school and cruising

[flagger]

I say do it. What is your child going to remember more? Climbing Dunn's River falls or another week of Trig or Geometry or Eastern Socialism?

[natduv]

I took my daughter when she was nine on carribean cruise for 7 nights with a group of other people, some with kids along. When she was seven, I took her to New Zealand for 8 school days. But she is 12 now and in middle school, I would not take her out, there is too much work they can miss. We are going on the Oasis during spring break.

[DonnaK]

I disapprove of taking kids out of school for vacations. That's why they have so many breaks during the year. Why couldn't you go during one of those breaks or summer vacation?

 

Believe it or not, there are some reasons why...

 

For some families, the adults cannot take off from work during school vacations. My husband's company does not grant vacation time to employees during holiday weeks, and they will not grant full weeks off during the summer.

 

There are also families living in areas with year-round school, and all the kids are not on the same holiday schedule. My cousin who lives near Las Vegas has three children in 3 different schools, all on different scheduling cycles. So there is not one week during the year (except Christmas week) when all of her children are off at the same time.

[sac2]

How many nights?

 

wow i wasnt expecting this much response...thanks everyone..its a tuff decision...we would be going for 12 nights but im still thinking about it though

[dirtgirl]

wow i wasnt expecting this much response...thanks everyone..its a tuff decision...we would be going for 12 nights but im still thinking about it though

 

 

My first thought, was God, no. :eek: Sorry, but there you are. That is a lot of work to get caught up on.

[Mark42]

"I never let school interfere with my education"

quote by Mark Twain

[EtoilePB]

Well we were trying to get a December cruise going for our family, but Brevard County Public School officials (Port Canaveral is in our county), said that they will have to be in school up to December 23rd, to make up the hurricane does we lost. What kinda school system requires students to be there the day before christmas eve?? There goes all the planning (but who says they are going on those days!)

 

I know this is a little bit of a hijack, but:

 

I grew up in Massachusetts (and went to college there, too), and we went to school on December 23 every single year unless it was a Monday (in which case they gave up).

 

(And one year when I was in college, it snowed on the 23rd and the make-up day for the FINALS was on Christmas Eve. Yes, that sucked. A lot.)

 

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread, in which I say that after about 7th grade, it would have been disastrous for my parents to pull me out of school because that's when we went to 45 minutes of homework per night per class, and trying to make it up whenever I was sick (which I was, because I never got any sleep, because I was trying to do 5 hours of homework per night on top of band and chorus and theater and babysitting...) was absolutely miserable.

 

But once I got to college I may, er, have skipped an entire week of classes to go on a cruise. And I may have enjoyed it. ;)

[chica]

Last February I took my 5th grade son out of school for two and a half weeks to go on our So. America cruise. He made it out of 5th and into 6th grade. Decide whether you want to exposure to different cultures and experience to be a part of his education and go for it if you do. Believe me the world won't come to an end :)

[Onessa]

DD will be 13 in a week and is in 7th grade. We will be doing our fourth straight Thanksgiving week trip this year (a 7day Western Med cruise). Since it is Tgiving she will miss 3.5 days. Last year we did an Eastern Med cruise, two years ago it was HI, three years ago it was the canal.

 

DH cant get more than two days in a row off from May through September, so summer vacations are not an option for us.

 

We notify DD's school as soon as we make our plans. We notify her teachers at the beginning of the school year. She gets "make up" work and does the work. She is a straight A student -- taking Freshman Algebra and Freshman Spanish.

 

Her school district does not have a problem with it, her principal does not have a problem with it, her teachers do not have a problem with it. If she had problems with school work or if it was going to cause a problem due to district or school "rules", we might well need to rethink. For now it works for us.

[rclcruzer]

I have a 13 year old, 8th grade. Very bright, good student. However, I would not take her (or my 10th grader as well) out for 12 days. Their school is a bit strict, and although I know it's "allowed" I know she would miss out on a lot. Stopped doing that after 6th grade, it was a but tough then as well.

We just cruise in the summer and hope for no hurricanes :rolleyes: :p

Of course, do what is best for your family and child ;)

[crombiexbabe]

a little bit of a different situation for myself -- i just sailed on liberty on 9/6 and missed the second week of school (I'm a junior in college) .. needless to say, as long as your child gets all their work ahead of time, it should be no problem!

