taking children out of school for holidays in term time

Lotus-eater

loftus wrote: »

This one hasn't yet,.......................................................and it usually ends up with a fair bit of teacher bashing.

Oh I see, getting in a counter strike before the first attack. What's that called again??
Good idea btw

loftus

Well there had already been a little bit in post #25.

I don't have a strong view either way on the subject but have noticed the way these particular threads can degenerate, normally with the attacks on teachers coming first, so I can understand why some could be defensive.

dizziblonde

Yep the usual troll's out. Time to cross that one off my bingo card too.

kelloggs36

Dizzyblonde - you are spot on!!!!!!! I refused to give a child extra work whilst she went to India for a month - I had no idea what I was teaching that far ahead other than the topic, and really don't have the time to mark the extra work! I told her to write a diary and do some maths that she had been doing - but I won't be marking it. I have just felt very guilty for using last years maths plans, although I have to make some resources for next week, so that has made me feel that I deserve my moan about the extra hours I have to spend preparing!!!!!

Lotus-eater

dizziblonde wrote: »

Yep the usual troll's out. Time to cross that one off my bingo card too.

Presumably that's me then?

Can't see how I trolled at all, if anything you were the one that made a huge deal out of nothing, inviting an argument.
I quite liked your rant, but as for being justified on this thread, I think not,

Not that you have to justify your rants to me or anyone else, but then don't turn round and accuse someone else of exactly what you are doing.

retro_bluebell

I have the upmost respect for teachers. My MIL teaches reception and I have seen her stay behind at the school until 8/9 o'clock to do the prep for the next day....the amount of stuff she brings home is unbelievable then theres all the work she puts in at home in the holidays, so I cant imagine what a logistical nightmare it must be when you have to either prepare extra work for a child thats off or help a child catch up.

With 3 kids we personally cant afford holidays out of term time, so we dont have them simple as that. The kids dont miss out as we have many days out as a family. I take attendance at school very seriously and I rightly or wrongly feel quite smug when one of the kids comes home with a certificate for perfect attendance that term. We live a fair bit away from the schools and due to the bad weather the kids have had 3 days off as it just wasn't safe to drive ..but we did try (even on one day when we almost crashed as it was so icy). That decision wasnt taken lightly and I do feel guilty for it. Luckily all 3 school were understanding about it, it was the weather its one of those things you know?

So there are some parents out there that know how hard good teachers work and respect what they do.

blue_monkey_2

Treacly wrote: »

Thanks! Have fun with Mickey and Goofy!

Thanks. We intend to.

Personally I do not care how many days teachers have off. I am a SAHM so I don't have to worry about finding people to look after my kids. Another choice I made when I had kids.

I find it incredible that such a rant came out from a teacher though, do you have this much patience with your kids or is this what looking after kids does to you? In case you did not notice I was being sarcastic - but you jumped on your high horse quick enough. Why do you bother responding if you are going to get that stressy over it? Just ignore it and go and read something else.

I know full well what jobs the teachers do and appreciate the time they give to my children - I am on the school council and the PTFA as well and give my time to the school to help out when I can - and I make every effort to make sure my kids get to school on time every day and that their attendance record is as near to 100% as it can be. If the school say I can have 10 days I'll take 10 days as, in 5 years, I've not taken them out before. They also tell me I can take a couple more and that I can lie about them being sick if I need them.

Fly_Baby

Why does it have to be such a big deal? A poor child missed a few weeks in primary school and never caught up? Even if it happened because of illness?

Beat me up but the local education system has a lot to answer for. I have a child at school and I never know what they cover, I never know how well he is doing in all subjects - we have parent and teacher meetings 3 or 4 times a year only. God forbid I take a peek on their curriculum - I did ask for one actually, because he is a bit behind in his English and I wanted to do some extra work with him at home - but my request was considered very inaproppriate.

I think I might have a solution.

I did not go to school in the UK. Where I went we had textbooks and workbooks for each school year, starting from the age of 7. They were unified for each school. So every pupil would get (borrow from the library or buy) his set of textbooks for the year ahead. And when we had homework it was like: History: Chapter 6, Maths: Exercises 15-16 on page 50, English: Lesson 5, exercises 2-3. Every parent knew exactly what the child's class is studying and what marks he/she is getting.

So if a child has to miss - be it for illness or that holiday - catching up is a matter of ringing up another parent and asking: "Hey, what did they study in the last week?" And then writing down exactly how far they progressed in the textbooks and what exercises were given as home work.

And any parent is capable of helping out a child to catch up with the class when he knows exactly what was missed and has the same textbook by which the teacher taught the material in class. He is an educated grown-up, he can read the chapter and explain it to the child. It is also helpful if a child didn't understand something in class - he can always re-read the material at home.

Why does it have to be so complicated in schools? There are no textbooks, no home workbooks, a complete secrecy of curriculum, teachers are all resolute that nobody else can make up for what the child has missed in class and the poor mate is doomed for life because of those measly two weeks in Egypt in his Year 3.

Really, it's the problem of the schools' (or rather Government's) own making.

kelloggs36

That way of teaching is enough to switch any child off of learning - how dull learning out of text books!!

pollypenny

I was never able to find one 'perfect' or even ideal text book.

Teachers have to have flexibility. I retired at 60 rather than carrying on P/T with a job I loved partly because the department had changed to the AQA English GCSE - a highly prescriptive course.