For those who have actually taken their children out of school

[CanadianTwosome]

YOU get it straight. House Bill 531 never passed. It is in fact still pending. However, schools may allow "part time" homeschooled children to attend classes. They don't have to let them. There is no law. Knowing the dates (at least in general) of the Civil War, the Revolutionary War, World War l, World War ll, the Vietnam War etc is very important to know. I actually met a person who thought George Washington and Abe Lincoln were good friends. Now that is just ignorant and uneducated.

 

We definitely have different priorities. For example, I suffered from tonsilitis as a child and if my daughter was getting it enough to qualify her for a tonsilectomy, there is no way I would delay that surgery. I would absolutely prefer her to miss a few days - or even two weeks - of school over her suffering another bout of tonsilitis (which would cause her to miss school anyway). When I was in grade 7 myself, I became ill and missed two months of school. I still passed, even though it was at the end of the school year and I missed all of the final exams.

 

What that experience taught me is that if a student is bright, capable, and does their best in school, they CAN miss classes and still do well - and when I say 'well', I don't mean 'well enough to get by', I mean that my final grades that year were still better than most of the class. That doesn't by any means mean that I don't think education is important; just the opposite. It was my diligence, hard work, and attention to my studies that allowed me to accomplish what I did even when faced with unavoidable absence. Whether planned or not, absences occur, which is why we stay on top of things and ensure that our daughter is always at the very least caught up; currently she is ahead in most of her subjects.

 

I have said many times on this board and others that I can and will only make decisions for my own child. I have no idea what those decisions might be if our situation were different - if my husband and I weren't as well educated as we are; if we both didn't possess intellectual abilities above the norm; if we weren't both experienced in both teaching and tutoring a variety of subjects; and if our daughter didn't show abilities and capacity that suggest she'd inherited our academic genes. Thankfully, I don't have to make that decision; when I consider whether my daughter can handle a week long absence from her classes, so far the answer has always been 'yes', based on her abilities and her performance, as well as our abilities, as her parents, to help her catch up on any subjects she needs help with.

 

That being said... especially since I'm from Canada... I am very curious to know why knowing the dates of the American civil war is important. I agree that it's sad that there are Americans who don't know that George Washington and Aberham Lincoln were not alive at the same time... but I really have to agree with Quasi - I think it's much more important to know HOW to find information you need than to remember information that (in my opinion) is of no use to anyone other than a historian or history teacher. I consider myself better educated than most people I know, and I don't know the dates of many wars that have occurred in the world - especially ones that my country wasn't involved in. On the other hand, I know how to fish, so I'll never go hungry. :) (and use the resources in our home, on the web, and at the library, so I'll never go without information)

 

I think the important thing that always comes to light in threads about kids out of school is that every parent has a different perspective and their own set of priorities. Because of this, I believe it's very important for each to make their own choices based on what they believe is best for their child(ren). (well, hopefully that's how they make their choices). If a parent does not agree with taking their child out of school to travel, then they absolutely should NOT do so. If they think that American history is the most important part of a child's education, then they should encourage them to work hard to learn about it. Again, I'm only parenting my child, and I believe I am making the best choices for her - I know her, I know me, I know my husband... and I think we're doing a great job. On the other hand, you (and I mean every parent reading this) know YOUR kid(s), you know yourselves, you know your partners, and I am certain that you are making the best choices you can for your family. Keep it up! :)

[lovesublime]

We definitely have different priorities. For example, I suffered from tonsilitis as a child and if my daughter was getting it enough to qualify her for a tonsilectomy, there is no way I would delay that surgery. I would absolutely prefer her to miss a few days - or even two weeks - of school over her suffering another bout of tonsilitis (which would cause her to miss school anyway). When I was in grade 7 myself, I became ill and missed two months of school. I still passed, even though it was at the end of the school year and I missed all of the final exams.

 

What that experience taught me is that if a student is bright, capable, and does their best in school, they CAN miss classes and still do well - and when I say 'well', I don't mean 'well enough to get by', I mean that my final grades that year were still better than most of the class. That doesn't by any means mean that I don't think education is important; just the opposite. It was my diligence, hard work, and attention to my studies that allowed me to accomplish what I did even when faced with unavoidable absence. Whether planned or not, absences occur, which is why we stay on top of things and ensure that our daughter is always at the very least caught up; currently she is ahead in most of her subjects.

