Those of us who travel with kids know that travel is an educational experience. And family travel gets much more affordable after Labor Day, once kids are back in the classroom. So what’s a traveling family to do? Consider taking the kids out of school for family travel.
Here are four tips for taking kids out of school to travel:
1. Talk with the teacher first. Is your child doing OK in her class? Would missing a few days of school really hurt that much? If so, think about whether traveling during school is the right thing to do. If you would miss your brother’s wedding, it’s one thing. If you would miss a deal on a trip to Disney, it’s something else.
2. Don’t ask the teacher to give your child assignments to complete during the trip. Most teachers don’t have lesson plans sketched out that far ahead of time. And even if your child’s teacher does, why should she have to work harder so you can go on an affordable family vacation?
3. Offer to have your child do a report or presentation on the trip once you return. This can be the “educational” part of the trip. Depending on the grade level, a child can draw pictures, take photos, write a report or create a power point presentation.
4. Start early. It’s much easier for a kindergartner to miss a week of school than a junior in high school.
Greenville, Missouri’s Old Greenville Days
Our son in in kindergarten, so this year will be the first “missed school” for a trip situation. I feel a little guilty but moms feel guilty about everything, so I’m just going to ignore it. 🙂
No, no, no. Taking kids out of school to travel is not an acceptable reason to feel Mommy Guilt. You will have plenty of real reasons to feel guilty over the rest of your son’s lifetime. Taking him out of school (especially kindergarten) to travel should be a source of joy. It gives you extra special family bonding time. And I guarantee he will learn something! Have a great, guilt-free time.
When I request an excused absence for travel, I include an itinerary highlighting the educational events we will experience. My third grader is readily excused for trips.
Our high schooler is another matter, especially when taking math courses. It’s far more difficult to keep up with high school assignments to travel. I want what’s best for him — and sometimes rely on local friends to keep him if missing school will affect his education (or extra-curricular sports) too much. We always ask, though, and almost always work it out!
Agreed, Karen. We have done the same thing with our high schoolers. But when they have acquiesced and traveled with us, it did them no long-term damage (although, like those of us who work for a living) they did have to work a little harder to catch up when we got home.
So true about starting young, it is also really easy to find some educational aids at your local news agent or department store eg, handwriting, first word and maths work books.
This is what we have been using as we took our 5 year old out of school for 2 weeks this year.
Good tips. There also are a lot of education apps available, although I like the idea of little ones getting used to writing with a pencil vs. scrolling with a finger.
Our old elementary school actually had an official policy that teachers would no longer prepare work ahead of time for students who traveled. Too many times, the kids would return without having done any of it. One classmate who went overseas for a month officially withdrew from the school and then re-enrolled when they returned so that there would technically be zero absences.
That’s fascinating, Michele. Do you know why they put that policy in place? Where there so many parents taking their kids out of school that it was a burden for the teachers? Regardless, I think it’s a good policy. Kids can make up whatever they miss when they return. Frankly, I wouldn’t want kids to have to spend hours on homework during a family trip. They should be tuning into family and exploring their surroundings, not doing homework. But that’s just the opinion of a slacker mom!