Not my school. That is the problem with IL. They are crazy!!
@CyclonesGrad - I think you have a district problem. We are from suburban Chicago and when I took my daughter to visit UA four years ago, our school/district considered touring colleges was an excused absence. I know they have not changed the policy since as my niece is a junior and starting visits. I also can’t believe not getting an excused absence for religious holidays. You should run for the school board and fixes these problems!
You are right. I should run for the SB. Our district, CUSD 300, is crazy. We may get excused absence but still have to take tests within two days of return and all classwork missed has to be in in two days.
With AP classes, one day missed is enough homework/class make-up work for a week outside of class time.
So if a student misses on Wed and Thurs, then make up homework is due Monday? or when? Seems like the strategy would need to include making sure any missed days do not have 2 school days immediately following.
So, if a student missed Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving, when would the work be due? The following Monday or Tuesday?
Sometimes when schools are ridiculous, have to do things like have a student go home ‘sick’ if another day is needed for big test. I know with projects they have to be turned in. One time we dropped off project at school and DD had part of the day sick to make up sleep for all-nighter.
Some schools in effect ‘punish’ the good students for the poor attenders.
For K-12, in the south, we tend to begin school early. Fall break was something adopted in our area about 15 years ago and was an instant hit. They arrange to have an equal amount of school days before C-mas break and after the first of the year. I know in some northern states, kids come back after C-mas break to finish semester exams which is not productive IMHO. One school system has a week of fall break off this week, and our public school has fall break next week. The two cities and county school systems don’t always coordinate fall and spring break; the private schools tend to schedule the same breaks as their zoned public. Some families cannot take advantage of the break if they have a child in private in one zone and public/private in another. However some parents split duty in order to do the college tours with HS kids.
@mom2collegekids Thanksgiving week is off for us. Because, as @SOSConcern said, we start school in the middle of August so finals are before winter break AND to also give the teachers a nice holiday break (like a fall break). The issue is that week is not a good one to visit colleges as many are sparsely populated that week.
@sosconcern yes, we have strategically allowed our kids to take a half day when a big project in a class has caused them to stay up late to complete. They take the time off for classes that will not give much homework, i.e. morning or afternoon.
No worries though, DD2 has pretty much determined he is going to UA because the Presidential is such a good deal for him and they have Chem E. He is at the point where he does not want to fill out anymore apps.
Re: Visit to UA / Timing with HS Schedule: Due to a long HS football season (deep into the playoffs) and the fact that only two days were allowed for the entire senior year for college visits, we were not able to visit UA until the day before the University closed for Christmas-Winter break. Date was Dec. 19 I believe. Was that an ideal day to visit? No…the campus was very sparsely populated and no classes were in session. However, it didn’t matter. My son loved the campus and the wonderful, friendly people we met that day. He still was considering other colleges at that point, but UA was the winner! ROLL TIDE
@amy9998 - thank you for that post because we were lamenting the fact that we absolutely cannot squeeze in a visit any time before early December. That makes me feel a little better. I really want my son to visit asap.
Does the following email address: honors@ua.edu, from this webpage: http://honors.ua.edu/admission-to-honors/schedule-a-visit/
go to the same people @mom2coIIegekids mentioned?
When my DD1 was in high school we used the 2 days they had off in the fall to take tours. We visited schools her juior year during that time and then visited UA on that break her senior year. She is now a jr at UA.
With DD2, last year during spring break we visited 4 schools, her sophomore year. This year, her senior year (she is graduating HS in 3 years), we are visiting Ole Miss and UA this week. She had off Friday and Monday so we used Thursday as a college visit day. We will have to go back to Ole Miss later and do a private tour.
While the normal tours with the info session and walking/bus tour of campus are great… arrange a tour thru the Honors College OR thru the department they are interested in. That is what I did for DD2 this week. We contacted the College of Education last month and told them she would like a personal tour and her intended major was Elementary Education. Dr. McHargh arranged an entire day for her. She attended an 8:00am and 10:00am class, had lunch wiht a Student Ambassador from the College of Education then met with the Coordinator for the College of Education. I attended the meeting with the coordinator. It was a GREAT day! Very insightful for her and she really got a grasp of the entire program that UA offers for her intended major. With the coordinator we discussed everything from courses needed and how they have it mapped out for all 4 years, job placement, obtaining a Masters either by online or alternative (alternative would be if she did her undergrad in Elementary Ed then did Masters in Secondary). How they organize their student teaching experience, etc. VERY INFORMATIVE!
Currently, the other school is her #1 and UA #2… so, she really wants to go back and do the same private tour with Ole Miss to get a better feel. All we did on Thursday at that school was the general info session and campus tour and then we did some expoloring on our own.
If you only have 1 day and you still want to attend the info session and campus tour, let them know when you contact the Honors College or the department of interest that you wish to do so AND that your student would like to meet with the coordinator or advisor for the department, possibly sit in on a class and meet wiht a student ambassador from that department. It will take a full day which means coming in the day before and not leaving till the next day. UA does have classes on the Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving. If you can arranage to visit on that Monday and only miss 1 day of school, or if out the entire week, miss no school, it would be well worth it. You could come in late on Friday and be here for game day on Saturday, visit the Quad and tailgate, go to the game, etc. Then have Sunday to sightsee around town, tour UA on Monday and leave on Tuesday.