<p>^ Well I agree with you starbright, but many school administrators take the view that “missed days equals missed learning.” Last year our household received two letters IN THE SAME WEEK from the school office … one congratulating DD on having done exceptionally well, and the other threatening to have her repeat the grade if she missed any more school.</p>
<p>As for the (self-described) lazy OP, much of life is about self discipline. Looks like the OP’s got quite a bit of work to do in that quarter.</p>
<p>For the parents who “don’t get it” as to vacations during the school year, I speak from personal experience when I say that you put a lot of pressure on kids when you take them out of school for a “vacation” that either puts them behind or requires them to lug a ton of books and work along. If you make that choice, please consider scheduling loosely so the kiddo has time to enjoy the surroundings and get the work done and get some rest.</p>
<p>For bumble, advice from a recovering craven procrastinator: Put down the laptop, or at least turn off the wireless card, and turn off your cell phone too. Take care of all the basic physical needs (bathroom, food, drink), then sit down and get started on an assignment. Pick the one that you can finish most quickly and easily; then go right on to the next one. You will build momentum in this way.</p>
<p>Starting is the hardest part – so here’s the big secret for procrastinators: Once you’ve started, don’t stop. Because each time you stop, you have to start up again. No texting friends or checking Facebook or CC in between problems… that makes you start again, and that’s the hard part. That’s why it’s “easier” to get things done at the last minute – because you don’t have time to stop working on it. Spend at least two hours working before you stop for anything. Work your way up to four-hour blocks, if you have that much work to catch up on.</p>
<p>Once you’re caught up, train yourself differently; you will need this habit in college, in your career, and in parenting. If you’re given two weeks to complete an assignment and you know you can do it in two days – do it in the first two days, not the last. Because real life (jobs, illness, fatigue, fun social events, relationships) has a way of sneaking up on you, and it might steal away that last week and leave you with nothing to show for your assignments. Even if that doesn’t happen… it can be fun to hang out in the computer lab on the night before a big due date and gloat over how you finished your project last week. 
And letting stuff pile up makes it harder to start, because the pile is intimidating.</p>
<p>Finally, make this your mantra: It doesn’t have to be perfect … it just has to be done! If you’re having trouble writing the perfect opening paragraph of something… don’t. Just write a paragraph that says what you need to say. You can go back and fix it later, but trying to produce perfection at the outset keeps you from starting.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
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<p>I totally believe your experience, but ours has been different. I think it must depend (like so many things!) on the particular kids, and the HS curriculum. Our kids go to a very selective private school with a supposedly demanding curriculum, and it really hasn’t been a big deal for them to miss school. It might change- they aren’t done yet- but so far so good. And trust me, they’d sooo tell us.</p>
<p>Move the laptop from the bedroom to the kitchen table. Sometimes a new location can help you with new habits. </p>
<p>Make a list of everything that needs to be done and post it in the kitchen for all to see. Ouch! Tell parents your plan for tonight and tomorrow. Stick with that much. </p>
<p>Go to What on Earth and order the T shirt “I put the PRO in Procrastinate” as a reward. </p>
<p>Know that this is very typical for your age group. It’s kind of like playing with fire – it’s fun until you get burned or something even more horrific happens. </p>
<p>And, I have to disagree with those that don’t see family vacations during the school year as a big deal. They DO cause headaches for teachers – in part because the same parents who are taking off ALSO want their darling babies to be earning A’s and not impacting college apps. So the teachers have to take time to make up homework packs and more time to give make up tests. They also have to deal with the student in class when he/she has that blank look because they missed so many lectures and demonstrations. </p>
<p>I can see missing the occasional Monday or Friday – but more than that and the PARENTS should be falling all over themselves to support the teaching staff. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that some places (Florida?) are starting to link teacher pay and retention to student test scores – so students with high absentee rates could be directly impacting that teacher’s career.</p>
<p>
And on the nature of the vacation, no doubt. I missed approximately 6 weeks of every school year in 2-3 week chunks, beginning with the first few weeks of classes. Very difficult to play catch-up from that, not to mention the social impact of resentment from other kids. My situation was a bit extreme and wholly unnecessary, but the outcome can be similar for students in less “extreme” situations – and can have an effect well into adulthood, even if the student doesn’t realize it at the time.
