mAlien13
Down with Disney
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2006
What a hot topic! I have to admit I have had this debate with several of my friends in the past few years. The first thing I have to say is that I don't see how it makes any difference what grades your child is getting or whether they are considered to be adavanced or behind (two terms I absolutely abhor when describing children). Many of my family friends feel that I support taking my kids away from school for vacation because they do well so I feel no guilt.
Actually, I feel no guilt, but for very different reasons. I wrote a paper a few years ago about the empty time that occurs in our education system. There is a lot of padding time as teachers transition from one topic to the next. If you communicate well with your childs teacher, it should be easy to plan around these times...a teacher will generaly plan in 6, 8 or 12 week increments, with a week or two of review to segway into the new topic for each subject. Other than that, avoid times when important tests will happen, school events or when special projects are planned.
Some teachers are so staunchly opposed to children being pulled from school at all (even for Dr.'s appts!) that they will not help you facilitate the best time. I've read articles where teachers swear kids on the honor roll have missed a week of assignments and fallen so far behind that they can't catch up.
?????????????????????? This seems really ridiculous to me. Even if you don't try to optimize the best time to pull your kids, the odds of them missing anything that is so crucial that they can't catch up are incredible. Just look at what your child does in a week...the actual time they give individual attention to learning something new a week actually boils down to less than 2/3 of the time they spend in school once you subtract transistion times, breaks, extra curricular activities and the time the teacher must spend with the other 20-29 kids in the class.
I agree that the time spent in class becomes more important the higher the grade level, but at the same time it becomes much easier for the kids in middle to high school to complete their assignments independently.
In the past, I always tried to arrange with my children's teachers to send me off with a packet of the work they would miss. Generally, this is completed on the plane ride or drive to our destination. We go one step further and include lots of different activities that involve the trip. We talk about the states we cross, important facts about them. We talk about what type of plane we are on, what makes it different than others. We talk about the finances of the trip, how it breaks down per person, per day, per event, or about the profit that our expenses give to the business we are paying. You'd think this is dull for kids, but it is really a crack up. We count things, we talk about nutrition; the last time we went to the local zoo, my youngest son kept a rolling total in his head of all our expenses from gas to parking to refreshments and admission! He turned it into a little comedy routine that kept us laughing all the way home.
Basically, I say pull your kids out if it works for your family. Help them realize that the school of life is also important. Education is the most important thing in our family, but it includes more than 2+2 and ABC. Also, every place you go is full of educational opportunity if you get creative with it! Good luck and just have fun...the memories you create with your family are as important as anything else in life.
Actually, I feel no guilt, but for very different reasons. I wrote a paper a few years ago about the empty time that occurs in our education system. There is a lot of padding time as teachers transition from one topic to the next. If you communicate well with your childs teacher, it should be easy to plan around these times...a teacher will generaly plan in 6, 8 or 12 week increments, with a week or two of review to segway into the new topic for each subject. Other than that, avoid times when important tests will happen, school events or when special projects are planned.
Some teachers are so staunchly opposed to children being pulled from school at all (even for Dr.'s appts!) that they will not help you facilitate the best time. I've read articles where teachers swear kids on the honor roll have missed a week of assignments and fallen so far behind that they can't catch up.
?????????????????????? This seems really ridiculous to me. Even if you don't try to optimize the best time to pull your kids, the odds of them missing anything that is so crucial that they can't catch up are incredible. Just look at what your child does in a week...the actual time they give individual attention to learning something new a week actually boils down to less than 2/3 of the time they spend in school once you subtract transistion times, breaks, extra curricular activities and the time the teacher must spend with the other 20-29 kids in the class.
I agree that the time spent in class becomes more important the higher the grade level, but at the same time it becomes much easier for the kids in middle to high school to complete their assignments independently.
In the past, I always tried to arrange with my children's teachers to send me off with a packet of the work they would miss. Generally, this is completed on the plane ride or drive to our destination. We go one step further and include lots of different activities that involve the trip. We talk about the states we cross, important facts about them. We talk about what type of plane we are on, what makes it different than others. We talk about the finances of the trip, how it breaks down per person, per day, per event, or about the profit that our expenses give to the business we are paying. You'd think this is dull for kids, but it is really a crack up. We count things, we talk about nutrition; the last time we went to the local zoo, my youngest son kept a rolling total in his head of all our expenses from gas to parking to refreshments and admission! He turned it into a little comedy routine that kept us laughing all the way home.
Basically, I say pull your kids out if it works for your family. Help them realize that the school of life is also important. Education is the most important thing in our family, but it includes more than 2+2 and ABC. Also, every place you go is full of educational opportunity if you get creative with it! Good luck and just have fun...the memories you create with your family are as important as anything else in life.
I am considering just saying the boys were sick for the 3 days they will miss . I have found teachers with kids more easy going about this , they understand . We get a calender of school year events and I do avoid when they take major tests and other important events , but I am lucky too know them months in advance.
