Do you take your High Schoolers out of school to cruise?

[Travelitis]

Next year I'll have 2 high school students. One hopes to have dual enrollment classes, and the other might have an AP class (still deciding). Mr. Dual Enrollment might be back on hospital/homebound again, too. Anyway, we'd booked a cruise for Jan 3, 2009, and the Christmas break dates have changed. They'd have to miss 4 days. We can't move it to Thanksgiving so are thinking of moving it to Spring Break. I wanted to know if any of you would take your high school kids out for 4 days or if you'd change dates instead. Summer is completely unaffordable for this family of 5 (2 cabins).

[Boo's Mom]

No, we do not take them out of school.

 

Our Middle School & High School have a pretty strict policy about missing school for "vacation".

Any work that is missed during the student's absence is due the moment they return to school.

 

This is only for missing school for "vacation".

 

So, it wouldn't be much fun for my children..... to be having to do school work while on a cruise.

 

[Travelitis]

That's harsh not being able to work ahead. With this being a military city and so many deployments and retired military as teachers, we probably have more flexibility than you do. My big concern is how fast college level classes move. I've been thinking it's not a good idea with college riding on these grades.

[Boo's Mom]

I've been thinking it's not a good idea with college riding on these grades.

 

I agree.

 

There is so much "teaching" going on in the classroom.

4 days is a lot of that to miss.

 

To do the work, without being in class....

that's asking a lot of the student.

 

[Travelitis]

My oldest has been totally hospital/homebound for 3 years, so it may well just be another dream that he'll get to go for even 2 classes. His younger brother needs to have good grades, though, for the IB program. I don't see how we can take them out of school, but my dh was actually considering it.

[pixie08]

We will have a freshman and junior on our cruise in December, they will both get work ahead of time and start working on it before we ever leave, can't afford any of the times they are already out of school. Worked in the past but of course they were younger then. Keeping our fingers crossed.:rolleyes:

[Loves_Dogs]

Nope

[nybumpkin]

Last year we took our then-sophomore out for just one day and never heard the end of it from him! He was convinced that one day ruined his math grade for the quarter. The AP classes move a lot faster than regular classes since the AP exams are given in May, and missing more than a day or two will likely put the student behind.

[rebeccalouise]

Christmas is an expensive time of year to travel and this is he height of flu season. I swore off traveling at Christmas in 1999 when I got the flu two days into the trip and was sick the remainder (chills, fever, fatigue). Made for a horrible holiday trip to California.

 

You tend to get better rates over Easter. This time of year is a safer bet. If the kids are stressed about school- that won't make for a fun holiday.

[reallyitsmema]

My son is a junior and there is no way he could miss 4 days of school for vacation. He is taking two science class this year, one AP and one honors, and he would not be allowed to make up all the lab work he would miss. I agree that cruising during summer is very expensive but that is what we do.

[bwjm]

I know that this is a 'hot topic' and many different views are given. I too was at odds on taking DD and a friend out of school for a cruise. I sat down with the kids, then met with the school principal, which may be in your best interest.

In my area in PA, they are EXCUSED absenses for the girls. They are permitted to make up ALL homework that will be missed, and/or tests. Of all the advice that was given by other parents, it is still a decision that only you can answer for yourself. In my case, yes, I am pulling my 15 yo out of school next year for the cruise.:o

I have confidence in my DD and after talking to her friends' parents, and both girls, it has been decided that they know that homework comes first, and yes, they will be taking it on cruise if it doesn't get finished before we leave.:rolleyes: These girls are honor roll (mine distinguised and in advanced classes) students. So I feel that I can take them out of school for what is bound to be a once in a lifetime thing for them.

Nobody knows your children better than you. Does the school allow them to make up work? Is it an excused absense? In my case, it was yes to both, so my decision was yes, to pull them out.

Talk to your boys, how do they feel? It's like way back during their infant years. Everybody can give you advice, but how you apply it to you and yours and what works best for you, only you can decide.

Again, this is just my personal opinion, no flames please.;)

[Conrycol]

Take them out for the cruise!

[crusinmama06]

In my area in PA, they are EXCUSED absenses for the girls.

 

I can say that this is 100% correct. I am in West Central PA and they do excuse family vacations.

 

My kids are a long way from highschool age, so I have no idea what we'll do when we get there.

 

In our school district those who maintain a certain GPA get Friday afternoons off and get to attend Penn State University on Mondays for free (actual college credit).

 

So I am sure that will play a big part in our decision. We'll have to see if taking the kids out for a week will damage their GPA's and chances to attend Penn State while still in highschool.

[CSTX Mom]

Excused absence or not, it can be very difficult to get caught up, even if you do the work that you miss. Something else that no one here has mentioned: where my son went to school, you could get an exemption from finals if you had less than 3 absences. He valued those exemptions. :)

[greatdanemom]

No, we don't pull the high schoolers out. It just seems to add to the stress they already deal with. We just accept that for those 4 year stretches we're dealing with Spring Break cruises and the higher rates. :eek: But I'm sure it's different for every family.

 

Cheryl

[davenbeth7603]

I would say if they feel up to it to go for it! My parents took me out of high school several times for vacation. I learned far more on those vacations about culture and the real world than I ever did in class. (Also, I was in several AP classes at the time, and was also enrolled part time in college and still graduated at the top of my class. It's just a matter of if your kids are willing to do what it takes to stay up with their classes). I also missed time during college for vacations (this was within the last couple of years). In college you know your assignments at the beginning of the semester, so it's really not that big a deal if you take off a couple days (assuming the teachers don't have an attendance policy that is part of the students' grade).