 

I have said many times on this board and others that I can and will only make decisions for my own child. I have no idea what those decisions might be if our situation were different - if my husband and I weren't as well educated as we are; if we both didn't possess intellectual abilities above the norm; if we weren't both experienced in both teaching and tutoring a variety of subjects; and if our daughter didn't show abilities and capacity that suggest she'd inherited our academic genes. Thankfully, I don't have to make that decision; when I consider whether my daughter can handle a week long absence from her classes, so far the answer has always been 'yes', based on her abilities and her performance, as well as our abilities, as her parents, to help her catch up on any subjects she needs help with.

 

That being said... especially since I'm from Canada... I am very curious to know why knowing the dates of the American civil war is important. I agree that it's sad that there are Americans who don't know that George Washington and Aberham Lincoln were not alive at the same time... but I really have to agree with Quasi - I think it's much more important to know HOW to find information you need than to remember information that (in my opinion) is of no use to anyone other than a historian or history teacher. I consider myself better educated than most people I know, and I don't know the dates of many wars that have occurred in the world - especially ones that my country wasn't involved in. On the other hand, I know how to fish, so I'll never go hungry. :) (and use the resources in our home, on the web, and at the library, so I'll never go without information)

 

I think the important thing that always comes to light in threads about kids out of school is that every parent has a different perspective and their own set of priorities. Because of this, I believe it's very important for each to make their own choices based on what they believe is best for their child(ren). (well, hopefully that's how they make their choices). If a parent does not agree with taking their child out of school to travel, then they absolutely should NOT do so. If they think that American history is the most important part of a child's education, then they should encourage them to work hard to learn about it. Again, I'm only parenting my child, and I believe I am making the best choices for her - I know her, I know me, I know my husband... and I think we're doing a great job. On the other hand, you (and I mean every parent reading this) know YOUR kid(s), you know yourselves, you know your partners, and I am certain that you are making the best choices you can for your family. Keep it up! :)

 

You claim you're highly educated. Please back it up. It means nothing to me. What are your academic degrees?

 

The Civil War is an important event in not just American, but also world history. Why do you write that the dates and times are irrrelevant? You're missing the point. It's not the exact dates and times that are important. Any educated person would know this. I repeat, it's not just the dates and times, but the relevance.

 

Do educated people such as yourself believe that history is irrelevent? Likewise, is learning math only something that 'mathameticians" need to know.

 

I don't want to be crictical of you, but quit condescending education. Here in the U.S. education is totally free, but few take advantage of it. There are a lot of kids just sleeping through classes and their parents don't even care.

 

BTW, a tonsillectomy is never an "emergency" situation. I totally care about my son's health. He was never in any danger and it was just a matter of scheduling the procedure. We're not in disagreement over our kids' health-which is always the #1 priority.

[flagger]

Here in the U.S. education is totally free, but few take advantage of it.

Um, maybe you didn't see my property tax bill. Education is most certainly NOT totally free.

[GORDONCHICK]

You claim you're highly educated. Please back it up. It means nothing to me. What are your academic degrees?

 

The Civil War is an important event in not just American, but also world history. Why do you write that the dates and times are irrrelevant? You're missing the point. It's not the exact dates and times that are important. Any educated person would know this. I repeat, it's not just the dates and times, but the relevance.

 

Do educated people such as yourself believe that history is irrelevent? Likewise, is learning math only something that 'mathameticians" need to know.

 

I don't want to be crictical of you, but quit condescending education. Here in the U.S. education is totally free, but few take advantage of it. There are a lot of kids just sleeping through classes and their parents don't even care.

 

BTW, a tonsillectomy is never an "emergency" situation. I totally care about my son's health. He was never in any danger and it was just a matter of scheduling the procedure. We're not in disagreement over our kids' health-which is always the #1 priority.

 

Hello kettle??? You sound more condescending than any others here. I have two degrees, but I know people who have more than I do but cannot find their way out of a paper bag, so count me among those who think degrees aren't as important as you seem to think they are.

 

And FYI, and tonsillectomy can most certainly be an emergency (as I type, I'm sitting in my office in a hospital before the work day starts.......).

[QuasiTova]

That being said... especially since I'm from Canada...

 

Where in Canada do you live?

