Did you ever miss school for vacation?

Did you ever miss school for vacation?

  • Yes, and I see nothing wrong with it

    Votes: 21 46.7%
  • Yes, but I wouldn't do it to my own kids

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No, but I see nothing wrong with it

    Votes: 2 4.4%
  • No, and I wouldn't do it to my own kids

    Votes: 11 24.4%
  • Depends (on grade level, ability, etc)

    Votes: 10 22.2%
  • Pumpkin beer (I need one)

    Votes: 1 2.2%

  • Total voters
    45

CaliTerp07

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#1
I teach 8th graders. I had a student come up to me today and ask me to sign an extended absence form. FOR A THREE WEEK ABSENCE. (Kid then asked me, "Am I going to miss anything?" :eek:) Reading between the lines, the family is taking the kid out of the country to go on vacation to visit extended family. This isn't uncommon, either.

  • I had a kid show up the second week of school this year and tell me she "took the first week off" (read: family was on vacation).
  • Last year, I had a student miss a week of school to go on a family cruise the week before spring break.
  • I am often missing kids on a Monday because the family takes a 3 day weekend to go somewhere.

All of us teachers are like :yikes: when we get these requests (or often we don't get the requests--the parents sometimes call in and lie and fake family emergencies to go on the trips, because they can get in trouble for truancy if it's just a vacation). I just can't even fathom it. My parents were the ones who would even schedule dentist appointments over spring break, and all doctors appointments in the summer to avoid missing school. No way in heck were we ever going to go on a vacation during school!

It sucks for me as a teacher too, because now I have to scramble to get this kid 3 weeks worth of work by tomorrow (when I don't even know what we're doing 3 days from now!) She's going to miss 1 and a half whole units of algebra.

ARGHHH. Okay, vent over.

Did you ever miss multiple days of school for a non-emergency?
 

sparks19

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#2
Yep... All the time. Not every parent can take vacation fro
Work only during off times from school (not to mention prices for certain vacations are jacked up dramatically during off school seasons)

That wasn't nessecarily the case with my family but yep we went on vacation during the school year at least once a year. I remember going to Disney in the 4th grade and having to bring homework with me... LAME lol
 

AllieMackie

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#4
We tried to plan most vacations around summertime/holidays, but there were a few times where I missed a week of school for a trip. That said, my mom would be the one letting my teacher(s) know, and getting a small pile of homework for me to do on the trip so I could stay caught up, LOL.

I totally get how it can be irritating on the teacher's end of things, especially when many parents aren't considerate enough to ask what their child will be missing 0or try to help the child make it up.
 

Fran27

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#5
Nope. Always planned around school. I have no plans on letting my kids skip school so we can get somewhere either.
 

CaliTerp07

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#6
I totally get how it can be irritating on the teacher's end of things, especially when many parents aren't considerate enough to ask what their child will be missing 0or try to help the child make it up.
The thing is, even if they had asked me the first day of school, I can't give her 3 weeks of work. It just isn't possible to plan that far ahead. It all depends on how day 1 goes what we do on day 2. Nevermind that 90% of what we do in class is discussions and activities and manipulatives and how the heck am I supposed to recreate that for her? I am basically forced to create separate worksheets for her each day (we don't have textbooks, or I'd just tell her to read the chapters there...)

And sadly, it is the rare minority that one of my kiddo's parents can help them with algebra homework. I suspect what we will see when she comes back is a girl 3 weeks behind who I will end up staying after school with every day for an additional 3 weeks to try to catch up, because she won't have been able to decipher the problems I sent her on the plane with.

I understand in first grade when you can make the assignment something like "Write a story about your trip and make a map of where you went and keep track of the elevation of the airplane" or something, but I can't realistically expect her to teach herself literal equations and functions without help from someone.

Maybe I'll be pleasantly proved wrong--but if past situations are any indication, I'm not holding my breath.
 

Fran101

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#7
Yup. lol all the time. We always let the teachers know in advance and work was always made up and the things we got to see all around the world were once in a lifetime..
Especially when it comes to international travel.. fitting it around school breaks sometimes wasn't possible. There are specific festivals/events/animals/etc.. we wanted to see and they just didn't coincide with school lol

BUT, big BUT here.. I had a tutor and or my parents to catch me up on the material I missed and I did all my homework that was due and turned it ALL in the day I returned.. So by the time I returned, I was right on track with the rest of the class.

As kids we KNEW the drill. We did homework etc.. the best we could while on vacation. Got back on a thursday night, took friday, saturday and sunday with the tutors and my parents to catch up and really learn the material we missed on our subjects.
We went back to school and there was never really a blip. Sometimes we had to make up and do extra assignments to make up for class work/projects but other then that... no problems.

I would NOT expect teachers to scramble and teach my kid all that he missed. IMO you took your kid out of school for that long for a holiday, you take the time to deal with it and make sure your kid goes back and is ready and caught up with the rest of the class.
 
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#8
Probably depends on the student too but I never had issues catching back up. Yes, it should not be on the teacher to catch them back up either but I still feel a vacation is important.
 

