You may be dreaming of a family getaway, but vacation or spring break may be too far away. So what’s the best way to take your kids on vacation during the school year without falling far behind their classmates?
Review school policy
Some schools will not turn in homework unless your child is going to be away for a minimum number of days, such as 5 days. Check your school’s policy so you know if you can bring your child’s school work so they won’t be left too far behind when you return.
Then consider whether taking an extra day would be worth it just to get school work. In other words, if your school requires your child to be absent 5 days and you only planned to be away 4, it may be worth taking that extra day so that you don’t come home late at night to take your child to school early at The next morning. Plus, you can now get your lessons from school so you can take them on vacation without your child being a week late.
Talk to your child’s teacher
If you can’t get class work that your child will miss early, talk to your child’s teacher. It may be able to give you a better idea of what to do during the days you are gone so your child is not left behind.
While you may not be able to release school work, you can probably look at your lesson plans and let you know what your child will be missing. For example, the week you left, your child may be learning about nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Vacations can be the perfect place to teach your children about nouns, verbs, and adjectives while traveling.
Make a plan
Whether you can get the school to work up front or not, make a plan of how you’ll get into that schoolwork or your own lessons before taking off.
Look at the work the school has given you or write your own lesson plan for the week. Make a schedule to hand out school work during the week so your child doesn’t have to do all the work the night before he returns to school.
Pick a good time
When will your children be most receptive to sitting down for worksheets? You may feel like leaving your hotel room at 8am, but the kids will be too tired by the time you get back.
Pick a good time when your kids cool off and school work goes much faster and easier. At that point it can change daily when you are on vacation, so some days you will have to play it by ear.
Be flexible
We all know that sometimes plans look great on paper, but are not practical when trying to put them to use. This can easily happen on vacation.
You may have decided that your children would spend an hour on their class work at the end of the day when you return to the hotel. But after a day of sightseeing and fun, your kids can just disappear and be ready for bed. Instead of forcing the kids to do that school work, it may be better to call it a day and make it up tomorrow.
Have fun
Remember you are on vacation! Your family is supposed to be having fun.
Think about how important it really is to do all that school work. Your kindergarten student missing a week of school is not as important as your high school student. Even if you only do a little work during the week, it is still beneficial. But if you don’t do any work during a short break, it really isn’t the end of the world.
