying to avoid the money issue, we've all agreed that money is a major factor in our decision to pull our kids out of school during the school year. The only way I can afford to cruise is if we go during the school year. Cruise prices have gone through the roof lately and people with children are usually strapped for cash anyway because raising children is quite expensive.:(

 

 

I FORWARDED THIS THREAD TO MY CHILD'S TEACHER to let her read it and see what she thought of the discussion. She just e-mailed me a note saying that sblahars was NOT representing all of the teachers opinions because she and many other staff members in our school don't agree with his/her statements. She said putting a packet together for my daughter for 5 days takes about 30 minutes of her time and she doesn't mind it at all. She said that 5 days off of school will not put even a slight dent in my child's good grades. FURTHERMORE, she said it was absurd to say that a person was "teaching their kids irresponsibility" by taking them on vacation during the school year. She herself takes off personal days during the school year and she says "it is most certainly not teaching irresponsibility to do so." Most of the other staff members wanted to know what was wrong with saving a little money or being the first in line for the buffet. Mrs. Stenger said they said it "tongue in cheek" and were all laughing. All I can say is, thank you Mrs. Stenger and any of the other K.I.S.D. staff members if you are reading this for all of your positive input and support.:D

[elaineof6]

It effects me personally because my wife and mother in law are both teachers. And when this happens, it creates so much more stress in her life which effects me.

 

Wow. I am married to a teacher, and there is a TON more stress in that job that's unavoidable, to let something as minor as this get one's dander up. Perhaps a bit of soul-searching into getting a "real" career might be in order here.

 

She has been a teacher for 4 years. Only once has she had the same grade/school two years in a row, so as I said, as much as you want to believe that teachers have the entire year planned out and know EVERYTHING that is going to happen each day of the year, the truth is that they don't. It may be that someone who has been teaching for several years may have things a bit more concrete, but I think that is the exception.

 

Um, actually.... that's the rule. Take a look around- the vast majority of teachers iniven school are most likely experienced teachers. That's one of the major problems we're facing in the next decade- the experienced teachers will be retiring, and there doesn't look to be enough qualified, competent replacements.

 

I think cirriculum changes so much that it is difficult to know what is going on from week to week.

 

I disagree. Most, if not all, states have a strict curriculum to which teachers must adhere. The teacher has leeway in HOW the lessons are taught, but the teacher doesn't get to pick and choose WHAT lessons get taught. Surely your wife is a competent educator and can look at her grade book and determine exactly where she is in a give lesson plan on a given day. From that point, a competent teacher should be able to make an educated guess as to how much will be covered in a given period. For heaven's sake, it's only a week. If she makes a packet with two lessons too many, so what? I'm sure parents who are asking for help from the parent-teacher team (ooooo, there's a novel concept) are fuly capable of keeping up with the child's lessons. If the child returns to school a lesson or two ahead, where's the harm?

 

My wife has told me that in the past when requested for work, she has given it, then things ended up changing so much while the student was gone that he was behind when he came back.

 

Ever heard the saying "Poor planning on your part doesnot consatitute an emergency on my part?" How about "Proper prior planning prevents piss-poor performance?"

 

Things to consider taking over summer break:

Classroom Management Techniques

Time Management

Lesson Planning

[familycruzer]

but what I still want to know is, why does it have to be during the school year.

and I think that is also selfish of the parents to take their kids out of school just so they can wait in the buffet line for less time.

 

.

 

 

How about a family who lives in the north east and wants to take a vacation to someplace warm and sunny in the middle of the winter?

How about the fact that hurricane season is over the summer?

I have never thought about a buffet line while picking a date to cruise.

[sblahars]

My last reply to this will be that you are all terrible parents. All of you seem to be concerned with having your vacation YOUR way and not concerned at all with what is best for your kids.

 

And any of you who are teachers or who talked to teachers and said it was just wonderfully fine to miss a week of school are terrible teachers and have no business in a classroom teaching. You should all be ashamed of yourself, I've read every single excuse on here trying to rationalize your poor decisions. I don't believe any of the reasons you are trying to say that it is ok to take your kids out of school. For God's sake wait until the summer. Putting your own vacation above your childs well being is terrible. I wish everyone on here would put as much into being a parent as you do trying to rationalize your blatent irresponsibility.

