Certainly not envy on my part.I have been on holiday in Easter,summer and in our school october holiday. I note this is your first post Fancyfree - are you related to Maryintwin by any chance? Not her twin are you- I only ask as you write in a remarkably similar way!!

Well, look on the bright side. Your school's insistence on fixed hours of operation that make no sense to you will be an excellent preparation for that most wonderful and exasperating of countries, Italy.

Remember the unofficial motto of this board: We don't travel to learn about life, we live to learn about travel.

Bon voyage.

Maryintwin,

While I think your post is really a rhetorical question, and you're not interested in others' opinions, here's mine anyway. I wholeheartedly agree with Susan56 and StCirq. I strongly believe in the education factor associated with travel, but not at the expense of their school education. My children are also A students, but the most time I have ever pulled them out of school for a trip was 1 day, and that was when they were in elementary school.

While it would certainly be cheaper to travel in the off season, I think it sends a wrong message that school is less important if I would take my children out of school for travel. We still have the option to travel during their holidays, which they have quite a few!

The entire learning process at school is not simply book work and made-up assignments; it's an interaction between students and teachers, which cannot be duplicated by doing work outside of school. As to the poster that said that a child misses school due to the flu and other illnessess, that is right. Think how much school a child would miss if they left school to travel AND they got sick, which is not an unlikely possibility. My kids have learned to take school so seriously, they now refuse to miss school for travel.

I feel as if my kids have the best of both worlds -- an important understanding of the value of school AND the love and experience of travel (during holidays). Just my 2 cents.

Susan

I have been an observer on this message board for several weeks while planning a trip to Italy but I had to speak out because of how one sided most of the posts have been. I just wonder if maryintwin were to home school her child, would the majority of the posters be adverse to the family interrupting that "school schedule" to travel where ever, whenever??

I think children can learn to both, respect the instituion of traditional education but also challenge the conformist way of thinking - just because someone says "you have to" and "that's the way it has always been done" doesn't mean that it works for all.

If maryintiwn's actions are hurting no one, and her children continue to perform well, why should anyone disagree?

Hi
In my humble opinion...
Life is for learning and school can wait.
If my kids could learn in 2 weeks what the teachers say they will miss, then school would only last about 6 months.
Enjoy your holidays and enjoy the family time it gives, no one can replace that special time, school can wait.

Muck

You are absolutely right; it is her personal choice how she raises her children. I responded not to give her a hard time, but to answer her post, which asked whether there is any better education than what is gained from travel. My answer is that travel is important, which is why I travel with my children, but as a supplement to school, not at the expense of their school education.

We are not criticizing, only answering her post. If she is not interested in other people's opinions, then don't ask. But the bottom line is that each family has priorities, and each family needs to choose what is right for them.

Susan

I am sorry - what is the question here? Your girls are A students, they make up their work, and again they are A students - so what's the issue? If they were C and D students and you're pulling them out of school maybe there would be a problem..but it seems to be working for you so enjoy it.

The ISSUE is that the schools make it so <i>hard</i> on them. They make it so <i>difficult</i> by <i>penalizing</i> them.

Traveling is educational in some respect, regardless of what age you are.

As long as you aren't asking for things the teacher to do things differently for your kids, then it shouldn't be a major deal. On the other hand if you're asking the teacher to go back and grade their makeup work after he/she has already finished that workload or if you're asking them to hurry up and generate assignments ahead of schedule for the exclusive benefit of those who want to travel now, then that's asking a bit much, I think.

Not sure resisting requests to increase a teacher's workload so that people can vacation when they want is realistic for an overburdened public school system, but you might have more cause for a hearing if you're paying for private education. But if you know you're not going to get preferential treatment and choose to travel for your own convenience, then I do think that should be your choice.

Further to Clifton's post, in all the private schools I know, including the one my kids attend, taking time off from school days for vacation is prohibited for the very reasons outlined by various people on this thread already. So, paying tuition doesn't get you more &quot;privileges&quot; with respect to making your own decisions about when you can take your kids out of school - in fact, quite the opposite. It ensures that there is a mechanism for penalizing you if you do.

It's a rare privelege for anyone to be able to experience the world's vastness and the cultures herein. I consider travel an integral and invaluable part of one's personal education and believe that those parents who are fortunate enough to be able to afford to share with their children the wonders of the world should be allowed to do so no matter what the timeframe. School is no more or less an important aspect of life than something as rewarding as travel, and educators should be supportive of parents attempting to provide their kids with something extra in the way of exposure to the rest of the world. Why should a child be penalized for this? Why should a school be penalized monetarily if the child is still handing in the work assigned? How do you figure the teacher spends more time handling this situation? As far as I can see, the teacher's work for that child is just postponed. If the parents give the school adequate notice to provide the upcoming assignments and the child hands in the work upon returning to the classroom, then maryintwin should have the right to schedule her family's vacations as it suits her.

