QKid started kindergarten this year. This is adding an extra variable to the holiday travel calculations that I’m not sure how to handle. Here’s the thing: We’d like to go to the Midwest for Thanksgiving. Driving would save us about $1k, but it takes ~14 hours. That is too long for a four day weekend, especially since it would be mighty hard to get there for Thanksgiving dinner. So, do you all think it’s OK to take a kindergartener out of school for a day or two or three to facilitate visiting the relatives for Thanksgiving?
Sure, why not? I have a kindergartener and we are taking her out of school for 2 days later this month to fly to my brother’s wedding. It isn’t like the Harvard admissions committee is going to reject her because of this scandal many years from now.
I think there are a couple of variables. On the whole, my opinion is that it’s absolutely fine. Family time is at least as valuable as school time, and taking trips is a good reason to miss school. I would have no problem with doing that at all.
OTOH, when I worked in a first-grade classroom (this was in a very wealthy district btw, no poverty problems), I did notice that there were some families who would take their child out quite frequently for weekend trips and whatnot. Whether this worked well or not depended a lot on the child–one or two kids were not doing all that well in their schoolwork (or socially), and I think could have benefited from a more stable, consistent attendance.
So if your child is 6/7 and can’t yet count to 12, and is the sort of kid who needs consistency more than excitement-- you should probably err on the side of keeping her in school more often than not.
I’ve taken my kids out of school for various family travel reasons. When they were older they had work assigned–in some cases, work specific to the reason they weren’t in school (“Do a travel diary”). But for kindergarten? Wait, I think the K teacher did ask for something but it was something very simple.
Anyway ask the teacher. Travel can be very educational and like others say, family time is very important anyway.
Heheh… I remember bits of our road trips as a kid. You start out by playing the “Count the blue trucks” game, which soon turns into the “Sit still and be quiet for 400 miles” game. Hopefully they won’t be like me when I was that age and play the “Throw toys at Daddy while he’s changing lanes” game. 
What are you worried he’s going to miss? How to add apples? :dubious:
I could have skipped out on half of High School and still did well in College. So I wouldn’t worry.
Pulling a kid out of Kindergarten for a few days is much less disruptive to his education than pulling him out in Jr. High or something similar. I was never one to let Kid Kalhoun stay home from school unless he was really sick (not just under the weather). But Kindergarten? Get a list of things he can do while you’re gone. He’ll be fine.
Taking your kid out of school around a regular holiday? No big. Should be a bigger deal than it is, but it can’t be because so many other parents take their kids out of school around holidays.
If you are nervous, contact the teacher and ask.
I also agree with those who say that it’s not a big deal in Kindergarden.
We took ours out for five days in kindergarten. My brother got married in Fl. and then we went to Disney World. He’s in third now and will be taking a few days off around the MLK holiday, again for Disney World. In kindergarten especially, I don’t see what they could possibly miss.
They have Gameboys now. 
I missed two days when I was in kindergarten right before Christmas so my family could visit relatives in Colorado. I was a bit upset to find out that I was going to miss the Christmas party and being in the school Christmas program. I’m sure that I didn’t miss much education ;).
The only other day I missed for a family trip was in 8th grade when we went to Disney World over Christmas break. We couldn’t get a flight back on New Year’s Day, so we flew back Jan. 2, which was the first day back to school.
When my daughter was in 3rd grade, she had a classmate who missed two weeks to go to Mexico to visit relatives. That seems excessive.
In those cases, the teacher usually assigns homework to be done on the trip. I went on a 2-week trip in jr. high and didn’t miss a thing, I just did the work along the way.
Past a certain level (thinking high school), if doing the work on your own is as educational as actually being in class, there is a problem with the school or your classes aren’t challenging enough.
It’s also an amazing amount of work for teachers to put together a 2-week packet that doesn’t need oral directions and covers more or less the same skills (but can’t be exactly the same because many activities don’t translate from the classroom to individual work). What usually happens is that more busy work than actual work is assigned.
