taking kids out of school....do you?

It goes against my nature...but for $2,000 savings, we could do ANOTHER vacation. School vacations are so costly air and hotel-wise...plus I%26#39;ve been to Maui numerous times, but never in the summer...afraid I will be put off by heat and crowded beaches. If I promise to be sure they learn about Hawaii, isn%26#39;t it worth a week out of school? (elementary ages)

taking kids out of school....do you?

When my girls (16 and 19) where in grade school, I took them on a road trip for a week to Ca, without the hubby. I took them out of school. To this day they still talk about how much fun we had, and it will always be one of my favorite trips.

I would do it without even blinking an eye. It%26#39;s easier for them to catch up on school work when they are young. (and you can have them do school work before you go) Take them and have a ball! They grow up so fast, trust me, I%26#39;m paying for college allready.

taking kids out of school....do you?

We never travel to Hawaii during the summer. You pay premium for everything and with all the summer crowds there are lines for everything. Chairs by the pool can be hard to get kids programs can sell out and numerous other things that can put a damper on a what tends to be a very expensive vacation. I too have children in elementary school (2nd %26amp; 4th grade) and we always pull them out of school when we go to Hawaii. We ususally go the end of October to early November for 2 weeks. It has never been a problem for us or a detriment to our children. They have to read every day/evening for at least 30 minutes and every other day they have to write in their journals about their trip. We plan on doing this through middle school and when they get into high school mom and dad are going alone and the kids will stay with my sister and her husband and we will do the same for them when their kids get into high school. The most important thing is you are spending time as a family without all the stresses of daily life and that is priceless!

Take them out of school. We always did when in elementary school. They are now in HS %26amp; middle school alot harder to pull them for a week. I believe traveling is it%26#39;s own form of learning.Have a great trip!

I would do it in a heart beat. Schools here in Alaska are use to that because so many people have seasonal/summer jobs that don%26#39;t allow for a summer vacation, so pulling your kids out of school is the only way to have a family vacation. Most teachers ask them to keep a journal so that they can share what they learned on their vacation, which I found to be a real asset. It only takes a few minutes during the day to draw a picture and write what you did that day. Often we would bring something small back for the kids in the class as well. Buy some good books, such as Hawaiian fishes or something like that. Visit the Maui aquarium as well - so much to make as fun learning experiences. Plus, once kids get into middle and high school, it%26#39;s almost impossible to skip school then, so make the most of these opportunities while they are younger. Have a great trip! :)

A week in Maui is much more important than a week in school. They can make up a lot of the work during the travel time. The amount of culture and nature that they will learn to appreciate can%26#39;t be duplicated in a classroom.

Furthermore, the time spent with the family will be a permanent memory. Do it.

Not for a trip to Hawaii. We go on every anniversary divisable by 5 and have never taken the kids with us. We have spent spent every other vaction with them but Hawaii was strickly for us. Now that they are grown, married and have kids of their own they are considering doing the same.

I realize it is not for everyone but it worked for us. The kids both say they would prefer to explore with their spouse and see new things together rather than had they gone with us it would have been old hat to them.

We do it all the time. Most teachers will agree that a child learns so much more by travelling than they will in the classroom.

We sometimes get some work sheets etc, if we are going for a longer period of time.

BTW, our son has been on 40 flights now. I wouldn%26#39;t have it any other way. He%26#39;s incredibly bright. His teachers feel his travel experiences have a great deal to do with this.

He just turned 8 this past weekend. He really enjoys contributing to our planning, and is so curious about places he has never been to.

I%26#39;m so glad we have been able to expose him to so many different cultures etc. He%26#39;s very tolerant and sensitive, which we also feel has been another benefit of travelling.

Ausmom, so glad you wrote that about your son. We take my 7 yo everywhere and he loves to travel. All he talks about is travel!

We took him out this March for a week. It%26#39;s too hard from the midwest for just one week in Hawaii! He loved Waikik. We took him to the Arizona Memorial, USS Missouri, and the Bowfin. He%26#39;s been to Hawaii 6 times and we still haven%26#39;t seen near enough!

I think travel really helps kids and broadens them. My son%26#39;s teacher was very nice about it. She gave him a notebook to keep as a journal and when he returned from Maui he taught his class several new words from Hawaii. He can pronounce the names of Hawaiian places better than we can.

We%26#39;ve also been to Hawaii in the summer. I really like it then, too, because the weather is usually great. I like early June, before it gets too crowded. We went one year in August and it wa really crowded. Lots of families with kids doing a last minute trip before school.

We took our son out of elementary school several times, mostly 2 weeks at a time. We would take work with us so he could keep up and he did 30 minutes to 45 minutes a day . Each time we got back he was ahead of the rest of the class!