 

My daughter and I are going to be visiting Vancouver this summer, and would love to hear your opinions about places we should not miss while there.

 

I pretty much have our itinerary planned, but would love the advice of someone who actually LIVES there :)

 

I know this is kind of off topic, so if you do not mind, I have started a thread on the Canada board to discuss this :)

[GORDONCHICK]

Where in Canada do you live?

 

My daughter and I are going to be visiting Vancouver this summer, and would love to hear your opinions about places we should not miss while there.

 

I pretty much have our itinerary planned, but would love the advice of someone who actually LIVES there :)

 

I know this is kind of off topic, so if you do not mind, I have started a thread on the Canada board to discuss this :)

 

Also look at the West Coast Departure board. That's where I found so many helpful people who live in and around Vancouver, plus it's more active than the Canadian board.

[aprilwaters]

hi, I'm back.... been reading these post and had to laugh. I homeschool one of my boys as stated before, proberably opening a whole new can of worms here, but can anyone tell me the last time they had to diagram a sentence? I mean, 1/2 of what they teach these kids, they will never and I mean never have to use again. If they do diagram a sentence, it will be to teach the other students who will never use it unless they teach. Education is very important, if I didn't believe that, I would just send my children to the public schools out here that just try to push them through. I don't. But I also don't believe that a vacation to do something very special, that they may never have a chance to do again will not harm them in anyway, shape or form. What they learn from this experience will be far more beneficial that harming. Besides, the information they miss will be repeated. That is how they teach things and how children learn-they repeat it over and over and over.

[Ellanora]

My son is eleven. That means I have about five years left before he gets a job that would limit the time we can spend together, and soon after that, he will be in college or have a full time job that will almost completely eliminate our chances to go places together. Sure, I could save up every year and have one, expensive, one or two week vacation in the peak of summer, but we'll never get to all the places I want to take him in that amount of time. Traveling when it's cheaper means I can afford to fit in many more opportunities for my son to see the great national and historical parks in this country, to cruise to other countries, and to just generally spend more time together away from the usual work-and-home schedule. His favorite vacation so far was a four night trip to Jamaica during the September he was eight. It is something he will never forget.

 

I remember being in high school when the idea of "year-round schooling" was floated in my district. As a student, I was against the idea. Now, as a parent, I would love it! Being able to have a few weeks from school every season would fit very nicely into my travel plans.

[Dr_DNA]

There have been quite a few things said on this topic but I wanted to weigh in because I have some pretty strong opinions on this. First, it is important to point out that I think education is very important; I have a Ph.D. for the love of Pete. Second, to be upfront, we haven’t yet had to make the decision of taking our son out of school (he’s almost 4). With that said, we will probably be confronted with that and I see nothing wrong with taking him out of school for a cruise or any other reason. This is true as long as he is doing well in school and his absence does not cause a disruption to the other students. I don’t think that it teaches them that school is not important either. If it did, you could make the same argument for taking time off of work. Isn’t work important enough that you have to show up everyday?

 

But here is my real question. I guess that it is aimed at those that that think the state should run my life, my sons and well, really everyone’s. If the above is true, my son makes up the work, learns the material, can pass the standard exams, etc. what difference does it make to the state if he is actually present or not? Why does the state care where he learned it? Shouldn’t the purpose be to actually learn the material that is being taught? And why should he suffer adverse consequences for not being present if he does this? He would be punished for not being present, not for failing in an academic sense. Now if his absence does not meet the academic standards as outlined above (ie: he falls behind, disrupts the class, etc.), then yes, there should be consequences. It is the schools job to work cooperatively with me in the education of my son. It is not the school’s job to tell him how to live his life. I think that as a society we are losing sight of the fact that government exists to serve us, not the other way around.

 

Second, based on the argument above, why does going on a cruise have to be “educational” for it to be a life rewarding experience? Our school system allows for students to be absent if the trip is “educational” and requires that the parents justify the educational experience. It is up to the principal to decide. To me, it is quite scary to have one person be able to arbitrarily decide what is and what is not “educational” outside of the established academic criteria. Is going on a cruise less/more educational than going to see Grandma in Germany? This is just another example of the state exerting itself into our lives and we willingly go along, jump through hoops to satisfy beaurocrats and try to justify the educational experience. Life is an educational experience. Period.

