Is it ok to take the kids out of school?

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richierowe

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With so much publicity recently about parents being prosecuted for taking kids out of school during term time, I am wondering if there are families out there who are held back in their desire to take the 'trip of a lifetime' through fears or concerns about kids' education?

Could the solution be to take a tutor?
 
And on your kids, are they doing ok? Would you have the ability to get them to study whilst on 'holiday'.

In this day and age I'd be tempted to go for it.

Don't know how old your kids are but have you spoken to them about it? The possibility that they might have to play catch-up in the future? Highlight all the downsides as best you can, loss of friends and 'contact network'. So many variables. They might surprise you with a few questions of their own.

The world is getting desperately short of 'adventurers', people who take a different view of things and who will take up a challenge. My opinion is that the education system is geared to churn out mindless tax payers purely to keep the machine going. A long 'field trip' trip will certainly change them.

If you said you were emigrating who would know any different?
 
Take 'em out.
Boat kids get to live in heaven before their true heaven time comes.
In this day and age, just do it.
Don't even think twice.
The boat kids I have met? Awesome. So lucky. So bright. So alive.
Almost made me want to have them myself.
Escape with your kids while you can.
Sod the rules!
 
I'm with Cod on this one... take 'em out.

The boat kids I've met have been funny, interesting, well-informed, well-balanced and good company. Pretty much all of them have been educated on-board by their parents. True, some have had parents who are teachers, but others have just had sensible parents who follow a planned syllabus.

What better education than moving round the world on a boat? They get to learn new languages, see historical sites (history), experience nature (science), visit far flung horizons (geography), keep physically active (PE) and meet new people and cultures (sociology, politics)!

Wish my Mum and Dad had had the opportunity to do the same for me...
 
We plan on taking our daughter out for a year when we go. Unless it is a realy important year A levels etc I see no problem.

As Queenie says the education benefits are probably far greater taking them out than leaving them in.

If sailing is sold as "team building" "chartecter building" etc then it should do the world of good.

Our daughter is 41/2 and already drives the dinghy, helps moor up, steer (very ish) and is interested in navigation. We true hard to keep her involved, otherwise the playdoo gets everywhere!

Another year this year and if we can get the boat fixed before the end of the season we will see if we can increase her involvement. (She helped select the colours for the new cruising chute. Yes we now have some pink in it!)

If you are rich enough and have a big enough boat by all means take a tutor. Why ever not?

Not sure how long your going for, but for us; will a year out for a 6 year old be a detrimente to her education?
 
We took ours away for a thee year circumnavigation aged six and nine. We are both teachers so we new what was needed and they went to proper school in New Zealand. They both did very well in school when we got back and reached University without any problems or hang ups. Take them for goodness sake it was a wonderful time for all of us. As for the legality of it, people take the children to all sorts of places on work exchange, prolonged visits etc. Go for it!
 
Go for it. If you are half-way competent, intelligent, parents their education will improve, not suffer. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
I think the biggest initial hurdle to overcome will be (might be) that of being 'stuck with one another' for periods of time, children need to have lots of contact so that's good, but also need to have some space for themselves - and so do you - so that might be problematic. At first. Then you should have been able to work out an all-round 'modus vivendi'.
 
You have the right to home school your children so from a legal perspective you are not going to get the Education Welfare Service following you around in a rowing boat trying to drag the kids back to school.


We discussed the plan with the Headteacher of our daughters school and they were wonderfully helpful, providing guidance on lessons and signposting resources for teaching the children ourselves while we were away.

On their return the girls were taken back into the same school with the same classes that they had previously been in. The sense of it from teachers is that they are where they would have been academically if they had not had a year out, but socially more confident and assertive.

We did about two hours a day almost every day, concentrating on maths english and the history and geography of where we happened to be.

Other lessons appeared out of questions and curiosity about events and locations. When anchored in the lee of a volcano it was a perfect opportunity to study volcanic geology, we used the example of wind on the sails of the boat to explore resolution of forces, an enforced stay in Portugal produced a project on the Portugese revolution of 1974 ( with contributions from locals who were arouind at the time).

It was though hard to keep up the discipline of school every day, but even on passage we managed it most days, the amount of attention that the girls got from 1:1 teaching from Mary and I was I suspect more than they would get in a day at school. One of our friends has written an article for YM on Bioat School, I am not sure if has been published yet.
 
Went to Oz for 5 weeks, kids were in primary, head gave us some work to take with us, it was one of the bad winters here, lots of snow, we came back to 2 ft of snow, the school had been closed, turned out that the girls had done more work than their peers and were ahead of them! Go for it!
Stu
 
We are thinking of doing it too. From what i have researched , providing the parents are well enough educated it is great to educate kids from home/ boat.
 
I agree with the other replies, go for it. So long as you are reasonably educated and plan what materials you need in advance it works great.

We spent 2 years with the kids, then years 3-5 at primary. They fitted back in easily enough and are top of their years now at secondary.