As far as taking the kid out of Kindergarden, I don’t think it’s a big deal, but there is something to be said for impressing on kids early that school is a big deal, as important as Mom and Dad’s job, and that missing school is a big deal. If there is an overall impression (and missing a couple days for Thanksgiving won’t create this) that school is not really that big of a deal and is, in fact, what you do when there is nothing better to do, or so that you can get your hand stamped as having attended, students won’t take it seriously and will end up getting less out of their education than they could otherwise. So I think it’s fine, but if repeated more often than once a year, or if the kid is also overhearing comments like “we skipped a couple days of school, I mean, it’s just Kindergarden”, then it could have long-term consequences.
I agree with this completely. Ensure that it’s clear to teachers, and to yourself, that you’ve put thought into this, and really are treating it as an exception. (Is it going to happen every Thanksgiving? And what about other family occassions which crop up?..)
Kids who are regularly taken out of school for holidays are being given an inappropriate set of values. I’ve got one pupil who’s had time off in the past 18 months for trips to Florida, Cuba and Spain. She’s growing up with the attitude that it’s perfectly OK to drop everything, and leave others to clear up the mess (she’s missed two concerts), whenever you feel like a break.
Also, for those saying “it’s only a few days, they’ll catch up”, do the maths. In the above example, a week off for each trip works out as 5% of her schooling, on top of normal illness etc. If a child was truanting this often, would you be equally unconcerned about them falling behind?
Absolutely, and it’s selfish to expect them to do so.
Oh, that old cliche :rolleyes: It really does belittle the work done by teachers to suggest that sitting in an airport, or sleeping in a strange bed, does the same job.
On top of what GorillaMan said - it can actually hurt the school. The primary school at which I am a governor recently had an OFSTED inspection - they summarise their findings on each area with a rating that can be one of: Outstanding/Good/Adequate/Inadequate - these individual ratings are then summarised into a single rating for the inspection.
The single factor that kept our school out of the ‘Outstanding’ rating was attendance - because parents take their children out of school for holidays. The outcome of the inspection was still a very positive one, but it could conceivably have feedback repercussions that would affect the whole school.
My kids miss ten days to two weeks of the summer term every single year to visit relatives. I don’t think it is excessive at all.
It isn’t ideal, but we live in Japan (Japanese father, English mother) and we are raising them bilingually. It is very important for us as a family that our kids become not only bilingual but bicultural to the greatest extent possible, and that they know and have meaningful relationships with the family in England.
The price of plane tickets nearly doubles from mid July, so we time it that we leave the day before the price rises.
So far, the school (elder kid is 5th grade, younger is 1st) has not objected. In fact they have been encouraging and pleasant about it.
In return we get the summer homework package on our return to Japan and we hammer through as much as we can before the start of term which is usually about five days after we return. The rest is done bit by bit during late August and early September. We also do a craft project in England and bring it back with us to display in the summer holiday project exhibition, and we make a diary of the trip too. No homework gets done during the actual trip but that’s because we are working on their English and not trying to drag them back into the world of Japanese.
From a childish point of view, in our area the kids get a whopping (not) 24 days of summer holidays and a similar amount in the winter, so looking back on my childhood days of six week summer holidays I don’t begrudge them 28 days in the UK…
On the other hand, my Dad was a primary head teacher and we never missed a single day of school for a trip, ever.
To make up for the time away, I try to keep our heads down over the rest of the school year, have dues and homework in on time, and try not to cause any more trouble for the teachers.
Hey, Hokkaido Birt! Haven’t seen you around lately, nice to see you!
Well, that’s a good point, but in my case you may be overestimating the quality of the education I was receiving. However I was really thinking of 8th grade and younger, not high school.
We have a kindergartener and a 2nd grader, and we travel quite a bit. Their teachers don’t object, as the boys are comfortable, well socialized and bright enough to pick up anything they miss.
Of course, we are in a private school, not a public school which relies on ADA (average daily attendance) for state & federal funding.
Our longest trips usually occur during the summer, but we might take them out for a week during other parts of the year. The elementary teacher only asks that no one take their child out of school during May, as that is the month for standardized testing.