School Attendance and Family Vacations

Updated on December 11, 2006
B.H. asks from Burnsville, MN
4 answers

I have a 5 yr.old in kindergarten. She has great attendance at school and I'm on top of everything with homework and stuff I'm not a slacker parent. I'm feeling horribly guilty becuase I'm pulling her out of school for the last 3 days of school before winter break to go visit our only family we never see in Chicago. Were riding with other ppl and this is the only time we can go. Then she will come back to school after winter break for 2 weeks and then I'm pulling her out for 4 days because we planned a trip to Florida to visit family again that we never see. With the Florida trip I arranged it during a time when she has some days off of school so that she will miss as few as possible. I see families take their kids out of school all the time an go to Disney Land or whatever is this ok to miss school like this or anyone else do similar with their own kids?

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M.D.

answers from Minneapolis on

Go and have fun - you deserve it - do not feel guilty, you are teaching her a very valuable lesson of nurturing and continuing relationships with family. Have a great time!!!

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S.K.

answers from Minneapolis on

just remember it's only kindergarten! What will she missing out on? Think about it. You should feel more guilty if the child was older, fallen behind academically, during final exams or just take him out for really no reason at all.
Teachers say children learn when they go on vacations, by keeping a journal or sending them with some worksheets to do while away. So don't feel guilty or bad.......she's only in kindergarten. She'll learn on the trip.

Enjoy your family when you visit them
Just another mom

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J.C.

answers from Minneapolis on

I am a kindergarten teacher and I wouldn't worry at all about her missing a little bit of school. I'd write a note in advance to the teacher about both absences and ask if there is anything she should work on that she will miss. I usually tell parents what letter we will be focusing on and what word we will be learning and ask that they keep a one to two sentence journal of what they did while they were gone that we could read when they get back. That is really fun for the kids to share! Missing up to 8 days/ year is considered excellent attendance in my school district. HAVE FUN!

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M.F.

answers from Minneapolis on

B.,
YOu could look at this as a reward to your daughter for being so good about going to school and enjoying it. :) Good job for keeping up with everything, she is still very young and shouldn't be missing to much. YOu can keep up with activities on the plane/car ride play games, spell words, etc. Don't feel guilty now, she will have a harder time missing school when she is older and has homework, reading, spelling etc. I wouldn't miss too much school but a few days here and there shouldn't be a big deal. The school would probably say something to you about it if they thaught it might create problems. Some Parents are so lenient about going to school that they miss so much of it.
Go and have fun.

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