[Sugar*Magnolia]

hello everyone my question today is how do yall feel about taking a 13 year old out of school to go on a cruise would that be ok or just irresponsible..

I wouldnt. Is it really still a vacation if they have ALL THAT WORK TO DO or make up?

wow i wasnt expecting this much response...thanks everyone..its a tuff decision...we would be going for 12 nights but im still thinking about it though

Unless the student can teach themselves the work they would miss going on a 12 night cruise........:confused: :::::::smh::::::: Its hard enough to make up work when you're home sick a day or two when in middle school, imagine 12 days of work with noone to teach it to you..??

[lbibeachman86]

Im taking my kids out for exams! But that's ok because its only a 3 day week and they have 3 weeks to make up the exams. Plus, the school didnt think; Why put exams on thanksgiving break?

[lwebb]

As a school teacher myself, I think it is a great expeerience. My husband and I have taught for 40+ years combined and each spring break our three children have missed up to 5 days of school. The experience parents can give their children on a family vacation traveling the country is something they cannot receive in the classroomjduring the time they miss. I consider myself a highly qualified respected professional and would reccommend this to any student of mine. I would also add that the parents DO spend quality time with the children "learning" :=) !!! Go and have fun! Life is too short. the school year is 180 days and the test will be there when you return!. lwebb

[juniorsmom]

This will be the last year we pull our 16 year old out for a week. Last year we took him out a week before christmas and it wasn't a problem and e are doing the same this year. Next year for his last year of high school, the school is changing to a 'semester' system and he would miss too much. He is taking a geography course this year 'Travel and Tourism', so I consider this trip to be research because part of the course material includes the Caribbean.

[want2seaitall]

When I was a kid, schools were more accomodating with absenses for family vacations. I was very blessed to be able to travel with my, already retired parents, growing up.

However, today's schools aren't as accomodating. I don't agree with the policy. But, I understand why it is in place. If my son misses just 1 day of school, he can get really behind at his current school. It is a very progressive school with an aggressive curriculum for advanced students. So I'd have to say, as a mother of a 13 year old, I wouldn't do it. But, as another poster already stated, it really depends on the child and the school.

[01Sweetpea]

When my kids were in 3rd & 5th grade we pulled them out of school for a week in March to go to Disney. Even though the teachers gave them some of the work, they still had a ton of catching up to do. After almost 2 weeks of missed recess time and staying after school to catch-up, my oldest asked me never to pull him out again for that length of time. AND he's a straight A student.

2 years later we did pull them out for 2 days before the Thanksgiving break and that was easier for them to catch up.

Now that my oldest is in HS, I wouldn't pull them out. There is just too much going on for them to miss.

Only you know your child and what he/she is capable of. If it's a "once in a lifetime" trip, then I say a little leeway should be given.

[I'm on holiday]

Twelve days is a long time, and would certainly mean a ton of make-up work. I know it's difficult, and more expensive, to travel around their school schedules, but it's part of our job as parents to uphold the rules. :D

We have a 16 year old tenth grader whose school (private prep) frowns on taking extra vacation time during the school year. She has so much homework on a regular basis, I can't imagine her misery if she had to make up 12 days of additional work! :eek:

[Mach1]

I agree with speaking to the teacher first and seeing what the class will be working on the week(s) you are gone.

I am pulling my DD (8 yo/3rd grade) for a week ... I did speak with the teacher right when school started and she told me that they would be doing outside nature work so this would be the best time for my DD to miss. The teacher told me she would have my DD do a report on what kind of vegitation she saw on the trip etc. I'll be sure and incorporate this in our travels, I picked her up a small note book she can carry and write down notes and I also go her a camera for pics.

It really does depend on the age/grade of the child. It is easier to make up 3rd grade homework than middle or high school!

Good luck!

