Aibu to take kids out of school for a ski hol in March?

[Nurserymumm]

Midterm is ridiculous, so expensive. DH has a week off the start of March so thinking of taking them out & going skiing for a week then. It's educational right?

Life is for living. And, the evidence is actually really poor on term time holidays and educational loss. Like, non-existent. There is a correlation between significant time missed over a school year/ career and poorer outcomes but this is not causation and also doesn't account for confounding factors

True - the stats do show a link between attendance and attainment. However, they don't drill down into causes of absence. In the Government's mind, 5 days absence due to a holiday is equivalent to 5 days over a year because of truancy and not wanting to go to school - which are 2 very different reasons.

Be prepared for that to be thrown back at you when they want to slink off to Glastonbury or something else in years to come.

This made me laugh. What a reach. Kids throw a whole load of things back at their parents but it isn't going to be a ski trip during term time.
Of course go ahead and do it @Nurserymumm . And of course it is educational. Every life experience is educational.

Absolutely they will gain far more from the exercise and fresh air than dreary school.
Covid showed that school is not always the first priority. Hope it snows a lot, at night!

@Megan1992xx thank you I feel the same.. They'll be doing plenty of reading in the evenings to relax. We missed two years of travel due to covid so don't feel so bad now after reading the comments. The dc can also check with their friends to see what was covered & I am very friendly with some of the parents who absolutely wouldn't mind divulging & sending on the homework, I have done it myself for other parents it's absolutely no big deal to do that. I absolutely wouldn't approach their teachers.

There’s more to education than maths and English - do it! Factor in the fines in your costings though.
We take dd out for the week before Easter pretty much every year. I couldn’t give a shit what the law says, life is for living and they grow up and go so quickly.

We took our kids out a week before school broke up for Christmas to get cheaper tickets. I feel not an iota of guilt over it. Teachers unions fought tooth and nail against reopening schools during 2021/21, saying it isn't the be all and end all. They can't now turn around and say attendance is super important to the life chances of children. We all know by now that it isn't connected
(In reality, the teachers I let know were all supportive and wished us a happy holiday)

We ski at Christmas as its cheaper than February. Also go to cheaper places like Andorra rather than France.

Its fun. Its family time But not educational.

(We have taken them in terms time but they were 5&7... and permitted as their father is in the Forces... we had a great time.)

We did this when our DC were 10 and 7. We asked the school (circumstances had forced us to miss out on a place for half-term) and while the HT was not willing to say it was perfectly OK, she indicated that she wouldn’t prevent us from taking them out of school for it. Both DC’s class teachers, however, said that they WOULD learn more in a week abroad than at school, as any trip abroad, learning a skill, would be educational!
So for all PP who pooh-poohed the idea that it’s educational, that was the response we had from the professional teachers at the time! I can’t believe it will have changed much, even though our trip was 20+ years ago…

speak the local language op,
job done as regards education

You'd have to have a very narrow definition of education to decide that exposure to news skills, culture, language, people, experiences doesn't 'count'.

It might be less of an education for wealthy kids who go abroad or skiing a lot. But for mine is was massively educational. They'd not left the country since tiny. And yes lots of state schools do all trips in term time to keep costs affordable. The costs would prob double at 1/2 terms. (Private schools near us go in holidays)

Even if you set aside the exact definition of education (and I dispute that it's as narrow as maths worksheets), it is of great value to the development of a child to travel and have new experiences. Skiing is a physical activity conducted in fresh mountain air, and could set off a lifelong passion. And what about family bonding? Our family, especially the children as siblings, bond on holiday in a way that we never would at home with all the pressures of work and school.

So let's forget about this being 'educational'. It cannot be argued that it is not of developmental benefit.

Heck, forget about skiing. Going abroad to visit family and meeting up with aunts/uncles/cousins/grandparents who live in a different culture perhaps, is of HUGE developmental benefit

I would. My DS has missed most of the autumn term of year 8, (no school places available, had to wait for fair access team to get involved etc ) he started his for the last week and a half and he’s catching up just fine. We did a bit of homeschool but I work full time so it was limited.

I can’t see a week or two doing any harm and education is not just in the classroom!

We did price the Feb midterm & it was more than double unfortunately

Exactly. We can't afford all of us to go skiing never mind in in half term. Hopefully might go one year but not in near future. Holiday costs have escalated. We can afford to save an send them on good value School trips

I've done it several times OP, for the same reasons, though generally around May half term and somewhere warmer.

At 9&11, despite what others say, it really won't have much of an impact on their education in the longer term, school isn't that intense until GCSEs where you can't catch up on a handful of lessons over a few weeks. In fact, even GCSEs aren't that challenging for a lot of bright kids.

They'll get much more out of a family holiday, but let's not pretend it's educational, it's about experiences, family time and memories.

Yes but your 11 y/o can't do that for many
More years imo

You'll all always remember the holiday. They'll never remember a specific week at school. Go on the holiday, it's a no brainer I'd say, it's only a week!

March 2023? Don't waste your money. Honestly if there is any snow it will be rubbish. Just come back from ice and slush and it's January. Resorts will be closed come March

@NoKnit “Resorts will be closed come March”

Apart from the ones that aren’t. Val d’Isère, Val Thorens, Saas Fe…

You can predict to March? Surely Val di sere et al might be open now but in March? I'd be sceptical to he honest

If temperatures continue as they are in the alps then honestly plenty of resorts won't be able to afford to stay open come March. The locals will stay away who wants to ski in a pile of slush?

If you had said you wanted to take your children out of school for a week to go to butlins at a cheaper rate you'd have received very different responses.

Given you posted about your concerns about all the lost schooling due to covid impacting on your kids, it seems a bit of an odd decision...

This was your post worrying about social mobility:

Education is the key but most kids are really up against it after all the missed schooling due to covid..

Yep, this basically. Can’t have it both ways.

Go - such a great family holiday.