Texas school attendance policy and cruise dates

[we"reofftoneverland]

First off, much thanks for being a teacher. It can be a thankless job, but made great by the people in it. However, I do want to take one teeny exception to your comment. No one gets a free education. If it was free, I wouldn't have to pay property taxes, state income tax, and 10% sales tax, etc...

Lol. I was thinking the same thing, but held back. So thank you for saying it. And I have to add, if we didn't have to pay $15,000 a year in property taxes to fund our miserable local public schools, we would probably use that money to send our kids to private school. So, no, our children's public education is far from free, because for us there is opportunity cost as well.

 

[tidefan]

Lol. I was thinking the same thing, but held back. So thank you for saying it. And I have to add, if we didn't have to pay $15,000 a year in property taxes to fund our miserable local public schools, we would probably use that money to send our kids to private school. So, no, our children's public education is far from free, because for us there is opportunity cost as well.

Where the heck do you live that property taxes are $15,000??? Ours are more like $1,000-$3,000...

 

[WishUponAStarryNight]

Where the heck do you live that property taxes are $15,000??? Ours are more like $1,000-$3,000...

I'm in CT and pay $10,000 in property taxes for an 1800 sq.ft. house that's over 60 years old. Volunteer fire department, well and septic, no trash pick up, no sidewalks. The value is in the school district. I pay tuition, just by a different name.

 

[Belleofthehouse]

We are in Louisiana and any vacation taken during school days is considered unexcused....no matter what. We do NOT take our kids of school, because ultimately they pay the price for missing class time. To me it is not worth it. We go on vacation at other times of the year, we just save a little more if it is a busy time. I have read on these boards where people consider WDW an "educational" vacation. Sorry, I do not agree with that one. Walking through World Showcase while eating a Mickey Bar is not educational in my book. Yes, I know some will disagree, and that's ok.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

I took oldest DS out as a 6th grader for a week once. It was horrible. We all hated having to go back to our hotel and do homework on vacation (in Hawaii!). He never did catch up in math from missing the lecture parts and I suck at math so was no help. I did not repeat it with DS2. I save more and budget to travel in early June.

I'll say it too, WDW or a cruise is not educational! I don't care how many times they count out money. I didn't consider our trip to Hawaii educational even though we visited the Arizona memorial and learned about volcanoes. Nothing is a substitute for good class time.

 

[Belleofthehouse]

I took oldest DS out as a 6th grader for a week once. It was horrible. We all hated having to go back to our hotel and do homework on vacation (in Hawaii!). He never did catch up in math from missing the lecture parts and I suck at math so was no help. I did not repeat it with DS2. I save more and budget to travel in early June.

I'll say it too, WDW or a cruise is not educational! I don't care how many times they count out money. I didn't consider our trip to Hawaii educational even though we visited the Arizona memorial and learned about volcanoes. Nothing is a substitute for good class time.

So glad I am not the only one! Now other disers can flame both of us. I don't feel so alone now

 

[TestingH2O]

So glad I am not the only one! Now other disers can flame both of us. I don't feel so alone now

You are not the only one. Theme parks and cruises are wonderful family time and it is so valuable to have that focused relationship time and memory building. But don't try to turn it into education if it's not. Value it for what it is, family time, and move on.

 

[tidefan]

You are not the only one. Theme parks and cruises are wonderful family time and it is so valuable to have that focused relationship time and memory building. But don't try to turn it into education if it's not. Value it for what it is, family time, and move on.

Just to clarify: My point on criminality of truancy is completely independent as to if a vacation is a good reason not to go to school. Those are really 2 different topics.

 

[tidefan]

I'm in CT and pay $10,000 in property taxes for an 1800 sq.ft. house that's over 60 years old. Volunteer fire department, well and septic, no trash pick up, no sidewalks. The value is in the school district. I pay tuition, just by a different name.

In Alabama. Pay about $1,800 on a 3000 sq. ft. house. However, they get you on the State Income tax and the 10% sales tax (and things like food, etc. are taxed at that rate as well...). Trash/Water/Sewer is billed separate by the city...

 

[cruiser21]

So glad I am not the only one! Now other disers can flame both of us. I don't feel so alone now

I wouldn't flame either one of you, but some parents are capable of teaching their children. I don't really see the problem in pulling them out and putting on the teacher hat for a week. Everything is at as educational as you make it.

