To take the DCs out of school for a day and lie about??

[BigMomma3]

Probably am but ho hum!

DH is jumping out of a plane tomorrow from 13000 ft (got a tandem skydive as an Xmas present) and the DCs want to see it! Also if I want to watch, they have to come as we will never get back in time to pick them up (2 hour drive away).

I was going to call their schools tomorrow and say that they are unwell (may be a bit odd as 2 are at the same school)but hate lying as I'm always afraid it will come true! They are rarely off school so it won't really hurt and I would never normally condone it but it's a once in a lifetime experience for DH (hopefully he will not get a taste for it) and will be family day out for all of us.

AIBU?

[OtterInaSkoda]

fluffy - what I mean is that they get to do things between 9am and 3.15pm that they wouldn't get to do otherwise, if that makes sense, because they've found a way to compress compulsory teacher-contact hours. I need to find an example...

[OtterInaSkoda]

nappyaddict I'm fairly sure ours is the only school in the immediate area to do this. I'll try and come up with a way of saying where we are without outing myself too much!

[pofarced]

i think it is all kinds of activities but would have to ask my German friend, nappyaddict.

[nappyaddict]

pofarced Do they do only do sports in the afternoon or do they sometimes do other stuff (like art, music, drama, crafts, cooking etc?) I'm not sure sport all afternoon every afternoon is that productive but like the idea that mornings are for "academic" work and afternoons are for the other stuff that don't do enough of in my opinion.

[pofarced]

why don't more schools do that Otter? Makes so much sense. In Germany school is only until lunchtime anyway [with sports in afternoons] and they are ahead in literacy and numeracy rates.

[nappyaddict]

Otter If you don't mind saying, what area are you in?

[FluffyDonkey]

"As well as the standard hours they're spending over 2 hrs a week doing things that otherwise they'd not be able to do, or that would have to be factored into normal school hours (esp. the case with swimming)."

Not sure what you mean here...I did normal school hours and up to 10 hours swimming training a week outside of school time. It's perfectly possible.

Back to the OP - prepare for a long wait for the parachute jump. Your DH won't necessarily be in the first plane that goes up, and sometimes you have to wait for the clouds to clear etc. Parachute jumps are often put back because of weather. I was lucky and did mine fairly quickly but I was in the last plane that went up that day, and I know someone else who turned up 3 weekends in a row, but never managed the jump!

[OtterInaSkoda]

Sorry - we're a good 100 miles away.

Complacent has its good points (although I thought of it as "relaxed" when ds was in Reception) but it does mean that I think they let dcs drift along a bit too much. Nothing wrong with drifting, but bit of direction can be a good thing.

[tispity]

otter - do you live anywhere near us (north lolndon)? any vacancies? (i like "complacent")

fab - but there is no end to doing that; i have just spent the last decade putting their pre-school years ahead of my career...though i will prob end up doing as you would

[OtterInaSkoda]

Oh - very few dcs go home on the half-days. It's nice to have the option though of picking them up at midday and going somewhere that might be hideously busy at the weekend/holidays. Although I've only done that once in 5 years

[OtterInaSkoda]

It's a normal state school, tipsity. They've been doing it for years now - it was already well established when ds started there in Reception.

They are pretty unconventional as a school. The downside though is that sometimes they can be head-in-the-clouds and a bit too complacent - it isn't perfect. On balance I'm still glad ds goes there though.

[FabIsGoingToBeFabIn2010]

I think you should put your child's schooling before a potential future job, but jmo.

[tispity]

"tispity why not home educate as you obviously have no faith in the school" - he will get another teacher in yr 1 through to end of yr2 so i am really hoping things will turn around then. i like having some time away from the dcs and i feel that it is important for them (we spend far too much time togather anyway!). HE would prob be best but i would NOT want to sign away the rest of my working life to it. ds is 4 and i would be past 40 by the time he finished his schooling - who would want to employ me then?

[tispity]

i bet they do! if we could have such an arrangement (either formally or on the quiet) then ds could take up ice-skating again. the saturday classes are torture and oversubscribed. it would have to be a pretty amazing school for the headteacher to successfully argue that they were getting more out of that time being at school than doing something refreshingly different.

are your dcs at state school though? indie schools are more flexible aren't they? dd is at prep school and they have different activities on a wednesday afternoon but it is all organised by the school

[FabIsGoingToBeFabIn2010]

tispity why not home educate as you obviously have no faith in the school.