 

Finally, an aside thought that I have on this. If the academic standards are such that someone can be gone for 1, 2 weeks, whatever and still be able to meet those standards, maybe those standards should be raised. However, since our country is tending toward the socialist realm more and more every day (our education system is certainly not immune), standards aren’t raised as education is no longer about educating the individual but rather about educating the masses to the same level.

 

Hopefully this will continue to be a lively discussion. However, hopefully it will be fruitful and will not continue down the path of name calling. That never serves in the best interests of free thought and speech. Oh, I forgot that we no are longer teaching that in schools. :)

[CanadianTwosome]

You claim you're highly educated. Please back it up. It means nothing to me. What are your academic degrees?

The Civil War is an important event in not just American, but also world history. Why do you write that the dates and times are irrrelevant? You're missing the point. It's not the exact dates and times that are important. Any educated person would know this. I repeat, it's not just the dates and times, but the relevance.

Do educated people such as yourself believe that history is irrelevent? Likewise, is learning math only something that 'mathameticians" need to know.

I don't want to be crictical of you, but quit condescending education. Here in the U.S. education is totally free, but few take advantage of it. There are a lot of kids just sleeping through classes and their parents don't even care.

BTW, a tonsillectomy is never an "emergency" situation. I totally care about my son's health. He was never in any danger and it was just a matter of scheduling the procedure. We're not in disagreement over our kids' health-which is always the #1 priority.

Well, I can tell you all about my education, but since I’m not about to reveal my name on a public internet forum, I may just as well tell you that I’m the Queen of Sheba. The only reason I mentioned it in the first place is because I think it’s relevant to my (and my husband’s) ability to pick up any slack if my daughter ever falls behind in her academic classes. We both hold BSc degrees (CS for him, Math/CS combined for me), and I also have the class requirements for a MSc in mathematics, and am currently completing a second undergraduate degree in business with a specialization in accounting. I just found out that I won an academic scholarship last semester, in fact. :)

I apologize for offending you. I do not speak for ‘educated people like me’, only for myself. (which is why I use phrases like ‘in my opinion’) I understand that you feel that US history is important. For me, it doesn’t come up much. I believe I can actually list the times when the topic of the American Revolution has come up in my life: in 1976, when the American Bicentennial was news all year and I asked about what it was; and over the years as I’ve seen an assortment of movies and television shows that had something to do with it – Gone with the Wind, Roots, National Treasure… none of which I needed to know the dates for. Otherwise, while I believe any knowledge is good knowledge, and that includes a good general understanding of WORLD history, as I said, I place much more importance in knowing how and where to find information than in memorizing dates that most people never use. When I asked, I really was honestly interested in knowing why you thought it was important. You emphasized that dates were important, so I was simply expressing my curiosity as to why.

As an example, I can answer your question regarding whether I believe math is something only mathematicians need to know. In my opinion, math, or at least the fundamentals of math, are very important to everyone. As I tell the students I tutor, we use math every day without even thinking about it. Without the basics, just grocery shopping is a challenge, let alone maintaining a household budget. You may disagree (as is your prerogative), but I feel that a basic understanding of the fundamentals of mathematics are vastly more important than the dates of the American revolution – especially to non-Americans. I doubt you can list any important Canadian dates for me… or Australian, or English, or Chinese… at least not without looking them up.

Also, I have never been condescending about education. If I have come off that way, it certainly wasn’t my intention. I think one of the reasons people who agree that education is important can have such differing opinions on this particular matter is that the value one places on education does not necessarily translate to an equal value being placed on the school system. Hence we have the debate about life learning vs. academic learning. My personal opinion is that a combination of academic study and life experience is necessary for someone to truly excel and succeed. Based on my experiences tutoring, teaching, marking, and observing classmates both Canadian and international, I am not confident enough in the North American school system to rely on it solely for even the academic component of my daughter’s education. I expect that my husband and I will definitely have gaps to fill in over the course of my daughter’s academic experience.

As for the tonsillitis, again I apologize for offending you. It was not my intention. I was just making a comparison to illustrate the main point of my last post – that as parents we all have different priorities. I did not at any time suggest that a tonsillectomy was an ‘emergency’, only that I personally would pull my daughter from school in a heartbeat to have surgery that would prevent her from experiencing another bout of tonsillitis. Here where I am, a child must suffer tonsillitis either five or six times in one calendar year before qualifying for surgery. I simply would not take the chance that waiting would mean that she spent more time suffering – which, as I pointed out, would involve missing school anyway. You chose to take that risk and it paid off, so clearly you made the best decision for your child.

