Will Schools allow kids to take trips and miss school days?

[Ladyvalea]

Our LDS has a trip Jan 1-10 to Truk lagoon but he would miss school ...so will the schools allow this many days missed or will he Or the parents "me" get in trouble ? Its not like he was sick with the flu and had to stay home, plus the schools would want a doctors note for that... Its a Liveaboard ..Maybe I should just wait for summer vacation.

[K9Pig]

I don't think that it would be to much of an issue with the school. Does your sons school have a X-mas break that might extend into the first week of Jan. If so, he might not miss all that much school.. They would probably view this as a great travel learning experience, and may be a once in a lifetime opportunity. Just speak with his school administration and all will be good...

I read from your post on SB regarding your possible trip. I would go for it if your instructor is willing to watch over you, then maybe you two could take the time to get more training while on your vacation.

[RnSdiver]

You could all ways tell the school you will home school if they try to throw too much of a fit. They won't want the lose of funding.

[snagel]

Over the last two years, we have went to Mexico over the Thanksgiving Break. My son (age 13 now) missed 2 days of school each time. We were up front with the teachers and turned it into a learning experience. The first year my son (at my request) had to return to school and give a report on Mexico. He collected paso's and pictures to present. The second year he gave a report on Mayan Ruins. In fact the second year his history teacher heard that we go to Mexico and asked if we were taking him and if so she wanted to do a section on the Mayan Ruins and scheduled this with our trip.

It's a small school and luckily the school agreed with me that sometimes it is better to experience the history than read about it in a book.

S. Nagel

[gregor]

I'm a teacher, and that we don't return to school till the 5th, so he would probably be missing a full week of classes.

I agree with the previous posts, be upfront and ask for his work ahead of time if possible (he's gonna have tons of time in airports/planes to do it), as well as the entire christmas break before you go.

In the end, it's up to you what you do, in my school these days wouldn't be considered "excused" absences, but in the end, unless a kid had an absence problem (we define that as +16 unexcused/year) it's a non-issue. Teachers have to give him a chance to makeup the work he has missed, and he'd probably learn quite a bit on the trip.

[ReefHound]

I would talk to the teachers (not the admins) beforehand about getting his work assignments or making things up later. They may nix the idea if they sense that they can easily dissuade you so I would let them know it is going to happen no matter what. You can always back down later.

[cmburch]

My daughter goes to Germany for extended 2-4 week periods during the school year. The teacher is informed ahead of time for any available assignments. It depends on the age and how much can be missed in a couple of weeks. Some schools get paid by the number of students in attendance at school and may balk. You do not have to mention that it is a vacation or optional trip to the teacher.

[IndyDiver]

I guess it all depends on your school district and your child's academic situation. In our district it is official policy to grant up to 5 days for family trips during the school year. The conditions are: all involved teachers must sign off with their a approval, assignments must be done on the vacation and turned in the day the child gets back, any quizzes missed must be taken the day the child gets back. Of course, teacher approval is more likely if your child gets straight A's than if they get straight D's

We went on a cruise the year before last and the kids missed 4 days of school in October with no problems. I took them about 1.5 hours in the morning to do school work each day. We are taking a 10 day cruise over Thanksgiving this year and they will miss 5 days.

[BuzzF117]

Truk is a once maybe twice in a lifetime trip. If your son can make up the work quickly when he returns I would say go for it. My 15yr old daughter is currently in Kenya on a 15 day mission trip she had about 75% of her work completed before she left but she is a straight A student.

[RikRaeder]

It used to not be a problem (long ago, when I was a kid). As others have said, be sure he makes up the work, and work with his teacher to make it a learning experience. There's a bit of history at Truk, as well as some interesting biological happenings I'd imagine. I'm sure his teachers will be happy to let him go with just a minor assignment. If not...cough cough.