Yes. And those can’t be made up with a packet.</p>
<p>My kids missed huge amounts of HS due to health issues, and YES, it did have a huge impact on their private prep high school and also their friendships and relationships with faculty. Their private school worked with us, but it was a struggle for us and for the faculty and school. </p>
<p>The school would have been even more upset if any of these prolonged absences were in any way voluntary on the kids or our part. It WAS disruptive, there are no two ways about it. Those HS years were some of the most challenging for us as a family & the high school in all its history – trying to work with us and our kids’ health issues. We all did the best we could and thankfully, it has turned out OK for the kids (tho it definitely had many bleak times).</p>
<p>“… that either puts them behind or requires them to lug a ton of books and work along.”</p>
<p>Well yeah. But when your kid’s near the top of the class, at the top of the testing scale, and is B-O-R-E-D to tears at the snail’s pace of teaching … ‘No child left behind’ means no more ‘college prep track’ in public high schools … then a little time off for cultural development isn’t a bad thing IMHO.</p>
<p>^ NewHope, I was all of those things and I really didn’t understand the stress factor until I was in grad school. Just saying this is something to monitor closely, because a kid may not send up smoke signals… and there can be issues that don’t show up in the GPA.</p>
<p>This example wouldn’t happen to kids of a CC parent, but it did to me: I was out when the school announced PSAT testing… and never heard of the test until one of my classmates was announced NMSF in senior year. I was a standardized testing machine, and back then (pre-Internet) it would have made a huge difference to get some college junk mail in junior year. I also missed out on choir auditions, which meant no “named” part in the musical, and a few other opportunities I won’t bore you with. The point: It’s not just about the homework.</p>
<p>In families with more academic support, could well be a non-issue. I’m not saying you’re baaaaad if you take your kids out of school for a couple of days here and there… just saying it’s worth keeping in mind and keeping a close eye on your kiddos.</p>
<p>Why are your parents pulling you out of school for vacations? I’ve never been pulled out of school for a vacation since like, the third grade. If the family doesn’t get that school calendars are different, they can come over.</p>
<p>Unless you’re repeatedly vomiting or have strep throat or something where you could be a danger to others at school, you should be going to school come hell or high water.</p>
<p>Just get your work done as soon as you can.</p>
<p>I pretty much agree it’s not good to take your kids out for vacations during the school calendar. I haven’t done it since my daughter was in 3rd or 4th grade. In our private, college-prep HS, there’s no way a top student could do it without sacrificing something (a grade, health, sleep, peace of mind, all of which have value…). And I think it’s unfair to teachers and classmates who benefit from the entire class body being there.</p>
<p>That said, I will confess to allowing/encouraging my junior daughter to take 1-2 mental-health days last year and this year. She plans them in advance…choosing days she knows will be least detrimental to miss…and savoring the comfort of knowing a respite in in sight when things are very demanding and stressful. The funny thing is, on these mental-health days, I notice she puts in at least 3-4 solid hours on school work. She uses the morning to catch up on reading…study ahead for an upcoming test, etc, and then enjoys a leisurely lunch and afternoon to rest and do stuff she finds fun and relaxing.</p>
<p>1-2 days a year for a top-performer seems reasonable to me. A week vacation or two? That wouldn’t work.</p>
<p>hello there… sorry ive been absent- but ive been working on the make up work/ not been allowed on my laptop. i’m on here today because its the weekend, so my parents made an exception =]</p>
<p>firstly- id like to clear something up.
we didn’t go on the trip because we wanted to. my parents did their best to make sure i didn’t miss any school days, but we couldn’t physically fit it in the schedule. there were three reasons why we HAD to go…
- urgent medical reasons for my brother
- our company makes us take a mandatory 14 day forced repat… while spring break only lasted a week
- i needed to visit the colleges i was accepted to before i made a decision</p>
<p>so this was the only time we COULD go. my parents tried to get me to do the work before i left, but there is so much work during the school week anyways… that it is really to do anything extra.</p>
<p>thank you to some of the posters for your comments. taking away my computer has really helped. i’ve put my ipod away for now to. its really distracting. </p>
<p>i was really really jetlag, but now im getting over it. i have to get everything in by saturday so i better get going.</p>
<p>thanks for all the advice- bumble</p>
<p>hi there again!</p>
<p>i made up [most] of my makeup work and got almost everything in on time. my calc grade rose up to a 91 =P and thats not including the makeup test next week. yipppeee it feels nice to have the mountain lifted off my shoulders.</p>
<p>so, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU MOM AND DAD AND POSTERS.</p>
<p>staying off the laptop and the ipod really helped. if any procrastinators come across this thread, get rid of those things till you are done with your work. im so happy! </p>
<p>now i’dda better get back to work ;D tc bumble</p>
<p>Congrats bumble. Do post your decision when you’re back online.</p>
<p>You mentioned that this won’t happen in college. Actually it will, and with NO ONE checking up on you or calling your parents, you could end up procrastinating yourself into a C, a D or an F. This happens even more easily in college. You realize that slides are available online. You skip classes. You wait until the last minute to submit papers. Then your computer goes down or the site goes down and with 2 minutes before midnight you cannot submit your work AND YOUR PROF DOES NOT CARE. The syllabus says don’t wait until the last minute to submit, and there will be no excuses accepted. And you find yourself SH++ out of luck. Time to change your ways before you are in bigger trouble.</p>
<p>Yay! It’s great that that bumble was able to face the problem and rebound. Perhaps a student will read this next year and have the courage to admit the problem and work to make things better. </p>
<p>Perhaps the memory will help make for better future habits.</p>
<p>Every situation is different, but I have to say that taking our son out of school to go to Japan, Australia, New Zealand, France, the United Arab Emirates, the Sultanate of Oman, Kazakhstan, including an amazing trip across the steppes to visit Stalin’s gulags and a ranch where the family hunted with a golden eagle and a trip to Ukraine and another to India and Cuba and Serbia…No, I do not believe that he lost out by missing class for a week here and there. Fortunately, his public school teachers agreed. He could keep up and they all said it was fine and would give them more time to work with kids who were struggling.</p>
<p>bethievt, can you adopt me so i can come on some of these wonderful trips?
bumble: good job…seems like you’re on the right path. i would add cell phones (texting) to the list of forbidden fruit for procrastinators.</p>