Why We Are Taking Our Child Out Of School To Go On Holiday

Ok, so as you know by now we are off to Florida in March. What I haven’t mentioned is the fact that we are going during term time and so we will be taking Jake out of school but there are good reasons for this. No, they may not be good enough for the school or Government to accept but for us, we need to do this.

You see, what they may not class as exceptional circumstances (which apparently usually only relates to a wedding or a funeral) definitely are exceptional for us. I never thought I would be a parent who would take their child out of school for a holiday but when certain life events arise I think you have to make a judgement call and this one was pretty easy for us to decide upon!

My husband has been invited out to Florida for a work conference at his company’s head office. He will need to be working for three days whilst out there but there will be certain travel and accommodation costs covered by the business. One of the other perks is that he can include some annual leave afterwards in order to stay out there and of course, he wouldn’t want to do this alone. So, it came about that we could travel out there with him, have a holiday in Clearwater and finally get to the USA for the first time ever!

With x amount of expenses paid for, with the guarantee of help with travel, car hire, insurance and so on it has meant that a holiday that would usually need years of planning and saving could be achievable for us right now!

Plus, it has also meant that Disney World can also be included!! Yep, we will be spending one week on the gorgeous beach of Clearwater and the second week making all of my childhood dreams come true by finally getting to Disney World.

So, when the school asks you to fill out the form and states you need exceptional circumstances, to us these are! I’m not overly fussed that they don’t see the situation as being exceptional because we just need to accept that and pay the fine; we can’t really make a big deal out of this when we are saving money on the holiday in the first place. What I do find disappointing is that the experience of a holiday isn’t considered as educational. The amount a child can learn from travelling, from meeting people from different backgrounds and cultures, from seeing the world firsthand, taking in new sights, learning about life via hands-on experiences are all things that should be encouraged and treasured. Yes, school is important, of course, it is and no, I wouldn’t ever dream of taking him out during exams or a time that could affect his future but there are some things that you just cannot learn in a classroom and if a parent wants to enrich their life by taking them on new adventures I think it is very sad that they are penalised for this. 

What we will be doing during his time away is documenting it all. We will be taking photos and making notes and getting Jake to create a folder of his time away which he can then use to teach his classmates and share all of his experiences with them. 

So, even though he will be missing out on 10 days of daily schoolwork he will still be learning and writing and reading and will have the most amazing memories that will hopefully last a lifetime.

And that’s it, that is exactly why we are taking our child out of school to go on holiday and I don’t think anyone can really argue with that.

Have you ever taken your child/children out of school for a holiday? What are your thoughts on it all?

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