[sunrise&set]

I think this is such an individual decision as there are so many factors involved, not just your children's own academic needs but the school's rules as well. I never thought I would take my children out, but we just took my DD (freshmen) out for 1 week for a cruise. We also brought her friend. She had not had any absences thus far, and she was able to make up the work without any problems. It was an excused absence so she had some time to make up the work. She did all assignments before we left and stayed after school for about a week to make up missed labs/tests. She's not an honors student, but does ok. Would I do it again? No. Her problem was that she was so excited to be going that her grades went down in the last couple of weeks before the cruise. So to miss a week after that made it even worse. She didn't care, but I sure did! We'll see how her report card looks next week.

[Travelitis]

I do appreciate all the input. There were a variety of viewpoints and experiences. A recurring theme was individual circumstances, and our individual circumstances include a child in and out of the hospital in January but in much better health by Spring Break. We were already worried about a Christmas break trip with him, and this past Jan/Feb we had the ER trips and hospitalization. While no one was talking about physical health, that very much impacts how he'd handle making up the work, and the constant reminders that no one knows my kids like I do really reassured me that we need to change the cruise dates. I called the TA today and am awaiting a call back with new rates for LOS and CCL Freedom, Valor, and Liberty. We'll probably be moving to CCL and saving $1,000, because LOS rates have increased since we booked.

 

We'd take a summer cruise, but it really is not in the budget, and we have some scheduling issues.

[Karysa]

We are dealing with this issue now as well. This year our DD missed 4 days which turned out to be 3 due to a snow day. It worked out well because she had more of the languages and could read and carry on with her work but that got us thinking what if it was math and science and art? On the other hand my DH needs more than a week to relax and call it a vacation so we are going to book him off for an extra week before our next cruise and only take the girls out for 2 days on top of their spring break which we always take as family vacation time. This will give DH several days to unwind, we will enjoy Miami for a couple of days and then take the cruise. We will return Saturday night which will give the girls a day to get hold of lecture notes that they missed.

Karysa

[bluefancy@cs.co]

One good thing would be there MAY not be as much missed work since you are coming off of a break. At my schol, the kids are eased back in. Talk to the teachers if you can, way in advance. You would be surprised at how accomodating they will be. If they give you the work before you leave, at least you'll have all of winter break to complete it!

[chipmaster]

Next year I'll have 2 high school students. One hopes to have dual enrollment classes, and the other might have an AP class (still deciding). Mr. Dual Enrollment might be back on hospital/homebound again, too. Anyway, we'd booked a cruise for Jan 3, 2009, and the Christmas break dates have changed. They'd have to miss 4 days. We can't move it to Thanksgiving so are thinking of moving it to Spring Break. I wanted to know if any of you would take your high school kids out for 4 days or if you'd change dates instead. Summer is completely unaffordable for this family of 5 (2 cabins).

 

 

This is a very personal values and priority question.

 

Its hard to argue that a few days away from school whether you are on AP or the drop out track will make a material difference to the motivated or unmotivated older student.

 

My opinon on this matter is all about that rationalization. This will come off all wrong, but what I see is a a struggle about money/budget vs. a few days of school. Worry less about allowed attendence and more about what is your value!! Like I said earlier that a few days of school isn't a big deal but its the action and the value that speaks louder. Also don't look for comfort in someone reafirming one or the other. Of course many kids miss school for vacation or other things, many peoplle break the law too and grow up to become good citizens and leaders.

 

For better or worst, maybe because we have never done and thru behavior intentional or unintentional when we now discuss options to miss a day or two due to some tradeoff my kids who are old enough now to partake in the discussion always have selected NOT missing school. Same with a few of our friends, its probably a larger value enviroment for us.

 

Others have already expressed what is more important ;)

[MrsPete]

I teach high school; I have 18 weeks to teach my students, and you're talking about pulling them out for essentially one of those 18 weeks. It's a pretty big chunk, even for a good student. Even good students don't always pass those AP tests.

 

I'd look at fall break (we always have three days off, so they could miss only two days) or Thanksgiving (again, three days off, so you could miss only two days). There's a world of difference between two and four days. And then there's spring break, which would mean missing no days.

[mcfam5]

It seemed like a great idea before hand. But, over the course of the winter my daughter got sick several times (strep throat alone, she had three times). So, she ended up missing quite a few days for being ill. As she stands now, she has missed FOURTEEN DAYS of school this school year. We now regret pulling her out for our cruise, you just never know what the rest of the year will hold. Our family will probably not amke that mistake again.

 

Good luck with your decision.

[SaratogaTrunk]

This is a tough call!!

 

Our family didn't vacation for years d/t some health complications my youngest DS encountered.

 

Today, we try to do as much as possible as a family-- like making up for lost time (?).

 

Now that the children are older, it definitely more difficult to plan vacations outside of school vacation time.

 

Eldest DS has "block" scheduling in high school. It's a four-day rotation with 80 minute classes. So, missing one class is really like missing two. Not a good recipe for absences.

 

Our kiddos missed one day of school prior to the beginning of spring break...while it didn't affect the 4th and 6th graders, my high school-aged son was feeling some stress this week (first week back)!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Crusin6]

No.

The reasons:

They won't go if it means missing more than ONE day of school.

2 of them rank 1st in their respective classes. 12th and 8th grade. They don't want to jeopardize that.

We don't want to leave the house alone in the winter months.

Too much sickness on ships in the winter, but I would consider DisneyWorld at Christmas!

We just could not wind down, decompress and enjoy a trip in just one week anyway.

We all love the summer family fun that we have and 1 or 2 summer vacations, summer camps, summer jobs, day trips, etc etc and 2 to 3 full months with no schoolwork is what we look for.

So in answer to your question we don't take them out, never have and vacations are just part of our summer ritual not our school year routine.:)

 

Good Luck!