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School Absentee whilst Holidaying

PostPosted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 9:43 am
by whufc
As i've mentioned on here before me and the family including partner plus a 11, 8 & 1 year old are spending 5 weeks over in Europe. This means to two older children will be missing 4 weeks of school.

I'm a big believer in the ability for real world travelling experiences to be great educational learnings for children and i want my children to gain some of this whilst on holiday.

What have others done in regards to their kids missing school? Do schools still give the kids work to do whilst away? Should i get them to keep a journal? Provide them with a project?

Thoughts?

Re: School Absentee whilst Holidaying

PostPosted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 10:57 am
by Dutchy
whufc wrote:As i've mentioned on here before me and the family including partner plus a 11, 8 & 1 year old are spending 5 weeks over in Europe. This means to two older children will be missing 4 weeks of school.

I'm a big believer in the ability for real world travelling experiences to be great educational learnings for children and i want my children to gain some of this whilst on holiday.

What have others done in regards to their kids missing school? Do schools still give the kids work to do whilst away? Should i get them to keep a journal? Provide them with a project?

Thoughts?


We have regularly pulled the kids from school for a couple of weeks to travel, as we prefer to travel outside of school holidays due to it being much cheaper (get some great deals in off peak times) and if we go to popular places (gold coast) it is quiet at all the attractions etc. We have just had a chat to the teachers and they usually dont provide much info other than saying have a great trip, they generally believe you will learn more on the trip than if you stayed back in the classroom.

If ther eis a bit of downtime a journal would be good idea and they could even present back to their class when they return.

Re: School Absentee whilst Holidaying

PostPosted: Sat Jan 04, 2020 1:33 pm
by MatteeG
whufc wrote:As i've mentioned on here before me and the family including partner plus a 11, 8 & 1 year old are spending 5 weeks over in Europe. This means to two older children will be missing 4 weeks of school.

I'm a big believer in the ability for real world travelling experiences to be great educational learnings for children and i want my children to gain some of this whilst on holiday.

What have others done in regards to their kids missing school? Do schools still give the kids work to do whilst away? Should i get them to keep a journal? Provide them with a project?

Thoughts?


We took our 2 (then 8 and 5) to the USA for 5 weeks toward the end of 2018. Whilst Miss 5 didnt have to do anything Mr 8 did a journal of sorts and we put a heap of photos into a powerpoint presentation when we got back which he presented to the class, and spoke about each of the places we stayed.

Re: School Absentee whilst Holidaying

PostPosted: Sat Jan 04, 2020 4:38 pm
by whufc
MatteeG wrote:
whufc wrote:As i've mentioned on here before me and the family including partner plus a 11, 8 & 1 year old are spending 5 weeks over in Europe. This means to two older children will be missing 4 weeks of school.

I'm a big believer in the ability for real world travelling experiences to be great educational learnings for children and i want my children to gain some of this whilst on holiday.

What have others done in regards to their kids missing school? Do schools still give the kids work to do whilst away? Should i get them to keep a journal? Provide them with a project?

Thoughts?


We took our 2 (then 8 and 5) to the USA for 5 weeks toward the end of 2018. Whilst Miss 5 didnt have to do anything Mr 8 did a journal of sorts and we put a heap of photos into a powerpoint presentation when we got back which he presented to the class, and spoke about each of the places we stayed.


Love that.

Re: School Absentee whilst Holidaying

PostPosted: Tue Feb 04, 2020 1:12 pm
by Pag
whufc wrote:
MatteeG wrote:
whufc wrote:As i've mentioned on here before me and the family including partner plus a 11, 8 & 1 year old are spending 5 weeks over in Europe. This means to two older children will be missing 4 weeks of school.

I'm a big believer in the ability for real world travelling experiences to be great educational learnings for children and i want my children to gain some of this whilst on holiday.

What have others done in regards to their kids missing school? Do schools still give the kids work to do whilst away? Should i get them to keep a journal? Provide them with a project?

Thoughts?


We took our 2 (then 8 and 5) to the USA for 5 weeks toward the end of 2018. Whilst Miss 5 didnt have to do anything Mr 8 did a journal of sorts and we put a heap of photos into a powerpoint presentation when we got back which he presented to the class, and spoke about each of the places we stayed.


Love that.

As a teacher, this would be the absolute most I would get one of my students to do while on a major holiday. Anything more, that might potentially take away from the experience of the trip, I would be hesitant to give. Ultimately, they will see and learn so much more while away, and get a small bit of perspective that they can't really get anywhere else. I had a student travel to South Africa last year, came back and said she realised how extremely lucky she was to live in Australia, having driven past and through some of the villages over there. That lesson provided more than any school assignment I could've given her.

I would never baulk at a parent taking their child overseas at any time, travel opens up so much that a general classroom just can't.

If its a public school, there is an 'exemption from school' form you need to fill out for absences two weeks or longer. School's front office should have it.

Re: School Absentee whilst Holidaying

PostPosted: Mon Feb 10, 2020 11:56 am
by whufc
Pag wrote:
whufc wrote:
MatteeG wrote:
whufc wrote:As i've mentioned on here before me and the family including partner plus a 11, 8 & 1 year old are spending 5 weeks over in Europe. This means to two older children will be missing 4 weeks of school.

I'm a big believer in the ability for real world travelling experiences to be great educational learnings for children and i want my children to gain some of this whilst on holiday.

What have others done in regards to their kids missing school? Do schools still give the kids work to do whilst away? Should i get them to keep a journal? Provide them with a project?

Thoughts?


We took our 2 (then 8 and 5) to the USA for 5 weeks toward the end of 2018. Whilst Miss 5 didnt have to do anything Mr 8 did a journal of sorts and we put a heap of photos into a powerpoint presentation when we got back which he presented to the class, and spoke about each of the places we stayed.


Love that.

As a teacher, this would be the absolute most I would get one of my students to do while on a major holiday. Anything more, that might potentially take away from the experience of the trip, I would be hesitant to give. Ultimately, they will see and learn so much more while away, and get a small bit of perspective that they can't really get anywhere else. I had a student travel to South Africa last year, came back and said she realised how extremely lucky she was to live in Australia, having driven past and through some of the villages over there. That lesson provided more than any school assignment I could've given her.

I would never baulk at a parent taking their child overseas at any time, travel opens up so much that a general classroom just can't.

If its a public school, there is an 'exemption from school' form you need to fill out for absences two weeks or longer. School's front office should have it.


Great shout. Thanks for your insight mate.