What is your opinion on the United Kingdom?

[trip]

Married 50 years June 12th

 

[JLTraveling]

All the time, as well as for tech week when I was doing a show or for a few days when I was filming (commercials and very minor bit parts). Fortunately, I attended a prep school with the philosophy that students learned at least as much from life as from a textbook, so as long as we kept our grades up they didn't mind. Kids would take off a month to travel through Australia or a couple of weeks to go skiing in Aspen.

 

[Adventureland]

Only once in high school when I decided I wanted to go to WDW for my graduation and we booked a February trip. It was fun and I didn't end up missing any important days. All other trips were in the summer-it's just easier and we didn't have to make up quizzes or anything.
Was always jealous of the kids in elementary school who got pulled for trips in the middle of classes-reminds me of my old friend who would do DCL outings in the middle of the year.

 

[bcla]

I think it happened once with me. I went to a Catholic school at the time and they didn't really seem to have a big issue with it. Public schools hate it because they lose funding when kids aren't in school regardless of the reason - even if they call in sick.

Still - in my high school, unexcused absences were extremely punitive. Two unexcused absences actually resulted in one letter grade reduction in each class. It was traditional for lots of kids to just skip the last day of school, especially since it was mostly ceremonial for most classes. I was thinking of joining some friends doing it, but I had one unexcused absence (don't remember the reason) so I just showed up.

 

[Colleen27]

I think it happened once with me. I went to a Catholic school at the time and they didn't really seem to have a big issue with it. Public schools hate it because they lose funding when kids aren't in school regardless of the reason - even if they call in sick.

That depends on where you're at. In my state, funding isn't directly linked to attendance except on the two annual count days. But attendance is a metric used in ranking school districts and was a part of calculating "progress" under No Child Left Behind, so there are definitely non-financial incentives to adopt strict attendance policies.

Around me the strict attendance policies really caught on in the mid-1990s and haven't really let up, though there's still a lot of variation from district to district. But I do love the flexibility of sending my kids to private school where no one cares about families traveling during the school year unless it starts impacting academic performance. My youngest wants to go to public high school and I know that's going to be a rough adjustment with as much as we're used to traveling when and where it suits us.

 

[UnpokemonMom]

My dad used to take my sister and I out of school to go fishing. (Mom was not thrilled.)

 

[Boopuff]

I remember traveling-spring break, summer and “non-specific-holiday-winter break” I do recall one trip over spring break going to California (from Chicago) and we took a few extra travel days .

 

[slo]

No, but I took my kids out every year for 2 weeks in the fall to go to the Clearwater area and WDW.
I stopped when older DD was in middle school because the makeup work made her miserable.

 

[Kellykins1218]

Yep, every year. I take my kids out for at least a week every year and sometimes twice. Ours are also almost always last minute trips so there's no 2 week notice like the school says they require lol. It still gets approved every time.

 

[nkereina]

We took one "big" vacation when I was in 4th grade. My parents took me out of school for two weeks in March to spend a week at Disney and a week elsewhere in Florida visiting family. The trip was one of our fondest memories, and I certainly cherish that more than anything I learned in 4th grade.

 

[MamaMermaid]

My mom was (is!) a teacher and we always just went in the summer so she didn't have to take time off. My dad owned his own business and made his own hours - it was awesome!

 

[TinyDancer]

No, we vacationed on the summer.
BUT, I have taken my kids out of school for vacations several times.

 

[NYCgrrl]

No and if your next question is did my children have strollers at the age of 12 to visit WDW the answer is no too.

 

[Moliphino]

I liked to gather acorns, remove the outer hulls, and grind them into powder with rocks. I was convinced that Indians did this to make flour.

They did, but you need to leach them before making acorn flour.

 

[design_mom]

Never. We would only travel in the summer (usually right after school got out.)

We did it a couple of times when my older was in the younger grades and my younger wasn't in school yet. I think the last time we did it was when my older was in 2nd grade (and he's 20 now). He was a good student and I knew he wouldn't have any trouble catching up with his work. However, there was a snow day during our trip and my son was visibly relieved that he wasn't "missing anything" at school. We didn't pull him out anymore after that. If missing school was causing extra stress, then it's not really a vacation.

I'm not sure we would have done it once my younger got to school anyway. She's also a good student but she needs to "work for it" more. She definitely benefits from being in class and hearing the teacher present.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

I can only remember twice - both times to WDW; the first when I was 5 1/2 (kindergarten, March 1980) and 8 1/2 (3rd grade, April 1983).

DH's family (3 kids) used to go on vacation anytime they wanted, with only a note from them to the schools.

Now that we have a son, from 2017 until 2020 we drove from CT to Florida every February (obviously we couldn't go this year). It was a 2-week trip because we like to take our time and just enjoy the journey. We were able to pull him during the 2 preschool years, as there was no attendance requirement; we would go over the 2-week period that included President's Day and 2 extra days for "teacher professional development" when ALL of the schools were closed (the preschool followed the public school schedule). Now that he's in "regular" school, I'm afraid to do it next year. Even if we went at the same time, with those 3 days off, he'd still miss 7 days of school. We get a "threatening" letter (according to other parents) if our child misses 8 days in the entire year, and if he misses 10 days, we have to go to a class to be lectured about the importance of our child being in school. Doesn't matter if we write a note, doesn't matter if they consider it educational - which it is, IMO; this kid went into kindergarten knowing a LOT more about geography than most of his classmates!

Now that they have iPads and remote learning, though...I might try next year to see if we can still do it, because he'd be able to do his lessons that way. Maybe I should start preparing my presentation to the BOE now to get him excused!

 

[hulagirl87]

nope. We always went away during February recess, or during Spring Break

 

[BrianL]

At my K-8 school they did not allow us to buy soda, but you could bring it from home (there was a soda machine, but it was for after-school use only). I always brought my lunch and had a quite valuable soda that I would often auction off. I always got at least the going rate at the time of 50 cents, but sometimes got more depending. I sometimes also did this with chips if I didn't want them.

 

[fla4fun]

We did the chocolate bars, but they were bigger than the ones in the OP’s photo. They also sold bags of Halloween candy a couple years, but it wasn’t the good stuff.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Nothing that I can recall but I can remember buying a lot of wrapping paper, calendars, and greeting card assortments from co workers’ children.

My school sold us two cent pretzel sticks and a container of milk for three cents once every week. Wasn’t on Wednesday since that was a half day for all the kids who had religious instruction.