Missing Elementary School for Vacation?

My 1st poll.
I still have a couple years before my oldest is in 1st grade. I went to Catholic school a long, long time ago and it wasn't a problem, but it seems like a lot of people don't want to take their kids out. I would think it's so much easier to keep up these days with schools putting assignment lists on the internet.
Do you think it's ok to take kids out of school? If not, do the schools not allow it, or you just prefer not to?


ETA
Thanks for all the opinions. I'm happy to see people still take kids out for vacation and I might actually go to Disney on an off week after the kids start school : )

Just to answer some of the posts, not being defensive at all because I haven't even done it yet...
- I wasn't expecting a lot extra from teachers, no work in advance or after school help, just the chance to turn in assignments or take missed tests if necessary.

- my reasoning for probably taking kids out some day is only partially financial. These are the things I was thinking about:
1 - I hate crowded vacations. I don't want to spend our time waiting in lines, barely being able to move through crowds, people pushing and shoving, etc.
2 - we can sometimes have a significant savings if DH has a conference to attend. Our recent Disney vacation, DH's flight was paid, several nights hotel paid (mostly I was alone with kids those days, but still fun), and the remaining hotel nights were something like $300 less PER NIGHT at our Disney hotel. We were upgraded to a nice view, so actual room savings might have been even more.
3 - just because kids are off on break doesn't mean parents can get off from work at that time.

Message edited 8/7/2016 7:39:10 PM.

Missing Elementary School for Vacation?

I teach high school. My honest opinion is that it is dependent upon the child. I have students who can miss 3-5 days and be completely fine. They get the work ahead of time and/or make it up quickly after they return. I have other struggling students who go away to Europe for two weeks and never make up the work and fail for the quarter.

Eta: posting assignments online is not mandatory in my
district. Also even if kids do get the work ahead of time, it's hard for them to do it alone since they never learned the material so your child would need to stay after with the teacher for assistance.

Message edited 8/6/2016 11:48:30 AM.

Re: Missing Elementary School for Vacation?

This is hard. So much of it is dependent on the kid themself and I think a lot of what year they are in.

I was always very studious and actually hated missing school, always on top of my hw. etc so for me it would've been fine.

My sister on the other hand was the complete opposite of me in school. If she missed more than a day, it would be disaster. She also had difficulty returning after breaks (was torture sending her back).

Missing Elementary School for Vacation?

Tough question- I would say maybe. It would depend on age of child, type of learner and point in school year (ex: high school I would never even consider near the regents). I could see maybe if they have a half day before a vacation not sending them something like that. I went to catholic school k-12 and I NEVER went before a holiday. We just always had a mass and some sort of activity so I wasn't missing anything academic and my parents took us to church on holidays anyway

Message edited 8/6/2016 12:43:22 PM.

Missing Elementary School for Vacation?

I would also say it depends on the child. Some kids can catch up quickly, others who might already be struggling may be left far behind. Where I used to teach it was school policy that teachers were not allowed to send home make up work if a student missed school for a vacation. It was considered an illegal absence. But for the younger grades they really don't miss much of they're out a few days. HS and middle school would probably be a different story. We will probably take our kids on vacations during the school year when they're in elementary school.

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I think it's ok if you are willing to put forth the effort to teach the missed skills to your child. And I know in my school, we do not give out work ahead of time, so it would mean catching up after the fact while the child is still learned the current skills. We do not have extra help before or after school for elementary, so it really would fall on the parents to do the catch up.

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We always take them out for a week (sometimes a bit more) and likely always will. We have a tough Work schedule to deal with, so we have to work around that. We ask friends in class for the assignments. Once the kids are in high school , we would likely go away without them so they don't miss anything

Message edited 8/6/2016 6:26:17 PM.

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Missing Elementary School for Vacation?

in elementary school, i would say probably ok- but REALLY depends on the kid! some kids just need to be in the class hearing the teacher teach the stuff and have a hard time going in and out of the school routine, being motivated to make up the work on the own and all that. i don't think i would do it in high school- the work gets too hard.
growing up, my parents would take us out for 3-4 days almost every year to go to Disney. and it was fine--- but my sister and i were good about it. the last time they pulled us out was my freshman year of HS. my mom said she just didn't want me to miss anything after that bc it was all getting harder.
so-just think about your kid/s and how they would handle it...

Missing Elementary School for Vacation?

I scour the calendar for random holidays and figure out "off season" vacation times like that. If you can find a week with two days off and go away Friday to the next Sunday, that's a nine night trip with only missing 3 days of school. For a trip like Disney, that usually keeps prices on flights and hotels low but you're not missing many days. For me, it's not about teaching responsibility or not etc. it's just about affordability. That's especially true for places like Disney or Atlantis where there are huge price leaps during school vacations.

Missing Elementary School for Vacation?

My DD is starting K next month. I feel like for elementary age, it may be ok. But in MS and HS it would just be too hard to miss all the work and catch up. We don't want to travel during the typical school breaks, so we'll probably do what the previous poster said and pick a week when they have off a couple days so they don't miss a full week.

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Missing Elementary School for Vacation?

I feel like its not really fair to the teacher to have to prepare work ahead of time or teach missed material. Like a pp said, illness, death in the family, emergency- yes absolutely. But so the parents can save a few hundred $$ on a vacation? I don't think that's right.

Isn't that kind of the deal when you have a kid? You can't always do what you want when you want to?

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Message edited 8/7/2016 3:12:31 PM.

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A day yes, a week, no. Fwiw, my kids missed the last day of school for a vacation this past year.

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In the lower grades it is fine. Our school will not give work in advance. One teacher told us she would go on vacation during the school year if she could. Lol

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Message edited 8/7/2016 7:27:16 PM.

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Life is too short. Kids are only young for such a short period of time. I think making family memories is just as important as school work. I kept my daughter home last year for a mommy and me day. This up coming year we are going to Hilton head early Oct and she will miss 2 days Next year she will miss a week for disney.