 

I think we should end this thread here and now because clearly everyone on this board is so blinded by their ambition to take their vacation when it is most convenient for them, that they don't realize how wrong of a decision they are making. It saddens me that not only do people take their kids out of school...but that they are actually proud of it. I just hope that the lessons you teach your kids are learned well and that they can somehow apply them in their bright futures of flipping hamburgers or vacuuming my office after hours.

[familycruzer]

It effects me personally because my wife and mother in law are both teachers. And when this happens, it creates so much more stress in her life which effects me. She has been a teacher for 4 years..

 

Maybe your wife should find a new job because she obviously is not cut out to be a teacher.

 

I also doubt you are not done posting about this either.

[Soxfan05]

My last reply to this will be that you are all terrible parents. All of you seem to be concerned with having your vacation YOUR way and not concerned at all with what is best for your kids.

 

And any of you who are teachers or who talked to teachers and said it was just wonderfully fine to miss a week of school are terrible teachers and have no business in a classroom teaching. You should all be ashamed of yourself, I've read every single excuse on here trying to rationalize your poor decisions. I don't believe any of the reasons you are trying to say that it is ok to take your kids out of school. For God's sake wait until the summer. Putting your own vacation above your childs well being is terrible. I wish everyone on here would put as much into being a parent as you do trying to rationalize your blatent irresponsibility.

 

I think we should end this thread here and now because clearly everyone on this board is so blinded by their ambition to take their vacation when it is most convenient for them, that they don't realize how wrong of a decision they are making. It saddens me that not only do people take their kids out of school...but that they are actually proud of it. I just hope that the lessons you teach your kids are learned well and that they can somehow apply them in their bright futures of flipping hamburgers or vacuuming my office after hours.

 

 

When the juvenile insults start flying and the person flinging them wants to "take their ball and go home" just like in 3rd grade, you know they are truly defeated.

 

 

Now my question to parents is:

 

How do you prepare your child for their trip as far as their schoolwork? Do you do any special projects with them on the ports you visit? How do your teacher's handle the kids missing work?

 

My children's teachers know in September that we will be vacationing in December. The teachers know that I will be doing something of educational value with my kids so in the past, they've suggested a journal to share with the class and don't have them make anything up when they return. One of my boys did a project on Mexico in 2nd grade. We decided to visit the following year. He is really interested in Egyptology so we focussed on the Maya. We attended a Dias de los Muertes program at the Harvard University Museum of Natural History where the kids learned about hieroglyphs, the customs of the country and the various climate regions and flora and fauna. When we went to Mexico, we visited Tulum and toured the sites. We also ate at an authetic Mexican restaurant in a small fishing village where we had freshly prepared, fresh caught fish in a variety of sauces. My kids shared their photos and stories with their class when they returned. The students got a kick out of seeing Stop signs in Spanish and an empty box of Zucrito's (Frosted Flakes) with Tony the Tiger on the front. They also thought the Mayan calendar and pictures of the pyramids were pretty cool.

 

Do any of you have any suggestions for the ports we will be visiting? We are going to Puerto Rico, Labadee, Nassau and St. Thomas. My main reason for this cruise was to see El Yunque with the kids. Have any of you done this tour? What did you all think? Any info or ideas would be appreciated.

[2Cruise4Ever]

Someone before asked: "So, I ask you again, why do you have such a problem with something that has no effect on your personally?"

 

The answer is that this can affect someone personally. It can affect the teacher who has to take time away from her students who go to class to make an assignment for her students who's parents take them on vacation. As much as people want to believe that teachers live only for their students 24 hours a day, that isn't necessarily true, teachers have lives as well. I don't think it is fair to ask the teacher to make alternate plans or even advanced plans for a student who is on vacation. People have this belief that a teacher lives only for their students, while it would be nice, people have to realize that teachers have families and children of their own, and it is unfair to their family if they have to do more work just for one child. I'm sure someone will say, "We talk to the teacher and he/she has no problem...", even if they did have a problem, they probably wouldn't say they did.