Good grief. It is not a penalty. It is an SIW.

OK, this is my last post on this topic, but I can't resist.

School is not, if it's a good school, just a matter of doing assignments and handing them in. My 8th grader and 11th grader have long-term project commitments that involve working with other students over time on things like: building a submarine in groups, preparing a joint French oral presentation, choral society where they are working toward a statewide competition, creating pieces of a quilt that they will eventually weave together, study groups for the SATs, varsity and junior varsity teams that require 100% participation whether you are playing in the game or not. That's just the in-school stuff. Outside school they have other things they take part in that require weekly or more commitments. I fail to understand how anyone cannot see how taking a kid out of school twice a year for even 2-4 days, never mind for the longer periods the original poster stated, affects these things. Kids don't learn in a vacuum. In any good school they are involved in projects that involve a LOT more than just doing work and turning in an assignment. Other students are affected. Other team members are affected. People giving them music or art or sports or other instruction are affected.

What do you mean &quot;the teacher's work for that subject is just postponed?&quot; That's only the tip of the iceberg! What about all the other students/team members/extracurricular activities personnal who have to accommodate selfish parents' requests?

As someone else mentioned, for elementary kids this might work, if the school allowed it - and even then I would never expect any kind of special accommodation. But for middle schoolers and high schoolers, kids who are active, good students are involved in far too many activities for parents to consider disrupting the school year, or their extracurricular activities, to take them on vacation to Europe, when it's just not THAT bad traveling with the masses on normal time off. And since no one has addressed the issue, I'll mention it again - European school hoidays don't mesh with our own for the most part, so the whole traveling with the masses issue is bogus to begin with.

SIW = Self Inlflicted Wound

Private schools do not have any more flexibility than public schools. My son has attended private schools always. Currently he is in a private high school that is very small and the policy is that the principal must approve of the absence first. If it's approved the child has to have all of his teachers sign off and make arrangements for make-up assignments and tests.

This has been a very interesting post to read. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I do, however, believe that travel is a truly educational experience and that whenever one gets the chance to go somewhere they should take full advantage of it. We do tend to travel in low season. The places that we have wanted to go are affordable then. We do always try and coordinate the best we can with school holidays, days off, etc. I must say, that when I travel half way around the world I am going to stay longer than my childs week vacation. I don't consider this being selfish on my part. Life is for living! You never know what tomorrow holds.

Travel properly done is an educational experience. So is school. The education you get through travel is not better than that in school--it's just different. To me it seems rather short sighted to take kids out of school to travel in the off season just because their parents don't like crowds.

&gt;&gt; am tired of the schools making it so difficult for us to travel by penalizing my children by refusing to let them make up the work or not even telling them which assignments/tests they will miss.&lt;&lt;

Though I definitely agree that traveling is a great educational experience, it seems a little self-centered to me to expect teachers to cater to a few kids because the parents aren't willing to deal with the sacrifice that come with being a parent.

What if all the kids in the class decided to make their own schedules and expect the teachers to simply give them the assignments in advance, what kind of mess would it cause. Unfortunately, there are always people who think that they are special and must be treated differently, and the most unfortunate thing is that the selfish traits are being passed on to their children.

As a teacher, even though I am not obligated to, I have prepared work for a number of students that were going on vacation (both short term and long term). The amount of time and effort it takes to prepare work for one student is significant. In the majority of cases the work has not come back completed. When they return I have to reteach the material which affects everyone. Please remember, your child isn't the only one that is missing school.

In addition, you won't believe the number of people that pull their children from school for 3, 4, or 5 months to travel to their homeland. While in the &quot;old&quot; country they rarely attend school or do any of the work suggested. When the children return to school they are at a significant disadvantage and because of district policy they are not retained. Off they go to the next grade with huge gaps in their learning. What a disservice to the kids.

As a parent I have infrequently taken my children out for a couple of days with the understanding that my kids are responsible for making up the missed work (I work part time so I'm not missing my work). Travelling is a great experience and sometimes days must be missed. If kids are pulled out on a regular basis, I believe it sends them the message that school isn't that important. In our work lives we can't miss as much work as we would like to travel. Teaching responsiblity and commitment is part of parenting.

When our children were younger, we would take them out for a few days but usually around the scheduled holidays. Now that they are in high school, we don't take them out unless its a famiy emergency like a death in the family. Even when that occured, our older son was penalized for not being present during discussions and received zero's on participation - the administration upheld the teacher citing &quot;academic freedom&quot; to grade as she chose. needles to say, our younger son doesn't attend that school now. With the honors and AP curriculum and fast pace, its very hard for even exceptional kids to miss - you can't duplicate the class comments, teacher emphasis or lab environments that are missed. I think missing 20-28 days a year is pretty high for any child and that's assuming there are no sick days. If there is absolutely no way you can schedule travel without taking the kids out, then I'd cut back to one trip a year - otherwise, adjust your expectations - convenience is not the main reason to travel.