Taking day off school for trip away?

[BigRubberPlant]

In a few months time, I will be taking my 2 DC (8 and 4, so yr3 and reception) away for the weekend with two other mums and their dc, 6 kids between us. Children and mums all really good friends. It will be a long drive but worth it I am sure.

My two friends are planning on taking their children out of school on the Friday so that they can leave straight after school on Thursday and have a longer break. I'm not really comfortable with taking my children out of school for the day, but am not sure how to broach this with my friends as I don't want them to think that I am judging their choices- it is of course up to them how they deal with this within their own families, it just doesn't feel right for me. My dc have already had 1 and 3 legitimate days off respectively so far this school year with bugs and so on and I am not convinced that having a day off just because we are going away is reasonable.

I would prefer to go up the Friday night straight from school. This would mean a much shorter break for us and a 3.5hr drive for basically one night and 1.5 days (whilst we would have 2 nights there, we wouldn't arrive until 8pm the first and so it would be bedtime for the children, then leave after lunch on the Sunday) Would also cause lots of questioning from my dc- why are their friends not at school and have gone already? Why couldn't they?

Also, I know its only 1 day but I do not want my dc to have an unauthorised absence on their school record. Am not sure that they would authorise it because of the few days off they've had so far, and if they said "no sorry we can't approve it" I would feel rather silly if I then took them anyway.

This all sounds quite petty when it is written down- AIBU and possibly a bit precious? Should I just take my kids out of school for the day and let them enjoy a fantastic weekend with their friends? Or is my gut feeling worth listening to and we will go up on the Friday?

I really do not enjoy making decisions!

Just had a thought - easter traffic!
get a head start!

Tell your friends that the head at your school is very strict and won't authorise it, so you don't feel comfortable going against it.

Thanks for all the comments.

A couple of responses to posts upthread:

One of the other families is at the same school, but the other is at a separate one.

When I say "broach the subject" with my friends, I don't mean tell them that I think they are wrong (I don't- I have enough work in deciding what's right for my dc let alone spending time worrying about whether I agree or disagree with their ways!) but I would worry that because I am choosing to do something different in an area that I know often polarises opinion that they would take it as a judgement of their choice. One in particular is quite sensitive and I would hate her to think that I thought badly of her.

The school my dc attend is very good for them. I really feel that we work together to make sure they achieve their potential and I suppose part of me does not want to bring this element into that relationship.

I expect a lot of you will probably think "what utter rot! Does this woman really believe that the school sees their responsibilities to her dc in the same way, i.e. a partnership?" but I think that the right thing to do for my family in this instance is to go on the Friday after school and meet the others there. We will all still have a fab time (thankfully not over Easter so won't have to contend with that traffic although do recognise that Friday nights aren't great on the roads) and maybe I will see if we can take a long stop enroute home somewhere fab so as to extend the fun a bit longer seeing as the journey is a big one.