My daughters played competitive soccer, my son was on the varsity football team; their summers were equally compromised. So I do understand. We did not plan vacations during the school year. We just didn't.

Your daughters are 16, they will be off this roller coaster soon enough. Until then choices will obviously have to be made. If you have waited 30 years to see the Spanish Riding School then either go now without them, or wait a few more years. I wish I could be more sympathetic, but manipulating the school district for another vacation just seems wrong.

Thank you for your perspectives, everyone -- particularly those who had constructive suggestions rather than choosing to read half of what I wrote and bash accordingly.

Peace and tolerance. :-)

"Here, if you love music, you must be in marching band. There are no other options."
Thursdaysd, if it's like my daughter's high school, all students who play band instruments are actually required to also be in marching band.
But my daughter's high school band director doesn't monopolize so much of the kids' time as OP's seems to. They make a point not to schedule anything during Christmas or Spring Break for instance.

Bumble - Piano? Violin? Cello? Guitar? Private teacher?

I have seen the horses perform at the Spanish Riding School. Not life changing.

My daughter plays trumpet. Brass instrument and required to be in marching band. She actually enjoys the marching part, and again it's not all that time-consuming, so it's not a big deal for her. Most of the routines are learned in band camp in mid-August, before school starts in Fall, but that's required too, of course. She's also in jazz band, and of course, during school hours, they have regular music class for Band.

Of course, anyone playing stringed instruments or piano would not be required to be in marching band. But any instrument that would be in marching band - if you play it, you're required to be in marching band. It was like that when I was in high school too, in another town and state, and many many years ago, :) - I played violin so wasn't in marching band, but I was in color guard, had friends in band, and that's how I knew it was required of the brass/wind/some percussion musicians.
So when my daughter signed up for high school band to continue playing trumpet, I wasn't surprised about the marching band requirement. I wouldn't be surprised if most high schools require it. Face it, marching band isn't "cool" and how many kids would sign up on their own? :)

Oh, true, I've seen them too and, until it was mentioned, I didn't even remember I'd done it. Not the slightest bit "life-changing," though I guess if you were concerned that the Henri de Rivel bridle didn't fit quite right, or that Leonora's Colin Stuart boots seemed scuffed, or there was a tuft on the third jump, it could be quite alarming.

Bumble - must be another one of those American peculiarities like college "athletics" aka players on farm teams for the the pros pretending to be students. No such thing as marching bands where I went to school in England.

Visit the Lipica Stud Farm in Slovenia on another trip.... It's everything the Spanish Riding School offers and much, much more.

http://www.lipica.org/en/

I'm guessing some of the posters on this thread could play the tuba.

"And frankly, when forced to choose between a small-town school with circa-1950s thinking, and exploring the world for genuine learning, I hope my daughters will always choose to embrace a world view rather than narrow-mindedness"

They can't embrace a world vien in August. Is it too hot for their special little brains to function?

The OP's posts just drip with arrogance and an overarching sense of entitlement. The teachers are NOT your children's handmaidens. They are well-trained, overworked professionals. That some have been gracious enough to allow you to selfishly trample the rules doesn't mean you have carte blanche to go on doing it.

Regarding those life-changing horses -- go see them in Piber, Austria -- the farm is open year round and YES, that includes August. http://www.piber.com/en/

And FWIW, your "world view" seems to be conviently limited to Western Europe. If you want to expand their horizons even more, take them to South America. Or South Africa. Or Australia. Or New Zealand. In all of those places, it will be winter and the weather will be cooler. Last I heard, there was culture and history in those places too.

Dear Kandace,

You are right, peace and tolerance are called for here. Please give your poor (and probably overworked) small town teachers some peace, and teach your children some tolerance.

A trip in August will be memorable, especially since it will be very different from your children's other "once-in-a-lifetime" trip during the school year. It will also teach them the importance of being responsible members of society by following rules that are made to help society move along. Learning that our interests are not the center of the entire world is a major sign of maturity.

An August vacation will help your children mature more responsibly.

--Annie
(Former band mother and survivor of several warmly wonderful European Augusts)

Sheesh. It was never about my convenience. It was about the many diatribes here saying that August was an impossible month to go to Europe, and the many posters here who said only a knave would ever go to Europe in August.

I'm fine with August. It's an OK compromise.

I'm fine with (good) teachers. Heck, I married one -- who also supports us doing what we can to raise responsible young people, including travel, and yes, when it can be done within the rules (which I realize now it can) it should be. I might just point out -- again -- that we did not ever break rules; the school has a policy and forms on family vacations, and our last vacation (the only one of its magnitude in 25 years) was fully authorized and approved by administrators.

And yes, Europe is one of many places in this big, beautiful world I plan to take my daughters.