Again, I’m sorry if I offended anyone. I hope I’ve answered any questions and cleared up any misunderstandings. Please feel free to ask me for clarification on anything… if you’re prepared to read through another post this long!! :)

[CanadianTwosome]

Quasi, I'm sorry, I live in Saskatchewan... I could tell you what to see if you ventured out here to the middle of nowhere, but I'm sure your research is better - and certainly more current - than mine for B.C. :)

 

Aprilwaters, I agree with you, although I'm not sure diagramming sentences isn't useful... if I am thinking of the same thing you are. When I was in grade six, we had three sentences each day that we had to write as one word per line and then describe what part of speech each word was. I credit much of my grammatic abilities to that exercise - I actually know when to use 'who' and 'whom'!! :)

 

Dr_DNA, welcome to the discussion. I've posed many of those same questions myself, and I absolutely agree with everything you've said. As far as pace in education goes, I'm okay with it as it is. I believe that education should be available to everyone, and it's important to not discourage the ones that need a slower pace. It's easy for me to say that, mind you, since I supplement our daughter's academic studies. I guess that's part of why I choose to take my daughter out of school if that's how our travel plans work out; I see the system as providing an 'average' education, and part of our contribution is exposure to the world. :)

[lovesublime]

 

Well, I can tell you all about my education, but since I’m not about to reveal my name on a public internet forum, I may just as well tell you that I’m the Queen of Sheba. The only reason I mentioned it in the first place is because I think it’s relevant to my (and my husband’s) ability to pick up any slack if my daughter ever falls behind in her academic classes. We both hold BSc degrees (CS for him, Math/CS combined for me), and I also have the class requirements for a MSc in mathematics, and am currently completing a second undergraduate degree in business with a specialization in accounting. I just found out that I won an academic scholarship last semester, in fact. :)

 

I apologize for offending you. I do not speak for ‘educated people like me’, only for myself. (which is why I use phrases like ‘in my opinion’) I understand that you feel that US history is important. For me, it doesn’t come up much. I believe I can actually list the times when the topic of the American Revolution has come up in my life: in 1976, when the American Bicentennial was news all year and I asked about what it was; and over the years as I’ve seen an assortment of movies and television shows that had something to do with it – Gone with the Wind, Roots, National Treasure… none of which I needed to know the dates for. Otherwise, while I believe any knowledge is good knowledge, and that includes a good general understanding of WORLD history, as I said, I place much more importance in knowing how and where to find information than in memorizing dates that most people never use. When I asked, I really was honestly interested in knowing why you thought it was important. You emphasized that dates were important, so I was simply expressing my curiosity as to why.

 

As an example, I can answer your question regarding whether I believe math is something only mathematicians need to know. In my opinion, math, or at least the fundamentals of math, are very important to everyone. As I tell the students I tutor, we use math every day without even thinking about it. Without the basics, just grocery shopping is a challenge, let alone maintaining a household budget. You may disagree (as is your prerogative), but I feel that a basic understanding of the fundamentals of mathematics are vastly more important than the dates of the American revolution – especially to non-Americans. I doubt you can list any important Canadian dates for me… or Australian, or English, or Chinese… at least not without looking them up.

 

Also, I have never been condescending about education. If I have come off that way, it certainly wasn’t my intention. I think one of the reasons people who agree that education is important can have such differing opinions on this particular matter is that the value one places on education does not necessarily translate to an equal value being placed on the school system. Hence we have the debate about life learning vs. academic learning. My personal opinion is that a combination of academic study and life experience is necessary for someone to truly excel and succeed. Based on my experiences tutoring, teaching, marking, and observing classmates both Canadian and international, I am not confident enough in the North American school system to rely on it solely for even the academic component of my daughter’s education. I expect that my husband and I will definitely have gaps to fill in over the course of my daughter’s academic experience.

