The last week of school

[Qestia]

How important is the last week of school (in kindergarten)?

Our school year seems to go very late anyway--it was scheduled to end 6/17. With all the snow we've had it's been pushed back till 6/23.

We have an important reunion to attend out of state the weekend of 6/17-19. As long as we're flying out there I wanted to take extra time to visit my mother who lives nearby whom we only see once a year. How bad would it be to just skip the last 5 days of school?

It's just kindergarten...

[KCMichigan]

You would most likely miss Kindergarten Graduation and possibly an Award Ceremony, Transition to 1st activities, report cards, year end project presentations, Field Day, and any other year end activity (picnics). They may also be doing year end assessments/testing and reviews for placement next year and report cards.

I would not miss the last week personally unless it was very important (which depending on how often you have reunions could rate the reunion as very important). It provides a needed transition for the next year---I would miss the second the last week if given a choice-- -not many academics may get done, but a lot of 'closure' activities take place as well as an opportunity to get ready for the next grade and participate in activities to say goodbye (for the summer) to friends.

Given that you have a family event- it is a toss up and a hard choice- your DD may feel very sad missing out on either school activities and/or the family event. 

I dont think that it is just kindergarten has any relevance- the last week of any year K-12 would have them missing transitional activities and provide closure for that year.

Talk to your DDs teachers and see what is going on those weeks. It may not be a big deal if they planned on wrapping it all up on the 'old' final day of school anyway and the last few days will be filled with more relaxed activities.

You will likely get varying opinions since there really is not right/wrong answer. Some people regularly take kids out for family functions, others rarely take kids out of school unless they are ill. Depends on your family philosophy and the schools policy (they may frown and/or have disciplinary plans for kids that miss too many days in a year for non-illnesses).

Make sure your school does not have a set number of 'unexcused absences' (vacations) that if you go over that number you can be called to truancy court/fined/file in students cumulative records. Our area is more than 5 unexcused absences and 10 excused (sick) absences total- exceptions made for hospitalizations and/or Dr notices of lengthy illness. And yes, here they report parents to a truancy officer and too many unexcused can cause a student to repeat a grade regardless of academic standing. Some areas have no policy- find out yours.

[Alyantavid]

I have no issue taking my kids out of school for almost anything.  But I wouldn't miss the last week if it were at all possible.

[CarrieMF]

The last week not much happens here & in fact Kindergarten gets out a day earlier than the rest of the kids.

There is Family Fun Day/Family picnic

The entire school goes to the main park & goes swimming.

There is 1 day where there is no school as the teachers are finalizing report cards.

There are NO transition activities, graduation from K, stuff like that.

There is a Grade 6 "grad", final slide show.

That's about it, I'd pull him even if it wasn't just K.  Report cards will be mailed.

[ecoteat]

A lot of schools are different, but in the school I teach at the last week of K would include Beach Day (we take the whole school--all 60 kids K-8--to a beach for the day) and Field Day. These are both really fun, but missing them doesn't have any impact other than, well, missing them. My school doesn't do any kind of K graduation. We do a "Step-up Day" which is usually not during the last week, but sometime the week before. Report cards are mailed. The last days that are not special days would be a lot of wrap up and organizing and fun stuff. If I had an important family trip planned for that week I wouldn't be too concerned about missing those days of school. Then again, it's a K/1 multi-age classroom, so it's not like a big end of the year farewell or anything. Just a "have a nice summer; I'll see you in a couple months" kind of thing.

[ollyoxenfree]

I would miss the week, since it means a chance to see family.  Yes, there will likely be some end-of-year events - sports day, picnic, farm field trip, farewell parties. None of them are important, really. She probably won't remember any of them in a few years, even if she does stay for them (my teens have very dim memories of their kindergarten farewell parties and no recollection of the field trips). She'll be able to raise her upcoming long distance trip if the other children are talking about what she will miss. It's easy to arrange some play dates over the summer and invite some school friends to play sports in the park, have a picnic or visit a farm, if she's really unhappy about missing the school events.

Report cards can be mailed to you. If you are really concerned about transition to 1st grade (meeting the new teacher etc.), you can speak to her kindergarten teacher or the principal about it and try to organize it the week before you leave. 

I honestly can't think of anything in kindergarten that is so important that I would miss a truly special occasion like a reunion and a family visit.

[Qestia]

Thanks, guys--I guess I will talk to the teacher and see what the end of the year is like here. We have some flexibility--the reunion is the Fri-Sun before that last week of school. So we could add on the time to visit my mom before the reunion instead of after, so DS could be in school the last few days. I guess I will ask the teacher what she thinks is best.