# Okay for kids to miss a week of school? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 20, 2009, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620 "2009-07-20T14:14:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![qsecofr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/13edae/32.png) [@qsecofr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qsecofr)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/1 "2009-07-20T14:14:04Z")
Would you let a fourth grader and second grader miss the first week of school? We’re booking a trip to Asia and we’re having trouble getting a return flight before school starts on August 24th. They’re very bright students (top of class pretty much). They attend a Catholic school, if that has any bearing on it. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/2 "2009-07-20T14:55:16Z")
For the opportunity to see, say, the Great Wall of China? Hell yeah. It’s not like it isn’t educational. If you do it all the time for no good reason, then no. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/3 "2009-07-20T15:03:12Z")
I don’t think it will hurt anything. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/4 "2009-07-20T15:19:57Z")
Absolutely. Whether it’s for “a good reason” or not. There are things that are a heck of a lot more important than 4th grade. As long as the kids realize that they still have to work hard in life then these experiences will be much better than learning to multiply or whatever it is they’re doing. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/5 "2009-07-20T15:31:29Z")
The only thing is: Don’t ask the child’s teacher to do extra work, such as prepare lesson plans in advance for the child to carry on her trip with her. As the husband of a teacher, I know this drives them crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/6 "2009-07-20T16:15:51Z")
Just make sure you check the school’s policy on unexcused absences. A kid can be acing everything, but if they miss X days of school, they autofail. Dumb policy, but plenty of schools have it. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/7 "2009-07-20T16:29:36Z")
Hell yes. Two weeks even, for China. ---
**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/8 "2009-07-20T16:41:25Z")
Definitely yes. My parents let us miss school for just about anything worthwhile (we could even stay home if we wanted for no reason, but my mom would not lie on the note – she would write, “Tesseract didn’t feel like going to school yesterday.”) but that was because we were all good students and didn’t usually want to stay home. But for China? Of course!! ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/9 "2009-07-20T16:46:27Z")
No question. Mother of two school aged kids. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/10 "2009-07-20T17:03:05Z")
For a trip to Asia? Definitely okay! For a trip to Dorney Park? Probably not. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/57b2e6/32.png) [@Quasimodal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodal)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/11 "2009-07-20T17:15:57Z")
As a teacher, I will say “go for it” but like another poster said, it’s not the teacher’s job to catch them up. Be prepared to help your kids catch up on what they missed. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/12 "2009-07-20T17:16:02Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > The only thing is: Don’t ask the child’s teacher to do extra work, such as prepare lesson plans in advance for the child to carry on her trip with her. As the husband of a teacher, I know this drives them crazy. Well, don’t be obnoxious about it, but I think it makes sense to touch base with the teacher to see if there’s anything the kids will be expected to be up to speed on when they get back, paperwork she needs done up front, whatever. Having the kids show up a week behind doesn’t exactly help the teacher, either. If this were during the semester, presumably the lesson plans would already have been communicated to some extent. At my H.S. students in this situation were expected to make the work up in advance, or the absences were unexcused. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/13 "2009-07-20T17:17:53Z")
Yes, it’s one thing to allow your child to miss for a frivilous reason but for a once in a lifetime trip, yes, let them miss a week. ---
**Author:** ![qsecofr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/13edae/32.png) [@qsecofr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qsecofr)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/14 "2009-07-20T18:18:00Z")
Not China. They’ll be going to the Philippines to see their grandmother, perhaps for the last time, as she has pancreatic cancer. Thanks for the input everyone, my mind is at rest. We’ll touch base with the school. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/15 "2009-07-20T19:34:47Z")
A trip to see a dying grandmother? That’s definitely okay, I’d say. Particularly since it’s the biginning of the school year - that’s mostly review anyway. StG ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/16 "2009-07-20T19:36:22Z")
I did things like that all the time when I was in school. Never had any problems with it. Both my parents were professors, and they’d just call the school and tell them what was going on. Probably helped that I was generally at the top of the class and such. ---
**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/17 "2009-07-20T20:17:58Z")
As my mother used to say: “Never let school get in the way of your education”. Yes, she is a very wise woman. ---
**Author:** ![schnuckiputzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@schnuckiputzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schnuckiputzi)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/18 "2009-07-20T20:21:38Z")
As a teacher, I’d say definitely. The first week or so of school usually is settling in, getting the routine established, getting everyone up to speed. If this is a school they’re accustomed to, and they’re quick on the uptake – go and enjoy yourselves. Bring back cool stuff for the classroom. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/19 "2009-07-20T20:28:53Z")
Good god, of course it’s OK. No one does any work on the first week anyway. If your kids are “A” students, they’ll have no trouble making up the first week. For a trip to another continent? I’d be shocked if a teacher didn’t say it was OK. I missed two weeks to go to Nepal in high school and most of my teachers were fine as long as I completed the work. My English teacher even went so far as to excuse me from the work done in that period and told me to read a book by the Dalai Lama on the flight over instead. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620/20 "2009-07-20T20:31:53Z")
I’d be fine with it **BUT** check with the school. Some have draconian absence policies with regards to how many days a kid can miss and pass. True story: my niece was accepted into a summer program at Harvard where she took freshman level intro classes for credit. That’s Harvard, the one in Massachusetts. It’s a very competetive summer program. Unfortunately it overlapped with the opening 9 days of school (which started earlier than usual for some reason or other) and you’re only allowed to miss something like 12 days and pass, regardless of GPA. This meant that if my niece should get sick with a flu or whatever and miss 3 days then in spite of the fact she had a 4.0 GPA and was a shoe-in for valedictorian of her class and had spent 9 of those days as a student at Harvard she could be left behind. My brother thought it was funny at first and one of those “they’ll bend the rules” thing, but the school’s principal is a no-nonsense “Courtney Vance from _Dangerous Minds_” type with no sense of humor and a near religious devotion to rule bending. They got the exception but only by going to the County Superintendent. Had they not she could have been the first student ever flunked in “Poudunkaville Public High” for going to Harvard. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-for-kids-to-miss-a-week-of-school/503620.md?page=2)