[:BibleTeacher:]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][COLOR=darkorchid]We had this exact issue. [/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][COLOR=darkorchid][/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][COLOR=darkorchid]So we are sailing during Christmas time.[/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][COLOR=darkorchid][/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][COLOR=darkorchid]If my girls don't miss any days, they don't have to take finals at the end of the year, so they don't want to miss school. (They are both in high school) [/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][COLOR=darkorchid][/COLOR][/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS][COLOR=darkorchid]I wouldn't take them out especially if they have a lot of work they will need to make up.[/COLOR][/FONT]

[Blonde69]

Personally, I wouldn't do it. I have a 13 yo son - unless it was during spring break or the holidays - my answer would be no. For my son's school it would not be an excused absence. That's why we are sailing in June :D . You could miss so much during that time frame and depending on his/her studies it could be hard to catch up [I]for some[/I]. But I as a parent wouldn't feel that would be an approriate means or reason for missing school for a week. JMO

[financialgrl]

Worked in a school (not as a teacher). To the teachers on this board who said, go for it, that's great but was never my experience in a HS setting. One of my jobs was setting up Homebound (supposedly for very sick kids, but that's another story). It was hard enough to get teachers to send lessons to turn over to the Homebound teacher for a home visit so I can't imagine any teacher loving the idea of having to set up a lesson schedule/homework when finding out its so kids can go on vacation.

As for twelve days - at the school I worked, if you missed 15 continuous days of school or a total of 20 days (any combination) you were automatically withdrawn from school unless there was a prearranged valid reason to be gone (sickness with medical proof, temp Homebound, etc.) So whether or not this becomes an "excused" absence or "unexcused" definitely should be checked into beforehand.

[Warm Breezes]

Have you spoken with the school and are they ok with it? Is the 13 year old ok with missing that much school and having to make up the work? I believe that the only time it is irresponsible to take your child out of school is when you don't take these two key issues into your reasoning for taking the trip during that time.

We have taken our children (DS(14) and DD(11)) on a vacation yearly. Sometimes we took them out of school (1-6 days) and other times we didn't. Our school system and teachers never gave us any problem about taking the kids out and their vacations were always excused. Our last cruise was taken over Thanksgiving break, but the kids still missed 3 days of school. DS was 13 at the time. DS is a straight -A student and while he made up the work, it was a struggle for him for the first time. He was also penalized by his coach for missing basketball practices and a game that wasn't even scheduled at the time I booked the vacation. DS requested that we try not miss any school days or sporting events that he is in when we plan future vacations.

I need to schedule vacations based on my and DH's work schedule, school's schedule, DD's competitive dance schedule, DS's (now in HS) soccer, basketball, track, and band schedule. This is a mighty hard task to do. In fact, I could only find one week in 2008 where it would have worked and by the time I found it DH couldn't get the week off. School sports have taken over Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks and school band has Spring Break this year (even though I can never do anything during Spring Break anyways due to my work schedule.) During the summer school sports and band took up multiple weeks for practices and camps and a week was gone due to DD's National Dance Competition. We are going to try to get our one week that we found this year off next year so we can finally take a vacation. If DS wasn't so adament about not missing school time, I would plan a vacation during the school year. But it is a family vacation and I beleive everyone should have input in when we can go. Unfortunately this year was a bunch of long week-end trips whenever we could fit them in.

My point is to check with your school to make sure it is ok with them and then check with the 13 year old to make sure he is ok with the time missed. Then do what fits your family's schedule. That is the responsible thing to do.

[AmMom]

Here's an idea - homeschool. I know it won't work for many of you but for those of you who have a parent that can stay home, think about it...

[itutorfortravel]

[quote name='juniorsmom']This will be the last year we pull our 16 year old out for a week. Last year we took him out a week before christmas and it wasn't a problem and e are doing the same this year. Next year for his last year of high school, the school is changing to a 'semester' system and he would miss too much. He is taking a geography course this year 'Travel and Tourism', so I consider this trip to be research because part of the course material includes the Caribbean.[/quote]


a little OT, but UGH. i am sorry to hear your school is going to a semester-based system. our local school district does that in the high school as well. i tutor children in math and they are totally stressed out having to learn a whole year's worth of curriculum in just 18 weeks. it's too fast to really be able to take the time to absorb it and [I]understand [/I]it. not to mention the fact that depending on how your kids' schedules end up, your child could go a whole year without any math or english, etc.! ex, they get math in the fall in their freshmen year and maybe not until spring in their sophomore year...not sure who thought up that plan, but it's not working very well. they aren't in college yet!