Fran101

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#9
Oh and teachers always got gifts from our travels. Each of them. lol which I think kids don't do that much anymore/is frowned upon
but my parents insisted haha maybe that helped.
 

CaliTerp07

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#10
Yeah, if I had confidence that the child was going to have a tutor and I could just email the tutor the topics she needed to know and a copy of last year's test as reference, that would be great. I work with majority low income families though--there is no money for tutors, and (in my experience) the parents are unable to help the children with their homework.

The kids who miss weeks of school are never my honors kids, they're always in the remedial classes (which means they're already struggling...)
 

stardogs

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#11
I missed school for 2 weeks when I went to Europe with my family. It was worth way more to me than those 2 weeks, and besides, I made up the work from the two weeks *before* I left. I was in high school, too.
 

Southpaw

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#12
We didn't go on vacations LOL so no I didn't miss school for them :p

In junior high and high school, my parents would frequently let me skip a day here or there, have a 3 day weekend... but missing one day is usually not a big deal.

I never had an issue catching up though and in general did just fine teaching things to myself if I had to.
 

maxfox426

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#13
My family always tried to plan vacations for the summer and fall/Christmas/spring breaks as best as possible, but there were a couple times where the vacation overlapped the start/end of school by a couple days before/after one of those scheduled breaks.

Granted, there was always the requirement that our grades were up and we had our homework done in advance. If we didn't, we ran the risk of being left with family friends (neighbors) so that we would be going to school and missing vacation. I don't know if my parents would actually have done that to any of us, but we never dared to find out. LOL

That said... we're not talking weeks and weeks of vacation here. The thought of missing three straight weeks of school rubs me the wrong way (even if I were thinking AS a student). But, that's me personally.



ETA: After reading some more comments, I just felt the need to add this...

In my opinion, a "once in a lifetime experience" is very, very different than "spending a month out of school every year to visit my aunts & uncles".

So I stick to my vote of "it depends on the child/situation".
(^^Realized I forgot to mention that before. LOL!)
 
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MandyPug

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#14
I missed quite a bit for skating. Leaving a day or two early to get somewhere in time or taking an extra day when i got back to rest up. In grade 8 or 9 I took a week off school to go and volunteer at the World Figure Skating Championships. My teachers encouraged me to do it even as it was a pretty special experience for me.
 
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#15
I work with majority low income families though--there is no money for tutors, and (in my experience) the parents are unable to help the children with their homework.

The kids who miss weeks of school are never my honors kids, they're always in the remedial classes (which means they're already struggling...)
Honestly, while this of course makes it harder for you, it probably makes it even that more important for the child to be able to go. If there is a very limited income traveling anywhere is a big deal but abroad? That is probably going to be a very rare if not once in a lifetime experience for this family.
 

Fran101

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#16
I thought that said 3 days not 3 weeks! Yeesh.. even at our longest vacation.. I think the most I ever missed was a week and a half.. and even with tutors and a small private school with teachers willing to work my tutors/me, that was a lot to catch up on! (this was in middle school when we went to Africa)

..I would think long and hard about going on vacation for 3 WEEKS if my kid was struggling in school and I had no way to help them catch up.

3 day weekend? Sure.. a few days past vacation.. I get that. Vacations are important too.
But that's nearly a MONTH!

I think it's pretty unfair to expect a teacher to devote extra time to re-teach 3 weeks worth of material to your kid..who was already struggling in the FIRST PLACE.
 

CaliTerp07

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#17
Honestly, while this of course makes it harder for you, it probably makes it even that more important for the child to be able to go. If there is a very limited income traveling anywhere is a big deal but abroad? That is probably going to be a very rare if not once in a lifetime experience for this family.
They're going to El Salvador to see aunts and uncles and cousins. They go every year, according to the child. (Most of my kids do, actually--it's just that most go for the summer).
 

Beanie

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#18
Well, we were poor so never took vacations. So no.
I did miss I think three (maybe two) days of high school when my sister got married and we spent a long weekend in St. Louis finalizing plans. That's the only time I missed school for a "vacation."

Three weeks is... sort of beyond though. Wow.
 

sparks19

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#19
Lol it is kind of funny that my mOm
And I were just talking today about being sick when working with kids. My mom used tO run an in home daycare for a few years and I remember days where she was so sick that I stayed home from school to help look after the kids lol (I was in grades 4-8 during this time). Not only did I miss school when sick but sometimes I missed school
If she was too sick lol. Turns out... I work with that age group now so YAY for early exposure
 

ACooper

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#20
Yes, and I have no issues pulling my kids out for vacations if needed. While we do everything possible to vacay in summer months, some trips trump school on every level. Education is extremely important, but sitting in a classroom isn't the only education that is important to us.

Funny, Kevin and I were just talking about this last night, lol. Royal cruise commercial came on, I mentioned wanting to go on a particular cruise and he wondered if I meant just us or if we were going to pull the kids.

Though I don't think it's ok to spring it on the school last minute.....a week notice minimum, two really is more considerate.
 

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