Would you pull your kids out of school for travel?

The start of school year is quickly barreling towards us at a breakneck speed. In fact some of the school districts around us have already started. I can not deal with the thought of nights around the table begging my kids to please do their homework so they can go out and play. I hate the constant go, go, going of the school schedule.

The late nights with our neighbors and their kids make my heart so happy, so when we start early bedtimes and are trapped inside doing lessons it is hard.

Over the time that I have been blogging, my family and I have been invited to visit some fantastic spots. A few of them had time restrictions on them that didn’t work with our school schedule. I really wrestled with pulling my kids out of school. After all my dad was a school teacher. I didn’t get to miss school for anything. And, I mean anything. So when he found out that we were pulling the kids out for a few trips, he gave me the side eye.

It isn’t all fun and games for my kids when we travel during the school year. They each have a travel journal and they have to write in it each night, describing what we did. Yes, I even made them do this while we visited Disney World. On top of the journal I also ask the teacher in advance of our trip for the homework assignments. We have them completed upon return.

There are some definite pros and cons to consider before pulling them out. I have them laid out below:

Pros: 

• Hands on education
• See history and geography in real life
• As parents you have control over the ‘curriculum’ so to speak
• You are making memories as a family while learning.

Cons:

• Your children will likely have work to make up upon return.
• Not all trips have much ‘educational value’ so you will need to carefully weigh them.
• Depending on the grade level it could be extremely hard to make up the time absent. I am thinking of high school and upper middle school grades.

So tell me, what are your thoughts on pulling the kids out of school?