 

I beg to differ my friend. I received my degree in early childhood education (which I guess you don't consider a "real" career since you didn't list it as being such). Any teacher worth his or her salt, makes plans for the entire year ahead of time. I suppose that those of us who take our kids our of school for an entire week because they are sick with pneumonia are bad parents, too. Or, perhaps when my mother died, I was a bad parent for taking my kids out of school to be able to say good-bye to her. Or, maybe we just like to take a few days off with our kids because we LIKE spending time with them. Need I go on?

 

To those of you who decide to take your kids out of school for a cruise: kudos to you!!!! The education they receive will be worth far more than ANYTHING I could EVER teach them during that week. "Pay no attention to the person behind the curtain (sblahars)." For he/she knows nothing of which he speaks. He/she obviously doesn't have children. Because if he/she did, he/she would realize that the real value of education is one learned OUTSIDE of the classroom.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Methinks Sblahars has issues here. He's been whining about this one issue. So far, not one single teacher's spouse has made such an issue about it. I bet even his wife just shrugs it off too. Have all of his posts been just about this issue?

 

One thing I know is that my child is growing up to be considerate of others, curious of the world, especially insects and animals, creative, hopefully happy. She says "thank you." She doesn't run around on the ships: she's either in the kids' program or with us. She knows to be quiet during the production shows and to appreciate the dancing and singing. She's learning about other cultures, whether she's on a cruise or at home.

 

At school, when another child is mean to her (unfortunately there are a few and the teacher doesn't seem to want to do anything about kids being mean), I talk to that child and tell them not to make comments, hit, whatever.

 

Many adults tell me my child will make a great politician (the caring type) and maybe one day, she'll be your senator, sblahars. So, what are you doing for the future of this country?

 

 

BTW:

my child's teacher has taken off several days this year because her son has joined the Marines, graduated from the Marines, something else for the Marines (I don't think he's been deployed so that's not it), and yesterday and today because her daughter is graduating from college. Also days off sick. In late February, a good portion of the class was out because of a cold that was making the rounds. People take off time for different reasons. That's life.

[sblahars]

First of all, I wasn't the first with the insults, someone said something about my wife not being a good teacher...I will not allow my wife to be insulted so everything I said was deserved.

 

It is amazing that you all seem so proud of yourselves that you take your kids out of school...almost as if you are a BAD parent if you send your kid to school at all.

 

Someone said before about spending as much time as you can because someone died of a heart attack and didn't get to spend time with his/her family...while I do express my deepest sympathy...I don't think it is the best attitude to live life as if a tradgedy is right around the corner. Living with this attitude makes it really easy to make excuses for not being responsible.

 

Growing up, we went on family vacations mostly every year. Disney World, Grand Canyon, California, Yellowstone...etc. We never had to do it during the school year. It is almost as if everyone on here is suggesting that if you let you kids go to school the whole year without pulling them out to go on vacation you are doing them harm. I don't see how this makes sense. My parents would never take me out of school for a vacation. My dad worked for an auto company, he didn't go to college, he was in Vietnam, he wanted me to do better than him, and as proud as I am of him, I'm glad to say that I am doing better, and that is because of the lessons that were taught to me about committment and responsibility. I hope my kids to better than me, and it isn't going to happen by teaching them that they can just go on vacation whenever they want, regardless of school or any other committment.

 

There seems to be a disconnect about the role of parents. Parents are supposed to raise kids into responsible adults, not be their best friends and travel partners. As much as I'm sure you want to take them everywhere on vacation, you have to show some disipline and responsibility that they aren't just going to be handed a vacation whenever they want. We don't live in some utopia where we get by on peace and love, as nice as it would be, parents need to teach their kids how to be adults, not how to take a cruise. And being an adult means sticking to your committments (school) and earning your vacation when the time comes (the summer). You aren't teaching your kids to be responsible adults by telling taking them out of school just to fit your needs.

