BLOODY HUSBAND HAS BOOKED HOLIDAY

[hifi]

dd starts school in sept, we normally go away for 3 weeks at xmas as its easy for dh to be off, he wanted to go away for 5 weeks this year. this was fine as we were going to keep dd off school for a year, she has now got into a fab school so couldn't turn the school down.
we spoke about the holiday and i said we would now have to go around when she is off at xmas,lots of huffing and puffing from dh about its the best time for him to have off. i have tried to explain to him that we have to work around term times now.

he has just called,all very up beat and said he has just booked the flights for 3 weeks off, meaning she will have to miss a week before xmas hols, im fuming.
aibu in thinking this is totally selfish, he says it doesnt matter as his mate says its only her first year and it doesnt matter.
do i tell school or feign illness?

thanks jammi

I would be quite if DH purchased a holiday without consulting me about it. And, I would most certainly not agree to depriving my child of his/her first school nativity. That is indeed selfish.

And you will most likely give yourself a black mark in the eyes of the school.

They do practise for the nativity/play for a good 6 weeks if not more so she'll feel really left out of things.

Whilst she may only have a couple of letters/reading books to catch up on at that stage its still extra work for the teacher to either catch her up or hold back the others until everybody is at the same stage.

When taking term time holidays, it involves extra work for the teachers which I dont think is fair.

They certainly won't hold back the others! Although whilst I think there's sometimes a lot of over-reaction about term-time holidays, it does annoy me (as a teacher) when people say "it doesn't matter" and "you're entitled to 2 weeks a year." It can matter, depends when really, and the Head is able to allow up to 2 weeks at his/her discretion, for exceptional reasons, usually meaning religious, cultural or unusual family circumstances.

Our family hol can't be taken during official school hols, owing to the seasonal nature of our business. We have okayed it with school and requested some extra homework to take with us. DS is in yr1 and DD in Reception. Take some literacy/numeracy books with you that are curriculum linked and spend an hour or so each day doing them with your LO. It's a break from lounging about in the sun!

I dont see a problem with taking a week off during school time at this age although I would never do it myself. I agree with Hulababy about what I want my kids to think about school but not everyone has to feel the same.
But I think as it's the week before Christmas she will miss out on a lot of stuff with her class mates and will be left out of all the school play preparations.

I

I don't think the school should be expected to set (and mark) extra homework because you choose to take a holiday in term-time. Fair enough if you want to go to WHSmith and buy some workbooks but, frankly, who would want to do those when on holiday? If you're going, then go, and forget about home and school and catch up when you get back.

FWIW I'm a teacher and I totally understand why parents take their kids out of school for holidays. As has been pointed out she's a)5 and b)it's the last week before xmas so she won't miss any important 'learning'. Hopefully there will be plenty more nativities etc. She may actually benefit more from 3 weeks with her parents relaxing and having fun. Schools can say "no" to holidays and if parents still go they can be fined (but as one parent said to my Headteacher "the fine is MUCH less than the cost of changing the holiday!"....had a vague idea is was £50! I would be honest and tell the school. You can't expect a 5 yr old to lie and you really don't need to. HTH

She wont miss out educationally - they never do any learning in the last wek of xmas term. She will miss out on the most fun term of the year. Father Christmas will visit school, they'll have christmas dinner, parties, carols. You will miss out on seeing her in her first school nativity

Your dh should have booked the first week of Jan term instead. Good luck with that discussion.