 

[cruiser21]

We are in Louisiana and any vacation taken during school days is considered unexcused....no matter what. We do NOT take our kids of school, because ultimately they pay the price for missing class time. To me it is not worth it. We go on vacation at other times of the year, we just save a little more if it is a busy time. I have read on these boards where people consider WDW an "educational" vacation. Sorry, I do not agree with that one. Walking through World Showcase while eating a Mickey Bar is not educational in my book. Yes, I know some will disagree, and that's ok.

If WDW is not educational then why are so many schools taking field trips to Epcot and Animal Kingdom. Why do schools take any field trips at all if learning can only be done in the classroom.

 

[Pens Fan]

You are not the only one. Theme parks and cruises are wonderful family time and it is so valuable to have that focused relationship time and memory building. But don't try to turn it into education if it's not. Value it for what it is, family time, and move on.

To be honest, if I had ever that thought going to Disney World or taking a Disney cruise was of more educational value than sending our son to school, I'd have found another school.

The only time we ever took him out for more than a half day, was the one year we had so many snow days that they had to add almost two weeks to the school calendar. We had already booked and paid for (nonrefundable) a rental house at the beach. If they hadn't been forced to add so many days, school would have been over by several days before we left. He was in the 6th grade and wasn't they only child in that situation. He had probably 4 or 5 in his class alone. The school was prepared for it and were very accommodating. Even so, the last week or two that he was in school was seriously crammed with extra work / tests / stress. He basically said, never again. And we never did.

Once he got into Jr High and High School his various band / team activities not only kept us from traveling during the school year, but often dictated when we could go in the Summer. I never looked at it as a hardship, just a good life lesson for our son about living up to his responsibilities, even if it was inconvenient at times.

Flame away!

 

[Belleofthehouse]

If WDW is not educational then why are so many schools taking field trips to Epcot and Animal Kingdom. Why do schools take any field trips at all if learning can only be done in the classroom.

I am quite sure a SCHOOL taking a field trip to Animal Kingdom, specifically Conservation Station, is quite educational. Parents using the excuse of WDW being an educational trip...not so much. But that is my opinion. It's why I choose not to take my kids out of school for Disney.

 

[cruiser21]

I am quite sure a SCHOOL taking a field trip to Animal Kingdom, specifically Conservation Station, is quite educational. Parents using the excuse of WDW being an educational trip...not so much. But that is my opinion. It's why I choose not to take my kids out of school for Disney.

Just curious why a school going to animal kingdom is educational, but a parent taking their child there is not.

 

[cruiser21]

To be honest, if I had ever that thought going to Disney World or taking a Disney cruise was of more educational value than sending our son to school, I'd have found another school.

The only time we ever took him out for more than a half day, was the one year we had so many snow days that they had to add almost two weeks to the school calendar. We had already booked and paid for (nonrefundable) a rental house at the beach. If they hadn't been forced to add so many days, school would have been over by several days before we left. He was in the 6th grade and wasn't they only child in that situation. He had probably 4 or 5 in his class alone. The school was prepared for it and were very accommodating. Even so, the last week or two that he was in school was seriously crammed with extra work / tests / stress. He basically said, never again. And we never did.

Once he got into Jr High and High School his various band / team activities not only kept us from traveling during the school year, but often dictated when we could go in the Summer. I never looked at it as a hardship, just a good life lesson for our son about living up to his responsibilities, even if it was inconvenient at times.

Flame away!

As someone who is a parent and a teacher I have found traveling to be very beneficial to my kids overall education. I really don't think there is a wrong or right answer here. I personally don't think its going to ruin a child's sense of responsibility missing a week of school. If that were the case I'd be an unemployed vagrant. My parents pulled me out a lot. I do blame my parents for my travel addiction. I think they started it all. We were always on the go.

 

[YawningDodo]

Just curious why a school going to animal kingdom is educational, but a parent taking their child there is not.

