To take DC out of school for a year and travel

[ShillyShallySherbet]

Having a moment of madness I think after watching race across the world but interested to hear whether anyone has done similar to this and the pros and cons.

Both myself and DH’s work contracts are coming to an end in September. DC will be going into year 3 and year 5. We are currently looking for new contacts but if nothing comes up we have enough saved up to get by for a while. Or we could take advantage of the fact there’s nothing tying us down and just throw caution to the wind, take the girls out of school for a year and travel. AIBU?

I think though if the DC hate school they will really struggle coming back. Everyone will have moved on, and they're going back to something they didn't like and are going to be a bit of an odd one out.

I think it's the sort of thing that sounds wonderful, and looks wonderful looking at others' blogs and things, but the reality is nothing like as good

A family did this at my kids old school. Went away for a year travelling then came back to the school. It’s primary so they shouldn’t be missing out on anything important, just make sure they read, do a bit of homeschool work here and there. Sounds fun.

We did this but for 1/2 the time.
Ex left his job (but he turned his hand to anything so we weren't worried about him picking something up on our return).
I was able to take a sabbatical from my professional job.
House was paid off and is now mortgaged in my name following our divorce, but that's another thread
DS was in year 4. We did sort of formal maths and english and he kept the most amazing diary.

School said they could not hold his place, but I live in a village where every child in catchment was guaranteed a place (this was a while ago so likely different now). I unregistered him and then wrote asking for a place on [date] before we even left the country.

I am of the mind that anything is fine before they hit Secondary school and even then in the first couple of years you can make it work.

I would love to do this and have taken them for a shorter trip previously. This thread is making me think about how best to plan it - probably spending a bit longer in each place would work well or maybe more like three longer trips somewhere. Think it sounds amazing

There was a post on social media about high earning parents who gave up work and home educated their children while traveling the world. I cant find link to share at moment but it was very successful.

We home educate as children were very unhappy at school and eldest has additional needs that we're not being met. It is hard work but so was dealing with school impact. Life now is far better and children have gained many opportunities. We would like to travel more across the UK but due to jobs this isn't feasible currently. In your situation I would take this opportunity and enjoy the time as a family and the wonderful experience.

They children may want to continue home Ed and the year may mean you are open to this option or you may return them to school. This is very individual to your family situation. Even if you do not take this opportunity there is a risk that school refusal becomes worse and one or both children can not attend and you end up home Ed.

The children may return to school happily.

So many unknowns. The knowns are...

The children would be happy to come out of school for a time.
Your work commitments coming to an end at the same time mean this is possibly a one time only option
The children are not at an age that exams are a factor.
The family will experience quality time together
The children will learn so many things while experiencing different languages, cultures and environments. They will learn so many skills and they will use knowledge in the real world applications.

Bloody hell.. so many going on about school.
School is not be all and end all.
There is other ways to educate.
My daughters hated school.
I HE.. they both got 8 GCSE's.
It wasn't structured.. maybe two days a week.
We spent days going to museums and other cities and holidays.
If l hadn't have been a single parent.. I'd have loved to have done what you want to do OP.
We don't like high schools.. after primary Grandsons are/ we're home educated..
High schools are far too strict and bad for some children's MH.
My eldest GS is now at Uni having not gone to high school.
Take the kids.. they will get more education by travelling.
Watch " Escape to the wild".
Brilliant programme about families leaving the UK and escaping the rat race and the awful UK education system

I’m not a fan of holidays abroad in term-time. This would be that x 52.
Just because it’s called ‘travelling’ doesn’t make it not a term-time holiday.

Our family did something like that when DB and I were 10 and 8 - we totally loved it. My mum tried some home-schooling but we were pretty resistant. We really loved the travelling and fitted back in to school very easily. I think it was a pretty sweet spot in ages - we were old enough to read for pleasure to keep up with that, and young enough that missing things didn't matter (possibly a caveat that we were both naturally good at maths so didn't have problems there). When we left I was totally bored and unmotivated by school, when we came back I was really enthusiastic about it, so travelling really made a huge positive difference to my academic performance at school.
I don't think something like that is something you regret doing!

I agree, enjoy life while you can! I would if I could!

Do it. Do it. Do it!
And I’m a retired Assistant Headteacher.
Read to them, talk to them, play with them. Of course they’ll catch up when they get back. You can always get a private tutor for a while if they’re struggling with fractions or fronted adverbials when you get back!