[OtterInaSkoda]

I think it works really well, tispity. And actually I think the dcs end up having more learning hours than if they had a more conventional set up. As well as the standard hours they're spending over 2 hrs a week doing things that otherwise they'd not be able to do, or that would have to be factored into normal school hours (esp. the case with swimming).

[tispity]

the 4.5 days sounds like a brilliant idea - was a bit like that at one private school i attended. i really don't know where this idea has arisen from of 5 days every week being the only way to succeed - plenty of people bunked off when we were younger and those on full attendance usually had a bizarre attachment to the school or harsh parents who would send them in regardless of illness or anything else.

i'd say go for it - having a long lunch together as a family is a special occasion in itself and we have lots of precious memories of eating out with the dcs. they need to practise for when they are older, especially if they end up in banking or insurance!!

[nappyaddict]

I would take them out for a special lunch if it was for an occasion like birthday or whatever.

[OtterInaSkoda]

rain. Sunday.

[OtterInaSkoda]

ps hope the rin holds off for Sundat, BigMomma

[OtterInaSkoda]

tispity - can you not wait until there's an inset day? Or half term?

We're pretty fortunate in that ds's school have arranged it so that half a day a week is for activities and isn't official school time. They still do the required hours but they've managed to compress them into 4 1/2 days. You can either take the dcs out or they stay and do clubs, swimming lessons or go on outings. These groups are run by parents and local volunteers (artists for example) or professional sports coaches. This half day is the teacher's non-contact prep time (can't remember the proper term for it).

Anyhoo - there's a Michelin starred place that we've wanted to go to for ages but there's no way we could afford it in the evenings or at the weekend so you've inspired me to consider taking an afternoon off and all three of us going for a rather special lunch. Thank you

[BigMomma3]

Well that was a waste of time because it's been bloody postponed due to rain (they knew it was going to rain yesterday but said it would still be on ).

Hopefully will go on Sunday so no problems with the DCs going?? We will be able to see it apparently so should e worthwhile!

[tispity]

oh i wouldn't lie, i tell them quietly - but my son wont be 5 until august anyway so i know (and they know that i know) that it is up to me atm. we only spend an hour or two there anyway and we get up to a lot of worthwhile stuff once we are back home. btw it is not nuggets and chips but a £19 kids menu - we could not go to that restaurant otherwise as we never delegate childcare. it is not the sort of place where you would display a Ben10 lunchbox and ds is just not going to do the caviar and gold leaf menu etc.

if i felt his schooling was worthwhile, i would not do it. however, even though ds' school is rated as "outstanding" on every count, i am fast beginning to realise that this is meaningless. i wish i could name the school but i probably can't - i have a vvvv low opinion of it atm and i think his NQT teacher is as dumb as a bag of hammers and completely lacking in warmth and understanding. i have told them that but they refuse to switch him to another class with a stronger teacher and i sorely regret him no longer being in nursery where they were big on pastoral care and he did not tell me how much he disliked going in every day.

[IckleJess]

I second what someone else said - you won't see much at all tbh.

My best friend's DH bought her one of these for her birthday back in July and we duly went along to watch - spent ages hanging around whilst she went off for her training, did see her being loaded into the plane and it take off but they went up into the clouds and landed off course so didn't see them coming down.

They also landed about 2 miles away so again lots of hanging around whilst the Land Rover went out to collect them 6 fields away!

I think it will be good to take the DCs but just warn them that they most likely won't see Daddy falling through the sky I'm afraid.

[GetOrfMoiLand]

Have no problem with taking your kids out of school for something like this on occasion - just don't lie about it. Ring up the school and tell then what you are doing. As fearsome as some school receptionists can be, they are not the stazi and will not be able to actually stop you.

Anyway, it is best not to lie.

Don't think I would bother to take dd out of school in order to get a cheaper meal, however I don;t think Tipsity's kid's education is going to be in jeopardy so don;t flame her fgs.