Schools are generally willing to help with materials/planning and see the up side of the opportunity. If you want to see what topics they would covers at school in science etc, the dfes website has useful info. What better way to study forces than sailing. For electricity we had the 12V DC and mains AC systems to play with.

Go for it and enjoy it. Wherever you travel all sorts of educational opportunities present themselves. The kids love the lifestyle and make friends easy with other boat kids - even without the language skills.

We decided to return for secondary school- more complex topics/teaching, but spend the whole of the hols back onboard in the med.

Enjoy the experience - it makes for a close family bond.
 
Yes, it is! The UK education system is in pieces, and is run to create good results for league tables and to make the government (local or national) feel good. Education comes a very poor second to budget. Check out your LEAs budget on actual education.

We took our children (now aged 11 & 9) out of state school in 2007, signed a form to state we were going to educate them - never heard a thing since. We have educated on board ever since with no problems.

Check our blog out for more details.
 
Yes take them out. I have met many well rounded and educated kids that have been on boats for years.

There are numerous self education DVD packages available from the the US and AUS, it might not all be relevant and lacking in some respects but alot better than the UK system at the moment.
 
A varied, thoughtful and creative education is the cornerstone to a good life - Not only for the fortunate child, but also for society as a whole. As someone that has been through many different schools and methods of education (including homeschooling), I would personally advocate for an immediate untying of your docklines. Traditional schooling couldn't be more damaging!

...I've met many kids on cruising boats, and they're the most fun and happy things I've ever seen.

That's my 2cents from a 27 year old without kids... /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

nick.
 
Ours are not strictly out of school as they are pre school, but we are cruising the Caribbean after two years in the Med with them. It is fantastic. At four our oldest can do simple addition and subtraction, knows his ABC, days of the week and is starting to tell the time. He can write his name and read simple words like Mummy and Daddy. He also understands the relationship between the sun and the earth, knows how rain clouds form, is aware the earth is made up of land and "the big sea", has watched turtles and dolphins up close and has a smattering of Dutch, Spanish and French. (Just odd words). And of course they swim like (and with) fishes. Any doubts we had have gone completely out the window.

The one on one with them as parents is priceless and we have discovered that boat kid boats are like magnets. The other day we had a party with 16 kids on the beach, from all over the world ranging from 6mtns to 13. We have agreed to cruise in company with several of the boats so they are constantly playing with other kids. They all have formal "School" with parents taking it in turns to be teacher. (They have to address the teacher as Mr or Mrs.... just like real school). Today we had a great field trip, climbing a volcanic cliff path where they all learnt about Iron and minerals in the rocks and they could actually touch what they were being taught. A few weeks ago they visited an Indian tribe and watched chocolate being made. They watch no violent TV and don't play violent computer games. It's a lovely childhood.
 
Out of school need not be a problem from an educational perspective. The internet in particular has made distance learning very accessable. The social perspective can be rather different. Boat kids all seem to socialise well with adults so the adults can easily assume that there is no problem. Once children reach the age of 12/14 they naturally will seek out the company of others their own age, and develop independence. Lifelong friendships frequently develop in early teens, particularly for girls. There may well be a lack of opportunity for this interaction in the cruising life. Teenage liveaboards either embrace the lifestyle or go right off it. If your child is one who wants the opportunity to develop friendships in a more 'normal' framework what will you do?
 
Yes, actually you can take the kid out and you have like 10 days or 2 weeks to notify them and submit letter of inten. I removed my child from a US boarding school then submitted the paperwork. So you can do it now. I recommend that you inform the school that you are doing so. So they don't mix up truency with homeschooling.
 
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We have seen many kids of primary and junior school age on yachts. The parents usually school them every afternoon including on passage, using a pack of lessons applicable to age. The kids we have met are the best educated, wordly wise, seen lots of things learnt in the lessons, chatty and confident.

All the boats were intending to go home for the kids to go to secondary school. From we've seen do it you certainly won't regret it. The only possible problem is that the kids will be way ahead of the other kids, in both experience and education, in the first year.
 
richierowe said:
With so much publicity recently about parents being prosecuted for taking kids out of school during term time, I am wondering if there are families out there who are held back in their desire to take the 'trip of a lifetime' through fears or concerns about kids' education?

Could the solution be to take a tutor?
Click to expand...

Yes, you can take your children out of the education system without being prosecuted. You just need to give the school notice in writing, all you are required to do (as far as the law is concerned) is to provide your children with and education.

If your children are currently at a school in the UK, you can apply to keep them enrolled in their current school but on a distance learning program which was set up to support traveller children.

I will be doing this with my son when we leave to start our adventure 2013, this way he can stay enrolled in his current primary school and will be able to enter one of the feeder high schools when we return. This is important to us as we feel it would help him settle quickly when/if we return, he would also be back with his current friends.

Information is freely available on every local council websites.

Good luck
 
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