 

As for the tonsillitis, again I apologize for offending you. It was not my intention. I was just making a comparison to illustrate the main point of my last post – that as parents we all have different priorities. I did not at any time suggest that a tonsillectomy was an ‘emergency’, only that I personally would pull my daughter from school in a heartbeat to have surgery that would prevent her from experiencing another bout of tonsillitis. Here where I am, a child must suffer tonsillitis either five or six times in one calendar year before qualifying for surgery. I simply would not take the chance that waiting would mean that she spent more time suffering – which, as I pointed out, would involve missing school anyway. You chose to take that risk and it paid off, so clearly you made the best decision for your child.

 

Again, I’m sorry if I offended anyone. I hope I’ve answered any questions and cleared up any misunderstandings. Please feel free to ask me for clarification on anything… if you’re prepared to read through another post this long!! :)

 

Fair enough! I think you missed my point a little. I am very against rote memorization of events. Random memorized dates mean nothing. I just was trying to explain that knowing approximate dates is important. As for me, my first degreee is a BSN-Bachelor of Science in Nursing. I have an R.N. license. I did that mostly to get a decent paying job. Later on I went on to get my M.A. in Humanities just because I wanted to study things I had a real interest in. Plus, I wanted the degree. My husband has a B.S. in Computer Science. He is a senior software engineer at his company which he has been with for over 20 years. I really dislike my current job and I'm leaving and going back to nursing next month. I plan to only work part time.

 

As for the American school system-it depends where you live. It's not just state by state but by community to community. When my son first started school we lived in a school district that I wouldn't send my dogs to. So he went to private school up until 9th grade when we moved to an excellent school district. He went to an excellent high school and was able to take physics, chemistry, calculus and Latin. I don't know about your school system, but those classes are not required here to graduate. Yes, they have to take math and science course, but not those. If not for him getting the basic foundation down in those subjects, I'm not sure how he would have done in college. Not all high schools here even offer those classes. We were fortunate.

 

As for what I know about Canadian history-it's probably more than you think I know. I actually took a European history course with the emphasis on France and Canada. I do know that the French would most likely still have your country if not for the weather. They were extremely wimpy. I also know that Canada has a history of treating its indigenous people with more benevolence than the U.S. ever did theirs.

 

My son never had tonsillitis. He was contracting strep 2 or 3 times a year and his doctor thought the surgery 'might' help. It did the trick. After the surgery, he never got strep again :) BTW, you never offended me, but thanks for responding.

[lovesublime]

Um, maybe you didn't see my property tax bill. Education is most certainly NOT totally free.

 

Not everyone pays property taxes. Here in Texas I am certain that we pay the hightest property taxes in the country. We were paying sky high taxes when my son was in private school. Then the state started handing out vouchers for private school tuition for those who couldn't afford private school. It infuriated me. Here we were paying for public school for our and everyones elses children. We were also paying for our child to attend private school. And then we were paying for everyone else kids to go to private school. Not really fair.

[CanadianTwosome]

Fair enough! I think you missed my point a little. I am very against rote memorization of events. Random memorized dates mean nothing. I just was trying to explain that knowing approximate dates is important. As for me, my first degreee is a BSN-Bachelor of Science in Nursing. I have an R.N. license. I did that mostly to get a decent paying job. Later on I went on to get my M.A. in Humanities just because I wanted to study things I had a real interest in. Plus, I wanted the degree. My husband has a B.S. in Computer Science. He is a senior software engineer at his company which he has been with for over 20 years. I really dislike my current job and I'm leaving and going back to nursing next month. I plan to only work part time.

 

As for the American school system-it depends where you live. It's not just state by state but by community to community. When my son first started school we lived in a school district that I wouldn't send my dogs to. So he went to private school up until 9th grade when we moved to an excellent school district. He went to an excellent high school and was able to take physics, chemistry, calculus and Latin. I don't know about your school system, but those classes are not required here to graduate. Yes, they have to take math and science course, but not those. If not for him getting the basic foundation down in those subjects, I'm not sure how he would have done in college. Not all high schools here even offer those classes. We were fortunate.

 

As for what I know about Canadian history-it's probably more than you think I know. I actually took a European history course with the emphasis on France and Canada. I do know that the French would most likely still have your country if not for the weather. They were extremely wimpy. I also know that Canada has a history of treating its indigenous people with more benevolence than the U.S. ever did theirs.