I wouldn’t hesitate - take the plunge OP!

As a teacher I would be ok with it as long as you made sure they did the necessary work to keep up. Plenty of refugee children come to the uk with no formal learning.

In general I think if you feel able to do this, you should go for it, it will be a huge adventure. And they will gain so much from it. But, honestly, I think you've left it too late to plan anything well if you're thinking of leaving in September. These sorts of trips are often a couple of years in the making.

I wanted to do this - but we ended up living overseas for a few years instead, which was the best of both worlds really.

Alternatively, plan to be somewhere for 6 months to a year, and enrol the kids in school.

If you’re not going to homeschool them- so the same amount of hours they do at school AND all the subjects, I would think they will regress in their education. I would be rather concerned as a teacher myself about this, personally I think it’s a bit selfish of you, put their education first not your need to travel, do it when they have left school

@wellington77

You don't have to do the same number of hours as school. Home education is about giving an appropriate education based on age and ability. You can choose to follow the curriculum or choose not too.
You can do structured work or set times on set days or you can be as flexible as you choose.
Schools need the hours they are because a lot of time is taken up with behaviour and admin activities that you don't need to do with home Ed. Then there is the time it takes to teach a group of 30 a concept is far longer than it takes if 1:1.

Learning can happen 7 days a week 365 days of a year. Learning through doing, learning through play, learning through experience is far more quality learning than learning via a worksheet or book

“ I REALLY wish we didn’t go travelling around Europe for year when the kids were small!’ - said no one ever.

Down load IXL and try and stick to the curriculum for English and maths when your having quiet days.

Go - I would

Going to school is the conventional way most children gain an education. There are many, many other ways to educate a child.

If they are already struggling with school, won’t taking them out for a year just make that worse?

As a teacher I’m surprised you would think this tbh.

my kids missed 2.5 years of school, we did some light home schooling - DC1 read a lot, we just about kept up with national curriculum in maths… that was about it. Both are top of their classes at secondary now. On another note DC3 is currently in Y3 but is skipping to Y5 in September to join his chronological age group as school don’t think he needs to do Y4…

Yes I do worry about this. Going back to school after the pandemic was really tough, they loved being with us and they don’t like structure at all. They are bright, inquisitive, imaginative, get on really well together but also make friends wherever they go. They are much stronger in literacy than numeracy, they are only just working as expected in maths which I worry about when it comes to home schooling, because I find it really hard to explain even the most basic of concepts in maths despite getting a B at GCSE myself, goodness knows how!

I would say to go for it., it will be an amazing experience.
However, they won't want to go back to school on their return (I would imagine), so just maybe start to plan for home schooling on your return.

I would do this if I could afford it, however it would be over DH's dead body. And I would quite like him to come along.

To me it’s a good thing to teach them that life doesn’t have to be all about responsibilities and work. If you work hard and save, you can also live a little. OP, I have no experience of taking kids out of school for a year but I really believe it won’t do them long term harm. It will teach them a lot too! And you would be doing home schooling anyway, right? Anyhow I think it was a good suggestion to try travelling out for six weeks first to see how it goes.

I think year 4 and 6 would be better to miss, but chances are, you’ll never have this synced up opportunity again. Can you make it an unschooling adventure? Can you cope if they refuse school completely after this?

There a line I remember from somewhere.

“Son, the funny thing about regret is; it’s better to regret something you have done than something you haven’t.”

I have no idea where that’s from, out of its good advice or not!

There was a very similar question here a few weeks ago, the OP had a child in Year 6:

Family gap year

I replied and mentioned my BIL:

BIL and his family did this many years ago. They took about 18 months off. Oldest DC was in the middle of Year 5 (just after Christmas) when they left and they returned in the summer before he started in Year 7.

They rented out their house and lived on that income (they only had a small mortgage) and their savings.

There are also a couple of blogs from families that have been doing this for a long time that might be helpful to read to gain some practical insight into what it is like:

The first is an English family who have been doing this for years and have their own website:

https://travelynnfamily.com/

and a Canadian family that also have a lot of useful advice as well:

https://www.5losttogether.com/start-here/

Do it! Chance of a lifetime, your kiddos will love it! it'll need some serious planning; but fantastic opportunity. I wouldn't worry about not getting the kids back into school. Chances are they'll be spaces, if not they'll get a space somewhere! At the end of the day if it doesn't work out as planned you just come home!