To take DS out of school for two weeks for holidays?

[DimplesEverywhere]

When Covid settles down and we can get into Florida without too much hassle. Hopefully later this year or early next year. We haven’t gone away for the last two years so have been waiting to do a big holiday.

He is starting secondary school in September but he’s well above average in all subjects so I don’t think it’ll impact him that much.

I’d also rather go on hols outside of school hols, as it’s less busy now, that DS is the only DC we’ll potentially get fined for (other DC out of school). It’ll be cheaper so we’ll save more than the £120 anyway!

Thinking of doing it every year from now actually.

Would it BU?

Omg. Can't believe the Pearl clutchers on
HereZ my daughter is 26, graduated with a first from St. Andrews. Missed a minimum of 2 weeks every year to go on hols. Family time is super important
I quite frankly couldn't give a flying fuck about the naysayers with their lower than average intelligence kids & whiny teachers.
Do it & have a ball.
It matters not a jot & the last few years have proven that.
Have a ball!

Do people really only have ‘family time’ when they’re away?

What about evenings and weekends and at home in the holidays?

I quite frankly couldn't give a flying fuck about the naysayers with their lower than average intelligence kids & whiny teachers

You sound lovely.

@PatsArrow

I'm a School Governor at a Secondary with the link role of Attendance. Pupils going away in term time is a big problem. Even if 3 or 4 families do it it can really impact on Attendance stats.

Will you be the first to complain if the schools Ofsted rating goes down?

I highly doubt attendance stats and Ofsted ratings are high on anyone's list of worries.

If you hate queues etc I can see why you’d do it. Perfect solution, I might do the same- no one will mind if I put the work on the learning platform so my class can keep up, right? An hour or so a day would keep them in the right place?

Seriously, I wouldn’t plan to have two weeks off every year. That works out at about a term off over their time in high school. They’ve had such a disrupted time over the last two years, I’d try and keep them in school. We have no idea what will happen in terms of time off next year- not closing bubbles may well lead to more actual infection.

the Parks are heavenly right now.. no queues 🎉

What about evenings and weekends and at home in holidays

Lots of families work throughout school holidays and over the weekend. Evenings are taken up by cooking, cleaning, homework, baths, preparing uniforms for the following day etc. A few hours on a Saturday or Sunday can never make up for a couple of weeks when the whole family come together and the parents don’t have to cook, clean and tidy and can just concentrate on being with their children.

I understand that attrition is a challenge for schools but the kids who are struggling due to missing school often are facing both home and academic challenges. They have to make a single rule for all even if many kids would be fine missing school occasionally.

Back in my day I missed a lot due to health and other commitments with extracurricular activities. It never impacted me one bit - If your child is high achieving, I’m sure you know they’ll be just fine. Principle is the only reason not to go and that is a value decision only you can take.

I’d be tempted to make the exception for this pandemic year but wouldn’t plan to do it every year.

Actually the parks are rammed at the moment with Americans who have been given subsistence money.

YABVVU. Children have missed more than enough school already.

Here’s my opinion, I never did it with eldest son when he was much younger, then daughter come along. She battled to survive her entire like ( now 9 ) age has spent so much time off school isolating / hospital / treatments that my outlooked changed.
Education is important but so are other things, and holiday can be a learning experience to.
We now go for 3 weeks every year eldest DS and DD. Will do the same for my baby when she reaches school age.

YABU

@beachcitygirl

Omg. Can't believe the Pearl clutchers on HereZ my daughter is 26, graduated with a first from St. Andrews. Missed a minimum of 2 weeks every year to go on hols. Family time is super important I quite frankly couldn't give a flying fuck about the naysayers with their lower than average intelligence kids & whiny teachers. Do it & have a ball. It matters not a jot & the last few years have proven that. Have a ball!

And you can't see she is probably the exception to the rule?

Not every child missing 2 weeks of schooling every year will go to university. "Why did I only get Bs in my GCSEs mum? Because we wanted a cheaper holiday and we thought that was more important than you attending school"

OP they have just had the most disrupted two academic years of their lives and you want to take him out of school for two weeks?

Go for a week in October half term. Half terms are much cheaper than Easter/summer holidays.

Family time is super important

13 weeks not enough then - 1/4 of the year?

I would go, but not during important exam years. Its too much to miss out on during those years. Unless school has changed dramatically since I went, nothing we did in first and second year was tested properly. Only from third year.

Mask mandate has been resumed so masks required inside in Florida, only one Disney water park open, no parades, limited entertainment - I wouldn’t bother.

@igelkott2021

Family time is super important

13 weeks not enough then - 1/4 of the year?

Not everyone is able to take school holidays off.

I have 5 days off work the whole of this 7 weeks my child is home. I am mostly working between 10-12 hours a day 5/6 days a week.

Op why post in AIBU?
You asked for opinions, you got them, you disagreed with them, and still think YANBU, why waste time asking when you obviously think you're right?

How is he going to do the homework online if he has missed the lesson which teaches the topic included in the homework?

I’m quite relaxed about taking kids out of school and I’m taking my primary kids out of school for 3 days before the school hols next year.
I have to be honest though, I wouldn’t do it for my secondary kids. My parents took me out school in year 8 for 2 weeks. I missed some new work in maths and have struggled with that aspect of maths ever since, I struggled to catch up x

If it's a short half term he'd miss quite a lot. If a child in my class took 2 weeks off in November that would likely mean them missing out on adding and subtracting mixed fractions, for example. Or he'll come back to find he's missed out on food chains or the first half of To Kill A Mockingbird.

But if you are willing to catch him up and don't expect the teacher to do it it's fine. I don't care if kids are out of my class as long as parents don't expect me to teach catch up.

@thegreenlight

Mask mandate has been resumed so masks required inside in Florida, only one Disney water park open, no parades, limited entertainment - I wouldn’t bother.

it's being strongly advised ... to wear a mask indoors .. no enforcement yet

Madness to plan a Florida trip atm
On Tuesday, 14,787 people were hospitalised with the novel virus, which was 145 per cent more than the state’s initial pandemic peak in June 2020, according to the Florida Hospital Association.

Nearly 90 per cent of the state’s ICU beds were filled and 85 per cent of all patient beds were filled, the group added.

Democrats have been critical of the DeSantis administration throughout the pandemic due to concerns of relaxed Covid-19 guidance.

Disney in a pandemic for memories 🤦🏻‍♀️ Words fail me.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/covid-increase-ventilators-desantis-florida-b1900998.html

First two weeks isn't a good idea, he'll miss out on making friends and settling in. A lot happens.