 

My son never had tonsillitis. He was contracting strep 2 or 3 times a year and his doctor thought the surgery 'might' help. It did the trick. After the surgery, he never got strep again :) BTW, you never offended me, but thanks for responding.

 

Wow, that clears up a LOT of misunderstanding!!

 

Our schools here vary by community as well - and our city is tiny compared to most US cities. We chose our house based on the schools in our community, so we've been very happy so far with the teachers and support at our daughter's school, but there's just never any guarantees, so we try to stay on top of things. I'm not looking forward to high school, because that's when my niece and all of my friends' kids started calling me for tutoring, and most of it was necessary because of instruction issues, not their basic abilities.

 

The subjects you're talking about in your son's high school are (as far as I know) taught in all of the high schools here, but they are electives. It depends on what they want to do after graduation. I can't imagine finding my daughter in a high school that didn't offer those classes. She's planning on becoming a vet or a marine biologist, and unless something changes drastically, I believe she'll do it. :)

 

Ah, Canadian history. I admit I made an assumption there based on pretty much every non-Canadian I've ever met, and quite a few Canadians. :p I was on a French immersion in Quebec and met a girl from Montreal who thought my province (Saskatchewan) was a state. (as in part of the US, not Canada) Still, it was based on misunderstanding your original point, so it's a bit of a moot point anyway. :) It's nice to know there are non-Canadians in the world who are actually interested in Canada.

 

I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions about the tonsillitis. I've never heard of surgery for strep, but I'm glad to know it helped!

 

I agree that your tax situation was unfair. On the other hand, though, I'm sure, based on your posts, that you would have chosen to send your son to the same school even if the vouchers were in effect then. Fair or unfair, I think parents will put up with a lot of crap if their children's best interests are in question. Mind you, we might not stay quiet about it. :p

[ocmdcruiser]

Flagger this is off topic but do you know anything about photoshop CS3. I remember u liked photography and need some advice

 

We still cominucate on our FOS thread. stop in sometime!:cool:

 

Thanks

[QuasiTova]

Also look at the West Coast Departure board. That's where I found so many helpful people who live in and around Vancouver, plus it's more active than the Canadian board.

 

Thanks, I will do that. I was wondering why there was not much activity on the Canada board.

[miami]

Flagger this is off topic but do you know anything about photoshop CS3. I remember u liked photography and need some advice

 

We still cominucate on our FOS thread. stop in sometime!:cool:

 

Thanks

 

Sorry to continue off topic... you might want to go to the photo forum. I'm sure someone there can help.

[Jesuslovesyou]

I know the debate ranges on, but I would like to hear from parents who HAVE taken their kids out of school for vacations during the school year. We are taking our daughter out of kindergarten for 10 days (two weeks) for our Hawaiian cruise next October. (She starts in August) Have not yet had to face the principal or her teacher.

 

I know due to NCLB, I may face fines, talking to a school social worker, etc. But I think back to all those trips I took with my family and I remember many of them, especially those later in life. I would be hard-pressed to remember one week much less two weeks of school.

 

What have your experience been with school administrators when you did so?

I am looking for actual real world experiences.

 

Hi Flagger,

 

We've taken our sons out of school several times (once for 5 days; once for 9 days) in their 12 years of early education. We too worried about what they would miss or the extra load that they would have to make up.

What we actually found was that with the proper preparation and communication, all their teachers were cooperative and encouraging.

A kindergartener should have no problem! You should be able to keep up with any school work -- just give the teacher a lot of notice and always THANK THEM FOR THEIR TIME ;).

 

As our kids got older and had many teachers, we found emailing them a polite notice about a month ahead of time worked best. We always asked for their personal advice and criteria for the particular class. Our sons then would follow up with each teacher the week before .. yes, they had some school work while on vacation but most of the teachers were very creative ..... some asked for a particular report about the vacation. For instance, one son was in a robotics class ... his teacher asked for a report on the mechanics of the plane we flew on.

 

All in all, we wouldn't have traded back a single moment of having our kids with us! It is well worth the extra effort -- life is just too short to waste and fret; a week or two of school is not going to make them fail. Before too long, your kids will go bye bye -- enjoy every moment :).

 

Enjoy! :D

[crusinmama06]

 

All in all, we wouldn't have traded back a single moment of having our kids with us! It is well worth the extra effort -- life is just too short to waste and fret; a week or two of school is not going to make them fail. Before too long, your kids will go bye bye -- enjoy every moment :).