 

I know people my age who grew up like how everyone here seems to want to raise their kids...they are whiny if their parents don't do everything for them, they EXPECT their parents to take them on vacation as if they are entitled to it, and have little respect for others...and I'm talking about full grown adults.

 

 

I do suggest ending this post, because it is getting nowhere. All I ask is that don't insult my wife, and that you consider trying to keep your kids in school and go on your vacation during their breaks.

[angelsx4]

This guy is obviously fixated on "getting the last word". From one OCD'er to another, up your meds, or get on them. And since I know my word isn't the last, I'm just wondering how you do respond to children on a cruise during the school year? Do you ask them if their parents pulled them out? I have a neice on a "track" system, completely different than my children's school schedule. I have a half a dozen friends that homeschool their children, so they take "vacation" when they please. Like I said, my dh's school district takes 3 weeks, while our children take 2, and our holidays don't coincide very often. So, are you like the vacation police on the ship? Or do you just judge and snub?

 

And I don't think anyone on here seriously was the first to sling hurtful words. You were the first, calling parents selfish. Go back and read. I was also very careful with my wording, I never attacked your wife. I do apologize for name calling, and calling YOU names. I regressed. So, go ahead, get the last word in. I'm unsubscribed to this thread and won't be reading it though.

[familycruzer]

 

Now my question to parents is:

 

How do you prepare your child for their trip as far as their schoolwork? Do you do any special projects with them on the ports you visit? How do your teacher's handle the kids missing work?

 

.

 

Before we leave for our cruise I have my kids research the ports we are stopping at and learn about the culture and history.

I buy each child a disposable camera to take pictures of whatever they want and when we get home they make a scrap book out of them.

I also have then do a journal each night before bed or by the pool during the day. If we wait until they get home, they forget way too much.

When we get home, each kid writes a report to turn in to the teacher and principal and a power point slide show from my digital photos.

In the younger grades the missed work was no big deal, they would just catch up on the important things when we returned. No teacher ever made them do actual work while they were gone. Now that my oldest is hitting 9th grade, the missed work is too much for her to handle so we dont cruise when she missed more than a day or two.

[islandchicklet]

WOW, thanks guys - I've enjoyed reading. I too will be pulling my kids out of school for our cruise. I'll go one better - my son will be in the 9th grade!!! And while finances were a consideration for cruising in September it was only a consideration. Since we will actually take 4 vacations this year (a total of 8 weeks) I can't imagine where that puts me in some peoples minds. The point is I don't care!! My children are very grounded and are A students and I am very concerned about what I am teaching them. I want them to be well rounded individuals and not all of what needs to be learned in life can ever come from a classroom.

 

I would be very concerned if my children were in sblahars' wifes classroom. If he is truly voicing her concerns then our schools are sad shape. If such simple things stress her then she has NO business teaching children. Is that actually her take on this situation??? And do you have any children???

[familycruzer]

I'll go one better - my son will be in the 9th grade!!! ???

I wish I could do the same with my 9th grader but we have block classes. The school doubles up on classes each day so one week off is more like two weeks of missed class time. Even as a distinguished honor roll member, it would be hard to catch up and I dont want to make her do that much work after a vacation.

[sblahars]

I really don't want to respond more, but I do have to ask if the 8 weeks that the person above is going to be on vacation for is all during the school year. I realize that it isn't 8 weeks straight, but will all 8 weeks be during the school year?

 

If so, that is 1/2 of a semester. If they truly will be missing 8 weeks of school, I HAVE to know if everyone else on here who has been blasting my opinions see anything wrong with 8 weeks of school missed.

[islandchicklet]

Geez, before you call the school police on me, NO!!

 

I am actually homeschooling so the vacations were not a problem but they will be in private school for the cruise in September. And if you need to, you can look at my records at LSU - where I went for my degree to teach kiddos. Just because I choose not to do so doesn't mean I am not qualified to do so.

 

But since you chose to look at part of my post what about this part??

 

I would be very concerned if my children were in sblahars' wifes classroom. If he is truly voicing her concerns then our schools are in sad shape. If such simple things stress her then she has NO business teaching children. Is that actually her take on this situation??? And do you have any children???