Peace and tolerance to YOU. Thank you for sharing your plethora of perspectives. :-)

<<Face it, marching band isn't "cool" and how many kids would sign up on their own?>>

Plenty of kids sign up on their own in our school, and throughout Pennsylvania, where it is not, as far as I have have ever heard, usually a requirement to join. As a matter of fact, in our school, 117 freely signed up this year, the largest number in many years. It's about more than the music. Marching band helps kids develop in so many ways that will help them later in life. Here is a good perspective:

http://www.amparents.org/blog/item/1...aches-our-kids

Is it cool? It is to the kids who are participating in it! To people, movies, media, etc. forming stereotypes, that sadly puts down these kids who are so invested in an important part of their lives.

But I still think it is unreasonable to make kids choose a full-time commitment for every single week of the entire year vs going on a wonderful family vacation and continuing to participate. They should be able to do both, not have to choose, not be penalized. Not allowed to skip a summer practice to go to the mall is reasonable. Requiring them to be at every single practice during the summer is not. Forcing a student to have to choose to withdraw from band or take a family vacation and fail is ridiculous!

<<Face it, marching band isn't "cool" and how many kids would sign up on their own?>>

Oh goodness, I didn't mean to offend anyone with that statement, sorry!
Fwiw, my daughter actually started trumpet lessons in middle school so she could be in the marching band in high school. She definitely would have signed up on her own.
Nonetheless, the stereo type of it being "nerdy" is there.

I agree that any single activity should not monopolize a student's time to the extent that they have no free time at all throughout the year. It's ridiculous and unnecessary. But in the OP's case, there does seem to be free time in late summer.
And, unfortunately, what should be, and what actually is, are often different. In this case, the student should be able to travel with her family when it's convenient for everyone. The reality, however, is different; and the solution is for her to re-evaluate her commitment to both travel and marching band. Not ideal, but some solutions aren't.

If there really is no 2-week period in an entire year completely free of marching band commitments/demands, I would be organizing other band parents to insist that one be instituted and universally implemented for all participants. It's possible that even the band teacher does not fully appreciate the extent of the commitments expected. Calendar it out. Talk it up with other parents -- how do they feel? If there are other parents who feel the expectations/demands are out of line, then approach the teacher with a request to identify a two-week commitment-free period -- or an option where if a student participates during the winter holidays, they are given a pass (with no guilt or pressure) during spring break -- or whatever. If the teacher genuinely isn't interested in a respectful negotiation -- take it up the chain. Otherwise, if your child wants to make the commitment, and you want to be supportive, I think you have to suck it up. Home schooling is a lot more work (and counterproductive -- is there a home schooled marching band??) than trying to constructively implement a more reasonable set of expectations.

"It is not just a riding school and they are not just horses.". Well, this is certainly something I agree with!

I wouldn't say it was life-changing for me, but I did dream of seeing them all my life, so it was a big thrill. DD and I saw the Morning Exercise with Music, instead of a bona fide performance, due to the days we were in Vienna. We also toured the stables, where you can see some of the horses in their stalls.

You could possibly visit the stud farm, if the riding school is closed. Although the winter facility is the most gorgeous, hostoric and architecturally-significant arena. It was wonderful to see the Lippizaners perform there.

Thanks, Tabernash2.

StCirq2, not that it's any of your business (and luckily my manners are far better than yours), but YES, one of my daughters is also an equestrian (and really, the Ann effing Romney comment? laughable; primitively communicated, but laughable). At the moment, my daughter is more active than I am, because our family resources are limited and we can only afford one person competing at a time.

You seem to have jumped upon a vastly inaccurate assumption of us. We are a farming family. We work HARD and make sacrifices day in and day out to save money a bit at a time for our rare getaways. I can count on one hand the number of times we've been off the farm for more than three consecutive days -- in 25 YEARS.

For those of you who were so quick to declare what is life-changing and what is not, how's that tolerance working for YOU? You have no clue what is meaningful to someone else, and if all you could do was comment on boots and hats and "jumps," then the real magic of the Lipizzaners was clearly lost on you. That would be like bashing an artist for purposefully scheduling a trip to Paris so he could see the Mona Lisa in person.

I do appreciate the good, constructive suggestions here, but by and large, what a snarky little disappointment. I certainly hope you behave better than this in your face-to-face interactions.

You can see wonderful Lippizzaners in Florida, near Seista Key. The farm, horse show, participants and viewing these amasing creatures down there is lots less expensive than Europe. Getting out of school is probably not the best idea and August??? Have been to France (north and south), Spain (south), Greece, etc in August and hot yes! Worth it??Yes!! Do it again?? Yes! The reason it was August was as a teacher my time off was out of my control and I never thought twice about it! Go,take the girls and have a great time, or go to Florida and experience the horses.