As someone who went on an educational guided tour of SeaWorld when I was in high school as part of an educational summer seminar, it's probably related to the way that school trips and educational tours are designed to include a lot of demonstrations, mini-lectures, and teaching moments. They let us loose for maybe an hour to ride rides; the rest of the visit was very strictly structured and included talks by veterinarians, etc. and visits to backstage areas with explanations of how it all worked and how it related to caring for the animals, types of animals in their care, etc., etc.

I guess if you're going to spend your entire family vacation in Epcot and Animal Kingdom, and you plan to stop every twenty feet to deliver a lecture to your child that you've researched in depth and rehearsed ahead of time, and you plan to spend a maximum of one hour per day actually going on rides...then yeah, it could have the same educational value.

 

[Pens Fan]

As someone who is a parent and a teacher I have found traveling to be very beneficial to my kids overall education. I really don't think there is a wrong or right answer here. I personally don't think its going to ruin a child's sense of responsibility missing a week of school. If that were the case I'd be an unemployed vagrant. My parents pulled me out a lot. I do blame my parents for my travel addiction. I think they started it all. We were always on the go.

I don't deny that some travel is educational. We just chose to do it when it didn't interfere with school which we always told our son was his number one priority at that age. Everyone raises their children differently, but I do find it laughable that someone would sit with a straight face and tell a teacher that going to a theme park or a cruise to the Bahamas was more beneficial, educationally, than being in the classroom. As I said, if I actually believed that we'd have found a different school.

 

[cruiser21]

As someone who went on an educational guided tour of SeaWorld when I was in high school as part of an educational summer seminar, it's probably related to the way that school trips and educational tours are designed to include a lot of demonstrations, mini-lectures, and teaching moments. They let us loose for maybe an hour to ride rides; the rest of the visit was very strictly structured and included talks by veterinarians, etc. and visits to backstage areas with explanations of how it all worked and how it related to caring for the animals, types of animals in their care, etc., etc.

I guess if you're going to spend your entire family vacation in Epcot and Animal Kingdom, and you plan to stop every twenty feet to deliver a lecture to your child that you've researched in depth and rehearsed ahead of time, and you plan to spend a maximum of one hour per day actually going on rides...then yeah, it could have the same educational value.

As someone that has chosen to take responsibility for my child's education I always find it shocking them some parents are willing to leave it entirely up to the school. When I hear parents say they're not capable of teaching elementary school math... that is rather shocking. Yes I agree some parents probably should not pull there kids from school. I think there are parents that are completely capable of turning a family vacation into a learning experience.
Why am I always in line behind school groups at Epcot and AK. Please don't tell me these kids are getting lectured all day because I know they are not. They are riding the rides just like everyone else.

 

[WaywardMemphian]

We are new Texans and have recently heard about some pretty strict attendance policies here. Do any of you take kids out of school for more than 3 days at a time for cruise vacations? Or any vacations? It’s A LOT more expensive at the designated breaks. And so crowded! Any advice or just welcome to TX and suck it up!

Our kids are get two bonus days added on the back end of their Spring Break this year. If we must miss, it need to be on the return back to school because they get loaded up with tests right before the Break itself.

We absolutely loves it when they were in Elementary School because they were on year round schedule. The First week of Feb and Oct were particurly great times for all things disney.

 

[YawningDodo]

As someone that has chosen to take responsibility for my child's education I always find it shocking them some parents are willing to leave it entirely up to the school. When I hear parents say they're not capable of teaching elementary school math... that is rather shocking. Yes I agree some parents probably should not pull there kids from school. I think there are parents that are completely capable of turning a family vacation into a learning experience.
Why am I always in line behind school groups at Epcot and AK. Please don't tell me these kids are getting lectured all day because I know they are not. They are riding the rides just like everyone else.

Honestly, I'm really surprised to see someone who says they're a teacher arguing so vehemently against the relative value of schools compared to informal educational opportunities undertaken on vacation between parent and child. I have no doubt that many parents are perfectly capable of incorporating educational elements into family trips, and I have no doubt that working with one's child outside of school time has enormous value in terms of impact on that child's growth. I just have sincere doubts that vacation time is truly as valuable as school time in terms of education. Even if the trip itself is educational, the kid's going to be behind on the subjects that were covered in their absence.

I have described my own experience on such a tour; if you choose to ignore or deny my experience because it doesn't fit your world view...go for it, I guess? No skin off my back.