MMD: Should you take the kids out of school for a holiday?

beccah_2

no, i would not take my kids out of school for a cheap holiday!
my husband and 7yr old son have just spent a very wet week in a tent in wales, and thoroughly enjoyed it!
there was no way we could have afforded any other holiday this year, and so this was the best compromise.

HopeElizzy

I took my dd out last May for one week. She was 5yo at the time and the headmaster signed her permission form without a problem.

The reason? My dh's 2 bosses both have wives who are teachers so they obviously want to take time off during the school holidays. They have first choice as to what they can take then my dh gets what is left. This is ok during the summer as it's a long break but during half terms etc he's lucky to get anything.

Also in May we went to see relatives in Northumberland and took my in-laws with us. They offered to pay for our accomodation and I certainly wasn't going to let them pay £300 more during the break at the end of May as opposed to term time at the beginning of May.

Yes, it does come down to money alot of the time - I want my children to experience travelling to new places even in this country so if they have to come out of school for a week here and there then I'm afraid that's the way it is unless the travel companies become more reasonable!

JayD

Children 8 and 10 - holiday last week of September - would I take them out of school for it? In a heartbeat!

I would do it every summer/autumn throughout their primary school years. Whether it was to take them on a holiday abroad or in the UK.

No way would I pay the extortionate prices charged during the peak school holiday time and no way would I deprive the children - or us - from having a holiday either.

Plus it's always a bit less crowded out of season - and in Majorca a tad cooler too - so they win three ways!

This one was a no brainer!

Voyager2002

My goodness! Three pages on this, and the most sensible comments came at #45.

Personally, I think two weeks is too much to miss. I would consider taking them for a single week, but only after discussing the situation with the school, perhaps buying text-books so that they could study while away, and making firm arrangements for them to catch up on the work missed.

I agree that a lot of time is wasted in schools, but generally in the Summer term.

seven-day-weekend

sealady wrote: »

Teachers don't have an option about when they can take their holidays, they have to have them during a set time of year whether it suits them or not. Teachers do have familys and husbands/wifes etc and sometimes it does not suit their families to have holidays during the normal holidays. The majority of teachers do spend some time at school during the holidays and so therefore they have to organise child care. I'm not a teacher but I do work in a school and I have spent the best part of two weeks of these holidays at school, and I had to organise my own childcare so teacher's don't always have it easy even during the holidays

Our friends are a Deputy Head and a Hospital Doctor. He can ONLY have school holidays. She is given the dates of her holidays at the beginning of the year and can't change them..

They hardly ever have a holiday together. When they do, they have no choice but to have it outside term time.

It's not just menial, low-paid jobs that have fixed holidays and no choice. We had to have school holidays for 23 years because my husband was a teacher. So we just cut our coat according to our cloth and had a cheaper holiday..

HalfPint

2 of our kids are exactly that age and I would without doubt, having first obtained the school's permission, take them out of school for a holiday.

Having said that, if they were at senior/secondary school, I would think twice about it.

We always try to take our family holiday during the school holidays but like the OP money is a big issue. We've been lucky so far but DH will not always be lucky enough to get time off during the holidays. I wouldn't make a habit out of taking them out of school i.e every year, but a couple times during their junior/primary school years doesn't IMHO do them any harm.

I have a brother in Mallorca and have not been able to visit him because of the cost during school holidays (and also the heat!) so a trip to see him would have to be during term time.

ok - Having said all that - I completely and utterly disagree with the few parents who don't even bother to get the school's permission :mad: . It's this minority that creates problems for us 'honest' parents getting permission from the school and has led to these "fines" etc. IMO of course.

Enuff said.

babyharry5

I would have no qualms about taking our children out of school - it would depend though on whether there were any important projects they were about to undertake - or obvioulsy exams.
I have taken our children out early from summer before to reduce the cost of our holiday - this year by £1100 ( not pocket change)
I did ask permission and was told ( in writing ) that it was ok for our children to have authorised absence of 10 school days - i.e. 2 weeks per school year.
Failure to ask/receive permission would result in £50 per child fine. I would still be happy to take the fine - total £150 as would still be a lot cheaper.
I do believe however that the experiences & sights that we take our children to see on our vacations far outweigh the week or so of "education" that they will miss.
We do not lie on a beach doing nothing & the children thoroughly enjoy the time that we spend together - as their father is often travelling with work!

HalfPint

joannelovesbooks wrote: »

I completely agree that it's about spending time as a family unit - this is so important. That's one of several reasons why schools have 13 weeks holiday per year. Most parents have around 22-24 days holiday so there is ample opportunity to take some or all of this leave while the children are not in school

Unfortunately, not all companies are sympathetic towards "family" and if you're at the bottom of the heap in a large firm (as my OH is for 2009) the chances of getting time off for one or 2 of those 13 weeks is slim to zero

BigMikeyG

I would do it with or with out the school's permission to be honest. JUst make them call in sick for a week or something, they are my kids after all. I would think twice if it was for longer than a week thou.

babyharry5

staggered wrote: »

I am totally against parents taking their kids out of school during term-time.

I agree with the earlier poster. What if the teachers decided that THEY wanted to take THEIR kids on holiday during term-time? And closed the school for 2 weeks so that they could do it? There wouldn't be many parents saying "well, it's only 2 weeks, they won't miss anything important". There'd be absolute uproar. They'd want to know why the teachers couldn't have taken their kids away during the 13 weeks holiday!

I don't have kids myself, but I have to pay taxes so that other people's kids can get an education. I don't mind doing that - children are entitled to an education. But parents can't just pick and choose when they want to send their kids to school, whenever's most convenient, whenever saves them money. It's something for something - your child gets a free education, you send them to school.

I think that parents who take their children out of school are selfish and disrespectful - to the teachers who'll have to spend time helping them catch up on what they've missed, and to the tax-payers who paid for their children to be able to go to school in the first place.

If you can't afford to take your kids abroad for two weeks during the school holidays, take them for one week or don't take them at all. It's as simple as that. If you want to blame anyone, blame the greedy holiday companies.

I am not selfish or disrespectful and of course everbody pays taxes for other things - maybe roads that you use but I don't , hospital services that you may use and I don't??

I do not expect my sons teacher to help them catch up after - I plan that myself - whilst his teacher is busy photocopying yet another worksheet for my son!!!

Yes there are people who take the mickey with these holidays and I disagree with the holiday companies who excessively overcharge, but i do not agree that a week or so missed is going to make such a huge difference that it would take a year for them to catch up -lets get real here!!