 

Enjoy! :D

 

Exactly, well said! :D

 

I always tell my hubby that when we are on our deathbeds, we won't be worrying about missing work, the sale we didn't make that week and the money we didn't make...the only thing we will be thinking is of all of the special memories we have with our children.

 

Life is just wayyyy too short.

[Dr_DNA]

Here in Texas I am certain that we pay the hightest property taxes in the country.

 

Are you kidding me? :confused: You haven't seen property tax bills from the Northeast then, where they love absolutely LOVE taxes. Being from Texas and still having family there, I've seen tax bills from the Lone Star State and would trade my bill for yours in a heartbeat!

[KerCar]

Here in Texas I am certain that we pay the hightest property taxes in the country.

 

Actually this honor goes to my home state of NJ which is neck and neck with my former home state of NY.

[lovesublime]

Actually this honor goes to my home state of NJ which is neck and neck with my former home state of NY.

 

Wow! So right. But if you look at one of those charts you'll see Texas isn't far behind N.Y. Plus, we pay M.U.D. taxes on top of that. At least we don't have a state income tax.

[petitecruisemom]

Lovesublime

 

We are also in TX and I am a homeachool parent. It is so funny that you say the laws are strict here! The public schools in my neck of the woods would have cases out the wazoo if they were strict here. We are in the most international melting pot and many students go home to their countries for holidays and long visits. The schools are used to the upper class lifestyle here and several families pull thier children frequently for jet setting around the world. They may send a letter but it never goes farther than that! My children have brittle bone disease and when they were in public school here in TX they missed over 20 days. They had medical excuses of course but I was never contacted by anyone! Now that we are homeschooling we have no one to be accountable to and so we travel extensively! WE just got back from a road trip back to the east coast! We are cruising next week and plan another trip to the midwest in early April. Homeschooling is the best!!!

[KC_fn]

I am very curious to know why knowing the dates of the American civil war is important. I agree that it's sad that there are Americans who don't know that George Washington and Aberham Lincoln were not alive at the same time... but I really have to agree with Quasi - I think it's much more important to know HOW to find information you need than to remember information that (in my opinion) is of no use to anyone other than a historian or history teacher.

 

Most historians believe that the Civil War was the pivotal event in the history of the US. It made us, for better and for worse, what we are today. While I can't tell you the dates of every battle, I do know that it lasted 4 years in the early 1860's, what were the main issues being fought about, that Abraham Lincoln was president, who some of the important generals were, who won the war and why.

 

A sad example of American ignorance about this seminal event happened just recently on Fox"News". Reporter Bret Baier, after an interview with George Bush in which Bush compared himself to Abraham Lincoln, was apparently trying to mitigate Bush's deep unpopularity by stating that "the country essentially hated [Lincoln] when he was leaving office." The country did not hate Lincoln -- it had just re-elected him in the midst of our deadliest war. And Baier seems ignorant of the fact that Lincoln was "leaving office" because of an assassin's bullet.

 

So when on-air commentators don't know even the most fundamental facts about our civil war and spout incorrect and misleading information about it -- which is probably believed by many viewers who also can't be bothered with history -- yes, I have a problem with that.

 

Those who don't remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

[lovesublime]

Lovesublime

 

We are also in TX and I am a homeachool parent. It is so funny that you say the laws are strict here! The public schools in my neck of the woods would have cases out the wazoo if they were strict here. We are in the most international melting pot and many students go home to their countries for holidays and long visits. The schools are used to the upper class lifestyle here and several families pull thier children frequently for jet setting around the world. They may send a letter but it never goes farther than that! My children have brittle bone disease and when they were in public school here in TX they missed over 20 days. They had medical excuses of course but I was never contacted by anyone! Now that we are homeschooling we have no one to be accountable to and so we travel extensively! WE just got back from a road trip back to the east coast! We are cruising next week and plan another trip to the midwest in early April. Homeschooling is the best!!!

 

My child spent most of his school years in private school. Like home schooled children, private schools are exempt from the compulsory attendence laws. However, the school still has the right to kick kids out for any reason. We are in the Bay area and have a terrific school district. The Woodlands is in a good district as well. I commend you for what you're doing. I don't think I could.