Berkeley Parents Network: Taking Kids out of School for Family Trips

Berkeley Parents Network

Taking Kids out of School for Family Trips

Berkeley Parents Network > Advice > School & Preschool > Taking Kids out of School for Family Trips

Taking a 6-7 months around-the-world trip
Sabbatical Year of Travel with school-aged kids

Taking a 6-7 months around-the-world trip

Oct 2007

We are planning a 6-7 months around-the-world trip during an upcoming sabbatical from work. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We recognize that while this will be an invaluable education and experience for us and our children, that our school district (Oakland/OUSD) may not be so excited about our plans to pull our children out of school for a while.

I was wondering if anyone has been thru a similar situation and how you navigated things with your school district, even if isn't Oakland. All advice and thoughts are welcome! We are planning to be away from Christmas through until July or August, back in time for the next school year. We hope our children will be re-admitted to their current school. We will homeschool as needed. Our children will both be in elementary school, ages between 7-10. It's now or never!

Go for it! The school district may well not be enthusiastic, but you are right when you say it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The school district will miss out on state funding for the time they are gone, and they will worry about your children's adjustment. But they may also be supportive of the travel factor. It will be important for your kids to be comfortable academically when they go back, and you know best how hard or easy it will be to catch up. I would consult with each of their teachers to get a take on how they are doing in their various academic areas. Then I would consult with home- schooling networks to get curricula for their upcoming semesters in school, and with home-schooling parents to talk about how they manage. You can work on math, reading, language arts, social sciences, science, on the road with the right information and materials. My sister home-schools and I think she just spends the mornings with her kids working on materials, then they do some work themselves in the afternoon or evening. And they'll get plenty of geography, history, and language from their travels! Have a great trip! travels with kid

I would recommend reading ''One Year Off'', a book about a Marin family that does a similar trip. We took our kids out for one month of school when they were 9 and 11, and they didn't have any problems. We're in BUSD, and if you make an ''independent study'' plan with the school, the district still gets the revenue for your child, which they like. Also in my opinion, if you're children are reasonably bright, they'll make up whatever they missed pretty quickly, and even if they didn't, the kind of trip you describe far surpasses anything they'll get in 4-5 months of school. I'm jealous! Phil

We took our son on a year long sabbatical where he attended two different schools in two countries, a camp in a third, and was schooled by us in the fourth. It was an amazing and very positive experience for him. We asked his teachers here to give us an idea of what he should be covering. We also got great help from the teachers he had while on our trip. He ended up quite a bit ahead in many academic areas, and has had an easy time in school since. I look forward to doing it again some day. I would recommend talking to his current teacher way in advance (like now) so she/he can have time to prepare a packet for you to bring along. For the times we were out beyond traditional school (and there were many of those times), we did math by adding and subtracting camels or other animals were saw, or had him write short stories about the sealife, etc. It was fun, painfree, and has had a lasting effect.

Our expeirence was that most schools are accomodating of this type of adventure. If not, then it may be time to look for a school that embraces the value of life experience a little more. Have a great trip! Mom of a worldly kid

Sabbatical Year of Travel with school-aged kids

Sept 2002

We're considering taking a sabbatical somewhere down the road (perhaps five years or so from now) and spending the academic year traveling with our two kids (who'll be about 13 and 11) - Wondering if any other parents have had such an adventure, either with your own kids or during your childhood - any pros and cons, anything big that the kids missed out on during the year abroad, any other advice greatly appreciated. We'd be traveling in Lonely Planet style. World travelers with kids in tow

When I was 11 years old, we moved from Berkeley to Chestnut Hill, MA (suburbof Boston) so my father could do a sabatical at MIT. My sister was 14 and my brother was 8 and we all LOVED it. It was an incredible learning experience. We stayed for the school year and I will always remember it. Almost every weekend we did ''enriching'' trips around the east coast. It was very educational to see how different the east coast (and in particular a place like Chestnut Hill) was from Berkeley. katherine

I spent a year abroad with my family when I was 13-14 and it was an incredibly wonderful experience that I have carried with me always (I am now in my late 30s). Going into it, of course I was worried about all the things I would miss, but I enjoyed the adventure from beginning to end (I cried much of the way home), and found that of course I hadn't missed anything at all. My school and friends were just as I'd left them. I was the one who had changed, though, and home felt really tame. When the time comes, my husband, son and I will definitely spend a sabbatical abroad. The hard part will be choosing where to go! Good luck.

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